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Preview: The Evil Within

If you’re as big of a Resident Evil fan as I am, you’ll know that Shinji Mikami is the grandfather of survival horror.

No, that’s not big enough. The Godfather of survival horror.

I’m considering worshipping the dude.

Mikami-san was the brain behind Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil: Code Veronica and Resident Evil 4. Otherwise known as the amazing Resident Evil games.

It should then come as no surprise that The Evil Within is goddamn amazing.

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Both Bethesda and Mikami-san know we’re aware of the man’s pedigree. The Evil Within is the love child of Resident Evil 4 and the Silent Hill franchise, with lessons learned from the Nintendo GameCube Resident Evil remake thrown in for good measure. Stevivor had the opportunity to play through demo-ised versions of the game’s fourth and eight chapters, and they were all kinds of ‘cover your eyes but leave a small gap to see what’s about to happen’ delightful.

The Evil Within is designed to be terrifying. It has spooky, well-designed music. It has creepy randomised loading screens, highlighting spooky masks right down to a near-perfect recreation of a scene from The Ring’s death-inducing VHS tape. When that image popped up, I felt a chill run down my spine.

And that’s just a loading screen, you guys.

If you’ve played Resident Evil 4, then think of Leon’s escapades. Throw in some Crimson Head ‘burn to stay down’ functionality. Add to that a generous pinch of proper stealth mechanics and you’ve got The Evil Within. It’s unashamedly where the Resident Evil franchise should have gone after Resident Evil 4. It’s got legitimate scares – not the typical ‘jump’ types found within recent horror video games or even movies. I’m talking proper, Silent Hill-style psychological sh*t.

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Hell, the game’s got four difficulty types. Casual, which is self-explanatory; Survival, which gave me trouble and I’m a survival horror veteran; and two – count them, two – nightmare difficulties.

Seriously, the game has the Japanese kanji for “nightmare” beside the Japanese word for “nightmare”, right below a difficulty called “nightmare” in English. The hardest difficulty setting in the game is called “nightmare nightmare”.

The Evil Within is all about survival horror that’s derived from a proper; I played with a handgun, a shotgun and a bow, and I struggled to find enough ammo dispatch enemies. As I progressed, I adapted; why try to aim for the head of an enemy – a zombie, usually, but not – when you can use less ammo to shoot out a leg and then burn the bugger with a well-placed torch?

Yep, I said torch. You can light downed enemies on fire and save ammo. But oh, do they scream when you do that. They’re horrible, blood-curdling screams too. I almost felt bad setting alight a baddie who just moments before tried to behead me.

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The best thing about using your torches – they’re an exhaustible resource, by the way – is that you’ll ensure the zombie-like baddies won’t get back up to stalk you down the line. Cause they do, and they will.

Your character, Sebastian Castellanos, has a limited sprint ability tied to a stamina meter. It, along with a melee attack, can be used to escape perilous situations. But, if you’re not mindful of that stamina meter, Castellanos will hunch over, gasping for breath, and in that time, you have no control over his movements. Sure, it’s great to run away from someone with an axe, but if you don’t get far enough and you’re doubled over in pain, well…

Speaking of running, I haven’t even mentioned Ruvik yet. He’s the hooded chap you’ve probably seen in The Evil Within‘s trailers. He, along with the Grunge-like spider demon from other trailers, are nothing short of Nemesis-like. You can’t kill them. You shouldn’t try. When you see them, you’d better take off running in the other direction. Unlike Nemesis – and yes, I’m talking about another Resident Evil character – these enemies will chase you from room to room, relentless.

I know I keep talking about Resident Evil, but it’s hard not to draw parallels. While controlling Castellanos and staring at his back, you can’t help but notice that he looks like Leon in Resident Evil 4; it’s totally because of the vest-type gun holster. In chapter 8, you walk down a forest path with crows squawking at you… just like in Resident Evil 4. At the end of that path, you find yourself at a freaking scary mansion.

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It doesn’t end there. Castellanos didn’t have a grenade launcher — he has grenades, through — but he has a bow gun with interchangeable bolts (PS: I miss you, Claire Redfield). Baddies come at you swinging axes, much like the villagers in Resident Evil 4… only this time, you can pick those axes up from the floor and use them against others who are trying to take you down. Like Resident Evil 4, the game has spooky environments and a tense atmosphere, mixed with action-packed set pieces where you’re tasked to do whatever it takes to survive.

The best parallel to Resident Evil is the clever return to the “door opening”-esque loading screen Capcom’s franchise was known for. While The Evil Within doesn’t need to load each room separately – and doesn’t, for the record – Mikami knows his audience. Unless you kick a door to open it, Castellanos will enter very cautiously. As he enters, the camera will pull in right against Castellanos’ shoulder. You can’t control him. You can’t control the camera. Because the camera’s so tight, you can’t see what’s in the room. It’s a simple, yet very effective mechanic that brings infinite levels of tension… especially when you’re down to very little health.

I’m quite thankful the two chapters of The Evil Within that I’ve previewed were meant to show off atmosphere and tension rather than spoil the story of the game. I’ve certainly walked away with more questions than answers as to who Ruvik is, or why the world around Castellanos is so messed up, and I’m chomping at the bit to get back to the game as quick as possible to find out.

The Evil Within will be available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and Windows PC from 23 October in Australia and New Zealand, 21 October in North America and 24 October in Europe.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.