RTTP: The Evil Within (One) - Mikami's Flawed Masterpiece

WalterSobchak said:
I did a Nightmare playthrough and damn it was tough. True survival horror on that difficulty. I loved the match lighting mechanic they had in the game as well , it added good strategy and it was stupid they took it out of the 2nd game. Get a group of 3 enemies near you , blow them back with a shotgun blast then run up and drop a match on all 3 , great way to save ammo.

On Nightmare mode my key strategy was to prioritize leveling up to the flaming bolts as quick as possible ,almost all green gel to that except 2 or 3 sprinting upgrades. If you do it right you can get the flaming bolts by chapter 5 or 6. The flaming bolts basically melt any non boss enemy in 1 hit , including the pain in the ass Ruvik clones later in the game. Made the playthrough way more beatable for me.
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Yeah, it was tough but in a fair way. And like you say, the match lighting mechanic was genius :messenger_bicep:

It was a long time ago but if i remember correctly on Akumo i think i spent all gel on the blinding bolts at the beginning so they were maxed out, or close to when i reached the burning house. On the bottom floor i used them to survive until i could proceed. Good times indeed 🥳
 
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MALpractice311 said:
This game was the first I've ever stopped playing due to performance issues. The horrible sub 25 frame rate on PS4 literally made my eyes hurt to where I could not look at the screen. Maybe I could finally replay on a PS5 for a locked 30fps.
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Sorry to hear that. Hope you get a chance to play it with solid performance one day 👍

The PC version had it problems too. I think you had to use a framerate limiter at some odd number like 58 or something even when v-synced at 60fps. After that it was smooth as silk.
 
Bumping this thread because I finally finished the game and had some thoughts.

I actually bought this game years ago (not at launch) but was always put off by the first chapter. It sets up the mood and atmosphere well, but gameplay-wise I found that first chapter to be quite frustrating with how your character is stuck with a limp for the entirety of it. It's a bad gimmick to start with IMO, as it's put me off from continuing the game several times now.

Anyway, this time I decided to persevere and beat the game (been clearing my backlog these past few months) and... I don't think it's a bad game but it is a deeply, deeply flawed game that is not a worthy successor to Resident Evil 4. It has so many baffling design decisions that get in the way of being a truly good game. And I'm not talking just game design, I'm also talking visual design: this is an ugly-ass game aesthetically. Poor anti-aliasing, cranked up contrast, excessive film grain, a variety of post-processing crap covering up the screen at times, etc.

But yeah, I don't want to shit on the game completely because there are some bright spots. I really loved the more 'open' levels like Ch 3. I also loved the first 10 or so minutes of the Mansion level... until Ruvik appeared directly in front of me with no way to react and instantly killed me. Like I said: baffling design decisions.

In conclusion: I still think Dead Space 1 is the only worthy successor to Resident Evil 4.


7/10

Edit: Oh and I absolutely loved the fake ending in The Consequence. :messenger_grinning_smiling:
 
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An excellent game. 9/10

I enjoyed 2 also. I'm a believer the successors to games need to try new things and TEW2 did it for me also.
 
Did you guys know, that because of the success of the said game, Mikami-san can enjoy care-free night walks/strolls?
Had the game not been successful (as a survival horror game), Mikami-san would have suffered from restless nights and the works...



 
I think it's a masterpiece. I understand the criticisms but I think they're coming at the game from the wrong angle.

The game is designed to make you feel scared, and personally I've never been as scared or tense as I have here. The feeling of being chased / helpless is unparalleled.
What most people seem to criticise the gameplay, and it not being more of a power fantasy, when Mikami doesn't even seem to be aiming for that.

An example. The infamous letterbox black bars, that you couldn't remove when the game first came out. People HATED them, and from memory I seem to remember the main criticism being that you couldn't see the mantraps.

I thought the bars was a brilliant addition because it meant that you constantly had to be that much more aware of your surroundings. It added a lot of tension --When a trap came out of nowhere your heart ruptured!
So all the removal of the bars did really was remove that tension, and lean into the power fantasy a tad more, which I think hurts the intent of the game.

Ditto the dull characters. They're supposed to be detached. The whole game feels genuinely psychotic in a way few games do and the title goes way beyond the sum of it's parts.
 
