The Evil Within: New horror game by Shinji Mikami

I'm pretty sure I hate this game.

Shinji Mikami: Hey look, a swimming level with another unkillable monster you have to run from because I am completely out of ideas now!

I've been watching a playthrough of this game to treat my insomnia.
Looks like a chore to play and overall its a collection of well designed components executed in a poor manner.

The delivery of "content" above all else is what I'm seeing.

That fucking word that execs in the VG industry spew all over the place at e3, gamescom, Tokyo Game Show etc. etc.

CONTENT.

HIGH CONTENT, high production values, Japanese "niche" gaming is dead you dorks! it's all about dat cinematic realism, look at how gritty and REAL this shit is, guyz! SKIN PORES, BOOBY WOBBLES, AND BEARD PHYSICS, MY NIGGA!

And zero fucking replay value.


How many times have we played through Castlevania SOTN, or even LOI/COD on PS2?
Compare that to Lords of Shadow and I bet you anyone who played that shit put it back on the shelf after beating it...or sold it ASAP.

Games like these are fucking duds.

I wanted to like it because of the reverence I had for Mikami due to RE, but I just can't recommend this game to anyone.

You know how I feel about it when I say that I'd rather play Resident Evil 6.

There is no tension or excitement to be found in this game. It is a rental at best.

I'm only playing through this because, like Magician, I spent money on it and want to see it through.

Somebody gave me a season pass, too. I don't know if I'll care to bother with it, though. This has been anything BUT an enthralling experience.

Taiso said:

I'm pretty sure I hate this game.

Shinji Mikami: Hey look, a swimming level with another unkillable monster you have to run from because I am completely out of ideas now!

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Ah man a swimming level?

I watched the letsplay a couple of nights ago, as I wasn't in the mood to spend $59.99 on it. One thing killed this game for me, right from the start, was the forced letterbox perspective, or black bars. No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no you don't fucking do that, Shinji Mikami. I was thinking it'd go away once the cops get into the asylum and the story really starts... but no- it is supposed to be there.

The other thing that kind of irks me is that Mikami saw all these new 'run away and hide' style horror games coming out, and just tried to merge resident evil and Amnesia/Outlast/Etc.

This is one game that, to me, works best as a letsplay and not a game I'd pay even $20 for and play all the way through.

Taiso said:

I'm pretty sure I hate this game.

Shinji Mikami: Hey look, a swimming level with another unkillable monster you have to run from because I am completely out of ideas now!

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oh god.. the 2 things i hate most in games. water levels & bottomless pits

ah well.. going to be playing it anyway

I must be the outcast around here because im thoroughly enjoying this, even in spite of the flaws. I agree its not scary per se, but it does produce a sense of uneasiness with it's gory albeit standard horror ambiance. The cheap deaths are a bit of a pain and I personally dont like being forced into an encounter and potentially wasting your "limited and finite" resources, only to find out the enemy cant be defeated by conventional means.

Maybe I am displaying a bit of personal purchase bias considering this was one of the titles that influenced by decision to purchase next gen. Or maybe I feel the way I do because I have yet to play Alien Isolation, which quite a few of you highly recommwnd
recommend.

I think I will replay this, considering its got new game plus options. This will make searching the environments for those keys and hidden gel a whole lot easier.

Also Taiso, what system did you play on? Also did you redeem that season pass? I may be interested in it if you have no intention of playing it.

Wachenroder said:

Ah man a swimming level?

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You don't swim for all of it, it makes up maybe 30 percent of the level, maybe 3 or 4 actual sections in which the swimming monsters can kill you, they are annoying though, the one hit kill enemies are this games achilles heel

thatdemoguy said:

I must be the outcast around here because im thoroughly enjoying this, even in spite of the flaws. I agree its not scary per se, but it does produce a sense of uneasiness with it's gory albeit standard horror ambiance. The cheap deaths are a bit of a pain and I personally dont like being forced into an encounter and potentially wasting your "limited and finite" resources, only to find out the enemy cant be defeated by conventional means.

Maybe I am displaying a bit of personal purchase bias considering this was one of the titles that influenced by decision to purchase next gen. Or maybe I feel the way I do because I have yet to play Alien Isolation, which quite a few of you highly recommwnd
recommend.

I think I will replay this, considering its got new game plus options. This will make searching the environments for those keys and hidden gel a whole lot easier.

Also Taiso, what system did you play on? Also did you redeem that season pass? I may be interested in it if you have no intention of playing it.

Click to expand...

I'm having fun too, started a second playthrough immediately after beating it, still collectibles and upgrades to grab

NeuroticMoose said:

You don't swim for all of it, it makes up maybe 30 percent of the level, maybe 3 or 4 actual sections in which the swimming monsters can kill you, they are annoying though, the one hit kill enemies are this games achilles heel

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Yeah I realize that now lol. Just hearing "swimming section" brings up memories of some of the worst parts of good/great games (DMC, RE6, OoT etc...)

