The game that I am going to be reviewing today is The Evil Within 2. This game was released on the 13th of this past October, made available to play on the PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. The version which I am going to be reviewing is the Playstation 4 version. The game was developed by Tango Gameworks who previously developed the first Evil Within game, and was published by Bethesda Softworks. If you're unfamiliar with this franchise, the game is a 3rd person over the shoulder view game that mixes the survival/horror genre with some action thrown in.
Now, having said that, I'm not gonna lie to you. This game is not much of a horror game really, at least in my opinion. That isn't to say that it doesn't try to be, it just never nails it down and is far, far more of a survival/action game than anything. I never found myself even remotely scared throughout my gameplay, though there were a few times that I was startled. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with this, as I felt like the first game had a much more clear direction narrative wise and overall was closer to being a horror game than this sequel. But, before I get into more of my gripes lets actually talks about the game a bit more.
The Evil Within 2 picks up a few years after where the first game ended, putting us back into the role of Sebastian Castellanos once again who has quit his job as a police officer, and now pursues the truth behind what Mobius Corporation is up to. He's haunted by his experiences from the previous game, however, alongside his grief from his wife Myra who's vanished and the death of his daughter, Lily. He tries to cope by drowning his sadness in alcohol via going to bars. However, one day he is approached by a former partner as well as a Mobius agent, Juli Kidman, who tells him that his daughter isn't dead. Mobius actually faked her death, and they now need his help to save her and keep her alive.
Sebastian ends up being taken against his will to a Mobius facility where he then meets someone referred to as the Administrator. He explains that Lily is being used as the core for their newest STEM system project, and is being used to simulate a blissful, peace filled town going by the name of Union. However, a problem has occurred recently, in that they've lost contact with all of their agents and Lily herself. This leaves them unable to control the STEM system in any way possible. Sebastian then agrees to enter into Union, giving himself a chance to save Lily. Upon entering the town, however, he quickly finds out that all of the residents have turned into mutated monsters which have killed any non mutated residents.
So, as you can probably tell, the game has a very basic story structure. I honestly wasn't all that impressed with the narrative of the game, and thought it was lacking quite a bit. It isn't a terrible story or anything, but elements of it have been done to death and it doesn't really break apart from the typical mold. There's just nothing outstanding about it, at least in my opinion. However, it's at least a moderately well done story, and although there are plot holes it does tell a decently woven tale.
After about 12-15 hours you'll be able to clear the game, and there are some parts of the story that have some creepy imagery and elements to it. But, it never really shows its "evil" side in much of a way. I really don't think this is much of a horror game, and just felt that it was truly more of an action/survival game with monsters tossed in. To put it in more of a simple way, the game Resembles Resident Evil 5 more than Resident Evil 7 with how it's atmosphere plays out.
There are other elements of the game which I wasn't fond of that impacted the story more than I think most people noticed. One bigger thing was the voice acting in this game. I thought it was really uninspired throughout and was just done poorly. At certain times in the game, the voice acting was so poorly I would compare it to the house of the dead series. The game tries to take you on an emotional journey dealing with grief, guilt, and other themes. However, the dialogue and voice acting just makes it laughable and I wasn't even remotely able to get into it. I think the writing and voice acting holds the story back by far.
The gameplay in this game is a definite improvement over the first Evil Within, which had many mechanical and technical issues scattered about. However, I still can't really say that this games mechanics are really all that great. There's plenty of issues in this game as well, as I think the gameplay itself feels very clunky throughout and just has a stiff presence. The gunplay of the game itself isn't that great, and often times it just feels like you're using a pea shooter instead of a shotgun, handgun or rifle. The upgrade system for the firearms isn't all that special either, allowing you to upgrade things like magazine size or firepower which does show a slight increase as you upgrade it but really doesn't affect much of your combat.
Another thing which I found to be frustrating and annoying is that when you're in combat and have to reload your firearm, there's no way to dodge enemy attacks built into the game. All you can do is try to jog your way out of the range of the enemy attack. But, even then, you can expect to be hit 4/5 times. Now, that isn't exactly the sole fault of the game that you get hit, as the game promotes being stealthy over outright fighting. There may have been a way to be more sneaky to avoid that combat. Though, I still think it's a bit ridiculous there is no dodge mechanic. The stealth mechanic of the game is done fairly well at least, and I don't have really any complaints about that per say.
The level design of the gameplay is very weak in my opinion, and I think the levels were designed much better in the first game than in this sequel. There weren't really any intricate or fun puzzles placed in the levels for you to solve, I honestly only remember a handful of very simple little puzzles throughout the entire game, actually. The levels were also quite simple, where you just had to take cover for a short while, take out an enemy with a sneak attack and rinse and repeat while going through whatever area you're in. Even the setting and backdrops of each area you're in are all very similar, and everything just looks the same. Although the first game had a much more linear experience going on, I think it done far better than this game.
The setting of Union was pretty interesting at least, and provided basically all of the atmosphere of the game. I wouldn't say the game has an intense, oppressive atmosphere by any means like most horror games, but it does have a somewhat creepy, dreary atmosphere to it at times. While the main enemies of the game were pretty boring just being your basic zombie for the most part, the bosses in game provided some good entertainment and one in particular known as The Artist gave this game most of it's unique sections with each encounter you had with him. The characters for the most part all had something that set them apart from being bland and boring, and I'd say that they were fairly well done for the most part overall as well.
Another positive thing of this game was the soundtrack which marches alongside you as you play. It fits the tone of the game well, and the music is definitely a big improvement over the first Evil Within. It's an enjoyable musical score to listen to while you play, and matches your environment and actions quite well. While most people don't really care about this, I think it aided the atmosphere in a way and really helped elevate the game up, even with it's large noticeable issues.
Overall, I think this game is at least enjoyable to play but it has some glaring issues that really hold it down from being a good game. I really don't understand why all the big name reviewers were giving it such high praise and scores, especially when most of them were only comparing it to the first game and not objectively as a game that can stand on its own. Now, would I recommend this game to anyone? Possibly. If you're a fan of Resident Evil 5/6/Revelations, then this game would probably be quite entertaining for you. I think most people would find some elements of it that they enjoy.
But, I wouldn't recommend that anyone pay more than $20 for this game. I'd just go to a Redbox if you have them in your area and see if you can rent the game from there, or look at rental services online if you want to try it out. While this game isn't a huge failure or anything, I wasn't very happy with the overall outcome of it. I would personally rate this one as a 6/10, and I really think the first game had a slight edge over this one and was more interesting overall. Maybe it's just me, but I really just can't say I was happy with the performance of this game.
Thanks for checking out my review!