The Evil Within (2014 Video Game) User Reviews

Nightmare Fuel

[MattBrady099 · 7/10 · 5 December 2014]

This game takes limbo and dips it into acid, making it more crazy.

The Evil Within was the most over hyped horror game of this year, everybody wouldn't stop talking about this game, just like Watch Dogs and Destiny. Then the game started to got negative response from some people when it came out. I got to be honest I didn't know this game existed until my friend brought it up to me and I started to get curious about it so I watched some of the game-play from TheRadBrad and I got a little but interested, now I played and beaten the game I can happily say that I enjoyed this game.

The game play in this game feels like a good come back to the good all days of survival horror. I always like little details in games and this game has many to share with it's horror parts, like every time I come to a new area I will normally find dead bodies on the ground, bullet holes all over the wall and the sense of me going deeper into limbo and slowing fading away from reality.

The graphs may look old version and out dated for some people and that's the biggest problem that people had, but I actually thought the old looking graphs fit the game perfectly, because has I said before this game is like a big tribute to classic survival and if the game is going to do that, it's got to look like one.

The boss fights in the game are challenging to the point were I almost pulled my hair out by the hard boss fights, but the game what's to challenge you and tries not to make it easy and when you do kill the boss you feel a bad-ass and a sense of relief, and I can't fault the game for doing that.

The main character of the game has to be the most blandest person on the face of earth. He's like the perfect cop that can't get hurt because his the perfect bad-ass kind of person, oh and his only dialogue in the game is, "Hum?" or "What the-", and let's not forget "WOW".

The dialogue in the game to me could had some re-writes, because most of the character's dialogue is just them reacting to anything with one, two or three words spoken out of them.

Overall The Evil Within is enjoyable game for me, in my opinion better than Watch Dogs. The game give me good memories of other horror games that truly scared me years ago and I got to give the game that. People may disagree on me about this and that's fine, but don't hate please.

Crazy game full of horror that can come from anywhere!

[Aaron1375 · 8/10 · 13 September 2016]

I have played many survival horror games over the years, but the two franchises most people know are Resident Evil and Silent Hill. This game does have elements of both of those franchises, but has enough of its own charm to stand strongly on its own merits. Though not perfect by any means; however, neither are many of the games in the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. I prefer Silent Hill, myself, and I would say this game has more elements from that franchise than Resident Evil. The horror is intense and it is simply crazy as you just do not know what is going to happen next or where you are going to emerge at. That being said, I kind of knew what was going on, I would compare it to a film, but then that would give away a bit too much about the plot so I will not say what movie this kind of is reminiscent of if said movie had a horror slant to it.

The story has a detective and his partner along with a rookie detective driving on their way to a mental institution. When they get there, they go inside only to find a bloodbath as many officers and doctors and nurses lay about the place, dead. Well, the detective goes into a room and watches security footage of what is going on and soon finds himself face to face with a strange hooded man who incapacitates the detective who then awakens to find himself in some sort of slaughter house type setting. He must flee a chainsaw wielding maniac and slides down a blood soaked slide finding himself in the sewer where the maniac again chases him and the detective soon finds himself getting out of the mental hospital only to find himself in a crumbling city! All this happens before the title is shown! You then have to help the detective through a warped world where things can change at a moment's notice and where at times you seem to be in the past or in a hospital where a strangely creepy but attractive nurse resides.

The game play is a bit like The Last of Us or the Uncharted series as you can do sneak kills are go in, guns blazing. You can also hide in lockers or under beds, but beyond the opening scene where you must escape the chainsaw guy, I really did not see much need to utilize this feature. Like a lot of games that auto save, sometimes it does it quite frequently while other times you have to go over a rather large area all over again. This does not happen too often, but it is annoying when it does. You can also save in the strange hospital area with the nurse and this is where you can upgrade your equipment and weapons and yourself using this green liquid that you sometimes find in jars and sometimes can collect from fallen enemies. The game does let you adapt to what you like doing most as by the end I was shooting the enemies in the leg and then setting them on fire as a match is almost better than a bullet in this one!

