The Evil Within PS4 Review
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Patch Version: 1.06 --
You know how most games allow you to settle in to their world before ultimately building to that first moment where your heart pounds and your adrenaline courses through your veins? Yeah… The Evil Within is not one of those games!
Don’t get me wrong, The Evil Within starts like any other game, the short opening cutscene showing your main character (Detective Sebastian Castellanos) riding in a squad car with his colleagues, Joeseph Oda and Juli Kidman having just finished up some prior case, but when a call comes in over the radio ordering all units towards a mental hospital, things from this point forward take a very drastic turn, and before you know what-is-what you’re being brutally chopped up OR sliced up OR pummelled with no mercy like you’re a piece of meat waiting to be cooked! These unfolding sequences are actually rather difficult for a first hands on experience too. I was in a survival horror game, of that I had no doubt! My mind thinking back to the first couple of tranquil minutes in that car, which were now completely eclipsed by the preceding twenty, because what I came to learn is that this is not some ordinary survival horror game; it’s an experiment in pain and punishment, so much so it will test your sanity as well as your patience! The sole purpose of this beginning segment it seems to teach you one lesson and one lesson only…
But of course, I’m not about to spoil it for you and tell you what that lesson is. Suffice it to say it’s a lesson that is now firmly etched in the forefront of my cerebral cortex!
Having completed this ‘tutorial,’ if that’s the correct word for what I just endured, the game seems to start here, except you have nothing but the clothes on your back, no real weapons of any kind say but a knife you pull from a corpse. It’s just you and your wits as you attempt to escape from the hospital and the crazy chainsaw wielding abomination that is pursuing you relentlessly! The atmospheric environments absolutely pitch except for some pockets of light that guide you ominously towards your unknown objective. I say unknown, because there is no missions or objectives in The Evil Within. Nothing. Not a lick. Fans of Resident Evil will feel at home here. Instead you are left to your own devices, and having made my way out, my confusion is not abated. The cutscene detailing the world around me crumbling and being ripped asunder. The end of this cutscene bringing a close to the first chapter; the Evil Within a linear experience.
Having starting Chapter 2, I’m further confused as I awake to a stylised world of black and white. That and to my unrest find that I am back in the hospital I just escaped from. However, the tone is more peaceful and restful. It feels like a safe place, but I’m not taking any chances. I move to the closed door of my cell and peer out when suddenly a nurse appears. She’s dressed like the sought you’d find in an alike hospital in the early 70’s, but I follow her regardless. My body on edge. I’m waiting for the axe to fall.
Thankfully she guides me to her station where she introduces the manual saving mechanic. The Evil Within also having AutoSaves that trigger at set moments. Moving on she directs me to a small room where I can upgrade my character. This being done in a rather sick and twisted manner using green gel as currency. I picked some up earlier so I eagerly spend it. (I go into more detail about upgrades in the Initial Impression section further below.)
Seconds later I find myself lying on my back in some sort of operating theatre. I’m exceedingly confused as to what the hell is going on, but before I know what is happening find myself waking up yet again, only this time I’m back in the world of colour. This the aftermath it seems of the cutscene that saw me flee the hospital. Moving through the woods I’m taught some of the games basics: how to heal, how to creep up and stealth kill, how to fire a gun, but it’s the small lantern I discover that fills me with the most relief. A light in this world of pain, blood and blackness.
With no mission or objective I move on, eventually stumbling on the correct direction where I find my first ‘killable’ enemy. I want to call it a zombie, but I’m not quite sure that would do it justice. Regardless, a few well aimed shots to its head drops it; my years of watching the Walking Dead having trained me well!
It’s not long before I discover a little outhouse, or shed if you will. I open the door and instantly hear some olde worlde music. It sounds like someone playing a piano, but being played over a phonograph, which is an early form of record player for those that don’t know, (and for those that don't know what a record player is, it's what came before CD's). There’s a mirror in here too. Suddenly it cracks and a blinding light erupts from it. I move closer and a prompt appears tasking me with holding ‘X’
I’m starting to understand by this point: these mirrors are like wormholes or gateways to and from the safe haven of the hospital where the soft spoken nurse resides. I save my progress and quickly return to the shed and move on where I eventually come across a whole horde of these tortured creatures. The first lesson I learned earlier I quickly put in to practice. This, ultimately resulting in a cutscene that brings about the end of Chapter 2.
Dragging myself to my feet, I then make my way up some stone steps to an abandoned country-like cottage, but with no objective I do the only thing open to me: precariously explore. It’s in this area where I start to find a lot of useful items: a shotgun, a crossbow to name but a few, all of these items accessible via the d-pad, having first assigned them from the wheel menu where you can also select and use them. The game slowing down time but not pausing it while this wheel menu is open, which I like as it does not entirely remove the sense of danger you feel when playing.
