You probably haven’t thought about Resident Evil 5 in a while, but Capcom apparently has. The Steam version of one of the campiest entries in the beloved series recently received a small patch that removes support for the long-dead Games for Windows Live. The good news is that this also restores the default split-screen feature to the game, which was disabled on PC due to GFWL.
If you aren’t familiar, Games for Windows Live was a key part of a Microsoft initiative to connect PC games to its servers. The service launched in 2007, never saw much uptake, and was retired in 2014. These days, it’s better-known for causing glitches and compatibility issues in games from that era–the original Dark Souls being perhaps the most notable example–requiring developers to issue patches for old games in order to resolve that. It apparently took Capcom 14 years to get around to it, but if you’re playing a game with GFWL issues, it’s usually best to check the PCGamingWiki to see if fans have developed workarounds.
Resident Evil 5 was the first game in the series to truly focus on co-op play, allowing two players to experience the entire game together from beginning to end. It is generally regarded as significantly worse than the game that proceeded it, the landmark Resident Evil 4, which will soon receive a full remake. RE5 arguably marked the beginning of a dark era for the series, which bottomed out with the almost universally reviled RE6. RE5 is also notable for the controversy surrounding its depiction of African people, which was widely condemned as racist at release. Its wildly campy final sequence, in which player character Chris famously punches a boulder, is also considered memorable by fans.
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