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The story in The Evil Within wasn't really memorable, but it had a very interesting concept. In the first game, you're just tossed in without much knowledge and is just an overall confusing plot. I'm not going to spoil what happens in terms of the story, but I will say that you do find out that you're actually in the mind of the antagonist of the game via a machine called STEM that links people's minds together. Honestly, the first game is all about survival and it did its jobs well for what it was.
Think Inception, but this isn't a dream.
The story in The Evil Within 2 feels vastly different compared to the first game as I mentioned back in my impressions post. Not only is this game about survival, but it's about finding your daughter who you thought was dead back in the previous game. I don't believe she was shown in the first game, but it's mentioned she died in a house fire, but I guess she ends up being alive for plot convenience.
For the most part, the story is interesting for what it is. Mobius turns out to be the true villain of the franchise because they were responsible for the creation of the STEM in the first place. I'm not spoiling anything as this is all revealed within the first 10 minutes or so of the game. Regardless, you're in a pretty shitty world that you need to get yourself and your daughter out of. While the story itself may not sound like something original, the characters are a lot more likable this time around and what they go throw compels you to see through the end of their stories.
One of my main complaints from the first game, was the boring main protagonist. What makes a survival horror game feel so tense is the character you play as. Do you honestly feel scared if you're character is something like John Wick? How about the way they react to what they encounter? In the first Evil Within, Sebastian is so non-nonchalant to what's going on around him. It's probably due to the mediocre voice acting, but even if the voice acting was awesome the characters are not exactly well-written.
In The Evil Within 2, it's already established that Sebastian Castellanos is no longer a Detective. As a matter of fact, he's washed up. I personally like how the game introduces him within the first 20 minutes of the game because it shows how the events from the previous game effects him. Not even the first 20 minutes, throughout the whole game you see that there is a evil within Sebastian that continues to haunt him. This is especially shown when he blames himself for losing his daughter as well as the treatment he received after surviving the events of the first game.
Sebastian is more of a character in this game than he was in the original game. He's not memorable by any stretch of the imagination, but the game does a great job at exploring him as a human being. However, to learn more about his backstory you have to go for the collectibles.
The collectibles in this game do serve a purpose. It's worthwhile to collect them because some of them lead you to supplies that you can use to help you in combat as well as exploring Sebastian as a character. You can argue that these collectibles force you to explore in the semi-open world areas such as Chapter 3. I think I spent five hours on Chapter 3 alone just exploring the area without a guide in order to find collectibles and supplies.
The open-world system is okay. Other than the collectibles and supplies, there really isn't much of a purpose to explore these open-world levels. There are side missions, but they only occur whenever you do meet a new character. They reward you with supplies and not much else. For a game like this, I really want them here, but they help with getting ammo and green gel.
Much like the first game, enemies drop green gel that you can use to upgrade Sebastian's physical abilities from shooting to health. Believe me, once you unlock the right abilities you become an unstoppable killing machine. It helps with going back for multiple playthroughs, but does kill the immersion. However, you can't do this on the Classic Mode which I think is a godsend because I think that's the way the game should be played. The limited saves and fight-or-flight mentality help to get you immersed in the survival horror feeling. If you want a real challenge, play this game on the harder difficulties to make it feel like a true survival horror game.
Before I wrap up, I do want to mention how clunky the combat mechanics are at times. Before upgrading your shooting abilities, the weapon sway will ruin your experience if you don't have the best aim. Imagine playing this on classic mode, you're going to want to run more than fight. Don't even try close quarters combat! The camera zooms in way too damn close whenever you take on enemies, so put in some good distance. You do have the option of using either a knife or an axe, but you have to find the axe and the knife doesn't do much damage.
I also mentioned this during my impressions post that Sebastian's movements are too slow. It's one solid reason why you will be discouraged from exploring the open world. I get that it's survival horror and you're supposed to move slow, but not in an open world like setting.
It sucks that this game is pretty much under the radar. If you didn't already know, it's not doing so hot sales wise much to my expectations. Anyone who is a fan of survival horror games needs to play The Evil Within 2. It's easily one of the best survival horror games I've ever played and is a significant improvement over the first game.
Till Next Time!!
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