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The Evil Within 2 Review Thread

0OoO0

Member
So strange hearing so many people saying the first was a letdown. I just don't understand. I thought it was amazing, my personal GOTY.
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Hey everyone, this is Dusk Golem aka AestheticGamer. I have posted on NeoGAF since 2011, and have decided to resign. I have enjoyed posting about horror games here for years, but I no longer wish to support the site and will be leaving for good. I will still be around the internet, I go by AestheticGamer on YouTube, I make games on Steam as Yai Gameworks, and I plan to go by Dusk Golem on other forums. I'll be joining an off-set of the GAF community leaving to try other ventures like ResetEra (Official Twitter for that here: https://twitter.com/reseteraforum ). I hope some of you who read this may consider it, and I plan to try to expose more people to horror games in the years to come. Just not here.

I hope you all are having a good day, and know I always loved the community, and in the end it's the community I'm going to stick with, not the site itself. If you want to follow me, my official Twitter is here: https://twitter.com/AestheticGamer1
 

Jumeira

Banned
Not trying to be a Mod here. But do shit talk like this perfectly normal in neogaf nowadays?

How sensitive can you be? i did expect higher, its in the 70s i was hoping 80s. Yes, i do expect better for parting with £50, you and everyone else in hysterics over gamers having different criteria need to calm down, you'll love it im sure , I was interested, i thought part 1 was average and i was expecting this to score higher. Thats the truth, i want a steller horror Mikimi game, have done since RE4, i wont find it here based on reviews. But im not going post something you want to hear, get out with that.
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
So strange hearing so many people saying the first was a letdown. I just don't understand. I thought it was amazing, my personal GOTY.
You seriously don't understand how many people didn't like it? With all the obvious flaws? Seriously?
 
It’s honestly kind of open world in the same way that Silent Hill is - you have a moderate sized town with lots of chasms preventing you from progressing with each destination featuring a more linear, carefully designed section. The main difference is that many buildings can be entered and explored for supplies and the world itself is far more deadly.

That`s exactly what I was hoping for.
 

kromeo

Member
Technical issues aside I always assumed that people were disappointed because they were hoping for Resident Evil 4.5 because of the director and got something else. I played it on PC with no issues so I can't really comment on how bad it ran at launch

Plus of course there were some bits like chapter 12 and the big boss fights that just weren't very good
 

Gator86

Member
So strange hearing so many people saying the first was a letdown. I just don't understand. I thought it was amazing, my personal GOTY.

It was one of the most uneven games I've ever played and riddled with curious design choices. The story and characters were absolutely trash tier. It was also a technical monstrosity. Game had to run letterboxed and still was a slideshow.
 

-MD-

Member
Technical issues aside I always assumed that people were disappointed because they were hoping for Resident Evil 4.5 because of the director and got something else. I played it on PC with no issues so I can't really comment on how bad it ran at launch

Plus of course there were some bits like chapter 12 and the big boss fights that just weren't very good

PC port wasn't the best at launch but was still well ahead of consoles, they put a patch out like a week or two later that helped a ton and allowed me to run a locked 60fps/1080 on a 970.
 

killroy87

Member
PC port wasn't the best at launch but was still well ahead of consoles, they put a patch out like a week or two later that helped a ton and allowed me to run a locked 60fps/1080 on a 970.

Have we heard anything about this PC port? Does it have HDR support?
 

Audioserf

Member
It was a huge love it/hate it game, I loved it too. I think there was a pretty vocal bit on both sides, but when there's present negativity it's usually what's addressed more. GIVEN there's also bits in these reviews that specifically mentioned if you liked the first game or are a survival-horror fan, you should love TEW2 as well.

I really liked the feel of the combat, the Mikami patented upgrade system that carries over to New Game + is definitely my personal jam. But by god some of the encounter design was absolutely infuriating. The level where you're turning cranks to clear poisonous fog out of a room while some low rent, respawning Pyramid head mows you down with a hammer repeatedly was just the absolute worst.
 

Conezays

Member
So if looking for comparable difficulty to the first game on Normal one should play this on Hard? Is that correct? Thanks.
 

kromeo

Member
I really liked the feel of the combat, the Mikami patented upgrade system that carries over to New Game + is definitely my personal jam. But by god some of the encounter design was absolutely infuriating. The level where you're turning cranks to clear poisonous fog out of a room while some low rent, respawning Pyramid head mows you down with a hammer repeatedly was just the absolute worst.

