• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Evil Within 2 - Shinji Mikami & John Johanas on the sequels focus & direction

Neiteio

Member
This game just sounds so... perfect.

Sounds like there's more of a focus on letting you soak up the details and atmosphere of a dark but beautiful world. More opportunities to let your imagination run wild, to peel back layers of mystery at your leisure.

Also sounds more enjoyable, letting you take things at your own pace, backtracking for supplies, completing optional challenges, etc. More low-key moments to contrast the intense ones.

I like the fact that every approach is now valid (combat, stealth, fleeing, traps, etc), even though some will be more practical than others.

And Mikami seems supremely confident in the storytelling, so much so that he wants everyone to experience the second half. They're saying the premise will be much clearer this time around, and the characters more likable.

Eager to dive into this. Man, this and Super Mario Odyssey in the same month... WHEW.
 

sjay1994

Member
The fuck??

*pulls out the wat-gun*

WATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWAT

*runs out of ammo, reloads*

WATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWATWAT

Had the same reaction.

I guess I'll back him up.

While not atrocious, nothing from the game was particularly memorable. I never felt scared or uneased playing evil within. Most of it seemed like standard zombie fare with some cronenburg like bosses thrown in, Discount Pyramid Head, Japanese Ghost girl with lots of Arms and shuma-gorath.

Where as in games like Dead Space or RE4, 5 there were moments when I went "wtf am I even looking at"

While I am not buying 2 till a steep discount because of my immense dislike of the first game, the enemy design does look a bit more interesting.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I'm glad the monster design isn't atrocious this time around

WTF!!!? I love the monster design for Evil Within, it really gives me same vibe as Junji Ito's books.
tomie1.jpg
 

Godcannon

Member
Still gonna wait for reviews because of how shit happens sometimes, but reading the summary was like listening to a sick jazzy bass solo.
 

Neiteio

Member
I guess I'll back him up.

While not atrocious, nothing from the game was particularly memorable. I never felt scared or uneased playing evil within. Most of it seemed like standard zombie fare with some cronenburg like bosses thrown in, Discount Pyramid Head, Japanese Ghost girl with lots of Arms and shuma-gorath.

Where as in games like Dead Space or RE4, 5 there were moments when I went "wtf am I even looking at"

While I am not buying 2 till a steep discount because of my immense dislike of the first game, the enemy design does look a bit more interesting.
This is crazy talk. Dead Space monsters can't even touch something like Keeper or Laura in terms of setpiece execution and memorable design.
 

sjay1994

Member
This is crazy talk. Dead Space monsters can't even touch something like Keeper or Laura in terms of setpiece execution and memorable design.

You open a door in Dead Space 2, and this thing is just standing there not looking at you

latest


And as you shoot it, it breaks apart into little pieces that start coming towards you.

Way more interesting that Laura screaming chasing you for the 3rd time or running around discount Pyramid Head and trying not to laugh at the scene that is basically Looney Tunes where they show you the spike ceiling and Sebas going "huh?".
 
They encorporate elements of familiar monster design, but I think have enough individual character and are beautifully realized (especially in conjunction with their gameplay and sound design) and they all have strong, unique silhouettes which is important to monster design.

And if we're knocking off points for being inspired by other monsters then i'mma call the necromorphs "discount The Thing"
 

Neiteio

Member
You open a door in Dead Space 2, and this thing is just standing there not looking at you

latest


And as you shoot it, it breaks apart into little pieces that start coming towards you.

Way more interesting that Laura screaming chasing you for the 3rd time or running around discount Pyramid Head and trying not to laugh at the scene that is basically Looney Tunes where they show you the spike ceiling and Sebas going "huh?".
The monster you posted just looks like a mess of squiggly lines. Too visually noisy to be memorable.
 

Resonance

Member
I like what I'm hearing so far. I also quite liked the monster designs in the first evil within,and it looks like it's even better here
 
Where as in games like Dead Space or RE4, 5 there were moments when I went "wtf am I even looking at"

RE5? Really?... Monster design in that game was absolutely godawful and entirely unimaginable.

