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The Evil Within

Started by Mister Six, October 24, 2020, 05:21:13 PM

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Mister Six

Couldn't find a thread about the first Evil Within game, so thought I might as well make one. Picked it up cheap during the PS4 summer sale, not knowing anything about it other than it's a survival horror thing with a fella with a safe for a head.

Coming off the back of Horizon: Zero Dawn the graphics were almost uncomfortably crude at the beginning, but once I got used to the horrible camera bob and they started being a bit more outlandish with the shadows it looked a ton better.

I might have fucked up though, by not really having any idea what I was supposed to be doing and blundering up to the fella with the hatchet at the start only to find out that you can basically rub yourself against his arse without him noticing until he comes back from behind the curtain. After dying about four times in a row before realising I was supposed to pick up the keys hanging from a chain, all sense of fear and tension was lost. Can't lose myself in what is clearly a game, at least not yet.

Anyway, I love how camp and OTT it is - big murder machinery emerging from walls, literal vats of blood, no concessions to reality. I'm assuming this is all some mad dream caused by being stabbed in the eye with a giant nail during the prologue. That also makes it a bit less scary, although all the fucked up moving Inception buildings during the cutscene for the end of chapter one have really caught my attention, and the promise that this won't all take place in that one creepy hospital, but possibly across an entire collapsing/transforming city, makes a nice change from the usual J survival horror jive.

So yeah, I'm hoping to avoid spoilers but does this continue in a similarly entertaining/fucked up vein? is the sequel worth checking out?


Thursday

I liked it a lot.

The sequel seems to divide people - it goes sort of open world, and there's a different tone to it. I preferred the original personally, but a lot of people like the sequel more.

Bazooka

Both are brilliant, two is better mechanically, but I think the first is more memorable, but I did like the town in 2, Shinji Mikami init.

Thursday

Mikami was director of the first one, he had more of a backseat role in the 2nd.

madhair60

The first one is one of my favourite games of the generation. It's janky but so, so memorable and brilliantly, beautifully designed in places.

Thursday

I feel like that's the thing with Mikami's best games, Resi 1, 4, God Hand and this. Janky and clunky in a why that put's a lot of people off, but designed in a way that serves those limitations.

Mister Six

On chapter three and enjoying it a lot - it is janky, and frequently daft, but it works, and I'm finding my sporadic bursts of deaths (usually self-inflicted, after I fuck up a kill and lose a bunch of my tiny stock of bullets and decide it's better to just reload than struggle on) funny rather than irritating. Very intrigued by the world and finding out what's going on - substantially more interesting setup than another load of weird mutants, although if it does turn out to all be a dream, that'll be a disappointment.

The tutorials are gash though. Wasn't till I looked online that I found out I was supposed to have smashed that statue I saw with a melee attack I didn't even know I had to get a key to unlock... something or other in the black and white dream hospital. I'll keep my eyes peeled now.

Also not sure when I should be burning bodies outside of combat (ie. either to kill a felled foe without losing more ammo or as a trap to kill multiple baddies). Looks like the ones you've stealth-killed or whose heads you've burst don't come back, but it's unclear whether those you've killed through other means do. And some of the ones that are just lying about might spring to life or might not, and there's no way to really tell? I dunno, it's difficult to know when I should be conserving my matches and when using them is an investment in not using up more resources down the line.

Does anyone have any recommendations for upgrades to focus on early on? I expanded revolver and match slots, unlocked the first headshot upgrade for pistol (of course, no explanation in the game to explain that either) and the first sprint upgrade, because I've heard that some of the bosses are impossible to beat without boosting that a little.

Anything else?

Thursday

It's been so long it's hard to really remember. I do seem to recall there was some technique to trying to get the bodies to pile up close to each other so you could burn multiple bodies at once.

Bazooka

Yeah it's been years since I played it on ps3, but I did it get again recently on Ps4 very sale cheap, I remember taking syringe storage, and the amount of health they give, also stamina is useful for bosses as some move pretty fast, and general damage upgrades before capacity, the enemies can often trap you in corners so you need to dispatch them quickly.

I might fire it up again actually.

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

Be thankful you didn't play it when it first came out. It forced the picture into letterbox format, without changing the aspect ratio, so there were things being rendered that you couldn't see, like traps and ammo pickups at your feet. It was essentially like putting two strips of masking tape over the screen on a full 16:9 game, for "atmosphere".
Thankfully everyone told them it was a shit idea and they patched it. The option to play it like that should be in graphics options somewhere, if you fancy it.

