Since The Evil Within was announced back in April of 2013, survival horror fans have been waiting to get their hands on the latest project of Shinji Mikami. Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil franchise is often credited with creating the game play mechanics most players associate with the survival horror genre. The Evil Within is the first game to be developed by Mikami’s own Tango Gameworks and is being published by Bethesda Softworks.
A couple of weeks ago, Daily Dead was invited by Bethesda to come check out their Pre-E3 event for The Evil Within in Santa Monica, California. While there, I had the chance to get some hands-on time with the two separate demos they had set-up for The Evil Within.
Bethesda’s Pete Hines was there to greet us, explain a few things and then send us on our way. I walked into the room with about 30 computers set up. Bethesda had each station sectioned off with black curtains to give us a great dark space to play in.
After a quick intro video getting me up to speed with the story and controls, I started the first demo playing as Detective Sebastian Castellanos. During an investigation, he’s knocked unconscious and when he wakes up, Castellanos is in an alternate world of some kind. The controls will feel familiar to those used to playing third-person adventure games, where the over-the-shoulder camera lets you see your characters surroundings, but also keeps you close to the action. The standards are all here: left trigger to aim, right trigger to attack, right stick for camera, etc. We played on Origin gaming PCs with an Xbox 360 controller connected.
The point where I started off seemed to be fairly early in the game. It’s night and I’m with a NPC – a doctor who fills me in on what we’re here to do and of course, he must be protected. As we make our way through a small village, we approach a decrepit house. Through the fog, I see some figures in the distance. These are “the haunted”, the low-level zombie-like enemies that I encountered the most frequently in my time with the game. Unlike other games I’ve played with undead enemies, these creatures aren’t completely put down when killed, even with a head-shot. To ensure they don’t rise up and attack again unexpectedly, the body must be burned with matches found throughout the world. You have to decide when is the best time do this however, as matches are a limited resource.
One thing for sure is that The Evil Within is a traditional survival horror game in the vein of the original Resident Evil. Playing from a third-person perspective, the player is able to take in the details of each area and best position themselves for survival. In my time with the game, it seemed to be a smarter decision to evade rather than going in guns blazing. The decision to fight or flee is apparent with every enemy encounter. Inventory items like ammo, health, distraction objects and melee weapons are in very limited supply and aren’t often out in the open.
Over the past few years it seems that any time there is horror elements in a game, it’s in a traditional action role. Undead enemies have been very prevalent in action games, especially shooters in recent years, and they’re usually not very hard to take down. A machine gun blast to the face and you’re usually on your merry way, but not in this game. In one particularly dark hallway, I hastily fired three shots at one of the haunted who took me by surprise and still had to run because I was out of ammo. During the demo I had access to a basic pistol and a knife for melee combat, but the haunted are tough enemies. Sneaking up on them or avoiding them completely is the best way to move between areas without wasting precious resources.
Noise and Distractions are a large part of The Evil Within. Entering a building or room can be done by gently pushing the door open or kicking it open, depending on the pressure and speed of the players button pressing. Kicking a door open, although quicker will create a loud noise and attract enemies. Every action or item has pros and cons, for example using a flashlight will help you see, but will also immediately attract enemies to your location.
For the second demo, I felt like this level really set the tone for The Evil Within. I started off on a deserted road where everything was very dark and super grainy, almost like we’re looking at a found footage movie. I approached a large mansion and as I made my way through its gates, the image cleared up to reveal that this house was much larger than the one in the previous level.
This also meant that there was a lot more for me to explore and collect throughout this demo. I also started running into different types of enemies and the horror level really started to turn up. After being followed through the house by a ghost-like figure that would appear for moments at a time, I encountered my first higher-level enemy. As I was making my way down a staircase, a burly spider-human type of creature appeared out of thin air, shrieked in my headphones, and took me out with one hit. After being re-spawning and being destroyed twice more, I thought it was best to run like hell. This led to me falling down a chute in to a large room filled with body parts and blood waist-high- YUM.
Between the two different demos, I played for about two hours. Most of that time was spent immersed in this world, exploring and trying to silently move around evading enemies. The Evil Within definitely embraces Mikami’s roots- managing resources, using puzzle elements, all while giving us a dark atmosphere and the fear of danger lurking around any corner. If you’ve played any of the early Resident Evil or Silent Hill games, The Evil Within will be very familiar territory to you as going in guns blazing just isn’t an option. For the brief time I was able to spend with the game, I really enjoyed all the throwback survival horror challenges to The Evil Within and I can’t wait to revisit it later this year.
The Evil Within will be released on October 21st, 2014 for XBOX 360, PS3, XBOX ONE, PS4 AND PC.
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