The Evil Within Reviews
The Evil Within isn't without some glaring shortcomings, but overall, this is survival horror at its most brutally rewarding. A triumphant return for Shinji Mikami.
By sticking to tried and tested survival horror staples, The Evil Within effectively creates a sense of tension and fear, something which makes the descent into darkness all the more terrifying.
It might not be the scariest game out there, but The Evil Within brings the scary and the tension. Unfortunately it trips over its feet in key places.
While it's far from flawless or original, The Evil Within is packed full of terrifying scenes and is genuinely fun to play through, giving gamers a lengthy campaign and tons of memorable moments.
Overall, though, The Evil Within is a solid survival thriller game that will likely satisfy fans who lament the more action-oriented direction that titles such as Resident Evil or Dead Space ended up taking as of late. If the idea of of gameplay in the vein of Resident Evil meets Silent Hill is something you find appealing, then you'll want to give The Evil Within a shot.
Even with its issues The Evil Within is a solid survival horror experience. It brings back the best of what this genre was built on.
While The Evil Within doesn't quite reach the iconic Resident Evil 4's level of brilliance or scariness, this is a satisfyingly gruesome adventure. Playing on Survival difficulty or higher is a true challenge, and you need to make quick decisions about which enemies to take out first, when to run and hide, and which crossbow bolts to make in semi-real time. The story is pretty convoluted, and you don't really become attached to most characters, but ultimately this is a very well-done survival horror game with stealth elements mixed in for good measure. The Evil Within is a great game for the Halloween crowd, and has some added replayability in the form of a New Game+. This is an easy buy for all horror fans, and is a game that should not be missed by those who want a challenge.
A masterful demonstration (perhaps a little too gory), both from the point of view of the realization as well as the narration, the atmosphere or the playability, even if it is not always the most accurate.
Review in French | Read full review
The Evil Within is the most impetuous realization of Mikami's creative vision. Finally autonomous, yet so careful to recover fragments from the game designer's other hallucinate visions, the title tells a story that mixes alienating moments and oppressive clashes, strange hermetic symbolism with brutal violent exaggerations.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Fans of the original Resident Evil will be happy to know that while The Evil Within does have a few kinks the game is as fresh as Resident Evil was all those years ago. Shinji Mikami has proven that he can still weave a captivating story and flesh out an interesting protagonist who just about everyone can relate to.
In this sense The Evil Within becomes less of a game and more of a haunted house ride, where you just roll with the changes and wait for the scares.
The Evil Within is an odd beast of a game that straddles the line between helpless atmosphere horror and zombie action shooter. It is certainly a huge step above the Michael Bay-esque Resident Evil 6. If not for the unfortunate frustrating points, which really take you out of the bleak atmosphere, I would say this would set the bar for horror excellence. Unfortunately, these small drawbacks will cause you to frequently put the game down, and that simply doesn't mesh with a horror tone. Overall, The Evil Within is a horror game that outdoes other horror offerings by leaps and bounds, but just isn't perfect. If you want a game to scare the crap out of you this Halloween season, then The Evil Within is a safe bet.
It's not Mikami's best game, but The Evil Within's excellent gameplay, incredible atmosphere, and the sheer variety of enemies and environments on display make up for occasional frustrations, a overly grimdark plot, and pointless stealth sections. It's a great game, and a return to form for Mikami. It's not Resident Evil 4, but you know what? There's nothing wrong with that.
If you like the idea of Resident Evil 4 crossed half-and-half with Silent Hill then The Evil Within is the game for you. Just be prepared to put up with 30 FPS.
It's not easy for a game with the name Shinji Mikami attached to it to live up to the hype, but The Evil Within does a nice job of staying true to its roots.
The Evil Within marks Shinji Mikami's triumphant return to horror, cementing his status as a mastermind of the genre. Smartly aiming for psychological horror over cheap jump scares, it gets under the skin and effects the psyche. Unfortunately, it falls into the modern trappings of boasting too much firepower at the cost of stealth and intelligence.
While The Evil Within won't make as big of an impact on the medium of video games as its spiritual predecessor, there's a few design choices that hold the experience back and the story is more on the side of "what the hell" than offering a satisfying tale, it's still a great game for a trip back to that atmospheric, tense, semi old-school horror that manages to stand out in this current age, because big budget action horrors aren't created anymore and no one creates an action horror like the father of the genre, Shinji Mikami.
Started badly and with the spectre of failure that emerged after the first rehearsals, The Evil Within is a game that has been able to surprise us. The mixture of old and new works, and once again demonstrates Mikami's ability to create balanced products capable of entertaining without alienating too much classic gameplay.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Evil Within loves to give the player a challenge in various different ways with the lack of ammo being one already mentioned, but even the normal enemies in the game will give you a challenge.
A solid adventure and a music for horror fans out there who want to play a game which could be described as RE4's spiritual successor as mentioned earlier.