Far more polished than the original but lacks the chaotic and thrilling gameplay that made the original so special.
Level design in this game is very different from that of the original. The evil within 1 is a very linear and fast paced game. The entire game is a non stop thrill ride through expertly scripted and designed encounters and set pieces. The evil within 2 on the other hand is much more open and slower paced - trading the linear thrill ride for several open levels that can be explored or largely avoided at your leisure. Because of this, avoiding encounters via stealth is much more possible in this game than it was in the first. This sounds like a positive since it allows for more viable playstyles but it ends up getting rid of one of the best qualities of the first game. The evil within 1 is a surprisingly challenging game and one where combat is often unavoidable. Because of this you had to learn how to take full advantage of every element of Sebastian’s toolkit. In the evil within 2 it’s very easy to use stealth for the majority of the game, which ends up being not nearly as engaging as the gameplay of TEW1. Resources are also far more plentiful in this game making it possible for players to only use 1 or two weapons when they do decide to fight. Granted, the combat mechanics in this game are just as deep as they were in the first game, and there certainly are interesting playstyles to adopt in TEW2, but the game doesn’t require you to utilize them to survive, which lessens the tension and leads to an overall less interesting gameplay experience.
This is a bit of a unique problem since it feels very specific to the survival horror genre. In immserive sims for instance, I dont mind players having the option to adopt overpowered and somewhat boring playstyles since those games are all about player freedom and experimentation. In the survival horror genre, which is primarily about creating tension for the player, the option to utilize somewhat boring and overpowered mechanics breaks that tension. On standard difficulty, the player has to actively opt into a play style thats conducive to creating tension, which I think is a problem for this kind of game.
Visual design is quite different from the first game but just as excellent. The abandoned suburban landscape often accented by bright lights and an otherworldly blue hue reminded me a lot of Gregory Crewdson’s photography. Given the presence of photography in the narrative of the game I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this was a conscious influence on the visuals of the game.
Story and writing are fleshed out and more character centered in this game which is done surprisingly well. Maybe it’s just me preferring the gameplay of the first but I kind of missed the bewildering plot of the first game where Sebastian was just some random detective thrust into an unimaginably strange situation and mostly reacted to the world around him with some expertly voice acted “what the fuck”s. The story and writing in TEW2 is good, however, and I did find myself invested in the characters and outcome up until the very end.
Overall this is a really solid survival horror experience and one that I think most fans of the genre will enjoy. There’s a good story, surprisingly deep and creative combat, and a lot of tense moments. However, it’s far less focused and unique than the first game, which I found myself enjoying much more on a moment to moment basis.
Level design in this game is very different from that of the original. The evil within 1 is a very linear and fast paced game. The entire game is a non stop thrill ride through expertly scripted and designed encounters and set pieces. The evil within 2 on the other hand is much more open and slower paced - trading the linear thrill ride for several open levels that can be explored or largely avoided at your leisure. Because of this, avoiding encounters via stealth is much more possible in this game than it was in the first. This sounds like a positive since it allows for more viable playstyles but it ends up getting rid of one of the best qualities of the first game. The evil within 1 is a surprisingly challenging game and one where combat is often unavoidable. Because of this you had to learn how to take full advantage of every element of Sebastian’s toolkit. In the evil within 2 it’s very easy to use stealth for the majority of the game, which ends up being not nearly as engaging as the gameplay of TEW1. Resources are also far more plentiful in this game making it possible for players to only use 1 or two weapons when they do decide to fight. Granted, the combat mechanics in this game are just as deep as they were in the first game, and there certainly are interesting playstyles to adopt in TEW2, but the game doesn’t require you to utilize them to survive, which lessens the tension and leads to an overall less interesting gameplay experience.
This is a bit of a unique problem since it feels very specific to the survival horror genre. In immserive sims for instance, I dont mind players having the option to adopt overpowered and somewhat boring playstyles since those games are all about player freedom and experimentation. In the survival horror genre, which is primarily about creating tension for the player, the option to utilize somewhat boring and overpowered mechanics breaks that tension. On standard difficulty, the player has to actively opt into a play style thats conducive to creating tension, which I think is a problem for this kind of game.
Visual design is quite different from the first game but just as excellent. The abandoned suburban landscape often accented by bright lights and an otherworldly blue hue reminded me a lot of Gregory Crewdson’s photography. Given the presence of photography in the narrative of the game I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this was a conscious influence on the visuals of the game.
Story and writing are fleshed out and more character centered in this game which is done surprisingly well. Maybe it’s just me preferring the gameplay of the first but I kind of missed the bewildering plot of the first game where Sebastian was just some random detective thrust into an unimaginably strange situation and mostly reacted to the world around him with some expertly voice acted “what the fuck”s. The story and writing in TEW2 is good, however, and I did find myself invested in the characters and outcome up until the very end.
Overall this is a really solid survival horror experience and one that I think most fans of the genre will enjoy. There’s a good story, surprisingly deep and creative combat, and a lot of tense moments. However, it’s far less focused and unique than the first game, which I found myself enjoying much more on a moment to moment basis.