This one wasn't bad at all.

Does it have a sewer level? Because those are the highlights of every game.

thatdemoguy said:

I must be the outcast around here because im thoroughly enjoying this, even in spite of the flaws. I agree its not scary per se, but it does produce a sense of uneasiness with it's gory albeit standard horror ambiance. The cheap deaths are a bit of a pain and I personally dont like being forced into an encounter and potentially wasting your "limited and finite" resources, only to find out the enemy cant be defeated by conventional means.

Maybe I am displaying a bit of personal purchase bias considering this was one of the titles that influenced by decision to purchase next gen. Or maybe I feel the way I do because I have yet to play Alien Isolation, which quite a few of you highly recommwnd
recommend.

I think I will replay this, considering its got new game plus options. This will make searching the environments for those keys and hidden gel a whole lot easier.

Also Taiso, what system did you play on? Also did you redeem that season pass? I may be interested in it if you have no intention of playing it.

Click to expand...

I try my best not to compare it to Alien: Isolation because even though they share some similarities (resource gathering, stealth, implacable stalker), they are completely different types of games with environments and enemy behavior that isn't even supposed to function the same.

The stealth in The Evil Within is more akin to Metal Gear Solid, where the enemies have general behavior and patrol paths that you can exploit. The environments in the game are designed with that in mind. So the stealth is really more like a puzzle that needs to be solved in many cases.

There's a lack of freedom that is supposed to create tension but really just exhausted me. The tedium I was feeling caused me to look at the game in a different light and I saw what I felt were many problems.

I stopped caring about whether or not the enemy caught me while looking for the real solution to the puzzles (especially in the boss fights) because I wasn't being engaged and just wanted to beat the area in the fastest way possible when my checkpoint reloaded. When I no longer care about dying in a game of this type, it's failed in one respect.

After about 7 or 8 chapters, the game just became a tedious chore to me. The way this game is designed, I just got sick of the whole thing. I played for most of yesterday, and found whatever sense of engagement I had with it continuously broken by questonable design choices and frustrating gameplay.

The game just isn't very much fun for me to play. The reason I didn't quit, quite honestly, is because the prospect of coming back to it, even loading it up again, is discouraging. I was hoping to just fight my way through it and be done with it.

demo, I've already burned my season pass code. I had faith that I'd enjoy the game and want to experience the extra content. It was for PS4.

Strikes me as an odd combination of RE4 and bad stealth.

It's okay, but yeah, not great. The stealth crosses over into unfair territory at times (enemies turn around right when you come up on them), and there's such an insane amount of trial and error with what aren't a ton of checkpoints... that gets annoying. Exceedingly old school design. Mediocre to boring story.

Sticking with it for the time being, but Alien is definitely superior.

I downloaded it from the bay. First thing I noticed was input lag from the menu screen, which happened both with the mouse and when I switched to my controller. It seems to be an issue with the PC version (unless you console folks get the same thing, and for some weird reason was intended to be like this). I just played for a few minutes and snuck into the room to get the keys before the guy came back in and cut my arm and head off. From those few short minutes, I really liked the atmosphere, but this input lag is really fucking with my head.

playing the bone version. What can i say? Im enjoying it

Taiso brings up some valid points - especially about chainsaw enemies and lack of tension but i think overall the game is interesting enough to keep me playing.

Its not GOTY quality but its a solid 7.5/10. I've played worse this year

I'm hoping to finish this tonight.

I was talking to a person at The Exchange (a used CD-DVD-BD-game place) in Chicago and he brought up to me how he didn't like the game that much until he played new game+. He said that on the + game, when he knew where everything was and he was more empowered to experiment with the game, he enjoyed it a lot more.

I think when I'm done with this, I'm going to go back to Alien: Isolation and play through the DLCs and then come back to this with new game+ and see if, stepping back and looking at the game from that point of view, if I can enjoy it on a completely different level.

I will also say that the game has a provocative story but it's filled with boring characters. The story, as one might expect, feels a LOT like a Japanese horror movie: interesting premise and a certain visual style with completely generic people inhabiting it.

I met Shinji in Tokyo at a bar when I was there, very nice guy, very excited about this 'new scary game like old Resident Evil.' I told him I'd buy it and would love to see more games in a similar vein but I never did. I guess this is that game.

Another thing that bothers about this game is keep finding out more things I can interact with. They should make it more obvious enough.

White statues - I noticed the first one but I didn't want to risk wasting a bullet on it. After seeing the second I knew for sure that these things were some kind of collectible.

Crates and barrels - I kept seeing them but they blended in so well with the rest of the game that it didn't seem like they were gonna be breakable. Finally I said fuck it and tried it and sure enough yep they were breakable.

Brain Juice Vending Machines - This is the one. I was all the way to that water monster chapter before I finally realized that you could actually get green brain gel out of them. I only figured it out by accident.

