The Evil Within 2 |OT| "Something not quite right"

Yeah, I love those ones too. They're super-fast and super-resilient.
Super scary too, reminds me of mad men in bloodborne.

Labyrinth_Sage_Charge.jpg
 
Wait, so people think that the first one was better than this one? Jesus.. I hated the first one..

Is the second one less action oriented though?

Yeah, I'd say so, there's a larger emphasis on stealth, with most encounters being 100% clearable with just stealth takedowns if you're patient / attentive.
I'm enjoying this entry in the series a lot more than the first, it's less set-piece heavy and you're not just plowing through different areas constantly compared to the first game, but it's more consistent in it's quality throughout.

Loved the unofficial side quest in chapter 13, to repair the
flamethrower,
although I'm yet to try it out. Haven't found much use for the
assault rifle
yet, it has the cheapest ammunition build cost, so it's good for burning a bullet to trigger on an explosive barrel, oil spill, or nitrogen tank. Also, the
double barrel shotgun
doesn't seem great, so far the best weapon of this type has been the one designed for range, surprisingly. Loving the slow-mo ability, it's rad. Hoping the game ends strong, but where I'm at now, I'm looking forward to starting a second playthrough on a higher difficulty. Survivor is fun, but I'm never strapped for recources. I have like 75 herbs. I'm more likely to restart an encounter or die outright than actually run out of stuff.
 
Super scary too, reminds me of mad men in bloodborne.

Labyrinth_Sage_Charge.jpg
Yeah, they move like Bloodborne's Mad Men but look like Bloodborne's Queen Yharnam. Pretty freaky combination. I avoid them at all costs but destroy them with extreme prejudice when cornered, lol.
 
Just played for a few hours and really enjoyed my time with it.

I'd pretty much avoided everything pre-release so I was pretty surprised with what the game seems to have ended up being. In my opinion, it's barely even a survival horror game now, more of an open world survival shooter with an emphasis on survival. It's immediately apparent that the focus isn't on horror when you see the graphics. Everything is just much brighter in general, like in the first game when you were underground the lantern was key because without it, it would be pretty much pitch black. In 2 the flashlight seems rarely needed and even when underground I can see clearly. The setting of both games are starkly different as well, a modern town just isn't anywhere near as horror themed as some of the places we went to in one. The combat is still just as tense though since ammo is limited and enemies are tough, you need to get creative if you want to survive which I like.

A very different game overall but also very enjoyable. Fascinating to see the different direction it went in due to the change in directors.
 
I'm already moving through this game very slowly, trying to conserve resources and not get murdered by knife-wielding women/acid-spitting women/buzzsaw-wielding women/ghost women (to quote Leon from another Mikami game: "Women"), but I'm going even slower because I keep stopping to admire the art:

theevilwithin2_2017103us4j.png

theevilwithin2_201710kis3r.png

theevilwithin2_201710g7sc6.png
 
When the town turns blue and the ghost lady is around, are you supposed to do anything other than hide from her til it's over?
Not sure if you can wait it out. I try hunkering down in place but then get impatient after a while and just run away.

I've had the town turn blue when I was in a shed or small house and it'd lock the doors. When that happens, it seems like the ghost can't get you (probably because you'd have nowhere to run or hide), and so it just times out after a bit.

The ghost lady appearances are very unsettling. One time I hid in a garage and just watched her through the fogged glass of the door, watching her wander around in the distance looking for me. :-O
 
this chapter 11
flamethrower boss fight - do I have to kill him? I imagine you can do sneak attacks for better damage, although I haven't yet tried. Can you avoid the fight entirely?
 
Not sure if you can wait it out. I try hunkering down in place but then get impatient after a while and just run away.

I've had the town turn blue when I was in a shed or small house and it'd lock the doors. When that happens, it seems like the ghost can't get you (probably because you'd have nowhere to run or hide), and so it just times out after a bit.

The ghost lady appearances are very unsettling. One time I hid in a garage and just watched her through the fogged glass of the door, watching her wander around in the distance looking for me. :-O

You normally can't open the door to that small house. It unlocked it just to fuck with you
 
this chapter 11
flamethrower boss fight - do I have to kill him? I imagine you can do sneak attacks for better damage, although I haven't yet tried. Can you avoid the fight entirely?

