Reviews
There are numerous games that fail at the most diverse things, yet there aren’t as many failing at their own genre. The Evil Within seems to belong to this restricted group, where games seem to lose their initial essence in the wonders of content production. Labeled as survival-horror, The Evil Within should be delivering an enthusiastic next-gen experience capable of revolutionizing the genre. However, the recently launched trailer at PAX East indicates that more than failing at horror, this game doesn’t seem to scare anyone at all.
1. Detached Protagonist
One of the most incoherent features in The Evil Within is the fact that the main character, Sebastian Castellano, does not fear death. The protagonist goes through most of the story wondering if he’s dreaming or if he’s actually part of a living hell. Sebastian is normally detached of emotions and his facial expression is generally hollow and indifferent. Even when the most terrifying enemies approach, he doesn’t seem to have any danger perception. He is not concerned for his mortality, therefore how or why should players be worried about anything at all? The empathy is simply not there.
2. Surviving is Utterly Easy
Surviving is the core feature of this genre but in The Evil Within the treat level is rather tragic. Sebastian is able to defeat all kind of enemies with just his weaponry (guns, rifles, crossbows) and the worst part is that it only takes a few shoots to take down the supposedly horrifying creatures. How can there be any type of fear if dying is not a problem at all? Horror and safety just don’t go along and in this case, things are too simple and easy.
3. Old Fashioned “Scaring” Tricks
Old scaring tricks used to work marvelously back then but with time and experience players inevitably become tolerant to these same tricks. This happens because the human brain develops involuntary defense mechanisms that won’t allow the same techniques to trigger a similar amount of amusement and fear that it used to. Besides, the surprise element is completely gone. Delivering the same horror features over and over in different contexts does not generate the intended horror sensations. In fact, it can generate opposite feelings such as fun and boredom.
4. Repetitive Horror Techniques
In The Evil Within, the supposed scaring techniques are used and abused to exhaustion. The most common one is the out of nowhere monster spawning. It’s surely frightening at the first times, however after a while you’ll always have in mind that wild abominations can appear behind you, so whether they appear or not, it won’t surprise you anymore. Besides, in this game players can simply run away and close a door behind and they’ll be safe. Now, a horror game that allows this kind of maneuver can’t expect to scare anyone.
5. Enemies are Hardly Convincing
The last reason why this game can’t scare players lays on the aesthetics. The general environment visuals are quite gorgeous but when it comes to close range, more specifically characters and monsters, the panorama is very different. Monsters, in general, lack detail and quality, thus realism. The effects are not astonishing as well, which makes the whole in-doors environment a bit rough and hardly convincing.
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34 Comments
Dan
Not everything has to be The Last of Us. This looks to be returning to a traditional Survival horror game and a lot of the things you choose to list are things that have always been apart of that genre. You don’t hear Leon going OHHH SHIIIIII in game whenever something scary happens.
s0x
The last of us wasn’t scary. They need to look at modern indie games for tips on horror. It’s more about mood and atmosphere than any kind of monster. The first 10 min of outlast are scarier than the last 3 silent hill and resident evil games combined. You are in an alien environmen with no hope of defending yourself. Why can’t most developers understand that.
VarimVutru
you think this game will be like re6? wrong , this game is made by original re creator , he knows whats up better than anyone there. screw those indie walking simulators
krp
I think the game looks great. The author of this article is apparently a guru at producing survival horror games…….yet none of his work is known.
AnitaCris
The game doesn’t seem that bad but hm scary? Guess not, it just makes me a bit anxious when i watched the trailers,
VarimVutru
Man, back in the day , games were released and people played them and judged them by themselves , today based on a few minute preview 90% of them didn’t even touch , they only saw some alpha footage, media is so full of it they won’t let the game to EVEN release, this is beyond sick and insane. Who are they to not let artist express himself in full portrait. Its like someone saw half of Mona Lisa and said to whole world “hey dat paining is soooo bad , better stay away” .. Sick just sick.
z
i played this game. the review is spot on. clunky and unfrightening. saddest part is, every single time i play one of these third person scary camera games i ask why wouldn’t they just make it first person. especially when the game switches to first person almost immediately for the sake of a captured sequence and then once your character is free it confines you back to the third person nonsense. really game devs? THINK. the only reason third person makes situations more tense is because you cant see jack s**t.
Faggot
So you don’t think it’s a good game because it’s third person..
Call of Duty Logic….
