The Evil Within Review (xDSC-Hitman)
The Evil Within perfectly blends the combination of Survival Horror, Action & Atmosphere. EW Reminds me of classic RE games where every bullet counts & Jump scares, RE4/RE5 with the 3rd person View and action Style game play and Silent Hill with it's immersive atmosphere.
This game does a fantastic job of hitting the player with unexpected turn of events. 1 moment you're defenseless scared and vulnerable, then another moment you're a bad ass from an 80's/90's Action film kicking ass and chewing bubble gum. When all the smoke clears, dust settles and the flavor runs out from the bubble gum you eventually up in an abandoned hospital cell with a creepy receptionist that you eventually call home.
Game play
IMO all These things are great but none of that matters if the game play isn't up to Par. The Steak is as important as the sizzle and the game play delivers in spades. At 1st Glance the game seems linear but there is a lot of density and a plethora of secrets that were meticulously placed if you choose to explore. The rewards are significant for not exploring the environments but also exploring with how you approach each situation and what weapons to use for specific enemies. In Terms of the game play loop Shinji Mikami and his team of Dev's do an outstanding job valuing our time with Evil Within.
Exploring which weapons are the most efficient if half the fun. IE (Slight Spoilers)...... There are invisible standard enemies that attack you and you can see them. There're audio queues to help rectify your disadvantages, but even better I found a weapon combination that exposes them in the light making them an easy pray. I took the time to soak in a small sense of accomplishment while also appreciating what the Dev's done to add more layers of strategy in the gun play.
A Couple of Minor gripes I have with the game are sometimes I ran into a few cheap deaths due to blind spots or bad camera angles( 1 particularly boss fight I'm talking to you). Even with these minor gripes they do not take me out of the immersion despite adding some frustration. The Story isn't the most memorable but had a some cool twists and turns
Lastly I appreciate how EW invoked a lot of emotions whether I was mad, scared, uneasy, accomplished and ect. To me this is a very important aspect of playing video games or any other interactive art form to me. In contrary a lot of Current Triple A games aren't invoking any emotions for a ton of reasons I can't fit.
10 out of 10