ive always felt the first evil within represented a pitifully directed attempt at something of a horror anthology, mikamis mythic final shot at a title that cobbled together the familiar imagery of his deific body of work with over a dozen new and incohesive ideas that ended up fitting together about as well as a broken jigsaw puzzle. it's one of the rawest disappointments in the medium; its successor replaces the originals dim and misguided attempts to foster a thrilling, psychological weight with a riproaring extravaganza through shattered suburbia and dingy back-alleys infected with competing egos and the subconscious. it's a modern title that perfectly replicates the tone and thrust of classic resident evil's brand of stark horror and schmaltzy optimism; if that doesn't appeal to you, i understand, but it's such a treat in modern gaming to be able to actively and sincerely cheer for a protagonists relatively unambitious goals and his raimi-esque awakening to fearlessness. ends up asking some unique questions of its own, too - just a really memorable package overall, one that i feel is way too easy to dismiss for some. in narrative structure it unabashedly wears resident evil 4 on its sleeve, too, and this is primarily worth mentioning because it's one of the few derivatives with the confidence to stand on its own and to not have me questioning if i should abandon all further engagement to go and replay resident evil 4 instead. its gameplay loop overextends its warm welcome but it is a surprisingly taut title until that point, and the open-district form led to some stirring surprises. removing mikami from the helm seemed like this burgeoning franchise's death knell, but in this instance it's a strong argument for allowing new talent to step in and try their hand at the craft
"improves" on the more polarizing elements of the original by almost completely removing what it excelled at and made it so unique while having nothing special to offer of its own.
combat gameplay sees an almost universal downgrade from the original (even after some considerable skill upgrades) so it's nice that the AI is so braindead and you can stealth almost everything. when you can't it's probably tragic but at least you should have plenty of ammo if you've been stealthy or even avoiding combat like i was.
the varied grab bag of horrific settings and aesthetics is (mostly) thrown out for a bland town based hub with side quests, enemies that you won't want to bother with, and random shit everywhere. in the later chapters of the game things become more linear in addition to finally getting somewhere in terms of having standout visual design but then it's over.
new Sebastian is a bit of a bummer both in terms of voice over and characterization. the sad dad thing feels like the most boring possible thing to have done. whereas TEW1 felt like a breath of fresh air when it released, this was blatantly of its time. (and that time was a bit shit lmao)
not unplayable but a massive disappointment regardless.
combat gameplay sees an almost universal downgrade from the original (even after some considerable skill upgrades) so it's nice that the AI is so braindead and you can stealth almost everything. when you can't it's probably tragic but at least you should have plenty of ammo if you've been stealthy or even avoiding combat like i was.
the varied grab bag of horrific settings and aesthetics is (mostly) thrown out for a bland town based hub with side quests, enemies that you won't want to bother with, and random shit everywhere. in the later chapters of the game things become more linear in addition to finally getting somewhere in terms of having standout visual design but then it's over.
new Sebastian is a bit of a bummer both in terms of voice over and characterization. the sad dad thing feels like the most boring possible thing to have done. whereas TEW1 felt like a breath of fresh air when it released, this was blatantly of its time. (and that time was a bit shit lmao)
not unplayable but a massive disappointment regardless.
When i played this for the first time on release i thought that this games sequel won’t live up to the first game at all but im quite surprised it did it gets 4stars however due to the amount of stupid bullshit in the lead up to the final boss but probably one of the best survival horror games that balances itself out the psychological horror aspect at times
“Your death will be my art”
Stefano
“Your death will be my art”
Stefano
oof. well, i'd like to give it some more time before i decide how i feel about it, but the pc port is so poorly optimized and stuttery that i think i have to give this one a pass until i can pick it up on ps4 for cheap or something. first impressions, though? i made it about as far as meeting the first moebius dude at a safehouse, whereupon the game made it very clear that it was going for more of a tepid bethesda fallout + the last of us kind of thing than the first game's blistering survival horror madness. not so sure i'm into that. doesn't help that sebastian's voice actor is different and he has such a different look and vibe it's like a completely different character. same with kidman. like, i'd be down to play more and see what it has to offer, but... not like this. another time, perhaps. bummer.
I feel like I'm in crazy town when I see reviewers I'd normally agree with exude that they were massively disappointed by TEW1 but were pleasantly surprised with its sequel. As a fan of Sebastian Castellanos'(I'll never get over how rad that name is) first outing into the world of action horror I couldn't help but walk away from TEW2 feeling like I wasn't the target audience. While TEW2 brings back a number of elements from the first game, it also tries to distance itself from it. The story is barely related, the structure wildly different, and some of the original's biggest strengths have been left behind. I still mostly enjoyed my time with TEW2(enough to nab all the trophies on PS4) but was letdown by how conventional and safe a lot of it was. It's as if all the bite of the original game was removed and replaced with all the mechanics you'd expect from a modern, generic AAA game.
The first issue I have is the removal of the original's match mechanic. In TEW1 you could drop a match(a consumable resource) onto enemies/specific hazards and briefly light them on fire. This could be used to burn surrounding monsters if timed just right. It was a mechanic that admittedly wasn't conveyed terribly well to the player(a pretty frequent issue with the original) but was a fantastic risk/reward system. You had to kite enemies over to you and be ready to drop your match right as they got in your face. The reward was instant death against most foes. Not only was this feature removed in TEW2, but it was replaced with nothing. There was no reason to get rid of one of the first game's most unique and engaging mechanics unless the developers were afraid matches were too big-brained for the audience they were shooting for. Maybe they were right, but their absence makes for worse combat since you're rarely encouraged to make as many risky plays in TEW2. In general, there's less one-hit-kills, less surprises, and no traps, which were a staple of the first game. Both you and the enemies could set your own traps to lure each other into but this was another element missing in TEW2. I get the impression the developers at Tango saw how frustrated some players got with the original game and instead of deciding to better introduce and teach these mechanics, Tango decided to simply drop them. I guess it worked; critics I normally agree with didn't seem to mind their absence. Nevertheless, the absence of these core mechanics means TEW2's gameplay loses a lot of the original's identity.
Another trait of TEW1 was its linear structure. You'd go level-by-level and you're never given too much to explore. A lot of set pieces and special fights railroad you forward but you were still given some downtime on occasion thanks to mirrors that teleported you to an(mostly) abandoned hospital where you could upgrade your weapons and skills. The TEW2 has its share of linear sections but a lot of the game takes place in two open sandboxes of sorts. You're given optional things to find and quests to do. Some of the exploration in these larger, less contained areas is quite fun but the general combat suffers from them big time. TEW2 is possibly even buggier than the first game and the enemy AI is truly awful at path finding. You can get spotted, run away for a couple seconds, and the enemies will have completely lost interest in you. When they lose sight, enemies shamble back to their patrol route in the most robotic fashion possible, letting you very easily exploit the forgettable foes and dispatch them with stealth attacks. Speaking of stealth, that's something TEW2 leans a bit more into than the first game but it's still so surface level and is just like every other AAA game.
The biggest problem I have with the open world is how it affects the pacing. When exploring the open world bits, you'll be spending loads of time just navigating these large lands and fighting basic enemies that aren't placed in any special manner. There's usually not much to excite you outside of a few powerful enemies that roam these parts(but they can still be exploited with the poor AI, sadly). There are hideouts now where you can go to upgrade your tools and heal yourself up with a cup of coffee but you aren't often forced into these areas and your path forward doesn't often lead you to them so you can spend a substantial amount of time not visiting these spots, which makes the whole game feel like it both doesn't have enough action, but also not enough downtime. It all melds together into something middling.
Speaking of middling, the story really highlights the difference between TEW1 being directed by Shinji Mikami and TEW2 being directed by someone(John Johanas) who wanted to play things safe and do what the industry has already proven to work. I'm not saying TEW1 had a great narrative. It was messy and deliberately held information from the player for long stretches of the game. But hey, it was another thing TEW1 could call its own. TEW2 ignores a lot of the first game and focuses on Sabastian trying to find his daughter. Oh boy, another AAA game staring a sad, gruff dad. The story is more immediately digestible but not anymore intriguing or even really that emotional. The game starts with a scripted bit where you search your currently-on-fire house, trying to save your daughter and all I could do was roll my eyes. It's all just so played out. I'm sorry, TheGamingBrit, this isn't Silent Hill tier stuff.
Funnily enough, my favorite part of the game is the boss fight against Stefano. A lot of people seem to hate this boss and call it cheap but I thought it was a welcome challenge. The fight plays out like any good classic boss battle should. Stefano has attacks that are all given unique windup animations or even unique pieces of dialogue. When was the last time you in a western published AAA game where you had a genuine boss battle that said attack lines over and over to let you know what he was going to do next? I miss those days.
