The Evil Within: The Assignment Review (doll)
The Assignment is a remarkable addition to Shinji Mikami’s (dir: Resident Evil (2002), and Resident Evil 4 (2005)) new survival horror universe in The Evil Within. This game succeeds as a DLC because it rekindled my interest in the original. It fleshes out the lore and invites players to immerse themselves in a complex, though-out world. It also serves to hint at the new art direction the series will take, as the director here, John Johanas would also become the director for the canon sequel to the main title.
John Johanas worked on various Visual Effects for the original title. At first, I was a bit skeptical. After all, Johanas had the tall order to follow-up on Mikami’s footsteps. But my curiosity peaked after noticing he would later become the director of The Evil Within II. The Assignment differs significantly in form and execution from the main title, in part, because of Johanas' new direction with game play and art.
The Assignment is a third-person, female led survival horror. Many critics praised the original for its tense-and-confrontational combat, crafty gunplay, and creepy environments. Here is where I appreciate Johanas redirection. The horror elements here are still strong, but the craftsmanship is different. Johanas takes a page from a prominent trend in the horror genre. The gameplay in his DLCs, which bleeds out into the canon sequel, takes after popular titles like Outlast and Alien: Isolation where you cannot kill the bad guy but instead must run, hide, and outsmart them. He calls this a type of “pure horror gameplay,” but is also quick to note that too much of this, can “overwhelm the player.” The DLC solves this dilemma by being just two chapters worth of 3-to-4 hours of gameplay.
Epilogue: Cats
I wanted to write a short bit on The Assignment’s save points. They are a breath of calming fresh air in the nightmare universe of The Evil Within. I was going to compare it to the previous iteration of this trend in the main game which used a similar space occupied by Debussy’s Claire de Lune. Maybe tie it to a good quote from an IGN reviewer who described this DLC as “more about staying in the shadows, avoiding enemies, and keeping a cool head in the face of terrifying monsters. It’s the sleek black cat to The Evil Within’s big shaggy dog ” .
Instead, I’ll leave you with some of Johanas’ words instead:
The cat….The cat… well the cat made its first appearance in the DLC for The Evil Within; The Assignment and The Consequence. The cat isn’t there for the story, but more about the setting. It’s something within this world that’s tied to Kidman, and since in The Evil Within 2 it appears near a slide projector where you can communicate with Kidman about Sebastian’s past, there is definitely some meaning to that. But then again, there is also just something comforting about being in this horrific world and then coming back to some quiet where a cat is just waiting for you. From this point, I’ll leave it up to your interpretation.
https://www.ign.com/articles/2017/08/10/the-evil-within-2-shinji-mikami-talks-his-input-on-the-sequel
https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/12/the-evil-within-the-assignment-review
https://www.relyonhorror.com/in-depth/evil-within-2-director-john-johanas-sheds-light-games-art-design-new-engine/a