The Evil Within 2

Once again we take control over Sebastian, with high expectations too. The first Evil Within was an ambiguous and scary game to play with a few things that could be better, most of the things have been improved but at the same time the game lost some identity too.  Anyway, no need to worry, you don’t have to link with other human minds in STEM to read this review, so go on.. it is safe!

THE GOOD

• Resident Evil has always been a great horror game but Silent Hill had that special scary setting. The Evil Within 2 has that same uncomfortable, mysterious and disturbing atmosphere. You never feel at ease or remotely safe. Some of the things you’ll see are straight out of a hellish nightmare that wake you up screaming out loud.
• Visually the dark filter from the first game is completely absent, while it is a shame that the coherency between the two games are gone the visual change is a welcome fact. The game is more vibrant and the scary set pieces work better.  Also gone is that shockingly annoying camera-view, now your game is using the full screen.
• Combat gameplay is day and night compared with the first Evil Within. You have a lot more options and the game isn’t afraid to force you to explore your options. Stealth is a huge gameplay feature that shouldn’t be taken lightly, ammunition is scarce and hard to find so taking out hideous deformed “humans” without wasting ammo is your top priority.  The game starts out slow, but more and more mechanics are introduced to survive the menace.
• You know that creepy feeling when all your hairs stand right up? You will have that exact feeling frequently, the reason? The fantastic sound and music, the strongest point from The Evil Within 2. The mix between classical music, creepy cracks and terrifying non-human sounds is really something.
• An enjoyable 18-20 hour single player game is pretty rare these days, developer Tango Gameworks didn’t take the lazy path.

MIXED FEELINGS

• Even if you played the first Evil Within the story can be a little much to understand. The current world, the STEM-world, it doesn’t really help that you join a serial killers mind, you can imagine the terrifying things that he think about. The storyline doesn’t really get exciting either, with some obvious plots and weak ending. It is pretty funny how bad Sebastian is with his job, he is a detective after all, but he never seems to figure out the correct questions to ask to finally get some answers.  Not all is bad though, the entire set-up is original and well-directed with some beautiful cut scenes.
• The main difference between the first and second Evil Within is the bigger open world. Previously you only had small corridors and not much reason to explore. That linear design is gone with the wind for this sequel. You now have big environments that you can freely explore to find side quests and items. Quests force you inside buildings so not all that linear scary stuff is gone but the change is noticeable. I’m not the biggest fan for open worlds, too many developers are taking this road and while I loved to explore Union (game world) there just isn’t much to find and experience.

THE BAD

• Performance on the Xbox One isn’t always perfect, I’m hoping that the Xbox One X version will run better but we’ll have to wait and see. When multiple enemies start attacking the frame rate takes a serious dip, at some points it even dropped below single digits. Unacceptable!

The Evil Within 2 is an excellent horror game with some lovely brutal moments and typical Silent Hill atmosphere. Tango Gameworks improved many things, so if you liked the first Evil Within you can completely invest your money with trust.