So it was a rather fun game, but like most horror movies and games, it just fails to be good enough to rank a 10. This one, I played through, win the game and still have too many questions left unanswered. I believe many of these questions can be answered if I purchase DLC packs, but I just do not think I should have to purchase anything else after buying the game! What was the deal with the creepy but cute nurse? What was the deal with the detective and his wife and daughter that you kept getting strange snippets of during the game? Just a couple of questions that the ending of the game just ignores and leaves you hanging. Still, it was a good game that annoyed me at times and startled me a couple of times too so it did its job for the most part.

A Return to Form

[moldwarrior · 9/10 · 14 October 2014]

Shinji Mikami has always been troubled by the recent turn to action horror games have taken. In this new game her brings back the traditional RE style with RE4 gameplay and The Last of Us graphics. Making for a new experience for recent gamers and a treat for old gamers.

Story: As Detective Sebastian Castellanos you enter a strange world only to escape back into reality but unfortunately it follows you. You must traverse town, castle and forest to find the reason why this is happening while slowly uncovering a mysterious past.

Graphics: The game looks great by every standard on the platforms. While the PS3 and Xbox 360 may seem a little choppy it still looks pretty good. There is a lot of detail both in the action sequences and the slower moments making for a great experience.

Sound Design: Not much to complain about here everything is top notch. Voice acting and music are pretty good while the weapons and enemies are very chilling but fun to hear.

Controls: Actually pretty simple and that's good as their are plenty of moments that will get you jumping while you need to switch weapons. No button is useless and it feels nice that their is a short cut buttons (take that RE4).

Gameplay: Is RE4 style while having stealthy moments during some chapters. It makes for good variety and allows for multiple playthroughs. It also has an interesting customize system that is pretty unique to this game. If I have one problem is that sometimes the enemies detect you a little too soon.

Overall a very fun experience that older games will love and scare recent gamers.

Another great Japanese game!

[hakobyanhakob81 · 10/10 · 30 June 2017]

Evil Within is in a way similar to Souls experience. Here too you will need to level up and take your time, to carefully explore everything, looking for items and ammo, and you need to be prepared for the boss fights. Just like in Silent Hill, you shouldn't waste your ammo on regular foes, and to enjoy it, you need to know how to play it the right way. Otherwise, you'll hate this game, finding it extremely hard, however, once you have figured out how to get the most out of it, it's so much fun, addictive and rewarding. The game masterfully combines the elements of Resident Evil, Silent Hill and my top favorite Dark Souls. It certainly is challenging but nowhere as hard as Dark Souls, and also has an appropriate auto-save system apart from the manual save. Evil Within provides a rich, long and brilliantly thought-out game play. It's absolutely top-notch. The level design/the atmosphere is amazing, the voice acting and maps are superb, and the plot is so fast paced you simply won't get tired playing. If you like games that require thinking and don't mind somewhat hard games, then get this masterpiece. Barely having beaten it, I bought all 3 DLCs since I had no doubt they will be terrific. A very nice addition to my 'Japan rocks' list and PS4 library. I just hope Evil Within 2 will be this great. Now it's one of my top anticipated games.

Bring The Boy To Me

[cglachan · 9/10 · 16 April 2017]

Scariest game I've ever played. Horror movies don't scare me, and no other game freaked me out like this one. Genuinely spooky, starting with getting captured. I played it late at night, and it was jump scare after jump scare. Highly meta story line including a hive-mind corporation that mimics the Matrix but like a deep web Matrix. Very satisfying to finally kill some of these monsters. Crafting is great, rpg elements are paced nicely, exciting levels and just really never knowing what's going to come next. I find this game more enjoyable to play than The Last of Us. While they are different games, they share game-play and gun-play mechanics verbatim.

8/10 -- GREAT HORROR GAME!

[Analog_Devotee · 8/10 · 9 May 2021]

I'm not a big gamer these days like I used to be, and as far as the Survival Horror genre goes, it's always been hit or miss for me. I am most certainly a horror fan, especially when it comes to books and films. However, with video games, I've always had a hard time getting into the genre. I usually will love the atmosphere but have trouble getting into the headspace of the character I'm playing as.