I can't really point fingers at anyone and tell them they're wrong for liking TEW2 more than the original. The sequel is a perfectly fine game and maybe some players just wanted something a bit more formulaic and less tense than the original. For me though, I just wish the game had a strong identity. It didn't even have to be just like the first game. It just needed to feel like a one-of-a-kind and memorable experience. I just don't think I got that and at this point I hope we don't get a 3rd game.
Bonus thing I couldn't fit into the review: The game's hardest difficulty at launch was one of those garbage modes where it plays just like the second-highest difficulty, expect you have extremely limited saves. This means if you die, you might get sent back multiple hours. I really loved the one-hit-kill Akumu difficulty in the first game because it meant you really had to master each section but the checkpoints were frequent enough that you weren't wasting loads of time with each death. This mode in TEW2 just feels like a tacky way to make something SEEM harder than it really is. Also, Sebastian got a slight redesign in this game and I think he looks way less cool and more generic. If you agree with that last point, tell me! Am I alone in this!?
The first issue I have is the removal of the original's match mechanic. In TEW1 you could drop a match(a consumable resource) onto enemies/specific hazards and briefly light them on fire. This could be used to burn surrounding monsters if timed just right. It was a mechanic that admittedly wasn't conveyed terribly well to the player(a pretty frequent issue with the original) but was a fantastic risk/reward system. You had to kite enemies over to you and be ready to drop your match right as they got in your face. The reward was instant death against most foes. Not only was this feature removed in TEW2, but it was replaced with nothing. There was no reason to get rid of one of the first game's most unique and engaging mechanics unless the developers were afraid matches were too big-brained for the audience they were shooting for. Maybe they were right, but their absence makes for worse combat since you're rarely encouraged to make as many risky plays in TEW2. In general, there's less one-hit-kills, less surprises, and no traps, which were a staple of the first game. Both you and the enemies could set your own traps to lure each other into but this was another element missing in TEW2. I get the impression the developers at Tango saw how frustrated some players got with the original game and instead of deciding to better introduce and teach these mechanics, Tango decided to simply drop them. I guess it worked; critics I normally agree with didn't seem to mind their absence. Nevertheless, the absence of these core mechanics means TEW2's gameplay loses a lot of the original's identity.
Another trait of TEW1 was its linear structure. You'd go level-by-level and you're never given too much to explore. A lot of set pieces and special fights railroad you forward but you were still given some downtime on occasion thanks to mirrors that teleported you to an(mostly) abandoned hospital where you could upgrade your weapons and skills. The TEW2 has its share of linear sections but a lot of the game takes place in two open sandboxes of sorts. You're given optional things to find and quests to do. Some of the exploration in these larger, less contained areas is quite fun but the general combat suffers from them big time. TEW2 is possibly even buggier than the first game and the enemy AI is truly awful at path finding. You can get spotted, run away for a couple seconds, and the enemies will have completely lost interest in you. When they lose sight, enemies shamble back to their patrol route in the most robotic fashion possible, letting you very easily exploit the forgettable foes and dispatch them with stealth attacks. Speaking of stealth, that's something TEW2 leans a bit more into than the first game but it's still so surface level and is just like every other AAA game.
The biggest problem I have with the open world is how it affects the pacing. When exploring the open world bits, you'll be spending loads of time just navigating these large lands and fighting basic enemies that aren't placed in any special manner. There's usually not much to excite you outside of a few powerful enemies that roam these parts(but they can still be exploited with the poor AI, sadly). There are hideouts now where you can go to upgrade your tools and heal yourself up with a cup of coffee but you aren't often forced into these areas and your path forward doesn't often lead you to them so you can spend a substantial amount of time not visiting these spots, which makes the whole game feel like it both doesn't have enough action, but also not enough downtime. It all melds together into something middling.
Speaking of middling, the story really highlights the difference between TEW1 being directed by Shinji Mikami and TEW2 being directed by someone(John Johanas) who wanted to play things safe and do what the industry has already proven to work. I'm not saying TEW1 had a great narrative. It was messy and deliberately held information from the player for long stretches of the game. But hey, it was another thing TEW1 could call its own. TEW2 ignores a lot of the first game and focuses on Sabastian trying to find his daughter. Oh boy, another AAA game staring a sad, gruff dad. The story is more immediately digestible but not anymore intriguing or even really that emotional. The game starts with a scripted bit where you search your currently-on-fire house, trying to save your daughter and all I could do was roll my eyes. It's all just so played out. I'm sorry, TheGamingBrit, this isn't Silent Hill tier stuff.
Funnily enough, my favorite part of the game is the boss fight against Stefano. A lot of people seem to hate this boss and call it cheap but I thought it was a welcome challenge. The fight plays out like any good classic boss battle should. Stefano has attacks that are all given unique windup animations or even unique pieces of dialogue. When was the last time you in a western published AAA game where you had a genuine boss battle that said attack lines over and over to let you know what he was going to do next? I miss those days.
I can't really point fingers at anyone and tell them they're wrong for liking TEW2 more than the original. The sequel is a perfectly fine game and maybe some players just wanted something a bit more formulaic and less tense than the original. For me though, I just wish the game had a strong identity. It didn't even have to be just like the first game. It just needed to feel like a one-of-a-kind and memorable experience. I just don't think I got that and at this point I hope we don't get a 3rd game.
Bonus thing I couldn't fit into the review: The game's hardest difficulty at launch was one of those garbage modes where it plays just like the second-highest difficulty, expect you have extremely limited saves. This means if you die, you might get sent back multiple hours. I really loved the one-hit-kill Akumu difficulty in the first game because it meant you really had to master each section but the checkpoints were frequent enough that you weren't wasting loads of time with each death. This mode in TEW2 just feels like a tacky way to make something SEEM harder than it really is. Also, Sebastian got a slight redesign in this game and I think he looks way less cool and more generic. If you agree with that last point, tell me! Am I alone in this!?
if stefano stayed as the main villain, i'd give it 5*
shamelessly under-watched game. Cool bosses, an interesting mix of semi-open world and linear missions. Cool combat and stealth. TEW2 and RE7/8 probably some of the best horror games out there in recent years (ignoring re2 and re3 remakes)
The Evil Within 2 aparenta ser inferior ao primeiro, mas ao longo de suas horas de gameplay, prova-se honroso ao seu antecessor.
Confesso que mais para o começo do jogo, não estava gostando tanto dele e estava meio receoso com seu sistema de mundo aberto. Mas depois de algumas horas de gameplay, me imergi na obra e tive uma ótima experiência.
Muitos aspectos do primeiro jogo ainda estão presentes aqui, e muitos de uma forma melhorada, como o novo e ótimo sistema de crafting.
A história não fica nem um pouco para trás, continua simplesmente espetacular !
O jogo foca bem em tudo que o protagonista passou, trabalhando bem seus medos, traumas, culpas, e etc...
A obra continua difícil como sempre, mas novamente de uma forma relativamente justa.
Muitos novos personagens foram introduzidos e alguns muito bem trabalhados, e os vilões e monstros continuam assustadores e marcantes.
Muitos outros bugs estão presentes agora, mas não são o suficiente para estragar a experiência que o jogo proporciona.
Ah, e antes que eu me esqueça: QUE CAPÍTULO FINAL FOI ESSE ???? FOI LINDO !
Resumidamente, se você gostou do primeiro jogo, no começo você pode ficar meio relutante em jogar esse, mas vai fundo e se satisfaça com essa ótima obra.
Confesso que mais para o começo do jogo, não estava gostando tanto dele e estava meio receoso com seu sistema de mundo aberto. Mas depois de algumas horas de gameplay, me imergi na obra e tive uma ótima experiência.
Muitos aspectos do primeiro jogo ainda estão presentes aqui, e muitos de uma forma melhorada, como o novo e ótimo sistema de crafting.
A história não fica nem um pouco para trás, continua simplesmente espetacular !
O jogo foca bem em tudo que o protagonista passou, trabalhando bem seus medos, traumas, culpas, e etc...
A obra continua difícil como sempre, mas novamente de uma forma relativamente justa.
Muitos novos personagens foram introduzidos e alguns muito bem trabalhados, e os vilões e monstros continuam assustadores e marcantes.
Muitos outros bugs estão presentes agora, mas não são o suficiente para estragar a experiência que o jogo proporciona.
Ah, e antes que eu me esqueça: QUE CAPÍTULO FINAL FOI ESSE ???? FOI LINDO !
Resumidamente, se você gostou do primeiro jogo, no começo você pode ficar meio relutante em jogar esse, mas vai fundo e se satisfaça com essa ótima obra.
