I would say that I'm approaching Slasher levels of hype for this, but that's likely incorrect. I'm still like, real fuckin' hyped though. This, Bayonetta 2, Dragon Age 3 are my most anticipated games for the rest of the year with Evil Within currently leading the charge.
In some ways it feels like we're about to get a new, lasting horror franchise that's a lot of Resident Evil and some Silent Hill thrown in for good measure. That's incredibly exciting to me. I don't hate the new RE games and I'm one of the few that accepted the Silent Hill games post The Room, but I'm more about games that are confident in what they are.
Resident Evil 5 took the mold that RE4 established and ran with it, and RE6 took that and transformed it into its own thing-- which some liked and many hated. I actually loved playing RE6, but it wasn't what I wanted out of the series. I think the newer Silent Hill games are pretty good. I didn't care much for Origins because I thought it was too in your face about Alessa's history, but I thought Shattered Memories was an interesting game, Homecoming was pretty good, and I loved Downpour.
But The Evil Within feels like a fresh new slate without any trappings. Its clearly inspired by a lot of things, and it looks to have action, but the action looks very horrifying and horror-inspired. Chases, being sucked into spinning blades-- all of that qualifies to me as good action-horror, and Mikami knows what he's doing. At the same time the atmosphere looks superb, the art direction and enemy designs are stunningly creepy and gothic, and the story seems super intriguing.
It may not turn out to be much, but I don't believe that.
