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The second piece of DLC comprising Capcom's Gold Edition of Resident Evil 5, Desperate Escape, features Jill Valentine and Josh Stone. The episode fits into the main story just as Lost in Nightmares did, but is a bit more interwoven. Players start off directly after Jill is saved in the mainline quest, and Chris and Sheva depart. Josh finds Jill, and the two proceed to escape the compound in which they are trapped. This escape makes for a decently fun play experience that is much heavier on the action than its DLC predecessor.

Desperate Escape plays out very similarly to the bulk of Resident Evil 5, and feels like a chapter that could've been ripped straight out of the original game. What's interesting is that the chapter plays out like a miniaturized version of the whole game. Players start off holding just pistols with minimal amounts of ammo, and work their way up to carrying some serious firepower with the proper amounts of ammo as well. The difficulty ramp of the episode also matches this pattern, with the game getting much harder with each completed subsection.

Though there are a number of subsections players pass through in the episode, the vast majority of the time is spent in one giant maze-like area that is literally infested with Uroboros. Players will need to defeat enemies manning guns and rockets all while clearing out immediate threats coming from all sides. As players make headway, various checkpoints are hit, allowing players to pick up from a reasonable starting point when they die.

The episode's greatest asset is its co-operative play. Similar to the main quest, players always need to be talking in order to most effectively manage their inventory, and defeat the waves of incoming enemies. Without coordination, players will quickly perish in the high intensity setting. The parts which required the most communication were easily the best, as they offered the greatest satisfaction at completion.

Similar to Lost in Nightmares, Desperate Escape is an extremely short venture, clocking in at one-and-half hours of gameplay including deaths and redoing certain sections. This is slightly longer than one of the beefier mainline chapters, but still not all that long in the big picture.

Unlike Lost in Nightmares, this episode ends in a much less annoying boss battle, but one that is still extremely challenging, and one that once again requires massive amounts of communiction between both players. Conquering Desperate Escape as a single player is definitely not suggested, and a much less enjoyable way to play the game.

My feelings on Desperate Escape are slightly mixed. On one hand, the episode was a lot of fun at times, but on the other, Desperate Escape feels no different from the bulk of Resident Evil 5. The episode is a bit too action heavy, offering players no more than a second to get their bearings before another enemy is breathing down their neck.

For those who absolutely love the gameplay of Resident Evil 5, Desperate Escape is a no-brainer. The episode offers similar gameplay and a nice difficulty ramp and level progression. Others who are tired of the quest will likely want to skip this episode as it only offers more of the same.