Game: The Evil Within 2
Developer: Tango Gameworks
Publisher: Bethesda
Reviewed: PS4 Pro
The Evil Within 2 was showcased during E3 2017 and it was revealed to be a much better and improved sequel to the original title. The game seemed very promising. Having played nearly 20 hours, I can say that nearly every aspect of this game has been massively improved. From expanding new world activities to a more in-depth story, The Evil Within 2 feels like a worthy follow up sequel.
The story takes place three years after the events of the first game and brings back protagonist Sebastian Castellanos, this time searching for his daughter. Former partner, Julia Kidman is the one to tell Sebastian his daughter is alive and puts him back into the STEM System on his journey to recover his daughter Lilly. From the moment Sebastian goes emerges into the STEM System the game doesn’t shy away from throwing horrific imagery at you, which is definitely a positive aspect.
The story is one of the major differences from the last title, The Evil Within 2’s story is a lot better because of its sheer motives from the opening sequence of the game. On the hunt retrieving Sebastian’s daughter feels a lot more personal than the events that took place in the Beacon Memorial Hospital. Throughout the story, The Evil Within 2 stays consistent to its objectives and does not put the player through filler missions to make the story longer. This time around, the story focuses more on building an interesting world of characters, horrific and gross monsters, all while maintaining tight and mostly fluent gameplay.
The overall performance of the game remained consistent throughout my experience. Although, one problem with the game I had was the movement. At times, the movement felt a bit clunky making dropping in and out of cover an annoyance. There were multiple times when I was fighting a boss and would be hit with an attack because Sebastian’s movements can be a bit janky. Besides that, I didn’t experience any issues with the gameplay. Both the graphics and frame rate look and feel a lot more smooth compared to the last game.
After reaching a certain point in the game, you will be allowed to explore an open-world sandbox area which I found as a major help on my mission to enhance Sebastian’s abilities. If you reach a point in the game where you feel you are a bit underpowered, you can head back to these areas in the game and will be able to search for ammo, upgrade points, and crafting items.This was a big help early on in the game, as it helped me physically enhance Sebastian by finding new weapons and upgrade parts to take on the harder enemies you will encounter later in the game.
As you progress through the game, you will come across a few amount of side missions. Although the amount is very limited, they are still definitely worth completing, as it will reward you with better loot, different weapons, and upgrades. I found exploring environments in this title very rewarding and it hooked me throughout my experience with the game. I was constantly shocked how many times I wandered off into an open area to find a lot of items tucked throughout the world.
There are multiple ways to upgrade in The Evil Within 2, one in which you will need to collect Green Gel from dead enemies. This upgrade system was mostly the same from the first game, but this time around it feels more straightforward. At times, I would go out of my way to kill larger or harder enemies because I knew that they would drop a large amount of Green Gel. This made for interesting scenarios and decision making. The system was ideal for both new and returning players to the survival horror genre.
The upgrade system will allow players the freedom to build a different type of character depending on their play style. For example, I chose most of the stealth upgrades early on in the game because I was trying to avoid combat for most of the scenarios. On the contrary, you can take a different route and upgrade the combat and vitality skill trees to make weapons have less kickback and deal more damage while having a large amount of health. Both ways will get you through the game, it will just depend on various play styles.
One of the new features in the title is the ability to craft on the fly. The catch is if you craft on the go, it will costs you double the number of items it would at a workbench. This introduces a very interesting mechanic to the game as it will make you think twice before leaving a safe house. I found this very creative, adding a new layer of intensity to the game.
Another new feature added into the game is the ability to take down enemies with an environmental takedown, which was a huge help when taking down a large group of enemies. For example, you can kick down a fuel barrel spilling oil on the floor, only making one bullet cause a large explosion. When executed correctly, I found this very useful for clearing out certain sections of enemies in the game.
So, who is this game for? Well, if you enjoyed the first title in the series, and would like a bigger, more expansive version of it, then this title is definitely for you. Also if you dig the survival horror genre, enjoy an above average story, with minor RPG elements then this game is for you. As it stands, The Evil Within 2 is nearly better than its predecessor in every aspect. The Evil Within 2 feels like everything the original title was supposed to be and much more.