This is crazy talk. Dead Space monsters can't even touch something like Keeper or Laura in terms of setpiece execution and memorable design.

Maybe not in terms of setpieces, but for me, that's not really what horror is about. I still believe The Evil Within is one of the best games of the generation, but Dead Space is the most scared I've ever been playing a game before. And that is in very large part due to the necromorphs. And it's not just their visual design, but the way the animated and shrieked... ::shudders::. I love the Keeper and Laura, but they don't animate or sound particularly freaky.
Ok... Laura sounds a bit freaky... That chapter 10... Jesus...
 
So these details come from the newest Famitsu issue via both Shinki Mikami and the game's director, John Johanas, talking about the direction of The Evil Within 2. There's a bit of a summary of some of the key points here in Japanese, but I'm going to extend on them in English here.

There's some very interesting information here, I'm going to breakdown the bullet points.

-Development for The Evil Within 2 began in Summer of 2015.

-Instead of dictating the way to play like the original game did (and clarifying the original game sort of had a certain style you had to play in chapter by chapter, often with limited options in what you could and couldn't do), they want players to be able to play The Evil Within 2 anyway they like. They restrained forced stealth and combat sections to instead rather have multiple options in about any scenario, allowing players to choose whether to fight, sneak, flee, or use traps/the environment to kill. There will be scenarios where certain methods will certainly be much tougher to pull off, but they designed TEW2 so all options should almost always at least be possible.

-The game has three difficulty levels at the start, "Casual," "Normal," and "Nightmare." They mention that there are some severe differences between the three difficulties, anyone who wants to be challenged and aching for supplies should play Nightmare, but Mikami recommends actually to start with Casual difficulty as while it's certainly much easier it still isn't exactly a cakewalk either, and for the next point.

-The narrative was a big focus for The Evil Within 2, they don't want to reveal too much but they think The Evil Within 2 actually has an amazing story, which was never a focus for the original but they think the story in the sequel will surprise a lot of people. Especially in the second half of the game when it really begins to kick into gear. Mikami recommends Casual difficulty because he wants people to be able to experience the story even if they are somewhat new to the genre and doesn't want to frustrate gamers with blockades in difficulty if they're here to enjoy the story, and warns that with this decision to make Casual Mode more accessible they cracked down to make Nightmare Mode truly nightmarish.

-The story for TEW2 is connected to the original game, but there will be something in the sequel that gives the information needed from the original game for those who hadn't played it. They want The Evil Within 2 to have things for fans of the original, but also be accessible for people who never played the original game.

-For horror, this time around they focused on 'fear' rather than grotesqueness. The original game had a grotesque theme to fit with Ruvik's mental state, but the sequel while still having that morbidness has a much stronger root in the fears humans have, what people are afraid of in the back of their minds coming into existence.

-They mention the focus for The Evil Within 2 was not just to increase the horror aspects, the leading focus of The Evil Within 2 this time around actually was story but they want to keep most of that a surprise. They've also made various improvements to play style choice, and to accomplish this have made great improvements in the game's combat, stealth, movement, and trap areas.

-They confirm the game still has unlockables like the original game did, as well as ways to customize yourself with upgrades and skills (this retreads over some recent info you can read here, so I won't list it here).

-The game is still split into chapters, but in a much different way than the original game was. They say there's far fewer chapters but a lot more that happens in each chapter, and it sounds like most everything they've shown so far for the game is from Chapter 1. They hint that each chapter has a big 'open' hub world at the center of it and various stages to each one. They also say there won't be many loading screens in The Evil Within 2.

-The game will start the player off in a much wider stage, and the game more than the original will let players play the game at their own pace. There are various missions you can take on in each bigger area, some are main missions while others are completely optional.

---

Apparently we also will certainly see more before the game's release in two months, but they've opted to keep most of it a surprise this time around but believe they've made something that will stick with people.



---


UPDATE:

New interview with the French site Jeux Video.

One of the key things Mikami says in the interview is if the original The Evil Within was closer to Resident Evil 4 than RE1, The Evil Within 2 is much closer to Resident Evil 1 than RE4. He wouldn't go too full into detail here, but touched a bit on this, commenting that The Evil Within 2 features more downtime, exploration, and unlocking new areas than the previous one did, but there's more to that comparison but he wants to keep it more of a secret for now.