As I intrepidly make my way through this eerie cottage, eventually I locate someone ‘alive’. It’s a brief candle of warmth and gives me a clear objective for the very first time, albeit only verbally, there is still no mission to track, and it seems there never will be, but I’ll take whatever guidance I can get, when suddenly I hear it, a sound you were learn to fear….
Initial impressions
I’m impressed so far… two hours in and I’ve reached the start of the third chapter and it’s been one hell of an experience. Emphases on ‘hell’, because so far this game has been gory, twisted and shocking; the death animations for your character ranging from… well, imagine ten of the worst ways to be killed and this game will probably show you ten more on top of that which are worse, all in the glory of 1080p. Suitable for young children it is not!
In the interest of full discloses, I’m playing on casual difficulty, but it feels anything BUT casual! So god only knows how difficult it is on its tougher setting, nor does it ease you in either; it starts with a jolt that wakes you up for sure, and it never really allows you a moment’s respite either. You are constantly kept on edge. The game managing to do this with its dark and atmospheric environments, matched with its eerie sounds amplifying that experience. Every time I open a door I’m just waiting for something to happen. But it’s the punishing nature of it that has my full attention. One miss step and you’re dead. It’s brutal in that regard. There’s no quick time button press events to save your life in this game; or at least not yet.
So far all I have seemed to do is creep and aimlessly stealth my way through it. I say aimlessly because the game has no mission or objective system to speak of. You are just dropped in and left to figure it out as you puzzle your way through this survival horror game.
There are of course tutorial moments in the form of still screen shots that explain how core mechanics and features function as and when you first happen upon them, but other than that, that it’s. Welcome to hell indeed.
Feature wise, admittedly I’m only three chapters in, but I’ve found a shotgun, a pistol, some German-world-war-II-like grenades and a crossbow, aptly named agony. The ammo for this agony crossbow coming in the form of bolts you can construct. I’ve come across two of the bolts for this weapon so far, and once you have picked one up it unlocks the ability to make more. The ingredients for which coming in the form of parts that you scavenge from the world, and also from traps you can disarm. The traps so far coming in two forms. Trip wires connected to bombs, and sound sensitive bombs, which, the second you try to disarm, trigger a mini game that tasks you with pressing ‘X’ at the appropriate time to disarm it. Healing seems to be only possible through med packs and syringes. Both of which have been extremely rare, likewise is the ammo for my guns.
The Evil Within also incorporates an upgrade system, which at first glance looks basic, but on closer inspection is actually rather in-depth and is split three ways: Abilities, Stock and Weapons, and when you find the agony crossbow, a fourth related upgrade path unlocks.
Within each section there is a subtree of numerous upgrades you can choose to help you on your venture. The currency of which coming in the form of green gel that can be found in glass jars and also from some enemies you kill. Why green gel? I do not know, but they are often hidden, so exploring the world is advised if you want to maximise your potential.
Given it’s a survival game with limited ammunition, it would be a mistake not to have stealth take downs, so I’m pleased to say it does have the feature. The takedowns themselves, so far at least, all the same, but they are brutal. You can almost feel the knife being plunged into their skulls having crept up behind them.
Exploring the world is important but fraught with dangers. However, it will often reward you in other ways too, Journals for example, newspaper articles and tape recorders, all giving you a glimpse of the games lore and background. I have also come across map fragments, as to what they do, I do not though yet. A fact mind you I’m keen to ascertain, because story wise I know nothing. Three chapters in and I have no clue as to what is going on. I can only surmise that the further I progress, the answers to the many questions I have will be answered.
Another interesting aspect that I liked once I got used to it was none of the doors have prompts on them to use. You have to walk up and press ‘X’ to use them. Pressing ‘X’ quickly will also kick open the door, but given that making loud sounds will most likely attract unwanted attention I’ve opted against it. Same goes for climbing over obstacles. The game using a contextual approach for said interactions rather than prompts. Though ladders have a prompt? Odd?
The game also makes use of a wheel menu like a lot of game nowadays, which expands and houses all the usable items you pick up, and though you can use any of these from said menu, you can also assign four of them to quick buttons, which you can use on the fly during gameplay. This being controlled by the d-pad. I like this feature; it adds a layer of strategy to the game.
Melee wise you’re very weak. Even standard enemies will do significant damage to you before you kill them; it's upgradable, but still, I wouldn't advise letting these 'things' get too close. So stealthily taking them out if possible should always be your preferred option if you can help it. If not, then I would advise laying waste to them with your weapons. However, ammo is scarce as I have previously mentioned, so saving it for when you really need it is advised. There does appear to be melee weapons you can pick up, but they are limited in the sense that once they make contact and kill the target the melee weapon is destroyed.