I thought that was one of the best bits of the game :( The music and atmosphere were great
 

rtcn63

Member
I really liked the feel of the combat, the Mikami patented upgrade system that carries over to New Game + is definitely my personal jam. But by god some of the encounter design was absolutely infuriating. The level where you're turning cranks to clear poisonous fog out of a room while some low rent, respawning Pyramid head mows you down with a hammer repeatedly was just the absolute worst.

The crank section is definitely hard your first time, since it can be confusing (in all the chaos) to figure out where the game wants you to go next. But pretty easy on subsequent plays (not really an excuse since difficulty in horror games is all about your initial run).
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Hey everyone, this is Dusk Golem aka AestheticGamer. I have posted on NeoGAF since 2011, and have decided to resign. I have enjoyed posting about horror games here for years, but I no longer wish to support the site and will be leaving for good. I will still be around the internet, I go by AestheticGamer on YouTube, I make games on Steam as Yai Gameworks, and I plan to go by Dusk Golem on other forums. I'll be joining an off-set of the GAF community leaving to try other ventures like ResetEra (Official Twitter for that here: https://twitter.com/reseteraforum ). I hope some of you who read this may consider it, and I plan to try to expose more people to horror games in the years to come. Just not here.

I hope you all are having a good day, and know I always loved the community, and in the end it's the community I'm going to stick with, not the site itself. If you want to follow me, my official Twitter is here: https://twitter.com/AestheticGamer1
 
I really liked the feel of the combat, the Mikami patented upgrade system that carries over to New Game + is definitely my personal jam. But by god some of the encounter design was absolutely infuriating. The level where you're turning cranks to clear poisonous fog out of a room while some low rent, respawning Pyramid head mows you down with a hammer repeatedly was just the absolute worst.

Box man a low rent pyramid head?? fuck outta here!! That bit was amazing. You were constantly forced to keep moving, fight, craft traps, avoid gas, it was absolutely brilliant.
 

gelf

Member
Any reviews coming from people who loved the first game? As someone who still rates TEW very highly I'm curious what someone who felt similar thinks about what's been changed here.

I really liked the feel of the combat, the Mikami patented upgrade system that carries over to New Game + is definitely my personal jam. But by god some of the encounter design was absolutely infuriating. The level where you're turning cranks to clear poisonous fog out of a room while some low rent, respawning Pyramid head mows you down with a hammer repeatedly was just the absolute worst.

That was one of my favorite sections not just in TEW but in games in general these last few years *shrug*.
 

Kazuhira

Member
I remember that loading times were eternal during launch and ran like ass in my old pc,and yet i finished it like 3 times in a row(Akumu being the last one) so it's easy to tell that i love the game.
Game's performance is a lot better now,locked 60fps/1440p(black bars enabled) with a single 970.
 
One for me and my cousin, he will enjoy it.
If you look on psnprofiles only one person completed the game on survival difficulty so far.

I've seen a lot of reviewers and streamers playing on either easy or normal, not many played on hard from what i can tell.
Given that the developers have said they lowered each difficulty compared to the first game to make it a more casual experience for players then i'd say that most are playing the game on what would be the easy option from the first game but with ammo everywhere.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
ACG's given reason is kinda headscratcher though, basically the combat is not survival horror enough and bosses being killable by your arsenal is an immersion-breaker.

I also wasn’t sure what to make of his critiques either.

I mean he could very well have a point that wasn’t expressed quite well enough, but one of the biggest failings in TEW1 was the sheer amount of cheap insta-death moments. It ratchets the tension, but got tiring, tedious, frustrating, and irritating with so much exposure. Too often my arsenal felt secondary to gimmickry setpiece puzzles for success which largely made the traditional encounter focused first stages more memorable. Maybe a happy balance still hasnt been found in the sequel or it’s a matter of overcorrecting.
 
Box man a low rent pyramid head?? fuck outta here!! That bit was amazing. You were constantly forced to keep moving, fight, craft traps, avoid gas, it was absolutely brilliant.