Some other key bits from the interview:

-They mention a big emphasis for them this time is atmosphere, they think what hook people over a longer period is good characters, atmosphere, over action set-pieces and they're exploring that in TEW.

-They mention they made the casual difficulty much easier to be more accessible to casual audiences.

-They mention The Evil With 2 is somewhere between a psychological thriller and survival-horror.

-Mikami talks about how he's open for Tango to try other things, and even other horror games since many on the team are passionate about horror and they had before TEW2 tossed around a very different sort of horror game, but they got an idea for TEW2 they all decided they had to make, and so they're going through with bringing that to reality.

-They basically confirm that they don't want The Evil Within 2 to be the last TEW game, they're planning it as a long-lasting franchise and hope to prove it's ability to be that with this game.

-Mikami actually really liked Resident Evil 7.

Pretty much the entirety of this post is music to my ears!

Things I liked in particular:

Instead of dictating the way to play like the original game did (and clarifying the original game sort of had a certain style you had to play in chapter by chapter, often with limited options in what you could and couldn't do), they want players to be able to play The Evil Within 2 anyway they like. They restrained forced stealth and combat sections to instead rather have multiple options in about any scenario, allowing players to choose whether to fight, sneak, flee, or use traps/the environment to kill. There will be scenarios where certain methods will certainly be much tougher to pull off, but they designed TEW2 so all options should almost always at least be possible.

So happy for this, if it's implemented well. I quite liked the emphasis on traps in the 1st game...had many bittersweet memories of using them...sometimes, they'd kill the enemies I intended to kill, others, they'd kill me...good times good times. So when there were chapters that didn't feature traps...I was kind of dissapointed. Sounds like in this game, traps should be a viable option for most of the encounters...right up my alley! Not to mention, it sounds like also there'd be no forced stealth chapters...also right up my alley!

-The game is still split into chapters, but in a much different way than the original game was. They say there's far fewer chapters but a lot more that happens in each chapter, and it sounds like most everything they've shown so far for the game is from Chapter 1. They hint that each chapter has a big 'open' hub world at the center of it and various stages to each one. They also say there won't be many loading screens in The Evil Within 2.

One of the key things Mikami says in the interview is if the original The Evil Within was closer to Resident Evil 4 than RE1, The Evil Within 2 is much closer to Resident Evil 1 than RE4. He wouldn't go too full into detail here, but touched a bit on this, commenting that The Evil Within 2 features more downtime, exploration, and unlocking new areas than the previous one did, but there's more to that comparison but he wants to keep it more of a secret for now.

^^ I feel the above two quotes tie into eachother...glad to read that the game will be closer to RE1 than RE4...I hope they deliver on that aspect.

Both of the above quotes, to me read like they're trying to make the game more exploration oriented, more freedom to explore the stages how you like (which includes backtracking to areas you already finished), more closer to classic RE design of things (hopefully) while being even more open than those games...could be great if executed well!

Some other interesting tidbits I liked, but not enough for me to quote them from the OP and go into detail about them:

-The confidence in the story, enough to recommend new players to play on Casual first...I hope they deliver on a compelling story...as much as I tried to get into the 1st game's story, a VAST majority of it never clicked with me...

-Mikami liking RE7 a lot. That's rather surprising to me, I remember him disliking RE5 a lot...so that made me think he didn't like any REs besides the ones he directed and produced...I wanted to get the game anyway at some point, but this kind of makes me want to get it even more now haha

-The parts about Mikami being open for Tango to experiment with other stuff, even other horror games besides The Evil Within...and wanting Evil Within to become a long-running franchise, which I don't mind the slightest as long as the quality of the games remain consistent and remain what I consider a nice take at big-budget, modern survival horror

It still surprises me the game's only out within 2 months...much sooner than expected, if there are no delays. Dat Friday the 13th release date would be glorious haha
 
Sidequest in the old survival horror games usually seems to be following a side character plotline to dig up some horrible secret through some super obtuse process that requires you to be at a place you'll never think of being at.

