Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares

One of the best DLC's of the entire franchise, this is how the story of Chris, Jill and Wesker should have ended.

Difficulty: Normal
Clear Time: 1:02'26"
Platform: PS4

Tell my why this DLC is high-key better than the main game? Tell me why Resident Evil 5 wasn't just a full length version of Chris and Jill returning to Spencer Mansion to locate Wesker? Why was the main game the way that it was when they had a perfect template for a great game right here?

This would've been the perfect successor to Resident Evil 4 if this was longer and the main game. It wonderfully mixes the gameplay of RE4, with the style of RE5's finished product as well as the location and horror aesthetics from the original Resident Evil. One of the bad parts of Resident Evil 5, at least for me, was its over focus on action over horror and abundance of ammo and supplies all over the place, basically the complete opposite of good Resident Evil games.

What Lost in Nightmares did differently from its full length counterpart, was that it made pretty much a full return to survival horror. I even got a little spooked now and again, with creepy-looking environments and a pretty tense atmosphere. It also favours puzzles and quick thinking during enemy encounters over heavy combat, specifically in a sewer-like area where you face off against multiple Guardians of Insanity with nothing but your wits and a handful of flash grenades. It's exactly the kind of thing I wanted more of in the main game, I had so much hysterical fun in that section while I ran around trying to lure the Guardians into my traps. They were pretty terrifying enemies too, being almost silent until they appear around the corner, groaning out while they chase you with their anchors.

I only have a few minor complaints about Lost in Nightmares that keep it from being a higher score. First is its length, I wish it was longer, at least the length of RE4's Separate Ways. Second, I wish there were more enemies than just the Guardians of Insanity and a few nameless zombie things that jump off of the floor at you. Even bringing back the original RE's zombies and maybe zombie dogs or even crimson heads could've been awesome, and they could've accomplished that a longer DLC. Third was the Wesker boss fight at the end. It's literally not even a fight, you just survive long enough for him to give up and a cutscene to play. By making it longer and giving us more space and more time to gather resources to fight him, we could've had a pretty fun boss fight in our hands, even if Wesker inevitably has to win at the end of it. My final complaint is that this sort of thing wasn't the main game. If RE5 was genuinely this focused on survival horror while keeping the combat aspects and maybe even the campy story of RE4, while retaining Wesker as the main villain, I would genuinely call it my favourite Resident Evil game. But for some reason, nope.

But anyways, overall Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares is an awesomely spooky return to form that I can play in one sitting. The only problem is I don't see it having much replay ability other than just in different difficulties, and I think that holds it back a smidge. But other than that, I loved this DLC and I genuinely think it was better than the main game, even with its hour long length. It was also interesting seeing what happened with Jill and Chris prior to RE5'S main story too. Bravo.

8.6/10

A fun extra DLC that let's you play out a flashback seen in the base game.

A good callback to the first resident evil game with a great atmosphere. It really made me wish that the main game had more of this.

Better than the main game

Difficulty: Normal