The dreaded dead

If you’re a survival horror fan, you probably love Resident Evil. The original game more or less invented the genre as it’s known today (though more action-oriented trends in design are straying further and further from that “classic” definition), and Capcom has generally upped the ante with each core installment in the series.

This culminated with Resident Evil 4, which took both the series and survival horror in general in a bold new direction, free of canted camera angles and other would-be restrictions to the genre.

Aside from a new shoulder-cam view and the ability to manually aim your firearms (rather than auto-targeting specific points) RE4 was able to retain the horror and atmospherics of the series’ classic entries. At the same time, the game ratcheted up the intensity and panic resulting in all out assaults from new, smart (mob mentality) enemies that pursued you relentlessly.

Resident Evil 5, while still good, was somewhat of a disappointment. It felt more like a summer blockbuster that just happened to have zombies in it rather than another true survival horror title. This resulted in a game that played almost identically to RE4, but just could not deliver the tense action or scares of its predecessor. Needless to say, after five years in development, this was a letdown.

Now Capcom is improving on RE5‘s original story through story-based downloadable content. Lost in Nightmares chronicles an investigation by longtime series protagonists Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine (both of whom play a significant role in RE5) at the European manor of Umbrella’s founder, and it’s a refreshing change of pace.

Unlike RE5‘s tribal aesthetic and oft-times sunny environments (c’mon, it’s Africa), Lost in Nightmares is old-school Resident Evil, through and through. Loyal fans of the series will appreciate the manor’s opening layout—an obvious fan-service homage to the mansion of the original game—as well as the re-teaming of Jill and Chris, who were the first to survive Umbrella’s biogenetic horrors back in the PlayStation One era.

The tone of this episode is much more classically oriented as well—taking place before the rest of RE5, there are no parasite-infested enemies here. In fact, compared to the two-guns-blazing tone of RE5‘s main course, combat is almost an afterthought here. Instead, the focus here is on atmospherics and suspense, making it much closer to Resident Evil 0 or the GameCube remake of the original game in style and presentation.

Eventually Jill and Chris do discover some monsters, but even when they do, the focus remains on scares more than action. It’s good that Capcom was willing to stick to their guns here and actually deliver a Resident Evil-experience that’s far more authentic than the rest of RE5. Despite its brevity, it’s probably the most honest thing they’ve done with the series since its GameCube installments.

It should be noted that if you already own RE5, this DLC will only cost you $5. That’s a good deal, especially for fans that have been following the series since the beginning. If you haven’t already picked up the game, RE5: Gold Edition is hitting stores this week, packaged with both Lost in Nightmares and another new episode, Desperate Escape.

Lost in Nightmares may only add about an hour to an hour-and-a-half to RE5‘s total running time, but its old-school look and feel are really something special, hearkening back to the old days of the franchise. I can only hope the inevitable RE6 returns to the series’ roots the way this brief glimpse into the past did.