Wow... I'm actually speechless by how good this game was. Going from a game that I nearly hated completely to something ALMOST perfect.
They improved upon everything from the first game. Combat is far more polished and satisfying, superior visuals, far less linear and most important of all: The story is very strong here. While not as dark or grimy as the first game, it still delivers in offering a pretty strong psychological and surreal experience.
Aside from how nicely directed the cutscenes are, the cast feel like actual characters now. I really cared about Sebastian in this one, compared to how much of a husk he was in the first one. Even supporting characters like Kidman, Myra and Alpha Team are pretty interesting in their own ways and made me root for them to make it to the end.
The villains could've been better developed but they're all pretty entertaining to watch at least, Stefano being the main highlight. By the way, did you know he's a tumblr sexyman? You'll only find art of him in the game's tag. lol
If I have any complaints... The game can be glitchy as heck. Kinda led to a couple of deaths or immersion breaking moments while playing. The game is also not particularly difficult in the normal difficulty once you start getting upgrades and is also pretty forgiving on giving you ammo. And worst of all: Playing the first game + DLCs feel required for understanding this game's story. Good luck with that shit! At least you'll have a good payoff for when you get to this one.
What an incredible action horror game, honestly. We better get a third game someday.
They improved upon everything from the first game. Combat is far more polished and satisfying, superior visuals, far less linear and most important of all: The story is very strong here. While not as dark or grimy as the first game, it still delivers in offering a pretty strong psychological and surreal experience.
Aside from how nicely directed the cutscenes are, the cast feel like actual characters now. I really cared about Sebastian in this one, compared to how much of a husk he was in the first one. Even supporting characters like Kidman, Myra and Alpha Team are pretty interesting in their own ways and made me root for them to make it to the end.
The villains could've been better developed but they're all pretty entertaining to watch at least, Stefano being the main highlight. By the way, did you know he's a tumblr sexyman? You'll only find art of him in the game's tag. lol
If I have any complaints... The game can be glitchy as heck. Kinda led to a couple of deaths or immersion breaking moments while playing. The game is also not particularly difficult in the normal difficulty once you start getting upgrades and is also pretty forgiving on giving you ammo. And worst of all: Playing the first game + DLCs feel required for understanding this game's story. Good luck with that shit! At least you'll have a good payoff for when you get to this one.
What an incredible action horror game, honestly. We better get a third game someday.
A lot of dumb zombie bullshit for what amounts to the custody battle for the ages! Anyways, so much of this contains strong, superficially creative threads but overall lacks the off-kilter direction and wonky tone that defined the unforgettable unpredictability of the previous entry; despite its detrimental flaws that is. However this sequel definitely feels like an attempt to gradually parse out the downright inscrutability of the first while remaining accessible enough for the masses. It is actually quite successful at that for the most part as it adopts a uniquely open world survival horror mold. It is unfortunate that much of the material that fills this mold is more of the same shit you see in most other AAA titles, but that this tries something bold from the get is interesting. Its linear portions are propulsive and slowly progressing through the open areas had its rewards. Its a shame that this gameplay loop runs its course by the midway point (you'll know exactly when lol) and by then you still have at least another eight hours of story to trudge through. This beast is just entirely too long. All in all though it remains a AAA horror blockbuster devoted to actual ideas and character development and world building so for me, that is enough to warrant a single playthrough even if it relies too much on this bland functionality over the radical artistry of the first. I doubt I'll ponder on it much after a few days but I'd recommend it to those that need something competently creepy and gratifying but unlike its predecessor, not completely oppressive and unapproachable. It's a fun time waster.
Less consistently scary, but more fun, both in its stealth and shooting.
Yet I found myself missing the highs of fear from the first one or the constant dread I felt walking down the unpredictable villages, city streets, and hospitals of the first game.
The story manages to somehow be even hammier than the first one, but I can’t deny that as a parent the start of the game really worked for me - running into a burning building, knowing I’d die trying to save her, I thought, if it was my kid yelling for her daddy to help, I would to it instantly, fuck all my chances of survival. And while the finale of the game felt mechanically lackluster (especially the shooting gallery parts), as a parent and married, I found it touching and my love for Sebastian, the protagonist, was higher than ever before seeing the way he carried his daughter. And to think I actually missed the moody serious Sebastian from the previous game at first.
Some of the story stuff about overcoming grief and understanding that you are not at fault for things that you didn’t have any power over is also pretty good. And this time it also didn't take 6 hours for the game to finally start explaining something or giving you a proper goal.
Everything with the administrator is whacked though (and what is it with his animations? What is he doing with his hands all the time? Why? Nobody gesticulates like that). And I kinda low-key hated where the story went with most of the side-characters, thinking “fucking bullshit” more than once.
But I did like Union the city, even though I think it doesn’t do enough to stand out as a memorable video game place. There were some moments though where I had the same kind of nostalgic-for-stereotypical-life-from-the-movies feeling that so heavily pervaded my experience of Control (even though covid isolation has long since ended in my country), but the downside of the stealth and open maps is that the rules governing the enemy AI become more clear and the game itself through that feels safer. A horror game is less effective with its horror when it’s approached as just a set of mechanics and rules meant to create an experience. You’re supposed to fear the monsters, not think how juking them in unrealistic ways can allow you to backstab the whole gang without wasting any ammo.
Ultimately it’s this gaminess that proved to undermine the game for me. As the end was approaching, I was ready to be done with it, so facing another small area with a new enemy filled me with dread not for the monsters, but the boredom. There’s not enough ammunition to really enjoy it as an action game (at least not on Nightmare) so you’re forced to mess around with the AI in silly ways to succeed.
Crafting is another part of the game where I appreciate them trying something new, but with it is also gone the precise balance of ammunition from the first game where you always had too little to feel good but enough to survive that made it feel so great and added to the constant dread. Here there are times when I had to scavenge around before I could do sidequests because I just didn’t have enough ammunition to survive them; and bosses take so long that they have to magically keep refilling ammo drops for you to be able to survive.
I still enjoyed the game and coupled with the first Evil Within (which is in many ways a very different game, in some ways worse and in others better) I quite like this series. I’m both sad that there’s no third Evil Within, but also glad that poor Sebastian didn’t have to return to this hell again.
Yet I found myself missing the highs of fear from the first one or the constant dread I felt walking down the unpredictable villages, city streets, and hospitals of the first game.
The story manages to somehow be even hammier than the first one, but I can’t deny that as a parent the start of the game really worked for me - running into a burning building, knowing I’d die trying to save her, I thought, if it was my kid yelling for her daddy to help, I would to it instantly, fuck all my chances of survival. And while the finale of the game felt mechanically lackluster (especially the shooting gallery parts), as a parent and married, I found it touching and my love for Sebastian, the protagonist, was higher than ever before seeing the way he carried his daughter. And to think I actually missed the moody serious Sebastian from the previous game at first.
Some of the story stuff about overcoming grief and understanding that you are not at fault for things that you didn’t have any power over is also pretty good. And this time it also didn't take 6 hours for the game to finally start explaining something or giving you a proper goal.
Everything with the administrator is whacked though (and what is it with his animations? What is he doing with his hands all the time? Why? Nobody gesticulates like that). And I kinda low-key hated where the story went with most of the side-characters, thinking “fucking bullshit” more than once.
But I did like Union the city, even though I think it doesn’t do enough to stand out as a memorable video game place. There were some moments though where I had the same kind of nostalgic-for-stereotypical-life-from-the-movies feeling that so heavily pervaded my experience of Control (even though covid isolation has long since ended in my country), but the downside of the stealth and open maps is that the rules governing the enemy AI become more clear and the game itself through that feels safer. A horror game is less effective with its horror when it’s approached as just a set of mechanics and rules meant to create an experience. You’re supposed to fear the monsters, not think how juking them in unrealistic ways can allow you to backstab the whole gang without wasting any ammo.
Ultimately it’s this gaminess that proved to undermine the game for me. As the end was approaching, I was ready to be done with it, so facing another small area with a new enemy filled me with dread not for the monsters, but the boredom. There’s not enough ammunition to really enjoy it as an action game (at least not on Nightmare) so you’re forced to mess around with the AI in silly ways to succeed.
Crafting is another part of the game where I appreciate them trying something new, but with it is also gone the precise balance of ammunition from the first game where you always had too little to feel good but enough to survive that made it feel so great and added to the constant dread. Here there are times when I had to scavenge around before I could do sidequests because I just didn’t have enough ammunition to survive them; and bosses take so long that they have to magically keep refilling ammo drops for you to be able to survive.
