The Evil Within (2014)

The last video game I played was Bayonetta 2, and that was more than a year ago. In recent years, I had increasingly abandoned this form of entertainment due to a myriad of reasons even though I loved it a great deal before that — been playing games for as long as I can remember. Giving such a long break and coming back to gaming only reinforced the fact that there is nothing out there like it when it comes to forms of entertainment. Among other things, it is highly therapeutic when it comes to single-player and that is something I could certainly use more of. Now, I had several games installed on my PC, so I decided to go with something dark. Since Resident Evil 4 is one of my all-time favourite games, I picked The Evil Within as the director of Re4 (Shinji Mikami) also directed this one. So here I am, giving my thoughts on it.

The Gameplay: It’s a third-person shooter in a survival horror setting. You have access to several weapons which you unlock as you go through the game and all of them can be upgraded in different ways by collecting green brain goo as the currency. The gunplay was smooth, effective, and FUN. There is a crossbow — I used it a lot — which is tied to a basic crafting mechanism where you collect parts by searching the environment and/or by disarming traps, which can then be used to create different types of bows, and while initially I wasn’t impressed by it, after unlocking different versions of bows and testing them out, it became paramount. The melee attack sucked, though — took about 10 hits to take down an average enemy. The overall feel of the gameplay was certainly reminiscent of Resident Evil 4 and, surprisingly, The Last of Us.

Stealth is emphasized immediately in the game as ammo and health are scarce at the start. I generally do not like stealth but if it’s incorporated well, I don’t mind it and can even grow to love it (as was the case with MGS games). Unfortunately, it was mediocre at best and the best was rare. The problem is that after fiddling with the stealth in the first relatively large level, it became apparent that the AI for your usual grunt enemy is dumb and it doesn’t pose any strong challenge. Couple that with the fact that it doesn’t take long for you to have enough ammo and weapons where if you are careful and aren’t going full gung-ho, you can easily not remain stealthy by just blowing away the enemies. There were times when I was giving the game design a bit too much credit and then realized that I can easily just go full commando and beat the level — a particular Amalgam Alpha boss fight veritably comes to mind in that regard. In the end, stealth became more of a way to conserve ammo early in a level so you can blast your way afterwards rather than it being an absolute necessity, which worked in my favour in the end funnily enough.

Things such as your save point being an alternate reality mental hospital domain where you also get bits of info, having a storage area where you can get accessories if you have keys for the lockers, and a mind therapy device that is used as an upgrade station were neat additions that I thoroughly enjoyed and reminded me once again of Re4 experience with its typewriter save points accompanied by beautiful music (in this case it was Clair de Lune being played) and the stranger shop. Stuff like this always adds to the overall immersion a great deal.

I played it on the default Survival difficulty mode which is Normal and while the game wasn’t a breeze, it was also not as challenging as I had imagined going in. The harder difficulties are unlocked after beating the game in Survival.

The Graphics: For a game released in 2014, it’s not comparable to modern games in terms of pure technical details but it still holds up well. It has more to do with the atmosphere as that is what hooked me in rather than polygon count or texture detail. The often mind-bending environmental warping visuals and appropriate use of film grain complemented the story and theme of the game and made it a joy to experience. The enemy design was also detailed and appropriately gross and disturbing; the human zombie enemies often had objects protruding out of their bodies and you can see mutations pulsating even after you gun them down; the heavily mutated monstrosities came in different horrifying forms and I enjoyed fighting all of them in varying capacities.

The Audio: The game features a solid overall sound design whether it’s the environments, the weapons, or the enemies. In quiet places, you can gather where the enemies are simply by their footsteps and noises. There was a good variety to mix it up with some favourites such as the invisible weirdo zombie that reminded me — and gave me terrifying flashbacks — of Re4 regenerator mofos (the game could have used more sections of it).

Where it fumbles a bit is in the voice acting and soundtrack department; the former is serviceable and had some good performances too if you’re not comparing it to stuff like Naughty Dog games; the latter also shares the same fate with an appropriate soundtrack that sets the tone well enough but nothing memorable while also having OSTs such as Long Way Down and classical Clair de Lune being used or incorporated perfectly which stick with you.

