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THE EVIL WITHIN is the real deal! (UK Demo impressions)

D

DJSebolski

Member
SlasherJPC said:
Two different versions.

B0WSaOc.png

9b24z5t.png
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Thanks!
 
T

TheGreatDirector

Banned
I'm actually really hyped for this game. Seeing the impressions changing from bad to good from early on in the year is something else.

Also for those who pre-purchased the game, I could use a little help. I'm trying to pre purchase the game on GreenManGaming but it keeps saying it is unable to add the voucher.
 
Northeastmonk

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
brandonh83 said:
In an age where people don't know how to play fucking videogames anymore, it won't be hard for me to ignore criticisms about that. I'm not a great gamer by any stretch, I don't set records, I don't do speedruns, I don't even really master any games. But here lately, I mean I get through stuff like Wonderful 101, Bayonetta, Tropical Freeze, Skyward Sword... and all I see are people complaining about not being able to play or understand those. I'm not saying they're all super easy, but for me they're incredibly easy to understand. I have friends that are my age that had trouble controlling the bird in Skyward Sword and because of that gave up on the game. These sorts of things confuse me-- and I promise that's the most putting it mildly comment I will make all year.

I think a lot of people just want to play easy, no-brainer shit anymore. It's like why Transformers makes so much money. You can go to those movies with a "fuck it" mentality and just enjoy yourself for a bit without any commitment at all. I can enjoy that sort of thing too, but I know it's throwaway entertainment. I keep thinking about movies like How to Train Your Dragon 2 or Days of Future Past while Age of Extinction came and went because there wasn't anything to it. I sort of liken this to videogames. The Evil Within feels like that horror product that is actually legit, but it's not mainstream enough to make a splash.

I like things with layers to them. I haven't played the game yet, but just watching footage of this, I'm seeing all sorts of things going on. I'm seeing shooting mechanics, stealth, and some strategy involved, and unlike The Last of Us, it all feels very organic; that game was underwhelming to me because all the enemy encounters were telegraphed and bunched together. I never felt a sense of fear in that game because you were either... fighting enemies or... not fighting enemies. There was never an in-between. That game would have been loads better if you were just strolling along without knowing when a clicker would ambush you. Instead they were all grouped together, the level design would scream "hey here's some waist high barriers you can conveniently duck behind, I wonder what's about to happen!"

I don't get that out of this game though, at least not what I've seen from it. In fact it all looked extremely varied and unpredictable to me.
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There is creativity, there's art, and then there's throwing mindless enemies on a platform and being told to shoot them. Which a lot of the Transformers games did. They relied on the brand name to throw numerous enemies at you during random encounters. I'm hoping it will be seen in TEW and that we haven't forgotten about the genre and what it has brought to the genre. You're right in that scares seem predetermined rather than random. PT did the a whole new experience under your nose when you first started the game. I'm expecting the same sort of appeal to TEW. In RE you weren't expecting a lot to happen in the first 10 minutes, which made your first playthrough exciting and it felt like you were living or surviving in this world rather than enduring it.
 
Lucent

Lucent

Member
AsfaeksBR said:
After the game is released, when should we change our Avatars?

And it's 00:04 in Brazil right now, so 28 days to go!
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SlasherJPC said:
Probably won't change mine till Im done with the game :)
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Raptor said:
Lets never change it shall we.
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Well, I'll probably keep mine the same at least a week or so. But Sunset Overdrive will be out two weeks after this game, so I might be rep'n that a few days before then. After that I think I'll be switching to Bloodborne.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
Northeastmonk said:
There is creativity, there's art, and then there's throwing mindless enemies on a platform and being told to shoot them. Which a lot of the Transformers games did. They relied on the brand name to throw numerous enemies at you during random encounters. I'm hoping it will be seen in TEW and that we haven't forgotten about the genre and what it has brought to the genre. You're right in that scares seem predetermined rather than random. PT did the a whole new experience under your nose when you first started the game. I'm expecting the same sort of appeal to TEW. In RE you weren't expecting a lot to happen in the first 10 minutes, which made your first playthrough exciting and it felt like you were living or surviving in this world rather than enduring it.
Click to expand...

Horror is best when it's unpredictable, whether it be a jump scare (which I'm not a fan of) or other meanderings whether paranormal or atmospheric. There are two ways to go about this: the Resident Evil approach, and the Silent Hill approach and each of them approach the unknown in different ways.

In Resident Evil, the term survival horror was coined because it was about resource management, but what made it actually scary was the unknown. You get the helmet key, and now you can traverse new terrain. But you only have five shots and no herbs. What's beyond the door I'm about to open? Should I go save first? Are there any ink ribbons or herbs or ammo beyond this door, or are there zombies or hunters or god knows what else? That's what helped make those games memorable and clever. On top of that you generally had fantastic atmosphere, art, and music. And in the original, you didn't really know what was going on, and no grasp of anything that awaited.

In Silent Hill, it was still always good to have resources, but those were more about the actual environment being the source of scares. There were enemies, but you could largely avoid them. There were bosses, but they went down pretty easily. It was about being totally unnerved by the environment, by the story, the history, sounds, and meaning behind everything. You felt like you were in this place with a dense background and evil behind a very thin curtain all being controlled by some unknown puppetmaster. What I love about the monsters in Silent Hill is that they're not particularly scary to me; I can shoot them or avoid them. What's great is the meaning behind them and why they're there. That's why they creep me out. They're an unknown quantity until you fit the pieces together, and on top of the terrific atmosphere and sound design, you end up with an extremely intimidating setting.