I still enjoyed the game and coupled with the first Evil Within (which is in many ways a very different game, in some ways worse and in others better) I quite like this series. I’m both sad that there’s no third Evil Within, but also glad that poor Sebastian didn’t have to return to this hell again.
This review contains spoilers
A lot of people online went on about how this was better than the first game in every way, and I can't help but feel the opposite.
Before I get into my issues though, I'll say that I DID enjoy this game, albeit for different reasons than the first. I liked the more open-ended nature of the game, both in terms of the overworld map design, and in how you can approach enemies. Encounters in general give you a good amount of leeway between going aggressive, stealthy, and evasion, with that philosophy being extended to some bosses like the Guardian, who's able to be skipped altogether. Stealth also being built upon was also much appreciated, and now it actually feels like it has more of a seat at the table, mechanically speaking. It definitely ended up being one of my favoured approaches.
The more focused, and personal story also definitely had its moments. I did get reasonably invested in Sebastian himself, and generally enjoyed seeing him change from a miserable alcoholic, back into the father he used to be before the events of the first game, though I miss his old VA.
With all that being said, I thought that this game was overall a lot more generic than the first. First way that's the case is in the art direction, which I'm not the first to point out. I really don't think they used STEM to its full potential the way they did with the previous game; The setting is largely just an ordinary town that while sure, is broken up and floating on multiple islands, isn't itself all that strange, or twisted, outside the final chapters of the game. I think there was some missed potential for seeing the town either gradually become stranger over time as opposed to just it abruptly being set aflame, and then being made completely desolate. And even when the game decides to go for a less grounded style in its levels, like Theodore's tower, or the theater, I don't think it stacks up to the first. But there are some moments where the art direction pops off pretty hard, like at the end of this one sidequest, where you see a ghost(?) of Stefano capping some dude in the head, and right as he fires, it cuts back to our "reality" where the dude is just getting blasted in the head on repeat.
In addition, I think the story of the game isn't particularly good either, even if it IS more focused. Now don't get me wrong, the first game's writing was also pretty bad, but this game's bad writing is bad for different, less entertaining reasons. A huge aspect of what made the first game's bad writing so much fun was how it seemed like none of the characters gave a shit about what was happening to them despite how utterly insane the setting was. Now, we just have poorly acted and written melodrama about Sebastian's wife and kid. Don't even get me started on some of the plot choices; Like, Lilly was found, and kidnapped by Mobius, because her standardized test scores were just that high? What? Also not a fan of how this game handles its villains: Stefano just dies halfway through, revealing he was working for this other, less interesting dude, and then less interesting dude gets murked, and then the final fight is with Myra gone insane, and meanwhile, there's the greater-scope villain, the Administrator, who shows up at the beginning, and at the end just to get killed.
And this is the part where I think people will disagree with me the most, but I also think the gameplay of TEW2 is a step back from the first, despite it building on stealth, and the attempts at more open-ended encounter design. A lot of the interesting mechanics from the first are excised altogether, or heavily pared down. Most obvious of which being the removal of matches.
Matches were a huge part of the risk-reward dynamic that made the first game so much fun, and instead, now we have the stomp, which I think is a vastly inferior mechanic. Let me elaborate a bit on what made the match system so interesting: First off, it was a limited resource where you actually had to weigh up whether it was worth using in a given encounter. Second, matches were not just for finishing off fallen enemies, but also for instantly killing attacking enemies very close by. So if you were willing to risk having enemies get close to you, you could use a single match to wipe out several enemies at once with minimal use of ammo. But if you screwed up and mistimed it, you would either waste a match, and/or get hit, possibly (Or definitely, on Akumu) dying.
Stomping, on the other hand, takes none of your resources (Not even something like stamina, which I think would've made some sense), and ONLY works on enemies who have fallen over already. The risk-reward dynamic that came from matches is gone. And sure, I've seen in-universe justifications for this with stuff like "Fire isn't a weakness of Lilly in the same way it is of Ruvik". Even taking this at word, I think that's an extremely strange decision at best considering how much of a role fire plays in this game's storyline, but that's not really my point. The point is that I think the new mechanics are less interesting than the first game's.
In addition, there are WAY less traps than in the first game; As far as I remember, there's only the explosive red barrels/fallen cars, and oil puddles. I get that the traps were frustrating for a lot of people, but again, it's another decision that heavily weakens the risk-reward dynamics from the first game, and really cuts down on the interesting environmental interactions.
And stealth, which while I appreciate being more fleshed out upon, is completely overpowered, especially when you have the upgrades that let you run over to a dude, and instantly kill them from a distances, and the one where you can kill enemies while in cover. Not to mention that enemies give up looking for you pretty quickly. Given my previous two points, you can probably predict what I have to say about that, at this point.
What else? Oh yeah, critical hits and enemy design. Critical hits are no longer insta-kills on headshot, which is already a pretty hefty nerf, but the enemy design makes them even worse, since enemies erratically jitter around in ways that makes it way more difficult to shoot at them with any sort of precision, making critical hits feel pretty much worthless.
I'll say this: For whatever criticisms I have of this game, I still enjoyed myself. At the end of the day, it's fun to throw a shock bolt into a crowd, and then run up and stomp on everyone's heads. It's fun to sneak up behind enemies, barrel at them full tilt, and then pounce on them with a knife to the neck. It's fun to get up in enemy's faces, and smash their skulls with an axe. I can appreciate the attempt at more accessible, open-ended gameplay, but it's not the type of fun that really makes me want to revisit the game from the same angle, or in the same way as The Evil Within 1 with what it removes and changes.
Before I get into my issues though, I'll say that I DID enjoy this game, albeit for different reasons than the first. I liked the more open-ended nature of the game, both in terms of the overworld map design, and in how you can approach enemies. Encounters in general give you a good amount of leeway between going aggressive, stealthy, and evasion, with that philosophy being extended to some bosses like the Guardian, who's able to be skipped altogether. Stealth also being built upon was also much appreciated, and now it actually feels like it has more of a seat at the table, mechanically speaking. It definitely ended up being one of my favoured approaches.
The more focused, and personal story also definitely had its moments. I did get reasonably invested in Sebastian himself, and generally enjoyed seeing him change from a miserable alcoholic, back into the father he used to be before the events of the first game, though I miss his old VA.
With all that being said, I thought that this game was overall a lot more generic than the first. First way that's the case is in the art direction, which I'm not the first to point out. I really don't think they used STEM to its full potential the way they did with the previous game; The setting is largely just an ordinary town that while sure, is broken up and floating on multiple islands, isn't itself all that strange, or twisted, outside the final chapters of the game. I think there was some missed potential for seeing the town either gradually become stranger over time as opposed to just it abruptly being set aflame, and then being made completely desolate. And even when the game decides to go for a less grounded style in its levels, like Theodore's tower, or the theater, I don't think it stacks up to the first. But there are some moments where the art direction pops off pretty hard, like at the end of this one sidequest, where you see a ghost(?) of Stefano capping some dude in the head, and right as he fires, it cuts back to our "reality" where the dude is just getting blasted in the head on repeat.
In addition, I think the story of the game isn't particularly good either, even if it IS more focused. Now don't get me wrong, the first game's writing was also pretty bad, but this game's bad writing is bad for different, less entertaining reasons. A huge aspect of what made the first game's bad writing so much fun was how it seemed like none of the characters gave a shit about what was happening to them despite how utterly insane the setting was. Now, we just have poorly acted and written melodrama about Sebastian's wife and kid. Don't even get me started on some of the plot choices; Like, Lilly was found, and kidnapped by Mobius, because her standardized test scores were just that high? What? Also not a fan of how this game handles its villains: Stefano just dies halfway through, revealing he was working for this other, less interesting dude, and then less interesting dude gets murked, and then the final fight is with Myra gone insane, and meanwhile, there's the greater-scope villain, the Administrator, who shows up at the beginning, and at the end just to get killed.
And this is the part where I think people will disagree with me the most, but I also think the gameplay of TEW2 is a step back from the first, despite it building on stealth, and the attempts at more open-ended encounter design. A lot of the interesting mechanics from the first are excised altogether, or heavily pared down. Most obvious of which being the removal of matches.
Matches were a huge part of the risk-reward dynamic that made the first game so much fun, and instead, now we have the stomp, which I think is a vastly inferior mechanic. Let me elaborate a bit on what made the match system so interesting: First off, it was a limited resource where you actually had to weigh up whether it was worth using in a given encounter. Second, matches were not just for finishing off fallen enemies, but also for instantly killing attacking enemies very close by. So if you were willing to risk having enemies get close to you, you could use a single match to wipe out several enemies at once with minimal use of ammo. But if you screwed up and mistimed it, you would either waste a match, and/or get hit, possibly (Or definitely, on Akumu) dying.