Mister Six

It's on as the default. I turned it off immediately, of course.

madhair60

I played the whole game with the letterbox, it only enhances the claustrophobia and the game's secrets are designed around it being there. Having to angle down to look for ammo etc, taking your eyes off the enemies. Having to tentatively edge through dark areas looking down to spot tripwires. Really liked it. Played it in Survival mode (which is kind of unlike me) and it's one of my favourite gaming experiences this generation.

I still don't blame anyone for switching that mad shit off, though.

Mister Six

That almost made me want to do it, but then I remembered that I'm too old to keep playing the same bits over and over because I forgot to look down and got killed by an instadeath trap, so bollocks to it. Glad it worked for you, though!

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

Are you on PS4 Pro? Put boost mode on, if you haven't already. It fixes the frame rate problems that it has on vanilla PS4.

Be sure to get the DLC if you like the main game enough. It explains the story a lot more. I picked up the season pass a couple of years ago for about four quid or something.

Mister Six

Nah, just regular PS4. I've got plenty else to get on with, gaming wise, but I might keep my eyes open around Black Friday, see if it's on sale again then. Thanks!

madhair60

The elevator bit in the first DLC is fucking tense

Thursday

DLC's beautiful at times too, just some stunning stuff done with lighting.

Mister Six

Absolutely loving this - the setting is such a great combo of absurdly camp grand guignol and genuinely creepy moments. Never really felt "scared", but I've had plenty of "Argh, fuck!" moments as I've turned around after waiting to ambush a zomb on a blind corner to find that he had just wandered through an unseen window or door behind me and is now staring blankly over my shoulder waiting to shit me up.

I also love the variety they've packed into the various chapters. Chapter 1 is your basic zero combat stealth game. Chapters 2 and 3 turn into a zombified Metal Gear with silent kills and traps to set. Chapters 4 and 5 are combat-focused with big chaotic arenas and bosses to try out your various ammo types on. And now I'm on Chapter 6 and just got through a bit where they gave me a sniper rifle and asked me to go hog wild (then set the chainsaw bastard on me when my ammo was almost out, the bastards). Always something new to do, never falling into tired repetition or bloated, oversized areas for the sake of padding. Great stuff.

Quote from: Thursday on October 24, 2020, 11:37:24 PM
I feel like that's the thing with Mikami's best games, Resi 1, 4, God Hand and this. Janky and clunky in a why that put's a lot of people off, but designed in a way that serves those limitations.

I know what you mean, but I wouldn't really call it clunky or janky, except for the atrocious non-tutorials. More like... restrictive, but deliberately so. Your man isn't a nimble ninja like Aloy in Horizon, but that's obviously to build tension and vulnerability. And as you say, like in Resis 1 and 4 the game is designed to accommodate those restrictions. Even with limited resources, I've never felt that any death was unfair or the fault of anyone but myself - unlike in Resi 7, where I was constantly battling shit controls and contrived dark lighting (what, standing in the corner of a room with a torch shining at the darkness and I still can't see what's happening? Fuck off). Might feel differently with the letterbox mode on, though.

Mister Six

Entering chapter 6 with just pistol and shotgun ammo, and a couple of grenades. Think I might have fucked this up, but the game is so fun that the thought of starting it again - but doing it properly this time - isn't worrying at all. That's an achievement!

madhair60

You haven't fucked it up - that's the genius of Evil Within. It's paced perfectly to make you think you fucked it up.

Mister Six

Hooray! I'll plough on, then. Tromping around the catacombs at the minute, faffing about with big elaborate spiked panels and gears and things. Love this game. So daft.

madhair60

It's a weird sort of contradiction, in that it's so transparently "gamey" that it's actually all the more absorbing for how laid out its mechanics are. There's nothing you can do in the game that isn't a tremendous risk. I love it.

Mister Six

Yeah, I love the gamey-ness of Japanese games. Especially stuff like Bayonetta, with its grades and stats on completing a chapter, and Yakuza's very old-school menus (compared to, say, the clean modern style of Skyrim). It's substantially more engaging than, say, GTA V, with its pretensions towards being "cinematic" leading to very shallow and unengaging gameplay.

Anyway, just completed "The Ride", the daft on-rails shooter section, and am now back to creeping around on foot stabbing Haunted fucks in the head in a knackered hotel. I love how the game makes each chapter unique - in terms of setting, gimmicks and gameplay - and just when it starts to get a bit repetitive with its repeated returns to knackered old hospitals and generic pipe-laden basements, it'll throw you into a fucked up Inception-esque warped city.[nb]Although I would like another wide-open sneaky area like in Chapters 2 and 3, rather than all these narrow linear tunnels[/nb] As with Inception I do wish it would do more with its "inside the mind" setting, but I imagine some of this is an issue with the engine and limitations of the time rather than a lack of will. Would have liked to see more abstract settings like the one with the giant mannequin heads though.

