Resident Evil's mythology became a storytelling mess after five games, but The Evil Within managed to feel that way in a single one! Fortunately, you're free to ignore what's going on. Or even spend time studying the patterns of the enemies, lay proximity mines in their path, and watch the fireworks.Īll of that is to say that unlike its predecessor, The Evil Within 2 is a game about style, not constraint. Or draw the attention of enemies, load up your crossbow with shock arrows, and zap the horde that begins shambling towards you. Or eye a barrel spilling gas nearby, lighting it (and everything around it) on fire. Or you could distract them with a bottle, avoiding confrontation entirely. You could be quiet and patient, slowly stealth-killing everyone in the area. ![]() Gone are the cramped spaces of the original game, replaced with an opportunity to approach enemies in a variety of ways. While a handy radio will point you in the direction of side missions, most of the area is a giant unknown, meant to be be slowly picked apart, as you poke away at the dark. Outside the safe house is a sprawling environment. The moment you reach the game's first "safe house," where you can upgrade equipment and take a sip of coffee to refill your health, everything changes. It's your standard haunted house, with the player running through creepy hallways and wincing at noises coming around the corner. The first hour doesn't communicate what The Evil Within 2 is really up to. It's a game about creativity, rather than scarcity. The interface now tells you how alert enemies are to your presence, it's possible to run away and try a sequence again without loading an old save, and there's plenty of ammunition. What's different is The Evil Within 2 is much more forgiving and playful. From the outset, The Evil Within 2 looks like the same game: You're spending a lot of time in a crouched position, waiting to stab enemies in the head with your knife. In many ways, it was the first "true" survival horror game I'd played in years, but one that failed to give the player enough tools while sneaking around. They were a last resort, not your first option. The Evil Within was full of guns, but you had to be careful about using them. There was reason to have lowered expectations for The Evil Within 2, but in a twist worthy of a good horror film, the sequel is the game the original could have-should have-been. ![]() A frustrating trial-and-error approach, combined with a still-questionable decision to slap enormous widescreen borders on the screen "in the name of art" lead most people to pass on The Evil Within. ![]() The Evil Within was released nearly a decade later, but felt uncomfortably old. The Evil Within marked Shinji Mikami's return to survival horror, but it was a game that pretended little had changed since Mikami turned the genre on its head with Resident Evil 4 in 2005.
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