The Evil Within is a survival horror based third person shooter. In this game, you take on the role of a detective called to a crime scene. After investigating more into crime scene, a powerful, evil entity ambushes him.
Despite the fact that this game’s idea seems fantastic. The description backs the concept up, even boasting of what it offers with this quote. “The meaning of pure survival horror. Highly-crafted environments, horrifying anxiety, and an intricate story are combined to create an immersive world that will bring you to the height of tension.”
I was disappointed, because I went into this game expecting a dark, scary, unpleasant and terrifying game but this game doesn’t do this. When I started this game it began with an incredible and dark entrance that has a strong premise. However this game gets weaker over time. This game falls down very quickly as the first instance in game I had just dropped down from a hook. I was completely unarmed and I had to escape the clutches of a chainsaw wielding monster that had just captured me.
Then it dawned on me that this isn’t a revolutionary psychological horror game. This game isn’t unique and lacks its own game’s design to separate it from other games on the market. This game doesn’t try to do this and instead of trying something new. I think that the game borrows too much from other horror games. To me is like the developers have concluded to pick and mix from different horror games.
The game decides to start with Outlast as they then have little section at the beginning that is like outlast. In which you have to dodge the chainsaw wielding monster and hide in the lockers. Then the new section is like Resident Evil. As there is ammo you can grab and kill some monsters and then run when you run out of ammo. The game then uses a Last of Us style stealth system. In which you have to use stealth. But, you can use objects found, such bottles that can be hurled as a distraction, so that you can then escape. You can even burn bodies so that monster’s don’t attack you later.
That rinse and repeat is what The Evil Within is and it isn’t particularly inspiring or new. I also felt let down as it isn’t what the description had let on this game to be. Sure it has some moments where it is fun but I expected more from the game.
I also don’t like some aspects to the design of some of the mechanics. Mainly because it does make the game be frustrating. One design flaw in particular I have issue with is the invisible monsters. The invisible monsters that exist in game are one thing. However in game you doesn’t have any idea where they are, but they can attack you. The only times you see them is if either they attack you or if you get lucky and attack them. This can also be an issue on monsters/boss sections where the monster may/may not be visible. However in some instances they can finish you in one hit which is frustrating.
One design in particular I feel makes no sense that being the upgrade chair. This is a chair which uses the jars of brains in green slime found throughout the game. The chair is only accessible whenever you are having a flashback to the asylum. It is possible for you to sit on the chair. Doing so will allow you to pick an upgrade you want, provided you have enough slime. The chair electrically give you power ups and also upgrades your weapons. This doesn’t make much sense physically or in game as to why this is the case.
Also the game won’t tell you anything regarding your objectives. This is an issue if you have left a save game for a while, before returning to the game. Once you return to the game you will need to look it up or alternatively restart the game from scratch. Technically this game does have issues aside from the game design. The main issue I had is that there is a bug I had encountered that did send my game to a previous level. I had started chapter 6 in my save. However for whatever reason when I used a mirror to escape a flashback. The game placed me to back to chapter 5 on a previous save which I deleted days ago.
In the end I feel that this game, although it tried to provide a horror experience. This game does fall flat very quickly. I also wouldn’t recommend this game in general due to the bad design. Whilst I admit that it does have fun moments it is also a bit of mess. So I would only get it when it is on sale if you insist on playing this.