Looks like there are only three chapters left, which is just about ideal - feels like it would be outstaying its welcome if it carried on any further.

Is the DLC worth playing, or is it just more of the same?

Mister Six

Feel like pure shit, just want Tatiana back.

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

Yes, buy the DLC, then buy the sequel, which I can't remember anything about, apart from the ending being spoilt by having a kid sing a Duran Duran song in it.

madhair60

The main DLC is all-stealth, so if you don't like that, don't get it. But it is the only way to make any kind of sense of the story. It also has the best, scariest enemy in the game.

Can I just shout out the absolute fucking brilliance of Laura? If I recall correctly the first time you see her it's totally out of nowhere, and she just announces herself with a fucking ear-piercing scream, dragging herself out of a fountain of blood. Fucking great.

There's another ace bit near the end I don't want to spoil, but I can't remember exactly HOW near the end. So I'll wait til you're done before gushing about it.

Mister Six

Quote from: madhair60 on November 14, 2020, 06:25:05 PM
The main DLC is all-stealth, so if you don't like that, don't get it. But it is the only way to make any kind of sense of the story. It also has the best, scariest enemy in the game.

I'll probably give it a spin in a bit, once I'm done with Wasteland 3 and maybe some of the other games I picked up cheap this summer. Playing as
Spoiler alert
Safe Head
[close]
sounds like a laugh.

QuoteCan I just shout out the absolute fucking brilliance of Laura? If I recall correctly the first time you see her it's totally out of nowhere, and she just announces herself with a fucking ear-piercing scream, dragging herself out of a fountain of blood. Fucking great.

I think you're right. There are some really canny design decisions throughout the game. My favourite is in the graveyard, when a big stompy giant bastard appears and corners you into a little area, and you just about manage to defeat him, but before you can celebrate, his big brother - who can also sprint! - appears out of nowhere and starts charging at you.

You only get the documents with their origin story after the fact, to preserve the surprise - and those same documents tease a giant mutant dog, revealing that they were basically just teasers for the main event.

One of my other favourite bits in the game comes shortly afterwards when you flee the big cunt dog, and Joseph - stupid, useless, broken-eyed gormless twat Joseph - tells you that he's lost his glasses and needs you to go back in to grab them. Seb's response is an absolutely pitch-perfect "Fuck," delivered with a glorious combination of grim trepidation and weary resignation. I laughed for a good minute after hearing that.

While I'm digressing, I also like the way Sebastian is written here and elsewhere - while he mutters to himself about Joseph putting them both in danger because of his glasses, Seb doesn't let on any of that to Joseph's face, and instead gives him a bit of a pep talk, because that's what he needs in that moment.

So many games portray grieving, grizzled heroes as grunting recluses or sarcastic bellends, so it's nice to play as a guy who actually wants to help people and do the right thing, even if he's privately brewing mean-spirited thoughts.

One other nice detail: the horror movie posters in the underground are presumably films that Ruvik likes and that have influenced his mindscape, which explains some of what you've come across: the Ring-style spooky hairy ghost movie (which is why Laura looks the way she does, being also a spirit of vengeance), The Pig (which explains the pig-packed medieval villages in the opening chapters), a zombie one (which presumably inspired the Haunted) and Serbian Psycho (which I guess lends itself to chainsaw, axes and death traps).

Mister Six

#28
Oops - finished this over the weekend but forgot to mention in here. The game totally shits itself at the end, as some of these games do, by not really having any idea how to translate the game mechanics into a suitably climactic and exciting conclusion, so instead you end up with six or so shit minigames/QTEs that you'll have to replay several times each as you figure out what you're supposed to be doing, ironically draining the game of the thrilling narrative velocity it's trying to generate.

Fuck it though - other than that, The Evil Within is an absolute hoot, and a total bargain for the $5 I paid for it. Not sure I'll get the DLC - I think I gathered enough of the story to get what was going on, mostly. My only two questions are:

1- What was the significance of Leslie? Why did Ruvik want
Spoiler alert
to melt him? Was Ruvik trying to use him as a host to enter the real world? I assume that was the significance of seeing Leslie at the end, and Seb's sudden migrane. But why did Kidman leave Leslie to wander off? Didn't she know Ruvik had claimed him? (I forget whether she saw that.)
[close]
2- Obviously chapters 1-15 take place in
Spoiler alert
Ruvik's STEM world, but what about the prologue? How did Ruvik kill those cops and hook everyone up to the STEM machines if Ruvik was just a brain in a jar? Or were they already in STEM when the intro sequence began? In which case who put them all there and why? And who massacred all the hospital's residents?
[close]

Mister Six

Bumping so Madhair can enthuse about the game, now I'm done with it.