Silent Hill 2 is amazing but peoples defence of Pyramid head and dislike for anything even remotely looking or acting like him in other game is a bane on the gaming horror community. It never ends lol
 
Reviews/in-progress reviews are really looking solid. I absolutely adored the first one and this looks like a really great sequel.

Assuming it is not supported but....any word on SLI support/4k performance? I know a new NVIDIA Driver got released but it did not detail SLI support for TEW2.
 
I also wasn’t sure what to make of his critiques either.

I mean he could very well have a point that wasn’t expressed quite well enough, but one of the biggest failings in TEW1 was the sheer amount of cheap insta-death moments. It ratchets the tension, but got tiring, tedious, frustrating, and irritating with so much exposure. Too often my arsenal felt secondary to gimmickry setpiece puzzles for success which largely made the traditional encounter focused first stages more memorable. Maybe a happy balance still hasnt been found in the sequel or it’s a matter of overcorrecting.

Sounds more like a wish for wanting some contextual or enviromental kills instead of pattern based learning and shooting. Think more Cuphead in approach versus something more set peice driven maybe? I still can't figure out the comment. Long as the boss battles are fun and intense, how I kill them might be a preference I'd prefer but not a ding on the game itself.
 

killroy87

Member
Watched ACG's review and the game looks very rough.
“Rough, like the time you finally gathered up the courage to ask your high school crush to the Winter Wonderland dance in the ninth grade, only to have her look you up and down, smirk, and say “I don’t think so.”
 
“Rough, like the time you finally gathered up the courage to ask your high school crush to the Winter Wonderland dance in the ninth grade, only to have her look you up and down, smirk, and say “I don’t think so.”

Is that a review of a John Hughes flick?
 

Astral Dog

Member
well i just wanted an improvment, a atep up over the first game frustrating flaws and so far this seems like they delivered, im in.

Seems like the "overworld" got a mixed reaction though
 

Audioserf

Member
One interesting thing I find is when you begin to talk about the specifics of The Evil Within, peoples opinions can vary greatly. Like for example I wasn't actually that fond personally of Chapter 1, but I sometimes hear people who love that and then dislike the next few chapters. I hear some people really dislike Chapter 10 and the garage boss fight, but that was one of the highlights of the game for me. I actually thought most of Chapter 7 was okay, disliked the hall running scene, but I actually really liked the Keeper boss battle with the valves. His aggressive animations and the sort of constant overbearing stress of the fight I thought was well handled and appropriately made him intimidating.

That game was great when it gave you a stretch of geometry with varying verticality, a bunch of single use items lying around, and just let you loose on the ganad....er, glowy eyed dudes ambling around. There were a bunch of "special," let's call them, scenarios like the Crash Bandicoot running towards the camera while the ceiling caves in an the floor and you have to dodge those weird bear trap mines, or the aforementioned box man bullshit (all of which were contained within a single chapter if I'm not mistaken) that were the only problem. The actual skeleton of the game proper - the stealth and the shooting - were really engaging. I mean, the stealth was janky as all hell and could in no way tell you in a reliable was whether you were concealed or in open view, but it was still fun because it had a great combat system to back it up.

Anyway, EW2 is pre loaded and waiting on unlock, so I definitely liked the first game enough to preorder its sequel.
 

The Lamp

Member
Not surprised.

The first game was magical. Every level was a unique "give it all you've got" attempt at delivering a style of horror. It made the plot kind of loose, and the first couple of chapters are very different than the rest of the game, but it doesn't matter, I've never played game levels that incorporated ideas like navigating a flammable, explosive mannequin maze in the dark without weapons and filled with brutal enemies. They just needed to make a few improvements with a bigger budget to have a hugely impressive IP here.

If this one improves the issues like visual performance and plot, then it's already one of the best games this generation.
 

kromeo

Member
Haven't read the review but it sounds like they wanted more fights like trying to lure spider woman into the fire and less like the garage and sewer fights where you just unload huge firepower into their face
 

rtcn63

Member
“Rough, like the time you finally gathered up the courage to ask your high school crush to the Winter Wonderland dance in the ninth grade, only to have her look you up and down, smirk, and say “I don’t think so.”

Does ACG stand for Ain't It Cool Gaming?
 
