The Evil Within Xbox One / Series X [Naudotas]

A third-person survival horror action game developed by Japanese studio Tange Works led by Shinji Mikami (Dino Crisis, Devil May Cry, Onimusha). The game is set within the premises of a small town’s asylum. We play as a detective who tries to solve mystery of a gruesome murder. The case, however, quickly changes into a desperate fight for survival and preserving his sanity. Developers from Tange Works wanted to create an atmosphere of constant fear and endangerment, delivered in-game by the grim audiovisuals and a minimal interface. The game runs on a modified version of id Tech 5 engine, known from e.g. Rage.

The Evil Within, originally bore the working name of Zwei, is a mix of survival horror action game with a TPP, which was released for Xbox One. The Tango Gameworks studio is responsible for the production, led by the Japanese producer, Shinji Mikami, the father of games such as Dino Crisis, Devil May Cry and Onimusha. The producer is known for establishing the foundations of the genre referred to as survival horror, which crystallized in the most important production of Mikami: Resident Evil. After many side projects, likeVanquish and Shadows of the Damned, Mikami decided to go back to his roots and scare the players once again.

The game tells the story of an ordinary detective named Sebastian. The hero goes together with two partners to a bleak town to investigate a crime scene at the local psychiatric facility built in the Gothic style. It turns out that the place where the murder was committed is completely empty. After crossing the gate of the hospital, the detectives are witnessing frightening view of brutally massacred bodies. In the course of the investigation, the protagonist is suddenly attacked and loses his consciousness. Upon waking up, the accompanying police officer is killed before him. Then begins a journey into darkness, and the real fight for survival in a world full of aggressive and bloodthirsty monsters begins.

During the game, there are no dramatic twists and turns. The storyline is based primarily on the theme of mystery and madness. The atmosphere of being hunted and depression is built gradually. The creators carefully balanced the gameplay elements, so that the player could feel the lurking danger at every step. The atmosphere is not turned up by strong storyline turbulences, but slow discovery of the mysteries of the scary town.

In The Evil Within for Xbox One the action is mainly linear, and locations that we visit during this dark journey are claustrophobic. Later on during the campaign, there are more open spaces where we are given more freedom. The surroundings change when the player least expects it. The protagonist often has visions like those from the FEAR series, during which disturbing things happen to him. Sweeping the darkest corners of corridors should not be associated with a walk for the game is filled with brutality and blood very often pours in hectoliters and is splashed from the bodies of the living dead.

The developers limited the interface to a minimum: we do not see anything there, except for the health indicator and a thumbnail of currently used weapon with the number of rounds left. The gameplay in The Evil Within for Xbox One is not simply about shooting . Tango Gameworks also offers the option of stealth with the ability to use objects to distract the zombies and other creatures. An additional complication is the impact of the bloodcurdling events on the psyche of the protagonist, inspired by another game published under the aegis of Bethesda Softworks, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. This element causes, inter alia, lesser mobility of Sebastian and changes the appearance of animations.

The game is powered by the modified id Tech 5 engine which was originally used in the production of Rage by id Software. Dark graphics, greatly detailted meticulous monsters, and diverse environment raising the adrenaline level, respectively, are the strength of the production. The creators at all costs tried to create unique models of zombies and other monster in the game. A perfect example is disgusting woman, looking like a failed experiment of the intersection of human and spider. As befits a genuine survival horror, exploring the dark corners of the town is made “enjoyable by evocative ambient sounds, heavily influencing the player's imagination.