Stomping, on the other hand, takes none of your resources (Not even something like stamina, which I think would've made some sense), and ONLY works on enemies who have fallen over already. The risk-reward dynamic that came from matches is gone. And sure, I've seen in-universe justifications for this with stuff like "Fire isn't a weakness of Lilly in the same way it is of Ruvik". Even taking this at word, I think that's an extremely strange decision at best considering how much of a role fire plays in this game's storyline, but that's not really my point. The point is that I think the new mechanics are less interesting than the first game's.
In addition, there are WAY less traps than in the first game; As far as I remember, there's only the explosive red barrels/fallen cars, and oil puddles. I get that the traps were frustrating for a lot of people, but again, it's another decision that heavily weakens the risk-reward dynamics from the first game, and really cuts down on the interesting environmental interactions.
And stealth, which while I appreciate being more fleshed out upon, is completely overpowered, especially when you have the upgrades that let you run over to a dude, and instantly kill them from a distances, and the one where you can kill enemies while in cover. Not to mention that enemies give up looking for you pretty quickly. Given my previous two points, you can probably predict what I have to say about that, at this point.
What else? Oh yeah, critical hits and enemy design. Critical hits are no longer insta-kills on headshot, which is already a pretty hefty nerf, but the enemy design makes them even worse, since enemies erratically jitter around in ways that makes it way more difficult to shoot at them with any sort of precision, making critical hits feel pretty much worthless.
I'll say this: For whatever criticisms I have of this game, I still enjoyed myself. At the end of the day, it's fun to throw a shock bolt into a crowd, and then run up and stomp on everyone's heads. It's fun to sneak up behind enemies, barrel at them full tilt, and then pounce on them with a knife to the neck. It's fun to get up in enemy's faces, and smash their skulls with an axe. I can appreciate the attempt at more accessible, open-ended gameplay, but it's not the type of fun that really makes me want to revisit the game from the same angle, or in the same way as The Evil Within 1 with what it removes and changes.
Hugely disappointing follow-up to the original game. Of course, maybe it shouldn't have been knowing Mikami was replaced as director, and the lead concept artist, Ikumi Nakamura, was completely absent from this project as well.
From the cornball story, to the horrible voice-acting, to the complete lack of a grimy atmosphere, to those canned animation dialogues that look ripped out of a Tony Hawk game, to the horrid enemy designs, depression hit me like a bucket of water fairly early into the game . . . and that bucket kept refilling.
The gameplay is overall fine, but the structure and design of the open world (if you want to call it that) is awful. I can tell they're trying to go for a really actiony Silent Hill 1 vibe, but it doesn't work for me at all. Exploring the town is very uninteresting, and the nonlinearity only harmed the pace.
Overall, I think the biggest misstep was trying to emphasize on the characterizations, which a lot of sequels fall into. The world never felt like a daunting mystery, but harassment from the villains that feel more appropriate for Goosebumps fodder.
From the cornball story, to the horrible voice-acting, to the complete lack of a grimy atmosphere, to those canned animation dialogues that look ripped out of a Tony Hawk game, to the horrid enemy designs, depression hit me like a bucket of water fairly early into the game . . . and that bucket kept refilling.
The gameplay is overall fine, but the structure and design of the open world (if you want to call it that) is awful. I can tell they're trying to go for a really actiony Silent Hill 1 vibe, but it doesn't work for me at all. Exploring the town is very uninteresting, and the nonlinearity only harmed the pace.
Overall, I think the biggest misstep was trying to emphasize on the characterizations, which a lot of sequels fall into. The world never felt like a daunting mystery, but harassment from the villains that feel more appropriate for Goosebumps fodder.
A game that fixes everything the first game got wrong!
The Evil Within 2, much like the first game is spiritually but not literally a spinoff of the Resident Evil franchise. This franchise was made by one of the original creators of the older RE games, Shinji Makami and the first game played much like RE4 with a bunch of references to the original games of that series. Evil Within 2 breaks away from that leash with still some references to RE for sure but stands strong as its own unique game while also fixing a lot of the errors the first game had.
Gameplay: This is a 3rd person survival horror game with stealth mechanics, and now an open world. At the time this game was released RE didn’t have any open world games like the new RE4 remake or RE Village so I guess you could say they weren’t much alike before but certainly are now. This game takes place in a dream world so a lot of the creatures you fight are nightmare fuel monsters and enemies, a lot of which call back to RE in many ways. You play as a detective so almost all of your weapons are standard pistols, shotguns and snipers and some melee weapons. The enemies in this game have changed a lot from the first with a lot more variety in enemy types like fire types, sub bosses, flame thrower enemies’ creatures that move fast or spit acid on you with some of them having unique mechanics and styles. The gameplay controls are extremely better than the first game with Sebastain feeling much easier to control and maneuver obstacles. With this game being an open world, you can backtrack to different areas and find collectibles and meet NPCs to get side quests from. The NPC interactions feels like average Bethesda which can come off as cheap if you are someone who doesn’t like those style of games like Fallout or Skyrim but overall, it doesn’t feel much like any of those games and is only really present with certain mechanics. You still have a hub area you upgrade, save and see collectibles at just like the first game but this time with it being a police station. The same nurse lady from EW1 is present here (why or how? Who knows) and you still use the electric chair to upgrade with green gel, the weapon and upgrade variety is significantly better in this game as well.
Graphics, Voice acting & Music: Visually this game looks great and has some really interesting level designs that really captures the idea of a dream world. The color pallet still has a lot of greys, blacks and reds, like the first game but this time around a lot more color and vibrancy here while EW1 felt a bit too black and white at times. The music and ambient themes here are all just as great as EW1 was with again, a cool opening song, this time being a spooky rock cover of “Ordinary World” by Duran Duran. The biggest let down with this game is honestly the voice acting, the original cast of Evil Within 1 didn’t return because of a voice acting strike that was going on that year, so everyone sounds very different and its almost unsettling especially Sebastian’s voice being the most different.
Story/minor Spoilers: So, the story was a place where a lot of people had criticism for the first instalment, EW1 following the idea that you are in the mind and collective nightmare of a serial killer and trying to escape while also grappling an “RE4 Ada” side conspiracy with a vague ending. Evil Within 2 fixes this problem and makes a pretty simple and straight forward story about Sebastain trying to save his daughter, I wont say much more than that because this story is actually fairly engaging and if you did play the first game and its DLC this games story will definitely have a bigger impact on you (even though the first one is a clunky convoluted mess I still highly recommend it before this one, especially the DLCs) but if you haven’t played the first game, this game still holds on its own pretty well. Speaking of the first game, I have to say EW2 wasn’t nearly as scary as EW1 was for me, there was something about the atmosphere, gore and dark story elements that really made the first game feel disturbing. Of course, this game has some great horror enemies and moments, but I didn’t feel like this one held up as good as 1 did with some horror aspects but don’t get me wrong it’s still a great horror game regardless. This game also brings up some left-over mysteries about the EW universe and a potential sequel and I sure do hope we get at least one more to finish this trilogy but considering no one played this game (it seemed like no one was playing horror games that year) I highly doubt we will see a part 3 anytime soon,; too bad because this one is pretty great.
Overall: 9/10
The Evil Within 2, much like the first game is spiritually but not literally a spinoff of the Resident Evil franchise. This franchise was made by one of the original creators of the older RE games, Shinji Makami and the first game played much like RE4 with a bunch of references to the original games of that series. Evil Within 2 breaks away from that leash with still some references to RE for sure but stands strong as its own unique game while also fixing a lot of the errors the first game had.
Gameplay: This is a 3rd person survival horror game with stealth mechanics, and now an open world. At the time this game was released RE didn’t have any open world games like the new RE4 remake or RE Village so I guess you could say they weren’t much alike before but certainly are now. This game takes place in a dream world so a lot of the creatures you fight are nightmare fuel monsters and enemies, a lot of which call back to RE in many ways. You play as a detective so almost all of your weapons are standard pistols, shotguns and snipers and some melee weapons. The enemies in this game have changed a lot from the first with a lot more variety in enemy types like fire types, sub bosses, flame thrower enemies’ creatures that move fast or spit acid on you with some of them having unique mechanics and styles. The gameplay controls are extremely better than the first game with Sebastain feeling much easier to control and maneuver obstacles. With this game being an open world, you can backtrack to different areas and find collectibles and meet NPCs to get side quests from. The NPC interactions feels like average Bethesda which can come off as cheap if you are someone who doesn’t like those style of games like Fallout or Skyrim but overall, it doesn’t feel much like any of those games and is only really present with certain mechanics. You still have a hub area you upgrade, save and see collectibles at just like the first game but this time with it being a police station. The same nurse lady from EW1 is present here (why or how? Who knows) and you still use the electric chair to upgrade with green gel, the weapon and upgrade variety is significantly better in this game as well.
