The Evil Within Gameplay Trailer

The Evil Within Gameplay Trailer Sets The Tone For This Upcoming Tango Gameworks Title.

The Evil Within: Extended Gameplay Trailer

Survival Horror is, for better or worse, a genre that has piqued many developers’ interests in recent times. It may not have the sales expectancy of the increasingly-vague “action-adventure” genre – so we may not see many Triple-A titles soon – but it’s definitely gaining momentum amongst gamers. We have the success of a few big name titles to thank for thank for this, namely Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Dead Space, and Silent Hill, and now there are more opportunities to weep softly into our controllers as our on-screen avatar becomes the tastiest treat at a monster picnic.

Shortly following the release of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Tango Gameworks offered up an extended gameplay trailer for their upcoming survival horror game, The Evil Within. The game starts simply enough: we are Detective Sebastien Castellanos investigating a series of killings when our team-mates are slaughtered and Sebastien gets knocked out so he can be taken away. This is where the trailer begins, we are tied upside down awaiting torture.

Environment

The core of any good survival horror game is the environment. The ability to create a credible story world that simultaneously intrigues and terrifies the player is something that makes a horror game an experience in and of itself.

Set pieces in The Evil Within definitely meet this criterion. They are what they need to be: detailed and gruesome. They are, however, typical of what one would expect from a horror game. The walls are decrepit, covered in blood, and poorly lit. It all feels reminiscent of previous titles but seems to be a winning formula. The squalor and the dark colours of the background elements lend a  sense of direness to the world which expertly urges the player forward and puts you on edge.

The music is quietly understated. The score in the torture chamber scene is out-of-place as an overlaid piece of music but as part of the mise-en-scène humanises the monster and unnerves the player with its disconnection from the situation. The moans and wails and screams of the monster mobs is all tastefully done and creates a poignant atmosphere.

The Evil Within Gameplay

The Evil Within could be the greatest horror experience imaginable but, in the end, it is a video game and the interactions need to be smooth and intuitive or players will find it a chore. Gameplay elements, from what we’re shown, look to be a combination of third-person shooter and adventure-exploration. Running around dark hallways and even darker overworld areas to track down keys or other items for progression seems to be a focus; with attention given to defending oneself from a mob of disfigured creatures and investigation.

The survival aspect of the game is delivered in two ways: combat and stealth. Combat will be discussed later but Sebastien is shown to have an toggled stealth mode to allow him to slip past bigger and more dangerous enemies unnoticed rather than face them head on.

Combat

In line with the defence element, players are given an array of weapons to build upon Sebastien’s revolver, including proximity mines. Switching between weapons is done with the wheel system that has become popular in recent action-adventure games and should provide a clean experience when trying to stay alive in The Evil Within‘s treacherous lands.

It is currently unknown whether there is a melee attack option for those of us who can get a little trigger happy or are a bit less accurate. Non-Fiction Gaming will bring you more information about exactly what weapons are available when they are announced.

Horror Elements

The in-game world is strongly reminiscent of old Silent Hill games and the Dead Space series. The monsters are grotesque and The Evil Within is not afraid of throwing them in our faces. Death is a major motif but Tango have learned from the mistakes of Dead Space. There is a mechanic to permanently remove corpses by burning them, similar to Dead Space‘s stomping, but it is more tender (admittedly a strange word to be using about a horror game).

The Evil Within does well to follow the major tenets of survival horror: separate, isolate, pursue. Early in the story, the player is isolated when his/her crew is wiped out by a mysterious force. Isolation serves as one of the best ways to make a person feel on-edge. Having said that, the sheer numbers of enemies – and visible enemies at that – makes it difficult to find time to dwell on our separation and loneliness. Despite this, the inevitable pursuit generates enough pressure to keep players tense.

There are startling elements and there is a genuine air of dread surrounding the world and its inhabitants. The Evil Within has studied up on its predecessors and found small nuances that worked and discarded those that failed.

Overall

As a package, The Evil Within is not going to be the most indulgent horror experience, nor will it be the best action-adventure game. It should, however, be a contender in the myriad of games that are filling up the bridge between these two genres. Fans of Dead Space and Silent Hill and even the F.E.A.R. series will find themselves facing something both familiar and gratifyingly different.

The Evil Within will be available for most current and next generation consoles and PC in 2014.