For some reference, my favorite video game of all time is probably Silent Hill 2, a game most Survival Horror fans consider to be the greatest game of all time. I played Downpour and enjoyed it, and also loved Resident Evil 4. Almost every other excursion of mine into this genre ended in frustration; the controls and difficulty left me saying "Screw it, I'll just go watch a horror flick."

I had trepidation with this game, to say the least. However, I'm here to tell you that, if you're like me and have trouble getting into this genre (for any reason at all), you should still give this one a shot. The atmosphere, characters, story and enemy and level designs are ON POINT! And, maybe most importantly, the gameplay is easily accessible and a true pleasure to traverse. Never once did I feel like I was being held back by an archaic or difficult-to-learn control scheme/layout.

Will veterans of the genre enjoy this game? I'd like to think so. Will they consider it among their favorites? Probably not -- I'm sure most of what's here has been done before and, to the experts, better. For a casual player like me, though, this game was an absolute blast, and a pleasure to fall into. I look forward to trying out the sequel sometime!

So scary

[wwwranga · 9/10 · 4 November 2020]

This game was Most intense and very challenging to play. bosses are really scariest and difficult to kill.Hell of a experience.

good game

[mokalid · 7/10 · 12 April 2020]

Story: mediocre game play: good, sometimes frustrating graphics and atmosphere: very good characters and voice acting: weak. boss fights: mediocre.

the thing that was most difficult in this game and also furstarting are the freaking traps were too many. yes the **** traps. you can't walk a few seconds without some bomb explode in your face or your legs get stucked in some bear traps. but still enjoyed it, im sure im gonna give it a new try in the future.

Shinji with another Masterpiece !

[deadlyone-66084 · 10/10 · 7 April 2020]

I really enjoyed The Evil Within, a mix between Resident Evil and Silent Hill !

Disturbing to the core

[briggnalle · 7/10 · 5 August 2015]

Like horror movies I enjoy horror video games. Even if The Evil Within wasn't the scariest I've ever played, it was definitely a very good game. The detail in the story and the graphics were spot on, the feeling of dread and stealth was perfect, and the voice acting was tremendous. The game was very hard, for I was constantly wondering and asking myself if I was going the right way or doing the right thing, and sometimes the controls seemed a little sticky (not as bad as Resident Evil) but other than that the gameplay was very entertaining. The scares in this game were pretty good, although most of the 'scary' parts were mostly disturbing and morbid in nature due to the graphic violence and gory things you see and do. It was like playing Deadspace but a lot more interactive with the blood and guts and the intensity of survival and stealth. I think this is a very good game, but I would not buy it at first. If you have not played it I would rent it first, see if it's your cup of tea and then if you like it buy it. It is a good horror game, however not the best and every person is gonna look at this game differently than another gamer. It's a new story with different scares (same genetics as most horror games) but presented in a new way that kept me interested until the very end (when I finally got there. Like I said this game it pretty difficult), and I recommend this to anyone who likes survival horror, and see for themselves if it's worth the money or not.

Not perfect, but still my favourite survival horror ever!

[danieliusstojanov · 9/10 · 16 July 2021]

First of all, I like the way the story is told in this game. Up until around chapter 8, basically nothing makes sense, then you start to get some clues from all the notes left around, small details in cutscenes. Maybe the story is not the best, but I definitely enjoyed looking for clues on my first playthrough until everything is revealed at the end.

Now the gameplay. I heard a lot of people complain about difficulty in this game and I mostly get those complaints, majority of them are reasonable. But I still can't say that this game is "impossible" or "too hard to be enjoyable". But it would probably be really hard if you haven't played anything quite like this before. During all of my playthroughs (I did 3, one as my first one on the medium difficulty, second on Akumu, which is the hardest difficulty in the game and one on the easiest difficulty for some achievements), I never felt that this game is truly unfair. It is hard, but it's not unfairly hard like some other games I played. The difficulty never felt artificial. Here, the game always makes sure you have all the tools you need to beat a certain segment or a boss. For example: in chapter 6, at one point your partner is dragged away by 2 enemies, he is out of reach, so you need to either use the crossbow, handgun or your sniper rifle. I didn't have ammo in my handgun and I didn't want to waste my crossbow bolts, so I went with sniper. Because I only had one bullet, I just could not kill both enemies, so I looked around, and there are exactly 2 sniper rifle bullets laying a few feet away from the player. So the game gives you just enough tools to progress and if you fail, there is a checkpoint right before this segment, which means you have a basically infinite ammount of attempts. During bossfights, you can always look around and find some ammo, healing syringes and sometimes even grenades. The Evil Within is well designed and it always makes sure you have all the tools you need to proceed.