Graphics, Voice acting & Music: Visually this game looks great and has some really interesting level designs that really captures the idea of a dream world. The color pallet still has a lot of greys, blacks and reds, like the first game but this time around a lot more color and vibrancy here while EW1 felt a bit too black and white at times. The music and ambient themes here are all just as great as EW1 was with again, a cool opening song, this time being a spooky rock cover of “Ordinary World” by Duran Duran. The biggest let down with this game is honestly the voice acting, the original cast of Evil Within 1 didn’t return because of a voice acting strike that was going on that year, so everyone sounds very different and its almost unsettling especially Sebastian’s voice being the most different.
Story/minor Spoilers: So, the story was a place where a lot of people had criticism for the first instalment, EW1 following the idea that you are in the mind and collective nightmare of a serial killer and trying to escape while also grappling an “RE4 Ada” side conspiracy with a vague ending. Evil Within 2 fixes this problem and makes a pretty simple and straight forward story about Sebastain trying to save his daughter, I wont say much more than that because this story is actually fairly engaging and if you did play the first game and its DLC this games story will definitely have a bigger impact on you (even though the first one is a clunky convoluted mess I still highly recommend it before this one, especially the DLCs) but if you haven’t played the first game, this game still holds on its own pretty well. Speaking of the first game, I have to say EW2 wasn’t nearly as scary as EW1 was for me, there was something about the atmosphere, gore and dark story elements that really made the first game feel disturbing. Of course, this game has some great horror enemies and moments, but I didn’t feel like this one held up as good as 1 did with some horror aspects but don’t get me wrong it’s still a great horror game regardless. This game also brings up some left-over mysteries about the EW universe and a potential sequel and I sure do hope we get at least one more to finish this trilogy but considering no one played this game (it seemed like no one was playing horror games that year) I highly doubt we will see a part 3 anytime soon,; too bad because this one is pretty great.
Overall: 9/10
A horrifying adventure through a not-so-ordinary world via the mind. Fun gameplay and creepy monsters.
The true Resident Evil 8
Another game that deserved way better. If you played the first game but not this one, just play it. It's an amazing survival horror game that completely improved Sebastian's character. The partial open world aspect of the gameplay is also really fun to play around.
Every game in this genre needs the part where protagonists gets fed up with all this stanky horror shit and just goes full Ash Carbide on villains and monsters
“the first game is better” pleb filter
real talk tho its pretty interesting that i actually ended up enjoying this one as much as i did since it actually seems to be one very controversial sequel to the first game now i liked the first game i didnt think it was a masterpiece neither some junk it was a fun experience altogether with some pretty interesting storybeats here and there and an elite gameplay route sure when you play it you realise everything is held back with duck tape and the best thing in the game is staring at sebastian being hot
that being said a lot of people hated this installment in the series for the stupid reason that is: the series got shall i say AAA-ed which is a word that makes no sense and I just made it up but its pretty funny looking its just like elon musks son yknow xanax something so i was saying the entire experience got overhauled and streamlined the game has the same structure as base skeleton but it actually “improves” on different things like the weird uncohesiveness of the original game and the huge amount of times youre gonna die due to the fuck ton of traps and gimmicky segments but then it also updated a lot of what made the combat as good as it was and they actually made the entire experience more cohesive both in the gameplay department AND in the story department and even better they made sebastian so fucking hot i was barking the entire time sebastian im literally a hole to be filled im so sorry for your wife and daughter but the stones say im overdue for a creampie
and people complained
so if you didnt get it i absolutely fucking loved this game like it made me absolutely enthralled for the entirety of it and i do really believe its a great update to the originals idea and vision
they trashed the linear progression for some open hub type of gameplay where you can do some scavenging for ammo and materials or kill some enemies around or even complete some side quests if you want sure this is not a openworld typa game but it actually made the chapters way more fluid you may be in the bathroom in a diarrhea cutscene and the game would say chapter 7 its pretty good now im not that big of a fun for side quests but for some reason i ended up doing most of them maybe actually all of them due to the fact that they would give you more weapons or items or gel and shit oh yeah the upgrade system is back and I NEEDED that gel because skill trees give me some kind of serotonin
meeting tatiana or going at the working table you can upgrade basically everything weapons constitution damage storage healing items create ammos or new arms you can actually do whatever the fuck you want maybe even more than in the first game and this is absolutely fucking fun its insane how addicting it is to just update every single skill for sebastian idk maybe im just too adhd that could also be the reason and i also put everything in the running stamina because i need to run always in every single moment or i will die same thing i did with breath of the wild
so the gameplay is still fun lets go
this games cinematic approach at the source material is stunning theres a lot of good scenes and sceneries all around to the point that the first act with stefano being the main villain was probably the best part it has a lot of stunning camera shots and color schemes and themes of art and beauty altogether and the places are great (actually preferred the first games schizophrenic locations but thats alright) and the enemies are cool as shit and it sure as hell got into the great technological advancement to the point that sebastian is a fucking snack i cannot believe i cant suck this guys dick irl i hate fictional men so much they make my expectations so high i wont ever touch another human being again sebastian im very free and very freaky+
so i was saying enemies yeah maybe i actually preferred the original ones and maybe the developers do too because theres a whole sequence that reenacts scenes from the first game and youre like omg the spider girl swoons so whatever but some highlights are the big girl with the chainsaw thats one of the freakiest designs ive ever seen and the final boss but i cant talk about that rn because its time for story
so the story SPOILER I actually liked it more because I love the sad dad trope trying to save his daughter or whatever so basically it's just the evil within ² as in youre gonna get in the STEM ² and save your little girl because somehow fate wants that shes essential for the new machine or whatever so go in there do some stuff see that the fictional town is going buck wild and kill some bitches
the first act with stefano as I said is defo the highlight of the entire plotline since after that it slowly just becomes some kind of excuse for sebastians wife to be the somehow villain of the entire story even putting the priest and the entirety of mobius aside
sure the whole "I actually did it for our daughters sake" trope for the mother character can get tiring after a while but I LOVE it they really outdid that part of the game with some flashbacks here and there to thicken the emotional connection between sebastian and his family and actually making you care for these people that in the first game were just names in random collectible papers and thats where this all shines you see a broken family due to external causes and that also led to internal conflicts between them which is always really good since it reminds me of home :3 anyway yeah sure it's not really the biggest twist or plot point ever I need to be real with you while talking about this since I do absolutely love this kind of stories but I guess for some people the cheese is too much for them or whatever
that being said the priest arc is over pretty quickly and doesn't leave a strong impression after stefano being the true heart of the game and the final act with The Wife I forgot her name being the villain is actually pretty tight super packed with combat and story elements that culminates in possibly one of my favorite final bosses ever in the history of videogames its so fucking simple and has no particular gimmick to it but that's what makes it SOOOOO GOOOOOOD and also the design of the entire boss is just top notch absolutely incredible monster design and also its pretty telling that this woman is the cum demon since I'd also be full of cum if I was sebastians wife thank you everybody for listening to me have a nice day
the ending is cheesy enough probably shed a few tears sure it's pretty predictable that somebody would've been left behind I was putting my money on sebastian then I remembered there wouldn't be a the evil within 3 so I shifted my POV and yeah the wife is the only character left so there you go mind you this is not like the greatest crying moment I've had in my life that one's for explorers of sky and maybe masterpiece adastra furry vn but it sure delivered an emotional conclusion to the whole tale
oh yeah and also kidman is here and she's back to being badass (i don't really care for her im sorry fans)
soooooooo probably not what a lot of people wanted from a the evil within sequel but definitely really synced with me on a lot of planes spiritual AND physical boners caused by sebastian castellanos don't go easy on you just gonna leave this in the open as fair warning for anyone willing to listen
definitely not a perfect game and if I glance at this installment in an objective manner the seams are gonna come apart but I fucking love this junk this is exactly the garbage that I love and adore and I wont listen to anyone say the first game is better because I have no counterargument and I WILL cry on you
trust you will be dealt with period period
sebastian im stretching my hole BTW my address is
real talk tho its pretty interesting that i actually ended up enjoying this one as much as i did since it actually seems to be one very controversial sequel to the first game now i liked the first game i didnt think it was a masterpiece neither some junk it was a fun experience altogether with some pretty interesting storybeats here and there and an elite gameplay route sure when you play it you realise everything is held back with duck tape and the best thing in the game is staring at sebastian being hot