I booted it up for PS5 a few months ago and played the first few chapters. I really appreciate the game but it's pretty rough.

I don't want to say it's too brutal cause I finished it twice on Normal when it first released but some of the mechanics just don't work well. The stealth is pretty awful and it just doesn't balance things out in a fun way with the lack of resources. I can't fault it too much considering it was Tango's first game. New Game+ really allows the game to shine.
 
I loved the first half and then there's a whole lot of garbage in the second half. The sections with the Vault head and the hook men are incredibly memorable though.
 
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AndrewRyan said:
Never played before but noticed they're bundled together for $3.33/each. They look interesting but this thread paints a good picture and don't think I'd actually play them. Posting here in case anyone's interested.
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Part 1 is awesome. Part 2 imo wasn't bad, nice visuals but isn't as good as the first. I didn't like the new approach to Sebastian. He's a completely different character in 2.

I think 1 holds its own against OG RE4. The Evil Within is definitely more survival horror, whereas RE4 is an action game.
 
I loved first TEW it has its flaws but it was atmospheric and weird (in a good way). While the second game did fix some of the problems but also lost lots of its atmosphere and weird parts made the first unique.

But biggest issue with second game was they didn't continues story of Ruvic
 
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FeastYoEyes said:
I loved the first half and then there's a whole lot of garbage in the second half. The sections with the Vault head and the hook men are incredibly memorable though.
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I am the opposite. I liked parts of the second half, but the first half put me to sleep when I played it a few weeks ago.

P.S. I think it has some interesting ideas, but it can't execute them to save its life. The stealth, sniper, and trap sections are some of the worst in any game I have played. The shooting and melee are barely functional. The pacing and progression of the story is very disjointed. The second game is an awesome experience from start to finish on the other hand.
 
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NeverYouMind said:
I am the opposite. I liked parts of the second half, but the first half put me to sleep when I played it a few weeks ago.

P.S. I think it has some interesting ideas, but it can't execute them to save its life. The stealth, sniper, and trap sections are some of the worst in any game I have played. The shooting and melee are barely functional. The pacing and progression of the story is very disjointed. The second game is an awesome experience from start to finish on the other hand.
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The first game is all about it's atmosphere!
 
Should check this one out, got both the game and it's sequel since god knows when and I still haven't gotten around playing them.

Prolly should have on halloween instead of playing the chore that's RE7. :lollipop_tongue:
 
TintoConCasera said:
Should check this one out, got both the game and it's sequel since god knows when and I still haven't gotten around playing them.

Prolly should have on halloween instead of playing the chore that's RE7. :lollipop_tongue:
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EW1 is good anytime of the year. It's easy to get hooked on immediately.
 
TintoConCasera said:
Should check this one out, got both the game and it's sequel since god knows when and I still haven't gotten around playing them.

Prolly should have on halloween instead of playing the chore that's RE7. :lollipop_tongue:
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Meanwhile, I platinum'd RE7 this October as my primary Halloween game. "pie_tears_joy:

Definitely check out both Evil Within games if you're curious. Even though I don't think 2 is as good as the first, it's also worth playing imo.
 
Flawed? Yes. Masterpiece? Not so much. Fun? Absolutely

The game gets a lot right on survival horror and I liked it more then the second but it didnt reach levels like Silent Hill 2 (Remake) for me. Now that I would call a masterpiece
 
FeastYoEyes said:
It runs like crap on PC for me. Tried fiddling with pcgamingwiki settings and it didn't get much better.
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It runs like crap on everything. It was intentionally made visually noisy with low resolution assets and as a result nothing can clean that mess of an image.
 
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Replayed most of this some months ago and I was surprised at how much I remembered and how quick I got reacquainted to the gameplay

The fucking Ruvic mansion level is so damn amazing. Like a little compact RE mansion squeezed into a single chapter.
 
Grildon Tundy said:
Agreed. But Third-Person Survival/Action Horror has got to be my favorite genre, and what all is there?

Resident Evil 4 onward
Dead Space
Evil Within
Silent Hill 2 Remake
...?
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Maybe you're right. There's the REmakes, Alan Wake 2, Callisto Protocol or this year Alone in the Dark.
 
