Scary Game Review (Spectator): The Evil Within

When I checked out the preview for this game, I knew I had to, no HAD TO (all caps means you're super-duper serious!) review this game. This fucked up, beautiful game. Excuse the language, but since my days with newspapers are done and this is MY blog, I think I can get away with it every now and then. And besides, in real life, your friendly, neighborhood Scared swears like a sailor. Doesn't make me "cool", just the way I am is all. But the game does deserve the title of an f'n creepy, but yet beautiful game. And let's explore why ...

I first watched the preview months ago, people were saying how scary this game was due to that it has the director from Resident Evil 4. Honestly, I have yet to see that. I would like to watch all the Resident Evils in the near future though. (I've reviewed RE1 and RE2). From looking at screen caps to promotional art, this game seems like it takes scary, creepy, deranged, and turns the dial to extreme. The result is a catastrophic asylum of madness and EVIL! (Strange how yelling that took me back to my days of watching Spongebob. Wait? Spongebob in an Evil Within review? Only on Scared Sheetless, folks!) The ten, twenty minute gameplay review made me cringe the entire time. I mean, hell, I've survived Amnesia, Outlast, and multiple Silent Hills, so for this game to do this, good job. 

BUT ... (We'll get to the big but in a second.) 

The Game:

You play as Sebastian, a police detective, who is just on his way back from a case until a call is made to go to Beacon Mental Hospital. Upon opening the door, you find a massive blood bath mixed with viscera. You find the lone survivor, Dr. Marcelo Jimenez, who is searching for his patient, Leslie. At first, Leslie seems like an unimportant character who is either going to get the player into a lot of trouble or simply die quickly from a stupid, erratic decision. Far from the truth. 

Upon watching your fellow policemen being killed by an unknown force covered in burned scars. Suddenly, this strange being is in back of Sebastian and knocks him out. This is Sebastian's first glance at an nightmarish version of Krimson City. The city is being ripped a part in an apocalypse like way. The only way Sebastian can escape is going further into the belly of the beast. 

My Review: 

You think that small about the game section didn't give you much, well, watch or play the game. Both Let's Players that I watched play this game (theRadBrad, HarshlyCritical) were constantly questioning why is this stuff happening? What is the purpose? 

Do be aware to not confuse those questions with dissatisfaction on the game. I didn't absolutely love it, but I didn't hate it. I've seen far worse delving into the pits of despair (also known as really shitty indy games). Because with questions like that made the game even more intriguing. The mysteries were revealed in a slow moving veil fashion, taking it slow to build up the suspense for why these strange events are happening. Of course, as usual with my reviews, I will not give away why these events are happening, only a small cliffnote. 

There is Ruvik, the antagonist of the game who is creating Hell on Earth and unleashing these abominations to stop Sebastian to getting closer to the truth. Through exploring different areas of the game, it reveals very little details (slow moving veil, remember). There is only one person who can match Ruvik and I was quite surprised at first at who it was, but then it made sense. Let's just say, if your guess on who you think is going to die first matches mine, you'll be right on who can match Ruvik in powers. Though looking back on it now, it wasn't so surprising. 

I don't know why at the end of the game I didn't feel completely satisfied. Maybe it was because of the ending, which was a cliffhanger and just opened up even more probing questions. I have my theories on what the hell is going on, but I guess you'll have to watch/play it yourself or wait for the sequel to come out (I'm not sure there is one coming out).

As said before, I didn't hate the game, but I felt somewhat let down. I really thought this game was going to scare the hell out of me, but instead it felt like a carbon copy of Resident Evil just with new monsters and plastered Krimson City over Raccoon City. Maybe that's a bit harsh. Because there are good qualities to the game, but seriously, the only time this ever feels like a horror game is at the beginning with the chainsaw guy. After that, it's strictly action/adventure. A little mind games here and there; maybe a startling moment in this place or over there, but really, it ... it just fell short of being considered a horror classic. But the environments are really neat and the mind games stuff is actually pretty creative. In other words, the game is far from being a total loss, but far from being on Scared's scariest games list. 

Don't take my word for it. Play the game yourself.