The Story: This is a bit odd in that I loved the story but the characterization is the game’s weakest point. So, the game is about a group of detectives taking a call to a mental hospital and everything goes awry from there. We are given control of Sebastian Castellanos — the discount Leon Kennedy protagonist — and it is up to us to make sense of what the hell is going on as it seems we are certainly in hell. I loved the narrative not only because the concepts and themes relating to consciousness were in line with my interests but also due to the way it was told. Everything is meticulously incorporated into the experience as you progress through the game with hints and clues given to you while puzzle pieces are being placed in your head. Sure, I had an inclining early on about what was happening but that didn’t detract from the experience as the details were often different when the story unfolded and I loved it. Stuff like this easily separates a good-great game from a mediocre one.

As for the characterization, apart from the antagonist Ruben or Ruvik, all the other ones didn’t have much going for them. The closest one was Sebastian because we got to know about his backstory a bit but he could have surely used a strong dose of charm and charisma to boost the personality and make the player get attached to him more as there were one-liners that hinted at that. It sucks this disconnect was present because, with a story like this, strong main and secondary characters would have lifted the entire experience even further. It’s nothing game-ruining, though, but it does bring it down a notch or two.

The DLCs: When I finished the main game, I decided to play the story DLCs and it turned out to be a wise decision as it neatly tied the entire experience in a nice bow. Two of them focus on Julie Kidman, a secondary character in the main game that hardly gets any development but in these, you get all of it among story details I didn’t even know I needed and it helped not only to lessen the lack of characterization as mentioned previously but also flesh out the world more. There was a strong annoyance in it too, though, because it was mostly stealth that’s forced upon you and after coming off of an upgraded Sebastian, the change of pace was jarring and frustrating, but because of the story and a creepy new creature design that gave me the shivers, I powered through it and ultimately enjoyed it.

The last DLC was a complete surprise and I had way too much fun with it. It puts you in the shoes of the safe-head monstrosity — one of my favourite entities in the game — and turns the survival horror into a beat 'em-up carnage mode with your big FU hammer and other weapons at your disposal to put on as much hurt as you want without being limited as a normal human detective. On top of that, there was a tragic story added to the experience too and you get more insight into the world of The Evil Within. A fitting wrap-up.

Overall: It took me roughly 19 hours to beat the main game and further 7–8 hours to go through the DLCs, so as a combined package, I had a blast with it despite the faults. Even though it is survival horror, I didn’t find it particularly scary or tense save for a few sections and boss fights and that was because of the constraints forced on you rather than it being simply unsettling. Regardless, I’d recommend The Evil Within if the genre is to your liking and you have missed this one. If the game was hovering in the range of 7, the DLCs easily pushed it beyond that where if I had to rank the entire experience, I’d easily give it a solid 8/10.

The first 3 chapters of this game are pretty weak and don't really set the tone for the rest of the game. Chapter 4 rolls around, the world opens up and the story becomes more interesting. Then I got to Chapter 10 and was so close to quitting due to the increased difficulty and absolute bullshit bosses (Laura & The Two-Headed Dog). The game then started to slowly become crazier, but didn't really explain what was happening so I was left really confused for the following 5 chapters. However, the set pieces in the final few chapters are really interesting compared to the rest of the game. The entire game is very scary though and combines the perfect amount of survival horror, with action. The Evil Within is a good game and is so close to being great. I'm looking forward to the DLCs and sequel!

7/10

Gameplay= Mechanics, gameplay options (freedom), repetition, goals, difficulty

Story= plot, engagement, characters, world-building

Presentation= graphics, animation, environment/character design, Art direction, Script, music

Gameplay: 3/5

The gameplay at times felt really good and at other times felt very clunky. I like that there were a lot of moments where I had to make quick decisions or death was upon me. Sadly a lot of times they didn't give you a lot of context clues to help you make the "right" quick decisons leading to death and often a kind of distant checkpoint.

The upgrade system was interesting, but it almost felt useless as I didn't really notice a progression of becoming stronger. Especially at the very end of the game. You fight two enemies you previously fight in the game and yet they take more damage than the previous ones when my weapons were maxed damage vs halfway upgraded. Also upgrading ammo carry capacity was only beneficial up to a certain level because you don't pick up very much ammo in the game on survival difficulty.