One interesting thing I find is when you begin to talk about the specifics of The Evil Within, peoples opinions can vary greatly. Like for example I wasn't actually that fond personally of Chapter 1, but I sometimes hear people who love that and then dislike the next few chapters. I hear some people really dislike Chapter 10 and the garage boss fight, but that was one of the highlights of the game for me. I actually thought most of Chapter 7 was okay, disliked the hall running scene, but I actually really liked the Keeper boss battle with the valves. His aggressive animations and the sort of constant overbearing stress of the fight I thought was well handled and appropriately made him intimidating.

I don't think people are wrong for disliking that part or any part of the game though, just I find it fascinating how split people are even on individual sections of the game with the love it/hate it opinions.

I just never felt like TEW executed the set piece encounters well. The actual concepts of them were fantastic but, more often than not, actually playing through those encounters was just frustrating and not very fun.

The most common thought in my mind in sequences like Chapter 7 and Chapter 10 was "wow this would have been awesome if implemented by the Resident Evil 4 team."
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
One interesting thing I find is when you begin to talk about the specifics of The Evil Within, peoples opinions can vary greatly. Like for example I wasn't actually that fond personally of Chapter 1, but I sometimes hear people who love that and then dislike the next few chapters. I hear some people really dislike Chapter 10 and the garage boss fight, but that was one of the highlights of the game for me. I actually thought most of Chapter 7 was okay, disliked the hall running scene, but I actually really liked the Keeper boss battle with the valves. His aggressive animations and the sort of constant overbearing stress of the fight I thought was well handled and appropriately made him intimidating.

I don't think people are wrong for disliking that part or any part of the game though, just I find it fascinating how split people are even on individual sections of the game with the love it/hate it opinions.

At least on the difficulty select screen, they say if you liked Survival (Normal) in the original game to play Nightmare.


I loved pretty much all of TEW1 apart from one chapter which I thought was utter shit. I can't remember the number but it was where you spent most of your time fighting humans on a building site or destroyed building turning valves (I think) ? I can't remember the exact details tbh but it was definitely in the latter part of the game and I just remember hating it with every fibre of my being, rest of the game was amazing though.

Sequel preloaded and ready to rock :)
 

Jawmuncher

Member
I just never felt like TEW executed the set piece encounters well. The actual concepts of them were fantastic but, more often than not, actually playing through those encounters was just frustrating and not very fun.

The most common thought in my mind in sequences like Chapter 7 and Chapter 10 was "wow this would have been awesome if implemented by the Resident Evil 4 team."

lol my thoughts exactly. A lot of the higher action set pieces in the original felt like that. Especially one later on in the game with all of the blood and numerous enemies.
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Hey everyone, this is Dusk Golem aka AestheticGamer. I have posted on NeoGAF since 2011, and have decided to resign. I have enjoyed posting about horror games here for years, but I no longer wish to support the site and will be leaving for good. I will still be around the internet, I go by AestheticGamer on YouTube, I make games on Steam as Yai Gameworks, and I plan to go by Dusk Golem on other forums. I'll be joining an off-set of the GAF community leaving to try other ventures like ResetEra (Official Twitter for that here: https://twitter.com/reseteraforum ). I hope some of you who read this may consider it, and I plan to try to expose more people to horror games in the years to come. Just not here.

I hope you all are having a good day, and know I always loved the community, and in the end it's the community I'm going to stick with, not the site itself. If you want to follow me, my official Twitter is here: https://twitter.com/AestheticGamer1
 

kodecraft

Member
Quick warning, try to avoid youtube because thumbnails are spoiling the ending of the game.

Yep, I don't know why streamers do this. I like to see a good play through like anybody else but they rushing to finish the game and purposely use spoiler images for thumbnails.
 

Jawmuncher

Member
Jawie, you'll have to tell me your opinion of TEW2 later. I'm legitimately curious how this one will land for you.

I'll probably be going all in on Friday and have it beat by monday so i'll definitely let you know. My main hope is that this one lands more in the "flawed masterpiece" category like many put the first as. I'm not expecting perfection but hopefully enough things fixed that I had an issue with from the first.
 

-MD-

Member
At least on the difficulty select screen, they say if you liked Survival (Normal) in the original game to play Nightmare.

So I assume the unlockable "classic" mode is similar to the original's "nightmare" then? Nightmare was my favorite mode in TEW1.
 
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