Or it's a bunch of hidden collectibles.

I'll do it if the story is intriguing or if the reward is damn good.
 

Fisty

Member
You open a door in Dead Space 2, and this thing is just standing there not looking at you

latest


And as you shoot it, it breaks apart into little pieces that start coming towards you.

Way more interesting that Laura screaming chasing you for the 3rd time or running around discount Pyramid Head and trying not to laugh at the scene that is basically Looney Tunes where they show you the spike ceiling and Sebas going "huh?".

I love Dead Space, but you can't post that pic and then call out discount Pyramid Head in the same post. Almost everything in DS is straight out of The Thing
 

sjay1994

Member
RE5? Really?... Monster design in that game was absolutely godawful and entirely unimaginable.



Maybe not in terms of setpieces, but for me, that's not really what horror is about. I still believe The Evil Within is one of the best games of the generation, but Dead Space is the most scared I've ever been playing a game before. And that is in very large part due to the necromorphs. And it's not just their visual design, but the way the animated and shrieked... ::shudders::. I love the Keeper and Laura, but they don't animate or sound particularly freaky.
Ok... Laura sounds a bit freaky... That chapter 10... Jesus...

Probably misremembering 5.

I wish I could say 7. Enemies in it aren't scary, but boy are they fun.

I love Dead Space, but you can't post that pic and then call out discount Pyramid Head in the same post. Almost everything in DS is straight out of The Thing

I'm probably biased because I fucking love The Thing. Enemies in DS1 and 2 got more of a reaction from me than anything from TEW1.

The only time I went "huh thats cool" is the final enemy Gauntlet in Ruviks mind where there are eyeballs in the skybox
 
Oh wow I totally missed the update that says Evil Within 2 is like RE1 to the first games RE4. I'm really curious how that will manifest itself beyond the exploration aspect in the hub levels.
 
Oh wow I totally missed the update that says Evil Within 2 is like RE1 to the first games RE4. I'm really curious how that will manifest itself beyond the exploration aspect in the hub levels.

I think it should be clarified that he said "more like RE1 than RE4" but it doesn't mean that there isn't going to be parts that are like RE4 lol.
 

Spoo

Member
I know this has been asked ad nauseum, but is it confirmed yet if this game is using the latest version of Id Tech? If not confirmed by now, it is almost surely using a modified Id Tech 5.
 
I know this has been asked ad nauseum, but is it confirmed yet if this game is using the latest version of Id Tech? If not confirmed by now, it is almost surely using a modified Id Tech 5.

No confirmation. You're probably right and that bothers me.
 

DVCY201

Member
I know this has been asked ad nauseum, but is it confirmed yet if this game is using the latest version of Id Tech? If not confirmed by now, it is almost surely using a modified Id Tech 5.

My greatest concern is this. I do not want to see those performance issues again
 

luulubuu

Junior Member
I guess I'll back him up.

While not atrocious, nothing from the game was particularly memorable. I never felt scared or uneased playing evil within. Most of it seemed like standard zombie fare with some cronenburg like bosses thrown in, Discount Pyramid Head, Japanese Ghost girl with lots of Arms and shuma-gorath.

Where as in games like Dead Space or RE4, 5 there were moments when I went "wtf am I even looking at"

While I am not buying 2 till a steep discount because of my immense dislike of the first game, the enemy design does look a bit more interesting.

Did you play like 2 minutes of the original.
 

sjay1994

Member
You are trying to tell me that you played the whole game even if you found it tiring by just shoving the platinum trophies receipt. You could just share the account.

But anyways, the Light woman says hi

You underestimate my OCD for trophies.

If I buy a game at full price I am going to see it through to the end. It's incredibly rare for me to drop a game completely.

And actually fuck you with the "you could just share the account" crap

I fucking ground through Akumu mode. That stupid fucking burning building where you need to wait for Joseph to open a fucking door. And the games over fetishization of fucking one hit kill enemies and moves. Mikami just going "eh fuck it, just throw bear traps all over the map"

I endured all the first games dumb shit. From having to go back into the dog fight to get Joseph's fucking glasses, to the dumb fucking bus turret section, the obtuse as fuck fight with the Amalgom, to the god awful final chapters, and action scenes that would make RE6 blush from the absurdity.