New enemy types also regularly appear and are usually unique to a certain location (slow, but strong guys in the catacombs, Haunted that can turn invisible in the hospital-like places etc.). It was fun to find new strategies on how to approach different enemy types.

Even though I adore this game, it still has quite a few problems. Here are those, that annoyed me personally when I played it:

The main character has too little personality. Voice acting is ok, but he is just not memorable.

Movement and controls feel sluggish at times. Sometimes the character might get stuck in things. I mostly had problems in chapter 2-3 because he always got stuck in rocks and other stuff laying around, especially when running away from The Sadist during his bossfight. You also cannot cancel the match dropping animation if you timed it badly, you automatically stand up when healing or aiming and cannot do those things while crouching. In case of healing you can't even move during the animation.

I also kinda disliked how unconnected locations feel. I get that it's kind of the point (don't wanna spoil anything), but it just feels weird when you were in a city, then in a village and then somewhere else. But maybe it's just me.

Overrall, it's a great game, I highly recommend it if you liked some similar games (for example, Resident Evil series). As of what to play it on, I played on PS4 with no problems. Some occasional frame rate drops, but nothing unplayable. But I suggest playing on PC if you have the option.

Too hard to be fun..

[pheliperomano · 5/10 · 23 October 2014]

Again you are before a extremely difficult horror-survival game and you'll surely get disappointed if you're only interested in completing it to enjoy the history behind. The facts are way too crazy for anyone to get minimally involved. But the worst part is that one I said before: even in the supposedly easiest difficulty level, you'll face too much hard work to play it as an enjoyable game. Believe me, I don't often have trouble with advancing in games like these, but this one is trouble for sure. And that's not even good if you're thinking that being hard is a feature that dares the player to play more and more. The checkpoints are pretty rare, so whenever you fail and die in the game, you're set back in like 20 minutes before. So, just imagine that if you fail 3 times, you'll spend an hour playing at the same place in the game and not seeing any new stuff while you play it. For example, you'll get bored like I did right when you reach in Chapter 3… I got stuck there and I've heard and seen many people that had the same problem. It looks like the developers didn't care about players who play only to enjoy a – movie-like game and don't wanna spend a life trying to pass hard levels. They should have followed a similar gameplay difficulty of "The Last of Us" – easy (if you want to), brilliant and it'll even become a movie (that you were not forced to play too much to see the end)

Review

[merem1 · 8/10 · 12 June 2017]

This game was awesome. It was a good survival horror experience. It was effective and scary with a great atmosphere that pulled me into the world of the game. The story was OK, a bit confusing at times, but it was OK. I liked the characters. The main villain is terrifying, I felt chills going through me. The setting of the game gives it a nightmare feeling. The adventure through all the evil filled locations is interesting. I didn't know what was going to happen next. It is a game with a good amount of surprises up its sleeve. There is lots of blood and gore, I liked that too. A sequel is on its way. I am looking forward to The Evil Within 2.

Survival Horror Mixed With Action.

[bubbaa-49993 · 10/10 · 22 January 2024]

This Game Was Fun And Scary. I Beat This On The Xbox 360 And Then Beat This On The Xbox One, This Game Is Scary And Gory And If You Like Horror Games Then I Would Recommend This Game. Shinji Makami Made A Great Game. Chainsaw Butchers, Mutated Zombie Like Monsters, Monster Spider Girl With Human Head And Claws, Safe Headed Monsters, And Much More To Defeat! If You Have A PC Then It Would Run VERY Great On The PC. I Still Play This Game. Similar To Resident Evil! Creepy Monsters To Kill And Get Away With. Beacon Mental Hospital Isn't Very Friendly :( That Is One Mean Mean Lima Beam! Hope You Enjoyed The Game If You Already Played It.

