The Evil Within

Since its announcement, The Evil Within has been seen by fans as a savior for the survival-horror genre. Whereas games like Resident Evil and Dead Space have forgone their roots for a more action-oriented route, the creator of Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami, seeks to reignite the genre with his latest game. The Evil Within doesn't only create a tense survival-horror experience, but a challenging game that demands you conserve resources to ensure your success.

The story stars Detective Sebastian Castelllanos and his fellow police officers, Joseph Oda and Julie Kidman, responding to a call from Beacon Mental Hospital. When they arrive they find a horrifying scene: the staff have been mutilated and blood is spewed all over the lobby. Things go from bad to worse when disturbing creatures begin to appear and bizarre events that defy logic start to manifest. Death is everywhere and using the tools available properly is the key to ensuring that Sebastian survives this nightmare.

Gameplay pays tribute to Mikami's past games, supplies are limited and should be triaged. Properly landing a headshot is essential to conserving ammunition, but leaves you open to attack while you aim and melee attacks are weak, but useful for defense. Other tools, such as axes and torches, can be found throughout the environment for Sebastian to use and can deliver fatal one-hit kills to weaker enemies. Enemies that don't perish from headshots can be set on fire to prevent the creature from rising once again, and if used correctly can ignite multiple targets. Some enemies remain inanimate on the ground, activating when the player crosses over them, and it's up to the player to decide whether to use a match to immediate kill the target. Managing your resources is essential and wasting supplies can lead to death in a later situation.

Visually The Evil Within is graphic, and combat highlights this striking attribute. Sebastian can wield five main weapons that include shotguns, grenades, sniper rifles, a revolver, and possibly the most useful weapon the Agony Crossbow. Your crossbow can hold a variety of bolts that can stun, explode, blind, and freeze targets. Since these blots can be crafted from material scavenged from traps you'll find yourself using your bow more than your other weapons.

Despite the array of weapons and upgrades at your disposal avoiding combat is probably your best strategy. Using stealth can save supplies and increase your odds of survival. Bottles can be thrown to distract enemies, allowing Sebastian to sneak up behind them and deliver a fatal blow to the head. If you need to run Sebastian can hide in various locations include behind curtains, inside lockers, closets, and under tables to avoid enemies. Enemy encounters, regardless of which type, always provides a sense of tension. New varied monster types are constantly being introduced, each with their own weaknesses and strengths. Of course the biggest enemy, and ally, is the environment itself.

Each area is littered with dangerous creatures and traps. These insidious devices include alarms, trip wires, land mines, and other nasty surprises. Fortunately these inanimate objects can be used against your adversaries or disarmed. If taken apart these traps yield useful parts that can be used to craft new items, but leaves you venerable to enemy attack. Sebastian isn't alone, and has an ally to aid him in surviving this horror.

Within The Evil Within lies a safe area that can only be accessed through cracked mirrors. It's here that a strange nurse attempts to aid Sebastian in his quest by offering the means of upgrading his abilities and access to equipment. Hidden throughout, and collected from fallen enemies, is brain gel. These bottles of sludge can be used to upgrade Sebastian's health, melee damage, and weapon statistics for each individual weapon such as reload speed, fire rate, and damage. Also available are hidden keys that open lockers within the safe area. These items can be saved for later, regardless if you open them immediately.

The environments of The Evil Within are richly detailed. Limited lighting, destroyed interiors, and dense fog incites a sense of fear that anything could hop out of the shadows. Coupled with incredible sound design and the environment itself is just as terrifying as the enemies themselves. Strange locations, sudden shifts in the terrain and disturbing noises keep each moment from feeling dull.

The Evil Within is the survival-horror game that fans of the genre have been waiting for. The tense atmosphere and intense combat against terrifying creatures ensures captivating experience. Although the story is predictable it's clear that the horror genre isn't dead yet. If you love horror games than the choice is obvious, purchase The Evil Within.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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