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The Evil Within (E3 2014 Hands-On Preview)

If it weren't some on-screen button prompts and graphics that look slightly worse than real life, it wouldn't be easy to decipher The Evil Within from a great new horror film. The upcoming release from developer Tango Gameworks and publisher Bethesda captures survival horror gameplay perfectly at times and features enough frightening moments to satisfy even the most picky horror fans. The Evil Within will no doubt be compared with the most popular games in the genre including Outlast, but the next generation release manages to look a lot better than most other horror games and has plenty of staying power with the crazy amount of scares available in the E3 2014 demo we were able to try out at the event.

A lot of time spent in the demo for The Evil Within was spent either looking for a place to hide, a weapon to fend off enemies or running and not looking back. The third-person game is tense and always manages to make players feel uneasy while progressing through a level. Sometimes, the game uses subtle items like blood trails down a hallway to set the tension, while some rooms will have whispers or other creepy noises coming from behind players to make players jump out of their seats. Most enemies found in The Evil Within are difficult to kill and will require plenty of hits, stabs or ammunition to be pumped into them to even take the monsters down for the first time. Then the bodies need to be set on fire to dispose of a corpse and keep the enemies from coming back to life. Then there are some enemies that are completely invulnerable to attacks and will cause players nightmares after chasing them down hallways and through different rooms.



The Evil Within attempts to walk a fine line between creating an immersive horror experience and offering players a game that is difficult enough to make players never feel safe. Most of the time, the game works perfectly and manages to keep players fearing what is waiting for them beyond each door. Immersion is ruined at other times though when deaths start piling up and the same enemies are encountered in the same way once again. This problem showed up during the E3 demo after dying several times to the same unkillable boss before finally learning the correct way to progress past the enemy without being harmed.

Nearly any gripes with The Evil Within are minor though. The game looks good and runs mostly smoothly. There are still several months that will be used to iron out any kinks from the game before its release in October. Players can really feel the influence from Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil series, who was brought on as director of the project. Though players will be fighting for survival and hunting down any extra healing items, ammunition and other equipment, combat is still an important part of the game and will often require the use of guns to get the job done, even when battling against a monster that most would rather run from than fight. At an event full of new and upcoming video game releases, The Evil Within was easily the one game that stuck with us long after E3 2014 was over. The Evil Within releases on October 21, 2014.



The Evil Within is now available for preorder from most major retailers for the MSRP of $59.99 and is scheduled to release for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC on October 21, 2014. The Evil Within is not yet rated. For more information on the game, check out the official The Evil Within website.

Game Features:
  • Single Player
  • From the Mind of Shinji Mikami
  • Preorder Bonus The Fighting Chance Pack
  • DLC Support
  • Trophy/Achievement Support

Game Information:
Developer: Tango Gameworks
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: PlayStation 4 (previewed), PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 & PC
Release Date: October 21, 2014

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