Like I am genuinely infuriated that you insinuate that I am faking my miserable experience with the first game.

And the light lady can fuck off as well, I ain't paying money for horror stealth dlc.

I was underwhelmed playing the first game. Akumu mode just made me fucking hate it.
 
You underestimate my OCD for trophies.

If I buy a game at full price I am going to see it through to the end. It's incredibly rare for me to drop a game completely.

And actually fuck you with the "you could just share the account" crap

I fucking ground through Akumu mode. That stupid fucking burning building where you need to wait for Joseph to open a fucking door. And the games over fetishization of fucking one hit kill enemies and moves. Mikami just going "eh fuck it, just throw bear traps all over the map"

I endured all the first games dumb shit. From having to go back into the dog fight to get Joseph's fucking glasses, to the dumb fucking bus turret section, the obtuse as fuck fight with the Amalgom, to the god awful final chapters, and action scenes that would make RE6 blush from the absurdity.

Like I am genuinely infuriated that you insinuate that I am faking my miserable experience with the first game.

And the light lady can fuck off as well, I ain't paying money for horror stealth dlc.

Going in.
 
I fucking ground through Akumu mode. That stupid fucking burning building where you need to wait for Joseph to open a fucking door. And the games over fetishization of fucking one hit kill enemies and moves. Mikami just going "eh fuck it, just throw bear traps all over the map"

Oh lord I remember those moments. Akumu was rather fun thinking back with those insane difficulty situations.

Either way I am with sjay on this one. As much as I like Evil Within and super hyped for the sequel, there wasn't anything scary or memorable from the first game. The shark like enemies are the only thing I can recall while enemies in Dead space and RE are still memorable to me.
 

sjay1994

Member
Oh lord I remember those moments. Akumu was rather fun thinking back with those insane difficulty situations.

Either way I am with sjay on this one. As much as I like Evil Within and super hyped for the sequel, there wasn't anything scary or memorable from the first game. The shark like enemies are the only thing I can recall while enemies in Dead space and RE are still memorable to me.

Like, I am not going to deny my view of the original game is incredibly skewed because I played Akumu.

But holy shit, it was not enjoyable in the slightest for me.

The only reason I vividly remember some of the bosses is because of the absurd context of them, and the conditions of the fight.
 

Spoo

Member
My greatest concern is this. I do not want to see those performance issues again

You're not likely to see those issues even if it's the same tech. Things change a *lot* in development, and the studios familiarity with that tech will further guarantee changes that are in the favor of the game.

That said, I do think that this is Id Tech 5. Not cause for concern imo, just something to be aware of if you're getting too hyped I guess.
 

Icekeep9

Member
Is anyone concern that it has only been in development for 2 years?


That seems like a short amount of time to make a game especially considering that they want it to be a little more open world. Are we thinking Tomb Raider open world like?

I really enjoyed the first game and had fun with it and the DLC. I'm glad they are making the story easier to understand and follow in the second one.
 

sjay1994

Member
Is anyone concern that it has only been in development for 2 years?


That seems like a short amount of time to make a game especially considering that they want it to be a little more open world. Are we thinking Tomb Raider open world like?

I really enjoyed the first game and had fun with it and the DLC. I'm glad they are making the story easier to understand and follow in the second one.

2 years seems adequate for this type of game. If it was full on open world I'd be concerned, but 2 years seems fine.

If this is using IDtech, I hope they ironed out some kinks.

I hate that engine. Every game I've played that uses it (TEW, both new Wolfensteins) always irk me with their performance.
 

tesqui

Member
Is anyone concern that it has only been in development for 2 years?


That seems like a short amount of time to make a game especially considering that they want it to be a little more open world. Are we thinking Tomb Raider open world like?

I really enjoyed the first game and had fun with it and the DLC. I'm glad they are making the story easier to understand and follow in the second one.