VarimVutru
Idiots will always complain , no matter what they do with the game. Try playing it phones on dark room when it actually comes out. Finish it and then write bulls**t for long as you want. Not a single preview had a legit argument against this game.If the game is returning to classic Shinji style survival-horror shooter , then what is the problem? You?
jb226
One (of many) Instances Where the Internet Misses the Point:
1: Making lists concerning the quality of a product that hasn’t even been released.
At this point the only thing we have to go on as gamers is a very small vertical slice, representing maybe 5% of the full game, of which only a small handful of gamers or journalists have gotten their hands on. It’s one thing to point out possible flaws, it’s something very different to make broad claims about things like character & story, things that simply can’t be judged w/o the full & proper context of having played the full retail experience. Maybe the character’s apathetic or nihilistic streak is a front, or maybe he’s just seen his close friends and partners murdered in front of his eyes….even beyond that, how can anyone pass judgment on characterization dealing w/ a protagonist who is experiencing events never before felt by man (i.e. maybe there are forces at play that are diluting his willpower)? It’s like the old nugget where people bash character motivations for a movie like Prometheus, that scientists would never be dumb enough to study creatures they aren’t familiar with or remove their helmets on foreign landscapes….all the while the people saying this are A) Not Scientists, B) Have Never Been to Space, & C) Miss Important Lines of Dialogue to explain these “inconsistencies”.
This game could turn out to be utter garbage, or true horror perfection…as it stands I’m willing to give Mikami the benefit of a doubt because ultimately history is a far more telling signal of quality than an obscured and small preview.
VarimVutru
Media has gone full retard with this game. I never read such BS about a game that it not even out in a loooong time.We barely know anything and they are complaining about everything lol. Good to see COD and BrokenField 4 got all the nines and tens when they came out.Most of media is broken today and shouldnt be trusted, they only bring confusion and frustration to people.
Peter
5 point that are just bulls**t as you haven’t played the game it isn’t finished your points are just lies – Detached Protagonist you don’t know because you haven’t played game, Surviving is Utterly Easy you don’t know because game is not finished, Old Fashioned “Scaring” Tricks you don’t know because you haven’t played the game, Repetitive Horror Techniques you don’t know because the game isn’t finished, Enemies are Hardly Convincing how do you know when you haven’t seen them all or even played against them. your list is garbage full of false information that you can not of gained or witnessed because guess what marto branco the game isn’t finished what a load of rubbish will be avoiding this website in future with false information like this.
Marta Branco
You should read mainstream gaming sites more often. IGN has made a reference to at least two of my points. I’ll send you the link. http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/04/12/how-the-evil-within-fails-at-horror
Tyler
It’s all well and good saying we should read more mainstresm games sites more often, but we only come to sites like yours because we’re sick of the bulls**t that mainstream gaming sites flood their ‘news stories’ with. However your opinion is your opinion and nobody else can say otherwise, interesting to see these points but at the same time, are we looking for scares or are we looking for the pressure of survival? Each individual person expects something different from a game in this genre, but that’s what is intriguing about ‘survival horror’. What might suit some, might be a load of rubbish to others, but no matter what concepts we see in these sort of games, and how many times they’ve been influenced or copied, it always seems fresh, unlike these endless FPS games that are being forced down our throats. Enjoy the fact that games are still being developed for the smaller genre-based fanbases and we’re not all forced to buy sports games and recycled war-based FPS games.
Marta Branco
I do understand. I was simply answering Peter’s comment regarding my points being rubbish. Even if you don’t agree, they’re stated as facts in notable media sites, so it’s a bit more than just my opinion. At least point one, I’ve seen several sites stating Sebastian is competently emotionless and he’s not afraid to die.
josh
lol IGN game it a 8.7…all your points were wildly off. well at least in my opinion you didn’t do a very good job of predicting this game. Did you just read the IGN article and than type this up?
RussellGorall
Meow.
z
Good review sir or madame. i tried to play this game for all of 30 minutes before i gave up and started looking for negative reviews to confirm i wasnt the only one who held the game play mechanics in such low regard. If anyone wants a playable version of the same sort of game go play Alien Isolation. it feels ten times more flushed out and negotiable. Like someone actually played it two times or more before they released it.
JensenD
Someone’s hurt there buddy. It’s her opinion and it’s actually based on some facts lol if you choose to see it as lies, then it’s your problem :D A game doesn’t need to be completed to know most of it’s core features lol
z
the games finished now bro. you lost on this one. sorry. i call bulls**t on your bulls**t call. game play is awful.
