It’s baaAAAack.
If you’re not familiar with how to Get Spooky, I’ll send you to these first: 01, 02, 03, 04. Are you done? Alright, let’s do this all sequel-like. There’s still a whole buncha spooky left to dig up. Get it? Like digging up a spooky body. Like, it could be a skeleton with a worm in it or something. Wow. (more…)
It’s like Heavy Rain without bad French accents and most things end up making sense!
Going…ahem…Beyond my wildest expectations, Until Dawn does a deserved genre justice. Rarely does a big budget developer get to put a lot of time into a horror game, but when they do, man do I wish they could more often.
You like Resident Evil 4, right?
The Evil Within is the first game since Shinji Mikami’s classic that feels like it actually tries to improve upon Resident Evil 4, the greatest shooter and survival horror game ever made. Though Mikami’s new attempt at recreating that magic in The Evil Within is far, far from perfect, it’s the closest we’ve seen since.
Take almost everything you liked about Resident Evil 4, make it slightly worse, and you’ll have The Evil Within. That sounds like an incredibly backhanded compliment, but, as I’ve said before, a decent Resident Evil 4 is better than most games out there. The weird horror elements are there, along with Mikami’s excellent encounter design. Many fights feel like puzzles, with your increasingly large arsenal giving you new tools to dispose of enemies in clever ways.
The story beats fall mostly flat, and there are few great character moments to speak of. The game goes on a bit too long in and in too many directions, and some of the bosses are more irritating than scary. But the core Resident Evil experience is there, and it’s one I’ve been missing since the early 2000s.
Environments are hugely varied by the end of the game, as are the bosses and enemies. The upgrade system is satisfying, and choosing what to upgrade and when is a fun system to play around in. There just so much in the game, you’re bound to find something to impress you, even if the whole thing doesn’t gel. The Evil Within is built on unforgettable moments, stability be damned.
As much as I love The Evil Within for what it revitalizes, there’s a much better game hidden somewhere deeper inside it. I just hope Mikami gets another chance to bring it out.
I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying The Evil Within. If you know me, you know that I love Resident Evil 4 above almost all other games. Imagine my surprise when I realized how closely it resembles Shinji Mikami’s masterwork, the best survival horror game of all time.
It isn’t perfect by any means, and the story doesn’t make the slightest effort to make sense. But the gameplay is there, and it feels closer to Resident Evil 4 than anything since. The extraordinary combat is back, along with RE4’s quirks, like shooting in the knee for a smartly timed, ammo-saving kill. Except now, instead of suplexing zombies, you’re lighting them on fire, and using well-timed fires to instakill other nearby creatures. You’ll always have several options to work around each combat encounter, and figuring out each tiny combat puzzle is just as satisfying as I’d hoped. Almost every encounter seems meticulously planned, and some later stages will definitely lead to moments where you’ll ask friends how they tackled each room.
Here’s one example: I came across a pitch-black room and could hear enemies inside. I chose to shoot a weapon at the ground that produces light, and electrocutes enemies. From there, I backed onto a ledge and waited to pick out the shadows of enemies against the light on the wall, and picked off their heads with a sniper rifle. I missed one, which then tried to crawl onto the ledge I was hiding on, so I pulled my shotgun out and blasted his head off before he could stand up and feast on my tasty body. That was one segment that took about 5 minutes. There are several sections like this throughout the game, and you can tackle each of them in numerous, equally satisfying ways.
I loved exploring the environments in Resident Evil 4 for treasure and ammo, and most of that is still well represented here. Most areas have a series of optional paths to explore, usually while you’re being chased by an ungodly creature or two. Exploration will reward you with much-needed ammo caches, new weapons, new traps to use against enemies, and more. Even though you might have only found 2 shotgun shells in that abandoned house, you feel immensely more prepared for the next fight now that you found them. I watched a friend play, and he discovered a couple entirely new scenes than I found, just by exploring a new location that I never saw.
The story jumps erratically between locations, almost forcing you to question what’s going on and what you’ll see next. I can see why this is a problem for so many people, but it’s strung together like a series of horror vignettes, rather than some globe-trotting adventure story. I don’t mind having a quick burst of ideas until they run out, and immediately jumping into a new set of obstacles. Sure, I would rather there be a good story tying the events together, but the main reason I’m here is for the tension. That’s why short series like VHS and Yamishibai sit so well with me; they never have time to get boring.
Since Resident Evil 4, I’ve been waiting for someone to perfectly capture the essence of what made that game so good. Dead Space was very close, and was brilliant for different reasons, but made you too powerful to capture that same helpless feeling. If you’ve been waiting for the return of survival horror since 2005, I haven’t played something as true to the genre as this.
I’ve only just discovered Desert Fox Software’s episodic horror series, but it didn’t take long for it to peak my interest. After finishing the first two games, I can’t wait to see what they do next.
The games don’t really feature any clear plot, and instead task you with clicking around to find items to use on other parts of the environment. It’s a point and click adventure series, but there’s always something a little darker through each new doorway. The game creates a great atmosphere with a mix of music, creepy creatures, and surprises on every screen. If the rest of the episodes turn out this well I’ll be ready to call this one of my favorite horror games in a long time. (more…)
hippochippies 