I'm a bit concerned, but also direct sequels tend to have shorter turnarounds because they're already familiar with the tools at there disposal.
 

luulubuu

Junior Member
You underestimate my OCD for trophies.

If I buy a game at full price I am going to see it through to the end. It's incredibly rare for me to drop a game completely.

And actually fuck you with the "you could just share the account" crap

I fucking ground through Akumu mode. That stupid fucking burning building where you need to wait for Joseph to open a fucking door. And the games over fetishization of fucking one hit kill enemies and moves. Mikami just going "eh fuck it, just throw bear traps all over the map"

I endured all the first games dumb shit. From having to go back into the dog fight to get Joseph's fucking glasses, to the dumb fucking bus turret section, the obtuse as fuck fight with the Amalgom, to the god awful final chapters, and action scenes that would make RE6 blush from the absurdity.

Like I am genuinely infuriated that you insinuate that I am faking my miserable experience with the first game.

And the light lady can fuck off as well, I ain't paying money for horror stealth dlc.

I was underwhelmed playing the first game. Akumu mode just made me fucking hate it.

There are more words besides fuck. You should go and try them
 

Zaverious

Member
I am genuinely annoyed.

Holy shit, I have a lot of bad memories playing Akumu mode. The long ass pre patch loading times didn't help either.

You also missed my last "fucking"
Why keep playing a game you don't enjoy let alone platinum it? Just get rid of it. I stopped playing Okami near the end because I was just bored of it. You're just making an even worse experience for yourself when you can play something you might like.
 
As a lover of the first one, the new direction for the sequel has me worried. I will be busy in October trying to sell my houses so I most likely will not have time to play. Impressions from a friend will determine if I waste my time with it.
 

sjay1994

Member
There are more words besides fuck. You should go and try them

There are, but fuck is the lightest way for me to express my immense distaste of the first game and its absolutely terrible scenarios.

Why keep playing a game you don't enjoy let alone platinum it? Just get rid of it. I stopped playing Okami near the end because I was just bored of it. You're just making an even worse experience for yourself when you can play something you might like.

2014 was a bad year man. I was starving for games.

There was either grind in vanilla Destiny which "no thanks", try to do something in Assassins Creed Unity which was bugged to shit, and I did everything concievably worth doing in Mordor and FarCry 4. And DA:I was boring (I did drop it).

I only drop games I find boring. TEW did not bore me. It annoyed me, because I couldn't believe how stupid some sections were.

I was also looking forward to TEW, because I played the mansion demo and I enjoyed it a lot.

Then I realized I played the best part of the game, and the rest of it was irritating and contrived to all hell.
 

Rarius

Member
Other than some offhand mentions which may be spoilers or incorrect assumptions made
Have any images of characters from the previous games popped up? It seems like the number of returning characters is fluctuating according to the wiki
 

Kazuhira

Member
The game being split into chapters and still being semi-open world is intriguing to me,how is that gonna work?
I've read that we will be changing locations but not as often as the first game,that makes me wonder if we're getting a new semi-open area+hub per chapter.
Let's say the game has,i dunno,5 chapters..are we getting a total of 5 different areas? mmmmn..
 

sjay1994

Member
Other than some offhand mentions which may be spoilers or incorrect assumptions made
Have any images of characters from the previous games popped up? It seems like the number of returning characters is fluctuating according to the wiki

I think Kidman is the only one confirmed, and Sebas's daughter I guess. But she was passingly mentioned in notes.

It makes me ask
"does the whole Ruvik entering Leslie thing even matter anymore?"
 

Erevador

Member
Everything they're saying really does make the game sound like exactly the horror game I've wanted.

It's great to see a big budget AAA horror game like this in 2017. I'm so glad franchises like this are back.
 

Kazuhira

Member
It makes me ask
"does the whole Ruvik entering Leslie thing even matter anymore?"

Of course it does,why do you think otherwise? it's not like this is the 4th game and we haven't heard about him since the original.
They just don't want to spoil his return.
 

hughesta

Banned
I loved TEW but I'd agree that its monster designs were relatively uninspired. That weird searchlight thing from the DLC was fucking awesome though
 
Top Bottom