Recent reviews by Magnus Olsen

This is definitely a violation of my HOA agreement.

I've played a lot of horror games, but nothing comes close to the brutality and terror of hearing your friends genuinely beg for their lives in the distance, only to be cut off one by one by the muffled shotgun blasts of an uncaring automaton...

As its thundering footsteps rapidly draw nearer.

cool gun and many yee haw

It scratches the itch. If you have the itch, you know what I'm talking about.

A fun, wonky love letter to 90s survival horror. It's all there; a progressively upgraded arsenal, more locked doors than a prison block, voice acting that is lovably bad, and puzzles that are just frustrating enough that you want to look up the guide, but not so difficult that you can't solve them yourself. Each environment feels unique and full of charm, and the music is well done and sets a distinct tone for each area.

As far as gameplay itself, it's basically a surprisingly difficult version of the original Resident Evil, but with a few tweaks. Inventory space is unlimited, but you can only carry two weapons at a time that you can swap between without pausing. Enemy hitboxes are unforgiving and there is no auto aim, but you are given a little crosshair that lights up when you're aiming at something. There is a large variety of enemies, most of which you won't see more than a handful of times, which makes it a little hard to figure out attack patterns. Saving costs money, which is more of a burden during the early game when you're purchasing your first weapons and supplies. Melee combat with the saber is satisfying and efficient, but can easily get you stunlocked to death by a large enough enemy, though it does get easier the more you get used to it. That being said, the combat is still fun - you might find yourself reloading a save a few times, but no area is impossible.

The game is not without it's negatives though:

-Some areas are incredibly dark, and when wearing a dark colored dress it's easy to lose Alisa in the blackness
-Stunlock spam can be a death sentence
-Some camera angles make it impossible to tell what's going on, especially the very wide shots that reduce Alisa to a small bundle of pixels
-Map doesn't seem to always update locked/unlocked doors and doesn't always have connecting rooms shown.
-Dark. Swimming. Maze. That area could definitely use a little more lighting.
-Currently there is no audio/graphical adjustments aside from resolution
-No NG+ content or unlockables as far as I could tell

Since the game is hot off the press and still being worked on, I look forward to revisiting this after it's been updated a little. Perhaps an easy mode with auto aim to mitigate the difficulty of combat, adjustable settings, some NG+ content for replayability, maybe some achievements. Would also be nice to see some questions answered (the boulder, the hole with no rope, coin slots, crossbow bolts but no crossbow).

If you're looking to recreate that feeling you got the first time you stomped through the Spencer Estate, then this is the game to do it. Just do yourself a favor and play with a controller.

Basically your average day in a Japanese school.

To sum up my experience so far:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH"

Don't listen to the salty reviews that played half an hour and got bodied by people with 10k+ hours.

RE5 will always be fun, the stop to shoot might seem a little dated for people used to the more recent Resident Evils, but to me it just adds to the tension in hectic fights. Progression on your first play through feels extremely satisfying. You can choose what weapons you want to upgrade and when, and you can find one of every gun available for free except for the end-game unlockables.

The story is... A little goofy, but that's par for the course for Resident Evil, and if you pay attention you can follow along pretty easy.

The unlockable Mercenaries mode will never not be fun, especially with a partner. The DLC is worth the purchase just for Barry Burton in the Mercenaries Reunion. I haven't played the "Versus" DLC in several years, so I don't know the current state of it, but back on the PS3 around 2013-2017 the only people that played were Japanese guys who bend you over and whoop you like a red headed step child. Could be fun with friends, I suppose. The other two DLC campaigns are a resounding "meh."

If you like what you see in Resident Evil 5 but don't have a friend to play with, go buy Resident Evil 4. RE5 is just RE4 with action turned up to 11 and atmosphere turned down to 1 and then they stick you with a partner, except the AI partner in this game has a sub-brick level of intelligence.

Not finished with the story yet, but so far it's been great. I'm a seasoned horror vet, but Lost in Vivo still delivers the spooks and the scares. Very reminiscent of Cry of Fear, but with no inventory management and a much more stylized aesthetic.