The Evil Within 2 Reviews
An intense and thrilling psychological survival horror sequel that improves on its forerunner in almost every way.
The Evil Within 2 is a significant step forward from the first game in the series, providing tighter controls, a more focused narrative, and no shortage of scares.
The Evil Within 2 gives you more options to play your way in a much bigger survival-horror playground than the original. Although a disjointed plot and weak protagonist make it slow to get started, being pursued through an intriguingly bizarre world by plentiful and disturbing monsters kept my palms sweaty and my heart in my throat thanks to a strict adherence to the most important survival horror rule: you should always be on the back foot.
Resident Evil 4 meets the Truman Show in an entertaining but unremarkable follow-up, held back by tepid stealth and warmed-over scares.
Though it doesn't outdo its predecessor, The Evil Within 2 delivers another fun, challenging, tense horror headtrip that should delight fans of the first game.
The Evil Within 2 offers some enjoyable scares, but it never transcends or deviates from the many works it draws from
It's a brilliant horror game, one that understands when to ratchet up tension and when to pull back and let you collect yourself. If the first game was a failed attempt to capture the spirit of Shinji Mikami's classic Resident Evil 4, the sequel is a successful attempt at something much better: finding a chilling, exhilarating voice of its own.
The sequel to the mind-bending survival-horror game is a clever follow up that makes some big changes.
When I finished the story, I had to stop myself from immediately starting a new game. That's partially because this is one of the best survival horror games I've played, but also because you unlock several snazzy new shirts for Sebastian, alongside other goodies to take with you into NG+.
The Evil Within 2 is a mechanical step up from the first game in nearly every way, even if the narrative is just as disposable as ever. Buy it if that balance doesn't bother you.
The Evil Within 2 is a more coherent and purposeful journey, strengthened by its voyage into non-linear level design, while at the same time reinforcing the foundation with which the original's gameplay often shined through on.
The Evil Within 2 feels like something of a departure from the first game, but also an extremely fitting follow-up.
If you're a horror buff, you'll likely be disappointed because there aren't that many unique monsters in the game. It's not even scary, to be honest; most of the tension and fear comes from the lack of ammo. All in all, it's not a bad game, but it's not a great game either. You'll probably have fun shooting the zombies and checking out the occasionally cool surreal locales, but that's it.
The Evil Within 2 is a game that uses stealth and atmosphere to create some great situations, but its use of sound elevates its scares well beyond those of lesser horror titles.
Some monstrously lovely set pieces are let down by a bit too much padding, some broken mechanics, and an overwrought story.
Coming into its release, it would have been easy to give The Evil Within 2 a pass based on the reception of the previous game, and I don't necessarily blame those that might have been let down by The Evil Within for not entirely living up to its lofty expectations. And yet, though The Evil Within 2 might be a different flavor of survival horror this time around, I hope that those willing to give it a chance will be more likely to enjoy its taste.
The Evil Within 2 is a good horror survival game in itself, but it is considered a backward step for the series at all levels except the technical aspect. The first section of the game presented a similar experience to the open world in a very excellent way, but soon the game returns to the linear method and here show the disadvantages and most important semi-random confrontations with the enemies and the battles of leaders without creativity and this are the points that made the first game a genius one. The story-telling was not good and the level of writing was bad, and the dialogues were flat and shallow. Despite all this, the game certainly good and you must play it, but we were hoping for a game that surpassed the first one and not the other way round. Mikami's departure seemed to have had a big impact on the game.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
The Evil Within 2 is again an amazing chance to push ourselves into the darkness of fears and nightmares, a very psychological experience with an interesting plot and an incredible use of terrifying creatures.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
With the original game having done so little to impress me, The Evil Within 2 has come as a massive surprise. Although the story still failed to hook me, clever gameplay changes and well-used horror tropes combine to create a vastly-improved sequel.