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A shot in the dark?
Survival horror, it's safe to say, is in a dark and foggy wilderness of its own at the moment. Ever since Resident Evil 4 revitalised the genre with its pitch-perfect blend of tense action, extravagant horror and pounding atmosphere, many games have strived to emulate and evolve its formula but few have succeeded entirely. Even Resident Evil 4's official follow-ups haven't managed it; Resident Evil 5 is a solid but clunky retread, and part 6 succumbed to a major personality crisis.
Shinji Mikami is directing it
Alongside Silent Hills Akira Yamaoka, there is no-one more important to survival horror than Shinji Mikami. Having effectively created the genre in Resident Evil, he then rebooted it into a finely balanced horror-action hybrid in Resident Evil 4, simultaneously cementing the basic mechanics of pretty much every third-person action game since. While Mikamis work on Resi 4 is often falsely blamed for destroying the genre he created, the fact is that the game was (and still is) a tightrope-walk of punishing, nerve-wracking, back-to-the-wall encounters and exhilarating spectacle, wrapped up in an atmosphere so oppressive it could keep a small nation subjugated into slavery for a generation.
The apocalyptic rural horror vibe is back
Early footage of The Evil Within mostly centred around the asylum serving as the games starting location. As such, wed expected said container for the mentally unusual to be the main setting for the game. It seems not. Following his initial imprisonment and escape from said facility, protagonist Sebastian (after a period of time we cant yet determine) eventually finds himself outside the building. Having experienced a couple of earthquakes along the way, it then turns out that the seismic seriousness was a lot greater than initially suspected. The whole world, stretching right up to the horizon, has been shattered into twisted wilderness.
Evasion is a big deal
While you will be doing some shooting and killing in The Evil Within, running away seems to make up just as large a proportion of the game. In fact the noble art of scamper-based death-avoidance made up roughly 90% of our demo. Not only that, but the act of running away has now evolved into full-blown hiding, via a proper stealth system. Sticky cover makes an appearance, but before you worry that things are already going a bit action-horror, know that weve thus far only seen it used for cat-and-mouse evasion, not for cover-shooting.
Crowd-control looks to be a big deal too
Remember how every one of Resident Evil 4s major skirmishes was a gloriously fraught, improvisational sandbox demanding tight use of space and creative environmental navigation in order to round up and dispose of the throbbing horde? While Resident Evil 5 emulated it pretty well, The Evil Within might well evolve it.
Hit-and-run tactics are returning, but nastier
A heartening revelation during our demo was the appearance of an evolved version of Resident Evil 4s hit-and-run mechanics. A key tactic in that game was the use of a crippling leg-shot to set up an enemy for a punishing melee hit; a tactic that became invaluable when you realised that a tactical roundhouse could scatter whole crowds if deployed upon the right target. Resident Evil 5 muddied the purity of the tactic by allowing co-op set-ups and executions, while Resi 6 loosened things up further by allowing melee any time, provided there was enough juice in the stamina bar.
It knows the importance of 'that one, terrifying enemy'
Combine Resident Evil 3s Nemesis with Resident Evil 4s Dr. Salvador, and then mix liberally with a huge slab of rotting meat, previously belonging to a bull who may or may not have died after being unleashed in a china shop. Thats The Evil Withins Chainsaw Guy; a single, brutally oppressive, seemingly unstoppable enemy who comes at you with the tenacity of a terminator and smashes any hint of bravery you might have accrued into a course pate of sadness.
It's deliciously mean-spirited
While later survival horror games have often gone easier on the player, tempering tense moments with calm periods and cathartic shoot-outs, The Evil Within can be flat-out sadistic in the way it piles on the stress. At times its impossible not to imagine Shinji Mikami sitting in a grimy, steam-gushing control room behind the scenes, pulling infernal levers and smashing bloodied buttons with a hideous cackle, like some nightmarishly brain-wronged Wizard of Oz.