Anybody else experience this? Anything else I might be missing?

Wachenroder said:

Another thing that bothers about this game is keep finding out more things I can interact with. They should make it more obvious enough.

White statues - I noticed the first one but I didn't want to risk wasting a bullet on it. After seeing the second I knew for sure that these things were some kind of collectible.

Crates and barrels - I kept seeing them but they blended in so well with the rest of the game that it didn't seem like they were gonna be breakable. Finally I said fuck it and tried it and sure enough yep they were breakable.

Brain Juice Vending Machines - This is the one. I was all the way to that water monster chapter before I finally realized that you could actually get green brain gel out of them. I only figured it out by accident.

Anybody else experience this? Anything else I might be missing?

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the vending machines work!? Awesome!! Also you can smash most of the white statues with a melee

Taiso said:

I'm hoping to finish this tonight.

I was talking to a person at The Exchange (a used CD-DVD-BD-game place) in Chicago and he brought up to me how he didn't like the game that much until he played new game+. He said that on the + game, when he knew where everything was and he was more empowered to experiment with the game, he enjoyed it a lot more.

I think when I'm done with this, I'm going to go back to Alien: Isolation and play through the DLCs and then come back to this with new game+ and see if, stepping back and looking at the game from that point of view, if I can enjoy it on a completely different level.

I will also say that the game has a provocative story but it's filled with boring characters. The story, as one might expect, feels a LOT like a Japanese horror movie: interesting premise and a certain visual style with completely generic people inhabiting it.

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The fact that the villain is a serial killer who has killed dozens upon dozens of people in horrifically violent and disturbing ways mixed with a death cult conspiracy and a machine straight out of the movie The Cell that has you hooked up to the serial killer's subconscious is probably one of the most twisted premises to a horror game I've encountered, it's only really messed up when you step back and look at all the newspapers and missing posters and all these twisted traps and experiments that it sinks in that Krimson City is one small step away from essentially being a hell on earth, and no spoilers but the ending is open ended enough to allow for a sequel, which due to the key plot device could be something wildly different from this game, which I think is pretty cool

Sebastian isn't really a character I care deeply about, but I think he's cool enough to act as my avatar in the fucked up world of Evil Within, plus the plot, like most J-Horror films is just an excuse to show off all the twisted visuals and settings

NeuroticMoose said:

the vending machines work!? Awesome!! Also you can smash most of the white statues with a melee

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Yeah I know. The first couple threw me off because I was thinking they worked like Vanquish Pangloss statues. These are better because they actually have a purpose.

NeuroticMoose said:

The fact that the villain is a serial killer who has killed dozens upon dozens of people in horrifically violent and disturbing ways mixed with a death cult conspiracy and a machine straight out of the movie The Cell that has you hooked up to the serial killer's subconscious is probably one of the most twisted premises to a horror game I've encountered, it's only really messed up when you step back and look at all the newspapers and missing posters and all these twisted traps and experiments that it sinks in that Krimson City is one small step away from essentially being a hell on earth, and no spoilers but the ending is open ended enough to allow for a sequel, which due to the key plot device could be something wildly different from this game, which I think is pretty cool

Sebastian isn't really a character I care deeply about, but I think he's cool enough to act as my avatar in the fucked up world of Evil Within, plus the plot, like most J-Horror films is just an excuse to show off all the twisted visuals and settings

Click to expand...

I don't really feel that the game's premise is all that impressive or mind blowing. I'd describe it, again, as provocative but not much more beyond that.

Sebastian isn't 'cool enough' for anything in my book. He's a grizzled detective that grimaces at everything and has a cliched tortured past that the villain is able to prey on. His story COULD have been interesting/cool if the game would have given it better exposure. But paltry data files scattered about here and there aren't really enough to make him compelling or interesting. I think that if people like this character, it's in spite of his lame duck execution, not because of it.

Dr Shroom said:

Does it have a sewer level? Because those are the highlights of every game.

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BTW it DOES in fact, have a sewer level late in the game.

So you have something to look forward to!

I played the game a little bit more today. Unless I can figure out how to get rid of the bars at the top and bottom of the screen I'm done with it. There is no reason at all for those to be there unless I was using an old 4:3 screen.

Taiso said:

I don't really feel that the game's premise is all that impressive or mind blowing. I'd describe it, again, as provocative but not much more beyond that.

Sebastian isn't 'cool enough' for anything in my book. He's a grizzled detective that grimaces at everything and has a cliched tortured past that the villain is able to prey on. His story COULD have been interesting/cool if the game would have given it better exposure. But paltry data files scattered about here and there aren't really enough to make him compelling or interesting. I think that if people like this character, it's in spite of his lame duck execution, not because of it.

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I didn't say it was impressive, just more messed up than I'm accustomed to, even for a horror game, and Sebastian has about as much depth as any other cookie cutter horror game protagonist, there are few horror game protagonists that actually stand out for me to be honest