“The Evil Within 2,” the latest horror game and sequel to the 2014 video game “The Evil Within,” was developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks.
The original “Evil Within” was highly anticipated among horror game fans before its release. The game was developed by veteran horror developer Shinji Mikami, who has created some of the greatest horror games on the market. For example, Mikami established the “Resident Evil” franchise, and directed “Resident Evil 1,” “Resident Evil 4,” and “Resident Evil Remake;” this prestige created much hype around the game, especially among horror fans.
The game follows Sebastian Castellanos, a detective with a troubled past that involved him losing his daughter, as he investigates a mass murder in an asylum. As he examines the crime, he and his partners eventually get pulled into an unreal, dream-like world, which is ultimately revealed to be the result of a machine that allows multiple people to enter a one-person mind, called the STEM. The device is used by the antagonist, Ruvik, to reshape reality within his mind-world in an attempt to find a host to release him out into the real world. After Sebastian defeats Ruvik, he escapes from the STEM and sees Leslie, Ruvik’s intended host, walking away. In post-release downloadable content, it is revealed that one of Sebastian’s partners, Juli Kidman, was working for Mobius, a mysterious corporation that was behind the events of the game.
“The Evil Within 1” was evaluated as mediocre by critics, and received negatively by fans. The game had a confusing story with numerous amounts of stolen content from other games in the genre, such as “Resident Evil 4’s” chainsaw enemy and “Silent Hill’s” air-raid siren that signals a transition. The game also had mediocre gameplay, with too much emphasized on a particular weapon that players did not like, as well as a final boss that was merely a cinematic movie that played.
Perhaps the most significant issue with “The Evil Within,” however, was the massive amounts of bugs and glitches the game had at launch. For one group of Youtube personalities who played through the game on video, the game crashed four times while they were playing on PC, and then twice more when they switched to playing it on the PlayStation 4. In a world where “Resident Evil 4” is the mark for what a third person survival horror game should be, “The Evil Within 1” did not bring enough new content to the table, and ended up just coming off as a clone.
Despite the mediocrity of the first game, “The Evil Within 2” was still green lit and was announced at Bethesda’s E3 conference center stage, with a new director. Shinji Mikami stepped back as director and instead supervised the development of the game. The game’s announcement was accompanied by a five-minute trailer that looked quite promising which outlined the plot of the game revolving around the evil corporation, Mobius, from its predecessor, and Sebastian’s daughter being alive.
The game centers around Sebastian having to go back into the STEM system to save his daughter and answer questions regarding Mobius, such as why they kidnapped his daughter or where his wife disappeared to.
“The Evil Within 2” takes several of the complaints of the original game and fixes them. One example is that “The Evil Within 1” was too linear, with levels too sectioned off and as a result ruining the pacing of the game. In response, “The Evil Within 2” has a semi-open world game, with backtracking and puzzle solving that is very reminiscent of Mikami’s earlier “Resident Evil” works. The game also expands upon the lackluster crafting system that was in the first game, leading to more customization of your character and his abilities. Perhaps the largest improvement since the first game is the graphics, while the original “Evil Within” did not have poor graphics per say, they were not inventive or particularly exciting to look at. In response, the second game has a defined and captivating art style with even more interesting enemy designs.
Like the first game, “The Evil Within 2” is very similar to “Resident Evil 4.” It is an over the shoulder, third person, survival, horror game with some puzzles and limited ammunition for your firearms, causing you to pick your shots and your fights wisely. However, both games in “The Evil Within” series are very combat oriented; they have less of a focus on the survival and scrounging aspect and more of an emphasis on combat and action, much like the later games in the Resident Evil series.
In conclusion, “The Evil Within 2” is a slightly better attempt at recreating the magic Shinji Mikami captured with “Resident Evil 4.” While it still misses the mark and still lacks much originality, “The Evil Within 2” is a decent game to enter into the genre.