that being said a lot of people hated this installment in the series for the stupid reason that is: the series got shall i say AAA-ed which is a word that makes no sense and I just made it up but its pretty funny looking its just like elon musks son yknow xanax something so i was saying the entire experience got overhauled and streamlined the game has the same structure as base skeleton but it actually “improves” on different things like the weird uncohesiveness of the original game and the huge amount of times youre gonna die due to the fuck ton of traps and gimmicky segments but then it also updated a lot of what made the combat as good as it was and they actually made the entire experience more cohesive both in the gameplay department AND in the story department and even better they made sebastian so fucking hot i was barking the entire time sebastian im literally a hole to be filled im so sorry for your wife and daughter but the stones say im overdue for a creampie
and people complained
so if you didnt get it i absolutely fucking loved this game like it made me absolutely enthralled for the entirety of it and i do really believe its a great update to the originals idea and vision
they trashed the linear progression for some open hub type of gameplay where you can do some scavenging for ammo and materials or kill some enemies around or even complete some side quests if you want sure this is not a openworld typa game but it actually made the chapters way more fluid you may be in the bathroom in a diarrhea cutscene and the game would say chapter 7 its pretty good now im not that big of a fun for side quests but for some reason i ended up doing most of them maybe actually all of them due to the fact that they would give you more weapons or items or gel and shit oh yeah the upgrade system is back and I NEEDED that gel because skill trees give me some kind of serotonin
meeting tatiana or going at the working table you can upgrade basically everything weapons constitution damage storage healing items create ammos or new arms you can actually do whatever the fuck you want maybe even more than in the first game and this is absolutely fucking fun its insane how addicting it is to just update every single skill for sebastian idk maybe im just too adhd that could also be the reason and i also put everything in the running stamina because i need to run always in every single moment or i will die same thing i did with breath of the wild
so the gameplay is still fun lets go
this games cinematic approach at the source material is stunning theres a lot of good scenes and sceneries all around to the point that the first act with stefano being the main villain was probably the best part it has a lot of stunning camera shots and color schemes and themes of art and beauty altogether and the places are great (actually preferred the first games schizophrenic locations but thats alright) and the enemies are cool as shit and it sure as hell got into the great technological advancement to the point that sebastian is a fucking snack i cannot believe i cant suck this guys dick irl i hate fictional men so much they make my expectations so high i wont ever touch another human being again sebastian im very free and very freaky+
so i was saying enemies yeah maybe i actually preferred the original ones and maybe the developers do too because theres a whole sequence that reenacts scenes from the first game and youre like omg the spider girl swoons so whatever but some highlights are the big girl with the chainsaw thats one of the freakiest designs ive ever seen and the final boss but i cant talk about that rn because its time for story
so the story SPOILER I actually liked it more because I love the sad dad trope trying to save his daughter or whatever so basically it's just the evil within ² as in youre gonna get in the STEM ² and save your little girl because somehow fate wants that shes essential for the new machine or whatever so go in there do some stuff see that the fictional town is going buck wild and kill some bitches
the first act with stefano as I said is defo the highlight of the entire plotline since after that it slowly just becomes some kind of excuse for sebastians wife to be the somehow villain of the entire story even putting the priest and the entirety of mobius aside
sure the whole "I actually did it for our daughters sake" trope for the mother character can get tiring after a while but I LOVE it they really outdid that part of the game with some flashbacks here and there to thicken the emotional connection between sebastian and his family and actually making you care for these people that in the first game were just names in random collectible papers and thats where this all shines you see a broken family due to external causes and that also led to internal conflicts between them which is always really good since it reminds me of home :3 anyway yeah sure it's not really the biggest twist or plot point ever I need to be real with you while talking about this since I do absolutely love this kind of stories but I guess for some people the cheese is too much for them or whatever
that being said the priest arc is over pretty quickly and doesn't leave a strong impression after stefano being the true heart of the game and the final act with The Wife I forgot her name being the villain is actually pretty tight super packed with combat and story elements that culminates in possibly one of my favorite final bosses ever in the history of videogames its so fucking simple and has no particular gimmick to it but that's what makes it SOOOOO GOOOOOOD and also the design of the entire boss is just top notch absolutely incredible monster design and also its pretty telling that this woman is the cum demon since I'd also be full of cum if I was sebastians wife thank you everybody for listening to me have a nice day
the ending is cheesy enough probably shed a few tears sure it's pretty predictable that somebody would've been left behind I was putting my money on sebastian then I remembered there wouldn't be a the evil within 3 so I shifted my POV and yeah the wife is the only character left so there you go mind you this is not like the greatest crying moment I've had in my life that one's for explorers of sky and maybe masterpiece adastra furry vn but it sure delivered an emotional conclusion to the whole tale
oh yeah and also kidman is here and she's back to being badass (i don't really care for her im sorry fans)
soooooooo probably not what a lot of people wanted from a the evil within sequel but definitely really synced with me on a lot of planes spiritual AND physical boners caused by sebastian castellanos don't go easy on you just gonna leave this in the open as fair warning for anyone willing to listen
definitely not a perfect game and if I glance at this installment in an objective manner the seams are gonna come apart but I fucking love this junk this is exactly the garbage that I love and adore and I wont listen to anyone say the first game is better because I have no counterargument and I WILL cry on you
trust you will be dealt with period period
sebastian im stretching my hole BTW my address is
Pep's Season of Spooks - Game 10
I've always been lukewarm on the first Evil Within game, as I think most people are. It has some good ideas but ultimately they don't really come together, and it takes itself way too seriously. Furthermore, the terms "horror" and "open-world" should never go together in my book. All of this is why I was somewhat trepidatious going into this sequel, but I really needn't have worried.
This takes everything established in the first Evil Within game and improves on it. The game has less of an open-world and more of a few larger "hub" areas, while the majority of the game takes place in linear levels. The story and gameplay are both much better in this, even if by expanding some of the areas it sacrifices some of the "horror" feel of the game.
That said, I feel "true" horror fans will be left satisfied. There's still a ton of gruesome gore, and while he doesn't direct this one the spirit of Shinji Mikami is still there (there's even a knife-chainsaw-parry six years before Resident Evil 4 Remake did it!).
To be honest, I was ready to give this game a 7 out of 10 until the last couple of chapters, which I feel really knock it out of the park in terms of intense gameplay and the surprisingly emotional final story beats. To say most horror games tend to lose steam in their final acts, I was left very satisfied by this.
Even if you weren't crazy about the first game I would still absolutely recommend this - and remember, there's evil within, too...
Scary Rating 5/10 - Overall Rating 8/10
I've always been lukewarm on the first Evil Within game, as I think most people are. It has some good ideas but ultimately they don't really come together, and it takes itself way too seriously. Furthermore, the terms "horror" and "open-world" should never go together in my book. All of this is why I was somewhat trepidatious going into this sequel, but I really needn't have worried.
This takes everything established in the first Evil Within game and improves on it. The game has less of an open-world and more of a few larger "hub" areas, while the majority of the game takes place in linear levels. The story and gameplay are both much better in this, even if by expanding some of the areas it sacrifices some of the "horror" feel of the game.
That said, I feel "true" horror fans will be left satisfied. There's still a ton of gruesome gore, and while he doesn't direct this one the spirit of Shinji Mikami is still there (there's even a knife-chainsaw-parry six years before Resident Evil 4 Remake did it!).
To be honest, I was ready to give this game a 7 out of 10 until the last couple of chapters, which I feel really knock it out of the park in terms of intense gameplay and the surprisingly emotional final story beats. To say most horror games tend to lose steam in their final acts, I was left very satisfied by this.
Even if you weren't crazy about the first game I would still absolutely recommend this - and remember, there's evil within, too...
Scary Rating 5/10 - Overall Rating 8/10
Jogado no Series S com upgrades. Muito melhor que o 1 que eu dropei FORTE. Esse é realmente o jogo que o 1 deveria ter sido, muito bem feito. Muito gostoso de jogar e uma recomendação certa pros fãs do gênero.
John Johanna made a great job, but I wonder why Shinji Mikami didn't directed this one.
Uma sequência bem sólida pro primeiro jogo, praticamente melhorou todos os aspectos do anterior, especialmente no gameplay, apesar de eu sentir que a narrativa ficou um pouco mais fraca (a história é boa, mas achei que foi mal executada em alguns momentos e tive dificuldade de me apegar aos personagens ou me importar muito com o que tava acontecendo. Não tem mais o mistério do S.T.E.M do primeiro jogo, então também quebra um pouco do seu interesse).
