The Evil Within 2 Reviews
John Johanas has masterfully taken up the directorial reigns and given us a game that, while it shares many trace elements of DNA with its predecessor, has more than enough of a distinct identity in order to separate it from the pack.
Because after playing through it, going to a real park or a real beach filled with real people has never sounded better.
The Evil Within 2 is horrifying delight, using a feeling of vulnerability to make players appreciate every moment they're still alive.
The Evil Within 2 is quite the surprise, outperforming its predecessor in every category. The lengthy narrative kept me invested, while the open-world nature of Union and the supporting characters help create a much more realized environment. Even then, the game's tension is quite high, and there were a lot more scares than I was expected. The lack of PlayStation 4 Pro support is indeed an odd decision, but hopefully, Bethesda can patch the game sooner rather than later.
The Evil Within 2 does a good job of finishing the original story. Seb gets reunited with his daughter and overcomes his guilt. That said, the game revisits multiple events from the first game. This assumes you've played it and if not, you're left following scraps of content from the game. Outside of the story, the game is quite different from the first. It's a good follow-up, even if the horror takes a back seat to the action. Thankfully the game also addresses the performance issues from the first game and it runs like a champ (if you have the hardware). A solid entry for those new to the survival horror genre. While veterans may be a bit disappointed as the game puts more focus on combat than providing the scares. Still, fans of the first game will eat this up and come back for seconds.
The Evil Within 2 is an enjoyable, psychological and somewhat emotional trip that I probably won't forget. As a sequel to it's predecessor, it takes things in a rather different direction and tries several new things to mixed results. Nonetheless, The Evil Within 2 is a thrilling and tense experience that'll appeal to most fans of the original and newcomers looking for a harrowing experience they've probably not had before.
Its characters aren't much chop, but The Evil Within 2 coughs up some gruesome enemies and scares, while mostly justifying its shift to an open world design.
Though I never expected to ever see a sequel to The Evil Within, we've now gotten one, and I'm rather glad that we did. While The Evil Within 2 isn't without problems—and I'm not sure it's the kind of game I'll ever want to play through a second time—by the time the final credits rolled, I had legitimately enjoyed the adventure I'd just gone on, and the improvements that Tango Gameworks had tried to bring to the series.
At its core, The Evil Within 2 is still a survival horror experience, a modern take on the time-honoured suspense of having only one round but two deranged enemies lurching towards you.
The Evil Within 2 returns with a world more open to exploration plus plenty of extra polish to the familiar Resident Evil formula. Admittedly, the familiar gameplay might give veterans of the genre a been-there, done-that feeling. The addition of more open-world elements, however, improves on the old RE-style approach and the third-person perspective will be welcome to folks who didn't quite like Resident Evil 7's first-person switch. If you love the first game or Shinji Mikami's Resident Evil titles, this is worth taking a stab at the old bathtub once more, pun so totally intended.
The Evil Within 2 has arrived just in time for the spookiest holiday of the year. While the difficulty level has been ratcheted down noticeably in the name of accessibility, the harder modes should suffice for those looking for a challenge. Creepy environments are a staple of this series, and there are even a few jump scares thrown in for good measure. A much more focused story will drive you to want to play for “just one more chapter,” while a decent selection of side missions will also keep you occupied for the duration. Still, by incorporating a lot of the more traditional elements of open-world games, such as a regular map, waypoint system, and lengthy cutscenes, the game has lost some of the abstract charm seen in the original. This should not act as a deterrent, however; horror fans have found the best game to play this Halloween.
The Evil Within improves the game mechanics by adding the exploration of a few open zones. A very good game for horror fans !
Review in French | Read full review
As it stands, The Evil Within 2 is held back by a forgettable story and annoying AI issues that would probably put a serious damper on your gameplay experience if you were playing on Nightmare difficulty. And yet, it also does exactly what a horror game should do, and it does it well.
The Evil Within 2 doesn't reinvent the survival-horror genre but makes it work in more of an open world.
The Evil Within 2 is one of the most great and emotional adventures of this year. Developers, sadly, did not have enough time for polishing of the game and expanding open areas, but we hope that all the problems will be solved in the third game, if it, of course, will be released.
Review in Russian | Read full review
The addition of open levels is a mixed bag, but this terrifying follow-up is a worthy addition to the genre
The Evil Within 2 may not be the perfect horror game, but it manage to both feel as a unique experience and improve on the original in almost every detail.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
Evil Within 2 is how a sequel should be constructed. Everything about it feels like an improvement upon its predecessor.
The Evil Within 2 is a great addition to the survival horror genre. It improves in a lot of aspects from its predecessor, but also makes some sacrifices that made the original so memorable from a horror standpoint. The Evil Within 2 is a damn good game and any fan of the genre should give it a shot.
The game's greatest strength is avoiding the pitfalls of the first; removing frustrating boss fights and lessening the amount of forced stealth sections.