Story: 3.5/5

The concept of the story is really interesting, but the revelations feel weak and take a long time to be revealed. It wasn't until I finished the game that I really understood what was happening. I had guessed the ending about a third of the way through, but I didn't feel I was provided enough supporting information to trust my own theory until the end of the game. Things that should have been clear to me were hazy even at the end. The funny thing is that it almost plays right along with the game. You are often questioning what is a reality throughout the game. The same can be said about understanding the story by the end.

Going through the 3D model viewer after beating the game surprisingly revealed a lot of information that otherwise didn't come across for me. It helps you understand why the world is so demented and frightening. It is a nice touch, but I feel like the information could have been tied more deeply into the narrative of the game.

Presentation: 3.5/5

The game does a good job of feeling dark and terrifying. The environments feel claustrophobic and at times open. It had a good variety of environments, but the majority of the game was in tight corridor type environments.

The creature design is disgusting, but intentionally so. They did a great job and some enemies from the game will haunt my nightmares for years to come.

The cinematic and surreal moments of the game are what I found most enjoyable. Starting in one world where gravity makes sense and then falling through the floor where gravity has turned sideways on you is a fun visual experience.

Recommendations: Highly recommend this game for fans of games such as Resident Evil and fans of horror games in general Moderately recommend for fans of third-person stealth action or survival

Resident Evil 5 felt like a better successor to Resident Evil 4 than this (or Dead Space for that matter). And yeah I'm bringing Resident Evil into this because it's unavoidable. The whole game is Mikami going "Hey remember Resident Evil 4? What if we made it's pacing bad and it's controls worse? Along with some other iffy issues?" The Evil Within is like a game I wanted to get over with as soon as I started it because from the get go I understood what it was going for, but what it came off as obviously was "It's not as good as Resident Evil 4" and the rest dragged on, what it does feel like is all of the scrapped content of Resident Evil 4. It's like Resident Evil 4 filler or it's worse aspects, it is Resident Evil 4's bread crust, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna eat it because I'm an adult and I eat the crust but, it is literally just the CRUST.

Some ideas might impress me but I'm just like "oh okay", because the persistent mood is "I just wish this was as good as Resident Evil 4". The Evil Within also loves it when you can barely see and everything is in bad color tones (The game only has proper coloring around the end). But I think what I most hate about this game is how forced some modern horror aspects seem? For example the stealth or the cinematic moments, a lot of the enemies in this game have a tendency to just grab you into a cinematic, you see in Resident Evil 4 it's the CORE's game hitboxes (like you can dodge it and it doesn't feel as if the enemy just snaps onto you), it doesn't pause the flow of the game to a cinematic. It doesn't help that the pacing is all over the place too, it's like "ok stealth" at first and then "ok no longer stealth".

The design isn't all that good either, it's obviously inspired by RE4 (It's impossible not to mention it because that's what they were getting at) with some village sections and all that but it just feels claustrophobic and not all that interesting? The game has an obsession with traps, some trial and error and some just unnecessary. Most boss fights for the most part are ring around the rosie, (The most fun moment in this game was the tentacle invisible boss, even if it was a bullet sponge and in the end all you did was ring around the rosie for like 30 minutes) I guess there are some interesting things in this game: such as making saving like whatever that was, how part of the dumb silly plot is part Twin Peaks part Cronenberg.

It's whatever, it really is all an excuse to just make you relive Resident Evil 4 scenarios. It's no Silent Hill, but it sure is trying really hard to be. It's sorta like Silent Hill but with aristocrats. [SPOILERS] Oh and isn't it weird when a game with a twist has a sequel that already spoils that twist from the very start? It doesn't help that the sequel is commercialized so if you saw the trailer you do know of the twist that in this game which is essentially you're trying to escape the matrix.

Scarcity is a problem, it's like "hey do you not like having health all of the time?" because you get a health item very rarely and you don't have a reliable melee for when you run out of ammo that you can hold very little of (note: I just realized on Chapter 7 that I can CRAFT ammo, why was this a choice like and I realized a lot of people missed out on this cue as well...But it's just for the bow, which is not that fun).

It's also very bad that you don't have that much points to upgrade, I went to chapter 15 not knowing you could upgrade your weapon damage because the entire time I never switched tabs, I only upgraded stuff like Health and Stamina to the VERY end. Also, just to spite you, sometimes during bosses that will just instant-kill you, they overfill you with health items when you don't need them, by the way, I hate the instant-kill cutscene pull of enemies so much, it is not fun.