Chapter 11 spoilers:
I don't think you can avoid it, at least I haven't found a way. You can do stealth attacks though.
 
Not a fan of going to the marrow, considering it looks like the really, really lazy design from the first game's DLC, hell of a lot of reused assets from that as well
 
Dunno what this talk about tlou having more options than tew. You can't do this in tlou, all that prep for the level.

https://youtu.be/czvWbf3Ao3c

Edit: skip to 10 minutes if you don't want to see the prep I put in.

tlou was more consistent the original evil within had some amazing chapters, like the one you linked and the rest were awful. tlou was amazing from start to finish and the story made more sense.
 
Anyway to get more ammo in the last stage of the end boss?
It just keeps attacking me with one arm and its tentacle tail thing
but no ammo to be found anywhere,
 
Think I've finally done everything in chapter 3.

I'd say so far the 8/10 reviews have been about right, the shooting is pretty awful
 
I know some don't like it. But I love the whole mobius/military angle this game has compared to the first. I'm a sucker for that kind of shit every time.
 
Anyway to get more ammo in the last stage of the end boss?
It just keeps attacking me with one arm and its tentacle tail thing
but no ammo to be found anywhere,

It's going to either send spiders at you, so just stomp them. Other thing is a medium sized eggs (?) then she shoots down, just use your knife or shoot them.
 
Just beat the game on survival difficulty---absolutely loved it. Missed a shit ton of statues and collectibles--starting my next game on Nightmare.
Overall second half of the game felt more similar to the first Evil Within. People who left the game early because of the open world aspect will be missing out. Only minor complaints would be lack of flash bolts and disarming traps from the first game. Well done Tango--I hope this series keeps going
 
Can you stun Lost with bottles like you could in the first game? I think I might have done it once but I'm not sure. Much harder to aim with the bottles this time around, too. I usually miss.

Yes, you can stun them and then take them out with a stealth attack from the front. The very expensive reflex upgrade (75000) lets you do this to practically any non miniboss enemy you want too. You don't need to purchase anything for the bottle stunning to work either. It's also one of the best ways to take out the ambush monsters that you see laying about that don't activate until you try picking up items right next to them. You conveniently cannot stomp them, even though you know they're there.

I think I pulled it off once? But the enemies in this game rush your position so much faster that you don't get to pull it off and capitalize on it.

Smoke and harpoon bolts are good investment, if the max harpoon is as any good as the first game it's a must have

Without bullet time, you wouldn't do it on a moving enemy. Or at least, not one that's chasing you down anyway. Bottles are an easy way to take out something from the front. I don't really like the harpoon as much in this game either. Unless you get a head shot, it seems particularly weak compared to the previous game. That probably has to do with enemies in this game being bullet sponges though. Even the explosive bolt doesn't really get good until you upgrade it 2x - 3x. The smoke bolt is the new flash bolt, and you can pretty much take out groups with it once you unlock the stealth kill upgrade it has.

It also works on
a boss.

The aiming seems pretty fair in the PC version with mouse + keyboard controls imo.

Not going to bother using a mouse and keyboard while playing this on my TV. Didn't need it for the last game either, but it's quite telling how much easier it is to do the
shooting gallery
with a mouse. It's so different that it almost feels like "hit X to auto kill" auto aim. With a controller the pistol fucking sucks. Bad.

After almost two days, I'm finally playing it again. Last thing i remember was an annoying encounter.

Don't worry, the status quo will remain unchanged.
 
game is really really good but im having an issue i cant find a solution too, playing with a controller on pc and it keeps randomly minimizing, sad face
 
The end game is actually really good, much better than the early game and end portion of TEW1.

The last 2-3 chapters are top tier out of anything in the series.
 
I actually think the combat becomes pretty good once you upgrade stuff. Sucks that you have to deal with its terrible jank until then.

Matches in the first game made combat a lot of fun until you found the shotgun/crossbow though. It's quite a bit of a downgrade.
 
Wait, so people think that the first one was better than this one? Jesus.. I hated the first one..

Is the second one less action oriented though?

Anyone who likes the first one more is gonna get a big eyebrow raise out of me. The worst parts of TEW2 are the few parts that are like TEW1. They're all better than any of TEW1's bad linear encounters, but I am bummed there isn't more open world stuff. The game's mostly linear. And I mean, I wrote a pretty in-depth piece on TEW1 and what I liked about it for Kotaku a while ago. It's not like I hate the game. This one is just plain better.