JP
read none of your jack a** comments, play the game and judge for yourself and stop writing paragraphs
Youagain
ugh… people just like to complain about anything. Next thing you know the guy starts a online petition with the goal to stop the development of the game.
z
Ugh… people just like to complain about people complaining about people complaining. next thing you know this guy reads a review of a game that isn’t very good and starts an online petition to stop people from reviewing games and complaining about them.
Aiddon
not surprising. In all honesty, I’ve never felt like Kamiya ever really understood horror, even with stuff like RE. As far back as the first game, it could STARTLE, but not really terrify. Furthermore, it was obvious that the player was encouraged to just shoot enemies due to how much ammo you were given. Sure, you STARTED with only a few bullets for a pistol and a green herb or two, but by the time you got midway through the game you were liberally using shotguns, magnums, or grenade launchers. You can’t do that and then expect people to be scared. It’s a complete identity crisis.
When Kamiya dropped the pretense that RE was a horror series and just went straight up action with it, the series was all the better for it. The only other game Kamiya has made that was consistent was Vanquish, another over-the-top shooter. But it seems Kamiya still can’t get over his lack of talent in horror and is still trying to convince himself that he can do it when in fact he can’t.
Matt
Silly to create a protagonist like that, the guy’s expression does seem off and awkward in the trailers but uh… it seems quite scary to me. We’ll see!
kapitein
I Agree completely with OP, a trailer is supposed to Show off the best bits. If thats the case and this will be all the ‘Horror’ this game has to offer it will be laughably bad. Last game that.scared me was the last of us and before that dead space 1. But all you who are convinced the final product will be better, good luck feeling dissapointed. And please be man enough to admit its bad once.youve played it.
REMEMBER BRAIN
You better hope this game is not scare in the least because if it is i’m coming back to rub it in your face Marta Brancooooooooooo. Maybe next time you will do a better job writing going off pure retarded speculation.
Unholy
Outlast is nothing but Jump scare after jump scare followed by agro and run. You can get past every obstacle by running up to the person who wants to kill you and yelling suck it! Then just run away while kiting him around the map. I got really excited when you broke your ankle in the DLC because I thought I was going to actually need to sneak past the Groom…. But NOPE the groom decides that he’s just going to slowly walk after you while you limp away.
The Evil Within
Procedurally Generated World: Means you will learn very little from your mistakes. Every death spawns you in a new room/map with different challenges.
A antagonist similar to Nemesis from RE3. That can not only appear at any given moment, but also completely alter your surroundings.
You will have weapons to fight, but not everything you encounter can be killed. Furthermore ammo will be extremely scarce.
A fast draining stamina bar that makes it so you can’t run very far.
Puzzles some of which will have to be solved under stressful and often life threatening situations.
And the game is suppose to be focusing a lot on Psychological Fear, while still having all that lovely gore.
I honestly don’t think Outlast was remotely scary and I don’t know if The Evil Within will be…. But it sure as hell won’t be so REPETITIVE.
jaco
holy, did you read that off the website. . .or back of the box? Or something, most games in the last 5 years have promised those exact things. . Have any of them delivered. . . No. . .if you believe what the studios tell you, good luck in wasting your money chump. . .this is just going to be another suckfest of shooting zombie like enemies and the occasional unscary boss
Ryan
I respect your option, but this is a bad review for a game that’s not even out. Watching and playing are two different things. I’m not a kid anymore but if I were to play this as a tween or teen, I’m sure it would be scarier and possible even funner, but I’m in it more for the atmosphere and the look at this age. Everything in entertainment is a recycled “trick” but it matters on how they use the tricks. Also the #2 reason seems like a filler, and a very straight forward… Change the difficulty…
Nena
Calling it now 9\10 the game to save survival horror you heard it first here and im good at what i do.
drhouse
I always hate when critics complain about the difficulty of a game, point #3, when it has higher difficulty levels, If the game is too easy for you, guess what, there’s a button to make it harder, stupid. Games probably err on the side of being easy because they want casual players to succeed, progress and see the game’s content that they paid for. Go watch Two Best Friends youtube playthrough of the game to see it on Hard, the guy dies about every 5 minutes.
Pauly
this game mde me shatt my sean paul pants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wesley Shelby
I find it hilarious that people say The Last of Us scared them. It has no horror but rather survival aspects. The Evil Within scared me more. And The Evil Within didn’t even jumpscare.