There are checkpoints so it doesn't matter that much but death could be handled better (especially when it comes to trial and error stuff), In fact I think the checkpoints are there as an excuse for shitty fake challenges, because if there was a save gap there wouldn't be an excuse to make stuff you'd die instantly if you didn't do well the first time.

You see the thing about The Evil Within is that it wants to be more of a horror game than it is an Action game. Which is somehow a flaw alright? I'll explain: as I've said before: It has a lot of bad horror gimmicks of the modern age which are just bad (the old gimmicks are bad too, the QTEs in this game are worse than Resident Evil 6 because they actually tire you). It makes a lot of the experience feel cheap. Having to do quick moments before checkpoints is lame, and I guess I'd let them guillotine the detective because I guess I'd do that to cops too. Really the whole fact that this is all happening because of the rich is a testament why not to pity them. The sprinting is also an example, when your health is low, you cannot sprint away from enemies so you are more likely to die because you can't dodge certain attacks, making a crucial movement optional is bad.

The burning system is a bit interesting when it's fun, but what person cannot hold more than 5 matches. Again a lot of the survival horror aspects feel forced, a lot of The Evil Within ends up feeling clunky, but hey! Some of the RE4 cool features are here: Like the flash (even if you can't kick the enemies), and the enemies reacting to where you aim (which in this case is a bit more annoying). Someone wanted this, someone wanted Mikami to make a shitty RE4 clone. But It seems today, that horror means: forced stealth segments and collecting cra-p, but where are those good old fashioned values, of which we used to relyyyyyyyy. Luckily there are MORE RE4 CLONES.

Oh and the resolution options suck for the PC version, it doesn't stretch to fit so I had to duct tape around my big monitor so that it didn't seem like a small screen in the middle (my PC couldn't run my full screen resolution because it's big so I just had to run it on 1000x600 or something I forgot).

Played the PC version on normal (nightmare and akumu difficulties are locked in the first gameplay) It runs well even in older hardware. I have an OK PC and never fell of 60 fps, except the first scene.

The Evil Within is a Survival Horror TPS which might reminds you of RE at first glance. Sadly I can not compare both games because I haven't played RE 4 :C

You play as Sebastian Castellanos, a detective who arrives at a mental hospital after a 911 call. You are in company of your partners Kidman and Joseph and well...things start to get crazy as soon as you enter the building.

Enemies:

They start as simple guys, nothing crazy, and as you progress, so the enemies. They start to have guns, dynamite, masks (so they can tank a HS). I do not want to spoil the rest of the enemies, it's part of the experience getting that surprise when you face that new enemy for the first time.

Stealth:

Since this is a survival horror, you cant go Rambo shooting everything that moves, so you need to use stealth if you don't wanna get out of ammo often. It has a good amount of stealth sections that are sometimes mandatory to be played in that way. Crounching, using bottles as distraction and sneak behind them and putting a knife in their heads.

Music:

For me it was ok, nothing crazy. It really fits the survival horror theme, but I don't think it can scare you. I actually can recall a single theme right now.

Bosses:

Probably my favorite aspect of the entire videogame. I really like the design of them, each strategy to kill them. They are relly fun, you get a feeling of satisfaction when you see them on the ground realizing that they are dead.

Stages:

The are really unique in each way. They go from a hospital, a cemetery, a church, even some catacombs and the city. Although the gray and red are the most predominant colors, so sometimes all might see a little plane and monotonous (in the colors palette, no the stage design itself)

Weapons:

You start the game with just a revolver, 6 bullets, nothing great, then you gain a shotgun, then a crossbow, a rifle and finally a magnum. If you preorder the game back in the day you also had a 2 barrel shotgun and special type of arrow for the crossbow. Each weapon can be upgraded in several fields in your main "hub".

HQ:

In order to save your game you need to travel to your "HQ". For that you need first to touch some element made of glass (a mirror, a window) then you respawn in you HQ in which you can save, grab some collectibles (sometimes), upgrade you weapon and your stats, and also unlocking items in a morgue.

Overall:

I had a blast playing this game from start to finish. It has little or even 0 scary parts, maybe some stressful one but nothing else. Give it a try if you like Survival horror and if you grab it on sale. It took me around 15 hours to beat it, so you can have an estimate