Great combat. Kinda wish I could pull the RE4 stumble a bit more reliably, or use grenades, but in general, this is dramatically better than everything RE4 had to offer.

Game would be even better if the open world was even more open. The closer it gets to Silent Hill, the better it becomes.
 
I mean, I went back and played through the first one again, it's really solid -until it's very not and like a third of the game is a dumpster fire. Seriously.

Fuck.
The.
City.

Like the trap mechanic vanishes almost entirely, you're put into terrible firefights, and the level design is asssss.
 
I actually think the combat becomes pretty good once you upgrade stuff. Sucks that you have to deal with its terrible jank until then.

Matches in the first game made combat a lot of fun until you found the shotgun/crossbow though. It's quite a bit of a downgrade.

I don't think there's ever been a game with a base character so fundamentally inept as Seb at the start of TEW2.

And yeah I think it's safe to say we all miss the matches. They're just incredibly satisfying to use and use well. There's really no equivalent in TEW2.
 
Just finished and I totally agree. The run up to the ending was strong as hell. Everything from chapter
13
onward was awesome.

The only thing that pissed me off was the wonky hit detection at the end
I was fighting Myra and hit her in the shoulder three times square in the sights of the shotgun and it didn't register a hit with the orange goo splash. Like the entire orange weak point of the shoulders was in the entirety of the crosshairs. I mean I still beat her but it was annoying.
 
And yeah I think it's safe to say we all miss the matches. They're just incredibly satisfying to use and use well. There's really no equivalent in TEW2.

The stomp is very satisfying when it connects, but it just seemed unreliable. Sometimes I couldn't stomp a zombie lying completely prone, sometimes he was basically already up on his knees and the stomp went through.

I mean, I went back and played through the first one again, it's really solid -until it's very not and like a third of the game is a dumpster fire. Seriously.

Fuck.
The.
City.

Like the trap mechanic vanishes almost entirely, you're put into terrible firefights, and the level design is asssss.

This entire section could've been cut 100% and nothing of value would be lost. The game is long enough even if you cut the entire city out.

Sometimes I'm really amazed that devs don't just take the L and cut entire areas that aren't up to acceptable quality standards. I think everyone I've ever spoken to about the game would've liked the game a lot better if these sections didn't exist.
 
So watching people play the early chapters, I noticed something OP. The
upgraded smoke
bolt
let's you chain sneak kills on mid-sized enemies doing massive damage. Like a shoot a witch lady with just a single bolt and just keep sneak killing it until it's dead. I wonder if works on bosses.
 
YOOOO WTF, end game spoilers
at switching to Kidman and now I'm shooting at human enemies in the stem center area. I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING. Also lol at the switch that popped a gun out from under the desk.
 
The city chapters in TEW1 are some of my favorites. Awesome visuals with the sinkholes, a huge variety of unique set pieces with clever gameplay, and it's probably the first time in a long time that I've been afraid of enemies with guns.
 
The city chapters in TEW1 are some of my favorites. Awesome visuals with the sinkholes, a huge variety of unique set pieces with clever gameplay, and it's probably the first time in a long time that I've been afraid of enemies with guns.

It has its moments. That gondola encounter is some Mikami-ass Mikami.
 
Anyone who likes the first one more is gonna get a big eyebrow raise out of me. The worst parts of TEW2 are the few parts that are like TEW1. They're all better than any of TEW1's bad linear encounters, but I am bummed there isn't more open world stuff. The game's mostly linear. And I mean, I wrote a pretty in-depth piece on TEW1 and what I liked about it for Kotaku a while ago. It's not like I hate the game. This one is just plain better.

Great combat. Kinda wish I could pull the RE4 stumble a bit more reliably, or use grenades, but in general, this is dramatically better than everything RE4 had to offer.

Game would be even better if the open world was even more open. The closer it gets to Silent Hill, the better it becomes.

Alrighty then, sounds good. I will definitely give it a try in the next few months 👍🏻

Thanks guys.
 
The combat gauntlet at the end of TEW1 was great. I forget whether it was the last two chapters or just one of them, but that game had a solid finale for combat.

Short of the stealth kill upgrade, how do you guys use Smoke bolts?
 
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