In regards to the enemy archetypes I’ve encountered so far, excluding the first boss, which I will talk about later, I have met only one, but each looks different, and are animated very well, not to mention looking really convincing too in the sense that they freak you the hell out! Some will even have weapons, both melee and ranged, so thinking before you act is recommended. I even encountered one with a mask on that prevented me from easily landing head shots. One can only imagine what fresh-hell awaits me later as I progress.
One aspect that I did find intriguing was the decision to include an eye indicator. This indicator alerting you to enemies that are close, and when the eye opens wider tells you that they have spotted you. However, you always hear them first, then when you see this eye it freaks you out as you know they are close even if you cannot seen them, this putting you even more on edge. At least that’s been my experience. (It's worth mentioning that on the harder settings the eye indicator is not enabled.)
With regards to combat, it has been really fun in the sense that it has scared the life out of me more times than I can count, and I really like the fact the game switches to a 1st person camera when you aim your weapons. It really pulls you closer to the action elevating the urgency and danger you feel in the moments where your life is on the line.
However, there are a couple of things so far I have disliked. Firstly the film grain overlay effect. Sometimes it’s okay, but more often than not it makes the graphics appear more dated than they are. Luckily the developers allowed this to be an optional setting that you can turn fully off or reduce. I switched it off completely, but some people may like it.
Speaking of graphics, they are actually rather good, especially for a game that was original released back in 2014, and to be fair, still manages to hold its own even now it’s 2017.
The environments I’ve encountered so far are both diverse and quite fitting to the feel of the game. They are very well designed in fact and worthy of praise as are the sound effects and music.
The second aspect I disliked is the difficulty spikes. The first being in the form of the game’s first boss fight which comes at the end of chapter 2. I have no idea how many chapters there are in total at this point in my playthrough, but odds are I’m going to encounter a few more bosses later on, and if they are all as difficult if not more so, I can see myself dying a lot.
To make matters worse there’s no health bar on this first boss either, just like there’s no health bar on all the standard enemies, so you have no clue as to if you are actually making any progress with it. A fact made worse, because unlike the standard enemy types, the first boss does not have any animation or change in its demeanour to suggest its state is waning, so you just have to keep trying till it is dead. I don’t like this, but in its defence, once you do take it down, a wave of relief will wash over you, that and a sense of satisfaction. So I guess there was a method in this madness, but until that happens I found myself feeling extremely frustrated and panic stricken.
The game is also very punishing in regards to dying, made worse because you lose everything and anything you have looted unless the game has done a save. And though the game does have a manual save system, you can only do this if you return to the mirrored version of the hospital, and this of course requires you to find a mirror if one is even present. The game does have an AutoSave system, but it’s only after key events have taken place. On the plus side though, having died, if you can remember where you picked up the stuff you lost, you can re-attain all of it again; the game not randomising where loot can be found.
Still, these problems aside, I’m still enjoying being completely on the edge of my seat, the gameplay succeeding in keeping me both engaged and entertained, even if that does come at the expense of my fraying nerves!
Pros:
· Level design is very atmospheric
· The survival horror factor is a great success
· Audio effects are excellent
· Core combat is well refined
· An in-depth upgrade system
Cons:
· Overlay effects that date the graphics, but they can be disabled.
· Exceptionally hard difficulty spikes that slow progression
· Manual auto saves can only be done in certain areas
Initial Score after 2hrs of play
Full Playthrough Score after 18,5hrs
The Evil Within succeeds at what it set out to achieve, and if you are looking for a game to both scare and keep you on edge, look no further. However, at its core there is one underlying problem, and that’s the difficulty of certain aspects you encounter along the way. Boss and mini boss encounters. What’s wrong with them? Well they spike in difficulty, and I’m not talking little spikes, I’m talking gigantic metal spikes that will impale you through the face over and over…and over, until that is you figure out what you are meant to do, and then do it without being mercilessly slaughtered having made the slightest of mistakes.
However, in all of the fifteen chapters, which took me eighteen and half hours to complete, there was probably only five moments that frustrated me, but I feel I should stress how frustrated I was; so frustrated in fact that two of them made me walk away and put the game down! And the reason is not just the difficulty; death is so punishing during some of these encounters because you are forced to start again from the start of the fight. Some of the fights in their defence do have mid-way checkpoints, but still, when you have to perform certain tasks perfectly and perform them several times more only to fail on one of them, the game then forcing you to start again as a result, it becomes exceedingly tiresome and frustrating.