What intrigues me about Evil Within is that it clearly has the Resident Evil 4 style of action and raw violence, but there's also this psychological aspect to the story and environments that, for me, are far more intriguing than the what I felt were very random, sporadic locales of RE4. RE4 is a great game, but as it kept going I thought it started to outstay its welcome and lose its focus. The game design never let up, so that was great, but in terms of feeling an actual connection and interest in the story and scenarios, after about the first two thirds I did start to feel a little fatigue. I hope in many ways that Evil Within takes the best of both Resident Evil and Silent Hill and whatever else its inspiring to be but keeps it tidy and focused without throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the canvas.

Even if it does that, it can still be a great game (RE4), but I hope it takes these influences and carves something fresh out of the woodwork.
 
L

Lernaean

Banned
Excellent points as usual by brandonh83 btw.

Also, i'd love an evilification of my profile picture if anyone bothers, just for the hype until this gem releases.
 
S

symphonask

Member
I see some concerns about the randomization in this game. There are no random jump scares - unless you count Ruvik showing up now and again as a jump scare (it isn't).

There are still scripted events and encounters in the game. The random elements in this game come from some enemy placements in the locations. This mainly alleviates trial and error gameplay I feel and encourages experimentation with your weapons. It also makes each checkpoint reload a lot more interesting and fun - dying in this game isn't losing progress, it's seeing and playing a level in a new way. I don't think until people get their hands on the game will they see how well this works.

It's a pretty amazing way of designing encounters. I feel we're going to get a lot of copycats of this system in the future.


EDIT:
brandonh83 said:
I like things with layers to them. I haven't played the game yet, but just watching footage of this, I'm seeing all sorts of things going on. I'm seeing shooting mechanics, stealth, and some strategy involved...

I don't get that out of this game though, at least not what I've seen from it. In fact it all looked extremely varied and unpredictable to me.
Click to expand...

You nailed it. TEW is really dynamic and it really is up to the player how they want to solve encounters.
 
N

NEO0MJ

Member
xezuru said:
I believe solid native 1080p 60fps, and some minor additions like nintendo costumes, don't believe there's any new playable content or anything. Just fully optimized for the console.
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Actually, the game isn't 1080p. Though according to them it will be the definitive version of the game.
 
D

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
brandonh83 said:
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.
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Are you me?

REmake and RE4 are my favorite RE games, Silent Hill 3 and 2 are my favorite SH games, but I've also enjoyed newer RE and SH games for different reasons, but have wanted a game like TEW for a while.
 
-MD-

-MD-

Member
Dusk Golem said:
REmake and RE4 are my favorite RE games, Silent Hill 3 and 2 are my favorite SH games, but I've also enjoyed newer RE and SH games for different reasons, but have wanted a game like TEW for a while.
Click to expand...

I should probably get around to playing SH3...

> _ >
 
R

Raptor

Member
This will be the only horror game I play since what? RE4 in PS2 30 years ago ro something.

:O

I don't even know how to play this games anymore.
 
V

Vinterbird

Member
Did Tango ever say why they scrapped the multiplayer mode for TEW? Considering they had several jobpostings for it, it must have been planned for some time.
 
AsfaeksBR

AsfaeksBR

Member
Vinterbird said:
Did Tango ever say why they scrapped the multiplayer mode for TEW? Considering they had several jobpostings for it, it must have been planned for some time.
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I can't find anything about it.
But maybe they saw Dead Space 3 and thought "Yeah, it just isn't the same if you're not alone" and scrapped it. Or even Resident Evil 6.
 
L

Loakum

Banned
can someone please "The Evil Within" up my avatar. I'm super stocked for this game (also for ME: Shadow of Mordor) :)
 
S

SlasherJPC

Banned
Crimsonclaw111 said:
The cynical side of me says that's what the Season Pass holds.
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They already announced that the season pass container a mode where you play as Boxhead (reminded me of like a kill mode or sorts) the other two are a new campaign where you play at the female lead in the game and a new story. Actually I just found the official press release, here it is:

The Evil Within Season Pass will allow you to experience survival horror from a new perspective. In the first add-on, assume the role of The Keeper (aka Boxman) in a sadistic collection of mission-based maps. The second and third add-ons take you further down a path of madness in a two-part, story-driven experience in the role of Juli Kidman -- Sebastian Castellanos' mysterious partner from The Evil Within. Encounter unthinkable enemies and new areas that reveal hidden motives and harrowing evil.
Click to expand...
 
X

Xpliskin

Member
Some (good) news:

A developer tweeted that those who worry about the loading time should relax.
It's among Mikami's number one concerns and it's being resolved.

Rechoice :D

(@oneflat)

EDIT:

Vinterbird said:
Did Tango ever say why they scrapped the multiplayer mode for TEW? Considering they had several jobpostings for it, it must have been planned for some time.
Click to expand...

Speculation:

-They think/thought they might salvage the original concept of Zwei : Co-op vampire game.
-The DLC might have some co-op/multiplayer. Maybe the monster DLC ? No idea.
 
C

Crimsonclaw111

Member
SlasherJPC said:
They already announced that the season pass container a mode where you play as Boxhead (reminded me of like a kill mode or sorts) the other two are a new campaign where you play at the female lead in the game and a new story. Actually I just found the official press release, here it is:
Click to expand...
Phew
 
R

robotzombie

Member
My buddy just gifted me the Steam version.

I had been debating PC vs PS4 for a while, but now the decision has been made for me

I just really, really hope there are no PC issues at launch and that it is a quality version
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
robotzombie said:
My buddy just gifted me the Steam version.

I had been debating PC vs PS4 for a while, but now the decision has been made for me

I just really, really hope there are no PC issues at launch and that it is a quality version
Click to expand...

That's a real good friend.

I'm married to Dusk's sister and he still hasn't gifted me a copy.
 
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