This game is really too overrated

[angelovercetti · 3/10 · 6 August 2019]

Animations (for example slow door Opening) are very nicely made. Graphics are neat too. Very "Movie-Like". Chracter Details or Details in General are very good. The Beginning is well done.

But here Comes everything else: -Not enough Checkpoints. -Where is the Story? -Game Mechanics are really bad.. -Controls feel very odd. -Dialogue is not really good or interesting at all. -Unfair Opponents (Take many bullets/punches. But you take three or just one and goobye) -Nearly impossible to Keep track on how much Stamina you have left. -When Stamina is out; Main Character doesn't move for too Long even if chased or opponents nearby. -You have to Play one part so much (rather too much) until you memorize everything just to proceed to die within the next few minutes to Play everything again. -Game is not stable

There is much more but I don't wanna waste my time with this too much.

Had the makings of a true great amongst survival horror games

[gazcoz2 · 4/10 · 23 October 2014]

Let me start by saying that this was my most anticipated game since the last of us..but unlike the last of us this did not meet my expectations. For a start the graphics are simply dreadful the game-play tedious and the story just a mumbled mess. The first 4 chapters were OK after that it just became awful.Fans of Re4 etc..may absolutely love this game but i loathed it. In fairness i did look forward to the release that much i simply may have raised my expectation level too far. In short i think they could have made this game a hell of a lot better and i am sure it will get a cult following. A TRUE MARMITE GAME. 4/10.

Unplayable on PS4!

[vallabrache · 3/10 · 5 July 2021]

The actual game is very fun. I loved the story and the game mechanics are decent enough.

However there were so many demoralising glitches in the game that I gave this game up at chapter 11. I encountered one particular glitch that would've meant restarting the entire chapter which I had spent ages on just to fix it.

I was fed up with some of the previous glitches I had experienced at this point and decided that I would stop playing this game.

If this game got patched up - I would've completed it and probably rated it around a 7/10.

However there were no updates available to me. Do not buy this game for PlayStation 4 Pro! Looks like other people didn't have problems - so maybe try on a different console.

If you have played RE4 then don't bother with this!

[massivelaughs · 4/10 · 23 October 2014]

If like me you think that Resident Evil 4 is the greatest horror game ever then do not under any circumstances bother buying The Evil Within.

To start with the story doesn't grab you 6 chapters into the game and you still have no idea what is happening, if you are a PS4 user you may find the controls shonky, using R3 to help aim to shoot and the game pauses and your inventory pops up.

The great thing about RE4 was the story, and the fact it completely evolved from the previous 3 in the way of gameplay, well The Evil Within tries so much to be like RE4 that Shinji Makimi should sue himself.

That would normally be a plus, but in this it fails miserably, i am all for playing the game on the hardest level and doing this you expect to have to use more ammunition to defeat the enemy, however with The Evil within you have nowhere near as much ammo as you need and it takes numerous shots to kill any enemies and you will be finding yourself restarting missions because you have to hit the monsters with your fist or empty weapon and it becomes insanely tedious when they constantly kill you.

Do yourself a favour, if its horror suspense you are looking for buy Alien:Isolation, otherwise just download RE4 from the PS Store and enjoy the greatest horror game to ever hit the shelves.

Couldn't have said it better myself - too hard to be fun.

[Phkloskam · 5/10 · 16 February 2015]

The Evil Within is without a doubt the hardest game I've ever played. I played on the normal difficulty and halfway through the game (8 hours) I had died maybe 80 times. I play a lot of video games and am pretty decent at them, so this tells me that this game is flat out way too hard.

Enemies take too many shots to die and kill you too quickly, you don't get much supplies, and checkpoints are too few and far between. Dying on average sends you back 15 minutes where you have to do the same repetitive things again. Combat is fun (feels like The Last of Us) but doing the anything over and over again can become boring.

Mix in a confusing story with boring characters, tons of insanely hard boss battles and many glitches throughout, this game simply is not worth your time.