So with this in mind, if you don’t like challenges, then this game is certainly not for you! And considering there are two more harder difficulties?! No thank you. Casual was more than enough for me that’s for sure!
Saying this though, upon completion the game does tease you with some new weapons that can be used in a mode called: New plus, which basically allows you to re-play through any of the previously completed chapters with all the gear you acquired in your original playthough. You also gain a considerable amount of green gel to spend on upgrades, and all your previous upgrades carry forward into this new mode as well. This alone, not factoring in the additional weapons, would make certain aspects a lot more manageable, so subsequent playthroughs I imagine would not be as bad, especially considering you’d already be more adept at the content. So in terms of replay factor it gains some good points here. This new mode in essence allowing you to hunt and pick up any items you missed along the way such as journals, newspaper clippings, map fragments and keys, not forgetting the fact it makes it easier for those people wishing to platinum the game.
However, if you do wish to start a new game on a harder difficulty, none of the above is carried forward or available to use. You start from scratch, completely, what’s more, on the harder difficulties as well as the enemies being tougher, ammo being rarer and some elements of the HUD being turned off, the level routes are slightly different in the sense that some paths that made it easier to evade certain encounters are blocked off. The latter being something a lot of games don’t bother to do nowadays. It was a surprise and did make the game feel different.
All
this aside though, I’m glad I persevered, the levels are exceptional well
designed, both graphically and atmospherically, and even when you find yourself
smack bang in a region you’ve previously endured, it still feels different and
by no means do you feel comfortable. Match this with the sound
design, which is top notch, I don’t remember a single moment when I was not on
the edge of my seat!
Combat
is also a success. The game uniquely, given it’s a third person
game, switching to a first person viewpoint while aiming any of your
weapons. The result of which bringing you closer to the action as
stated in the initial impressions section. This not only increases
the sense of urgency, but also heightens the scene making it feel more
intense. There is also a varying degree of weapons at your disposal,
and firing them feels and handles satisfactory. Ammo is scarce,
but then again this is a survival horror game so it should be.
There
is also an abundance of archetypes, each moving differently and posing a
different threat. Some wielding weapons. Some being
weapons! Each of them looking terrifying too, some more than
others. The stuff of nightmares indeed! The look of the
bosses and mini bosses being amazing, so much so they will really creep you the
hell out making the encounters that much harder. Each boss encounter
different, with only a couple of the boss types being repeated as mini
encounters, but with a different twist.
However, it’s
the subtle touches with the animations that stand out for me. For
example: shoot an enemy in the chest and it will twist and stagger, reacting
realistically. Shoot one in the leg and it will often stumble and
fall, and if you are not fast enough in setting them on fire will attack from
the floor adding to the danger. The masked ones will also fall
forward to their knees revealing the vulnerable unprotected parts of their head that
the mask does not cover allowing you to land a headshot. There’s also enemies in body armour. Enemies with guns.
Enemies with axes and sledgehammers. Suffice it to say that
there’s plenty to contend with in The Evil Within that’s for sure.
I
also did not encounter any serious issues or bugs that would detract me from
the game. The only thing I did notice was in a couple of situations
my camera clipped through the environment, but apart from that, bug wise, there
was nothing really else I spotted.
In
regards to the story, as confusing as it was at the start, it did slowly start
to make sense, but I mean slowly. For around 75% of the game I did
not have a clue as to what was going on; the majority of the story playing out
in cutscenes, others unfolding before your eyes as ghostly
flashbacks. The quality of them all, though not quite comparable to
present year release standards, were not so far from the mark that they made me
think at any time I was playing an older game. The story also ends
reasonable well, and makes sense of everything that has happened to
you. I was satisfied, but mainly relieved to be free of The Evil
Within’s grip!
In
short though, if you’re a fan of survival horror games and enjoy difficult
challenges, and don’t just play games for a story alone, The Evil Within will
be a game you will enjoy and should definitely play. It has plenty of features,
has very diverse and atmospheric environments, and has interesting mechanics,
not forgetting to mention plenty of features and enemies to scare the living
crap out of you. It also has a campaign that took me 18+ hours to
complete on the first go, and given it came out in 2014, picking up a copy at a
bargain price should not be too much of a problem. It also looks
graphically good too considering the date it was released, and the audio will
get your blood pumping to boot!
However,
for those who play games for fun alone, and don’t like boss fights that will
test your patience as much as your sanity, then this is a game you should
perhaps give really thought in to before purchasing. It won’t be
kind to you. It won’t ease you in. It will punish your
every step and make you really work to complete it whilst scaring the crap out
of you at the same time. If that sounds good, go for
it. If not… then close your eyes and hope this game does not reach
out and grab you while you are sleeping.
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The Evil Within: PS4 Gameplay
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