When I first played The Evil Within back in 2014, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I didn’t find the game scary enough. On the other hand, I adored the creepy and unsettling atmosphere that the game provided. I’m currently going through my second playthrough of the first game to refresh myself and prepare for The Evil Within 2.
I was thrown a few hours into the story, and the first thing I noticed was how different the protagonist Sebastian Castellanos seemed in this installment. He was not very likable in the first game and, to be honest, kind of dull. He didn’t speak very much and had very little reaction to the horrific events going on around him. This time, he seems like an actual character with human emotions. It helped now that his motivation this time are at a more personal level since it involves saving his daughter, who was long thought to be dead for years. He partners with the Mobius organization and has his mind transported into the world of Union. Much like the first game, the world will continuously change around Sebastian without his control.
The demo began at a police station, which is this game’s version of the Asylum from the previous game. I exited the building to a world full of floating debris in a massive void of space. Soon, I was introduced to a boss, a demonic creature with multiple heads bearing a similar resemblance to Laura from the last game, only bigger and with a gigantic saw. If you try and attack this foe with every bit of ammo you have, you’re going to have a bad time. I had to use the surrounding environment to gather crossbow bolts, light gasoline puddle traps, and sneak around the villain for surprise attacks. It would have been a very tough fight had I not utilized my surroundings.
After the boss, I had to head inside a mansion to find one of Sebastian’s comrades dying on the ground. In his dying words, he said to turn on the Stable Field Emitter to stabilize the environment, otherwise, Union would collapse. A linear path was placed towards the objective. On the way there were shifting hallways that would change behind my back and a puzzle that had me take a photograph similar to a portrait on a wall. The theme of this mansion was photography, and nothing emphasized that more than the final boss of this mission, Obscura.
This freak of nature had the head of a vintage camera and a slimy naked body with three legs. Summoned by the villain Stefano, a flash of Obscura’s camera-head would freeze time, making the bootup process of the Stable Field Emitter longer. The goal was to keep Obscura from stopping time until the timer ran out. The boss had a knack of hiding in places to jump out at me. Other than that, it was a pretty easy fight.
Since I have yet to beat The Evil Within, a lot of the story was lost on me in the demo, but it looks like the sequel will contain more of what was loved about the first game with a story that could potentially stand on its own.
The Evil Within 2 launches next month on Friday, October the 13th for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
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