Update: It’s really not long until The Evil Within 2 is released in October but for those who haven’t played the first game it might be a little hard to get excited for any of the details that have been released this far.
Fortunately, Bethesda has put together a convenient Story FAQ to make things a little easier to understand for new visitors to the nightmare and make it absolutely clear that you don’t have to have played the first title to enjoy and understand its sequel.
The FAQ which can be found here goes over the series protagonist Sebastian Castellanos, his background, and his partner as well as the shadowy organisation Mobius and the sinister STEM device.
With all the essentials covered the FAQ then goes on to reveal some things about The Evil Within 2. The information isn’t particularly spoilerific but if you’re desperately trying to avoid any and all information before you play the game for yourself we’d suggest you avoid it.
For anyone that wants to know a little more about what they can expect in terms of Castellano’s state, his daughter, the new game world and the people that may be encountered there it’s certainly worth a read.
Original article continues below…
As many hoped and suspected, The Evil Within 2 was revealed at this year’s Bethesda conference during E3.
Not only did we get to see the cinematic announcement trailer, we were given a very apt release date of October 13 2017. Other than that, however, details were fairly thin on the ground.
If you’re absolutely certain you’re going to love it, though, it’s already available to pre-order here.
Released in 2014, the original Evil Within was a horror game that was praised for its uniqueness, despite having some flaws. Most notable was the way the game managed to combine features of classic survival horror games with more up-to-date third person action elements to create something that felt classic without feeling outdated.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? A sequel to the horror game The Evil Within
- When can I play it? October 13
- What can I play it on? PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Trailers
The game got its very first trailer at Bethesda’s E3 showcase this year. Showing Sebastian Castellanos and his daughter facing frightening enemies, it gives a good sign that we’re going to be just as scared this time around.
What we know so far
Release date
It’s an extremely apt date: The Evil Within 2 will be released on Friday October 13 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Story and gameplay
The Evil Within 2 will see the return of Detective Sebastian Castellanos, the protagonist of the first game.
This time he’s described as being at his “lowest point” having lost everything, including his daughter. However, when he’s given the chance to save her and bring her back he enters “a world filled with nightmares” to “discover the dark origins of a once-idyllic town.” That’s right, we’re returning to STEM.
This time, however, Bethesda has confirmed players will be entering a different STEM world called Union, which uses Sebastian’s daughter’s mind as the core.
Where Sebastian had some familiarity with the town of the first game, Union is completely new to him. Though it looks like a small idyllic American time, it’s slowly tearing itself apart.
Players will encounter a whole new cast of characters in this new game world, each with their own reasons for being there.
Julie Kidman will return to the game, but this time she’ll be the link to the real world and Sebastian will be able to communicate with her via a special device.
In the description of the game, Bethesda asks “Will you face adversity head on with weapons and traps, or sneak through the shadows to survive?”
This, of course, suggests that once again players will be able to choose how they approach enemies, whether using stealth or by being somewhat more direct. The first time around, the stealthy approach wasn’t quite up to scratch so we hope this time around it’s improved.
Who’s on the team?
Recently leaked adverts on Reddit suggest that Shinji Mikami (director of the first game and the original Resident Evil) will be returning to work on The Evil Within 2. It’s not clear, however, in these adverts in what capacity he’s involved. Though he could be returning as a director, there’s also a chance he could be playing a consultant advisory role. We firmly hope it’s the former.
What we want to see
A more nuanced story
We enjoyed the story of The Evil Within, and we also enjoyed its protagonist but it’d be nice if the sequel was slightly less ambitious with its story and went less all in on the absurd plot twists that tended to detract from rather than add to the game.
It absolutely is possible to balance the strange horror elements and wild monsters of The Evil Within with moments that are more grounded in real-life fears and still have it make an impact. This is something we’d love it if The Evil Within 2 was able to achieve.
Great visuals
If there’s one area a horror game really needs to perfect to instill fear, it’s its visuals. A solid aesthetic and consistent framerates and textures are key. It’s harder to be scared of monsters when they’re juddering towards you or their textures aren’t fully rendered. The original Evil Within sometimes had the problem of being inconsistent in these areas. This is likely in part because it was straddling the PS3 and Xbox 360 to PS4 and Xbox One generations and was playable on both.
We’d love to see The Evil Within 2 burst onto the latest generation consoles with gusto. Perhaps we could even see support for PS4 Pro and Project Scorpio.
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