Não diria que é um jogo espetacular, certamente não chega no nível dos survival horrors mais aclamados, mas é um bom jogo mesmo assim, não me arrependo de ter jogado, e em geral gosto bastante dos dois Evil Withins, espero que saia um terceiro!
Não diria que é um jogo espetacular, certamente não chega no nível dos survival horrors mais aclamados, mas é um bom jogo mesmo assim, não me arrependo de ter jogado, e em geral gosto bastante dos dois Evil Withins, espero que saia um terceiro!
if i had a nickel for every survival horror game about a dad trying to get his back daughter, who’s named after a flower and is being used for unethical scientific experiments, i'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's funny that it happened twice.
cara, adorei o foco no sebastian nesse jogo.
puta que pariu que jogo maravilhoso e CARA, AQUELE CAPITULO FINAL COM AQUELA DINAMICA FUDIDA PQP.
adorei principalmente a parte do sebastian se perdoando e superando os traumas do evil within 1 PICOTANDO O MALUCO DA MOTOSERRA NO MEIO COM A PRÓPRIA MOTOSERRA.
ah mikami.
puta que pariu que jogo maravilhoso e CARA, AQUELE CAPITULO FINAL COM AQUELA DINAMICA FUDIDA PQP.
adorei principalmente a parte do sebastian se perdoando e superando os traumas do evil within 1 PICOTANDO O MALUCO DA MOTOSERRA NO MEIO COM A PRÓPRIA MOTOSERRA.
ah mikami.
something about the way straight combat feels in this game made me want to avoid it pretty much universally, and in particular the claustrophobic defense against assault portions like in the cabin or with the yukiko escort section it honestly felt kinda broken to me, so most of the game experience here was me sneaking through the maps, stealth killing, gathering crafting resources to upgrade equipment and make sure i had enough syringes/medkits/ammo for minimal pain in the boss fights. and for the most part i baseline enjoyed it but compared to the first game (especially after booting that up right after i finished this one) this one felt a little banal, and especially given its length i'm not too likely to ever play through it again. there are open world games i love but the maps and gameplay dynamics here just don't hold together in a very compelling way to me.
Good lord talk about a complete 180, this game is leaps and bounds better than the original in pretty much every conceivable way possible. I definitely wasn’t expecting this.
The gameplay is so much more tightly focused and polished compared to the first game, Sebastian feels good to control, shooting feels good, stealth actually feels integral to the experience instead of something that’s tacked on as an afterthough, there’s way more weapon variety and bottles actually have utility as opposed to just being distraction fodder, it honestly almost feels a little bit like a precursor to the REmakes in a way. The upgrade system has been completely overhauled, offering way more interesting upgrade paths that give you actual perks and abilities to play with as opposed to just making a number go up slightly. Early on in the game it takes on a more open ended experience where you explore part of the town to locate your next objective which is an interesting change of pace (it does get a lot more linear later on). I ended up getting sidetracked looking for all the different things I could find because I ended up WANTING to explore, the game was just that well made. The visuals are on another level entirely compared to the first game, seriously it’s like, night and day, not just technically but aesthetically as well, so many locations actually feel creepy and are visually way more creative and interesting. I even really liked the story, the characters here are like…actual characters, the story is more tied to Sebastian as a character and his relationships to his family making the story as a whole a lot more personal and as a result, more engaging. It focuses more on what happened to his daughter, a story element that was just sort of brushed to the sidelines and made into flavor text you could potentially miss in the first game. The game as a whole was noticeably easier (I only died like 8 times as opposed to the 120 deaths I had in the first game) but I’m very willing to chalk that up to the game being way better designed as a whole, nothing in this game was overtly frustrating. Admittedly it’s still not particularly scary as a horror game, but it is very creepy in many areas. Many of the “hide and sneak around evil entity” elements are done so much better in this game than in the first, if the first had any at all, you like, never had to hide lol. There’s even some cool goofy things in this game that give it a lot of charm, you have health restoration stations that you get by drinking coffee, there’s a neat RE4 style shooting gallery, you even find cute little trinkets around the game that act as easter eggs for other Bethesda games, I just feel there was so much more effort and love put into this game, you can definitely tell the developers knew what they were doing this time around and were having a lot of fun doing so.
Definitely recommend giving this a shot. Since it does tie into the first game, playing the first is kind of a necessary evil (pardon the pun), but you have one hell of a sequel to look forward to afterwards.
The gameplay is so much more tightly focused and polished compared to the first game, Sebastian feels good to control, shooting feels good, stealth actually feels integral to the experience instead of something that’s tacked on as an afterthough, there’s way more weapon variety and bottles actually have utility as opposed to just being distraction fodder, it honestly almost feels a little bit like a precursor to the REmakes in a way. The upgrade system has been completely overhauled, offering way more interesting upgrade paths that give you actual perks and abilities to play with as opposed to just making a number go up slightly. Early on in the game it takes on a more open ended experience where you explore part of the town to locate your next objective which is an interesting change of pace (it does get a lot more linear later on). I ended up getting sidetracked looking for all the different things I could find because I ended up WANTING to explore, the game was just that well made. The visuals are on another level entirely compared to the first game, seriously it’s like, night and day, not just technically but aesthetically as well, so many locations actually feel creepy and are visually way more creative and interesting. I even really liked the story, the characters here are like…actual characters, the story is more tied to Sebastian as a character and his relationships to his family making the story as a whole a lot more personal and as a result, more engaging. It focuses more on what happened to his daughter, a story element that was just sort of brushed to the sidelines and made into flavor text you could potentially miss in the first game. The game as a whole was noticeably easier (I only died like 8 times as opposed to the 120 deaths I had in the first game) but I’m very willing to chalk that up to the game being way better designed as a whole, nothing in this game was overtly frustrating. Admittedly it’s still not particularly scary as a horror game, but it is very creepy in many areas. Many of the “hide and sneak around evil entity” elements are done so much better in this game than in the first, if the first had any at all, you like, never had to hide lol. There’s even some cool goofy things in this game that give it a lot of charm, you have health restoration stations that you get by drinking coffee, there’s a neat RE4 style shooting gallery, you even find cute little trinkets around the game that act as easter eggs for other Bethesda games, I just feel there was so much more effort and love put into this game, you can definitely tell the developers knew what they were doing this time around and were having a lot of fun doing so.
Definitely recommend giving this a shot. Since it does tie into the first game, playing the first is kind of a necessary evil (pardon the pun), but you have one hell of a sequel to look forward to afterwards.
Less derivative and rather more inspired than the first game, The Evil Within 2 is a major improvement in terms of graphics and gameplay, adding The Last Of Us to it's reference material alongside the usual Resident Evil and Silent Hill.
My only real beef is that the story feels somehow even less compelling, just a simple 'get from A to B' structure to find your daughter, who all of a sudden exists. The open world exploration added some interesting discoveries but admittedly the first game succeeds more in its claustrophobia and unpredictable swings of tension.
My only real beef is that the story feels somehow even less compelling, just a simple 'get from A to B' structure to find your daughter, who all of a sudden exists. The open world exploration added some interesting discoveries but admittedly the first game succeeds more in its claustrophobia and unpredictable swings of tension.
Its kinda funny, my thoughts on this game are similar to my thoughts on the dishonored games (1+2) .....
1 is superior in every way besides gameplay
2 is superior in gameplay alone
The story of this game was def more grounded, which isnt bad but isnt as interesting to me at least. I loved how insane the first game was, and that things didn't make perfect sense, it felt so trippy and fun. Whereas this game's story was uninspired and dragged on (esp the beginning and the ending which were waaaaay dragged out)
But like overall this game was more fun to play for sure, I loved the areas and the gameplay itself was super fun. I do wish it was a bit more gorey and visceral horror like the first but the change wasn't bad per se.
Would recommend even tho it lost some of its artistic flare of the first imo
1 is superior in every way besides gameplay
2 is superior in gameplay alone
The story of this game was def more grounded, which isnt bad but isnt as interesting to me at least. I loved how insane the first game was, and that things didn't make perfect sense, it felt so trippy and fun. Whereas this game's story was uninspired and dragged on (esp the beginning and the ending which were waaaaay dragged out)
But like overall this game was more fun to play for sure, I loved the areas and the gameplay itself was super fun. I do wish it was a bit more gorey and visceral horror like the first but the change wasn't bad per se.
Would recommend even tho it lost some of its artistic flare of the first imo
"Hey dawg how can we add a proper stealth system to this shit"
"Shiieeet I dunno homeboy just remove the detalization and smear a bunch of box shaped doo doo all over the place"
"Splendid"
"Shiieeet I dunno homeboy just remove the detalization and smear a bunch of box shaped doo doo all over the place"
"Splendid"