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The Evil Within- New gameplay details

Did a search but didn't see anything regarding the new info here. It was translated by some members over on the official forums from the German PCGames.de:

  • ‘The Evil Within‘ is called ‘Psycho Break‘ in Japan because it’s easier for the Japanese to pronounce. He also went on to say why he chose the two words ‘psycho’ and ‘break’. He chose the first word ‘psycho’ because of the connection that word has to all of the psychological elements to the game. The reasoning behind the word ‘break’ is because the protagonist is overcoming horrible things, he is breaking through. Shinji didn’t give a reason for how the ‘the Evil Within’ name was formed but I think the name itself is a good explanation.
  • Detective Sebastian Castellanos is a strong character, his personality will be strong enough to deal with everything that is going on around him. Shinji doesn’t want to have that type of character that is going to be traumatized and suffer psychological damage. Shinji also went on to say that in regard to horror films, he is not a big fan of these characters that scream, runaway and lose their minds. He said that when he sees these types of characters, he thinks “just die already!”. He doesn’t want to have any of these types of characters in his game.
  • The reporter made a joke about Julie [Sebastian's partner] being like this and Shinji said no way would she be like that, it would just disturb the rhythm of the game – we have seen too many characters like this before.
  • Sebastian will go into an alerted state when there are enemies nearby. On his own he will go down into a crouch-like position. When Sebastian is alone again, he will go back into his normal stance.
  • The lighting in the game is a crucial element. The reporter was asking him to talk more about it and talk about the use of the lantern but Shinji said he doesn´t want to reveal any information about that yet. The reporter said jokingly ‘I´m betting the lantern will go out during a bad time?’ Shinji laughed and nodded his head.
  • At the end of the interview the reporter asked: Can you promise us that this game will make us pee our pants? Shinji´s response: Yes!

Additional details:
  • There´s practically no interface. Word labels for objects fade in and out when you get close to them.
  • There are not many sound effects and not much music. – Shinji did say that in regards to sound, it will be used to signal events and information. He also said how there will be enemies that we won´t be able to see but we will be able to hear them (I think this is like when you hear the Tank in Left 4 Dead but you don´t know where it is).
  • There is not much colour in this game
  • One of the traps you can use is a Nail Bomb. The reporter said that you can set them behind doors and underneath windows.
  • The game has a circular style menu for the inventory and weapons. You can also quick select items that have been assigned to the d-pad on the controller.
  • The camera will focus in a little bit over the shoulder when you are aiming with your gun.
  • The game is designed to be in cinematic widescreen and so, when you have the game set in normal 16:9 ratio, black bars will appear on the screen.
 
Hey they're doing that cover system from Tomb Raider, which is actually a good cover system anyway.
Edit: Hope it does not bomb, all horror fans should support it, if they don't want the genre to die out =S
 
Shinji doesn’t want to have that type of character that is going to be traumatized and suffer psychological damage. Shinji also went on to say that in regard to horror films, he is not a big fan of these characters that scream, runaway and lose their minds. He said that when he sees these types of characters, he thinks “just die already!”. He doesn’t want to have any of these types of characters in his game.

Mikami must have really hated Haunting Ground.
 
There´s practically no interface. Word labels for objects fade in and out when you get close to them.

Love it.

There are not many sound effects and not much music. – Shinji did say that in regards to sound, it will be used to signal events and information. He also said how there will be enemies that we won´t be able to see but we will be able to hear them (I think this is like when you hear the Tank in Left 4 Dead but you don´t know where it is).

Slightly worried, both can be used to create an incredibly unsettling atmosphere, but I suppose it being used sparsely might result in it having more of an impact when there is sound.
 

Noks415

Member
This games sounds like its gonna be great so far. I've been craving for a great survival horror game on the consoles.
 
Slightly worried, both can be used to create an incredibly unsettling atmosphere, but I suppose it being used sparsely might result in it having more of an impact when there is sound.

Yeah. RE 1 to 3 nemesis has the best atmosphere music. Having no sound, or very little, is bad imo. Especially for a horror game.
 
Good stuff, I've yet to hear things that could worry me. Love the fact that there's not going to be much music. Makes the player feel more alone and builds up tension that way.
 

LTWheels

Member
The game is designed to be in cinematic widescreen and so, when you have the game set in normal 16:9 ratio, black bars will appear on the screen.

Is code for dropping the resolution to make sure it has a stable framerate on consoles, ala Dragon's Dogma.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Hey they're doing that cover system from Tomb Raider, which is actually a good cover system anyway.
Edit: Hope it does not bomb, all horror fans should support it, if they don't want the genre to die out =S

If hype prices to be killer indeed ill probably do my part and pick it up more than once.
 
Z

ZombieFred

Unconfirmed Member
Minimal sound and music and the black bars don't bother me. If that's his vision I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Same here, I think everything about this sounds fantastic. In Mikami we trust!
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Also talking about the minimal music I hope that means the times it is used is really impactful. Ill take a amazing use in a part of the game please.
 
I love Psycho Break more! That's way more better than The Evil Within.

Also, I really hope i'm hearing things wrong on the sound part. I'm hoping we hear a lot noises from the environment, and things sounding off as close or far away. Giving it a more scarier vibe.
 
Regarding sound in general, I hope they aren't skimping out on sound design. To me that's a key element of any good survival horror game.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
I love Psycho Break more! That's way more better than The Evil Within.

Also, I really hope i'm hearing things wrong on the sound part. I'm hoping we hear a lot noises from the environment, and things sounding off as close or far away. Giving it a more scarier vibe.

I figured the sound effects thing is geared more towards item selection and the like. Sound would be a important part to play in a horror game.
 
I hope the bit about the sound effects means that whenever something scary happens on screen, there won't necessarily be a jumble of discordant piano notes at the same time.
 

Neff

Member
2.39:1 worked great for Dragon's Dogma. I'm looking forward to seeing what Mikami does with it in horror.
 
Some thoughts:

Psycho break sounds like a b movie about some kind of killer loose on spring break, awful. The other title is much better.

I don't like the way he lists not much color. There is nothing wrong with color in horror.

Limited music sounds interesting, but I hope that their sound design is top notch if they are going that direction.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
Put me in the "Psycho Break" camp as well. For some reason that sounds refreshingly different than other game titles. In general "The Evil Within" sounds almost generic at this point, as if it's been used before many, many times across the different mediums.
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Read: About the black borders: The game does NOT have black borders over the screen, what they mean is that the resolution for the game is not 16:9, the resolutions for The Evil Within are 1.85:1, 2.39:1 and 2.40:1. If you play the game in 16:9, there will be borders as the game is constructed in a resolution that isn't 16:9, but more of a wide-screen format. They aren't physically placing black borders on the game, and if you played at one of those resolutions there wouldn't be any borders.
 
The absence of sound can be just as unsettling and effective as the presence of sound. More so in my opinion. I'm in favour of this approach. The lack of colour sounds interesting too. It could have great impact if used sparingly. I'm anticipating a grave, cinematic experience. The design choices are quite unique for the survival horror genre, though not new to the horror medium.
 

Bsigg12

Member
Read: About the black borders: The game does NOT have black borders over the screen, what they mean is that the resolution for the game is not 16:9, the resolutions for The Evil Within are 1.85:1, 2.39:1 and 2.40:1. If you play the game in 16:9, there will be borders as the game is constructed in a resolution that isn't 16:9, but more of a wide-screen format. They aren't physically placing black borders on the game, and if you played at one of those resolutions there wouldn't be any borders.

So regardless, anyone playing on a 16:9 TV gets to experience some cinematic black bars. Awesome.
 
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