Necroing this to say that the Epic games store or PC Game pass versions are the best. No camera shakes, optimizations and 2s more stamina. Good god that camera shake is horrible in the Steam version with no way to disable it. I hardly get motion sick but I got quite nauseous while playing it.

Shame that this will never get a third entry, I love the atmosphere and flexible gameplay mechanics. EW2 has some amazing boss designs!
 
Grildon Tundy said:
Agreed. But Third-Person Survival/Action Horror has got to be my favorite genre, and what all is there?

Resident Evil 4 onward
Dead Space
Evil Within
Silent Hill 2 Remake
...?
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Resident Evil 1/2/2R/3R, Silent Hill 1/2/3/4, Dino Crisis 2, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Broomstick, Ghosthunter, The Suffering, ObsCure, Eternal Darkness, Cold Fear, Them and Us (using retro settings), Dead Rising, and Days Gone. Tormented Souls II comes out in about a week and appears to be promising.

P.S. I think Dead Space 2 and Evil Within 2 improve on the originals in big ways.
 
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diffusionx said:
It's too bad this game didn't get a PS5 port, graphically it really struggled on those older consoles.
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I don't think I've ever seen as much crying and bitching about black bars like I did with Evil Within 1.

The Order 1886 reaction was bad too, but something about EW really soiled everyone's panties big time.

I loved it, but then again I'm retarded and the guy that kind of enjoyed MindsEye.
 
FeastYoEyes said:
It runs like crap on PC for me. Tried fiddling with pcgamingwiki settings and it didn't get much better.
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It's OpenGL underneath a DX11 layer. Uncapping the EGS/MS Store version and using DXVK on top does help with stuttering/hitching. Cap the FPS to 75 or under with RTS or the DXVK config file. 75fps is a good number, as much higher and enemies do more damage and hit faster. Unless you want the extra difficulty that is.
 
NeverYouMind said:
Resident Evil 1/2/2R/3R, Silent Hill 1/2/3/4, Dino Crisis 2, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Broomstick, Ghosthunter, The Suffering, ObsCure, Eternal Darkness, Cold Fear, Them and Us (using retro settings), Dead Rising, and Days Gone. Tormented Souls II comes out in about a week and appears to be promising.

P.S. I think Dead Space 2 and Evil Within 2 improve on the originals in big ways.
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They're pretty clearly talking about the third person over the shoulder titles, thus the mention of "action horror" and the fact that everything they mentioned had an over the shoulder perspective. Over half the titles you mentioned would not fit this specification.

And Dead Space 2 was ruined by giving the protagonist a voice for me personally; the first is just a far creepier experience while the second is just a kinda scary action game.
 
poodaddy said:
And Dead Space 2 was ruined by giving the protagonist a voice for me personally; the first is just a far creepier experience while the second is just a kinda scary action game.
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It gave the plot weight and made the interactions with others more interesting. The remake of the first veered closer to the second game for a reason.

The first game was also very action oriented especially toward the end.
 
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NeverYouMind said:
It gave the plot weight and made the interactions with others more interesting. The remake of the first veered closer to the second game for a reason.

The first game was also very action oriented especially toward the end.
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Agreed on the action leaning of the first one towards the end. I also understand that most people like voice acting in their games, but I personally don't care for it in the vast majority of cases unless the VO is truly stand out and exceptionally impressive. I understand why the remake went with VO, but I consider it weaker as a result. Admittedly, I don't think going with no VO on the second one would have worked, based on a very different narrative direction, but the first one's very isolated experience was greatly enhanced by the silence of the main character, in my opinion.
 
poodaddy said:
They're pretty clearly talking about the third person over the shoulder titles, thus the mention of "action horror" and the fact that everything they mentioned had an over the shoulder perspective. Over half the titles you mentioned would not fit this specification.

And Dead Space 2 was ruined by giving the protagonist a voice for me personally; the first is just a far creepier experience while the second is just a kinda scary action game.
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You're right, btw,. In his defense, I didn't specify over-the-shoulder. But those are absolutely my jam. It's pretty cool that we got Cronos and (to a lesser extent) Silent Hill f this year, which 2024 Grildon Tundy didn't know about.

Silent Hill f also taught me that I prefer guns to melee in my TP, OTS, survival action horrors.
 
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