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[Miles Quaritch]

This deserves its own thread...

D'toid - TEW Isn't looking very evil so far...

The Evil Within seems surreally horrific at times, and slightly dull at others

Environmental Horror in The Evil Within - The evil without.

Game Informer - I hope the TEW isn't a generic zombie shooter

‘The Evil Within’ presents bleak and boring picture

I saw the closed doors gameplay demo of Evil Within today at PAX and it absolutely killed all the hype I had. I wouldn't put much stake on it being great.

Here's a longer description of the closed door demo I saw at PAX today. The tweet above that described it as "utterly lifeless" was right on the money.

The demo was live gameplay and lasted about 15-20 minutes. They played through two areas and showed off the combat and some of the locales. I didn't see anything that I hadn't seen in a trailer so far, in terms of locations.

The first area was that strange area from the trailers with the destroyed city and shifting cliffs. The first 3/4 of this part was just walking through the environment. It came across as completely dull. The character seemed completely unfazed by the way that the environment kept changing (e.g. at several points, buildings and the floor collapse right in front of him and there's no reaction). Towards the end of the section, they introduce the enemies. The player was equipped with a shotgun, sniper rifle, pistol, and a crossbow. There were some stealth elements that reminded me very strongly of The Last of Us (and not in a good way). In fact, it even had a very similar animation that occurs when an enemy grapples onto you. At the end, the guy encountered a water monster which he tried to distract by throwing bottles in the water, but the part ended when he was eaten by it.

The second area was a sort of puzzle section that took place in that strange industrial section that's been in the trailers. Throughout this section, the Box-head character was stalking the guy as he was trying to turn a set of valves. The Box-man can be killed normally by shooting him, but he comes back constantly. This sounded cool at first, but at no point did it seem that the guy was in danger. Add to that the fact that the section seemed to consist solely of:

1. Turn valve
2. 75% through turning valve, Box head shows up
3. Kill Box-head
4. Rinse and repeat

At the end, maybe one or two people clapped. It felt like the room had been super disappointed.

Performance-wise, the demo would hitch up at points (actually freeze for a second or two), but I attribute this to the game simply being still in development. I wasn't sure what platform it was being demo'ed on, but it didn't look great at all.

Say it ain't so...

 

[StuBurns]

Mitch Dyer you say? His opinion certainly carries great weight around here.

 

[dab0ne]

Oh my

 

[Vuze]

Aww, been looking forward to this, first trailer looked promising but the latest one was pretty lame after all. We'll see.

 

[NaughtyCalibur]

Not like this... :/

 

[DarkLordMalik]

I will judge the game with my own opinion

Still hopeful, maybe the demo at PAX was just bad. The earlier extended demo looked amazing.

Here is the old extended demo footage BTW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMKhoHl9BnE

Looked great to me.

 

[SJRB]

What the fuck?

 

[Backfoggen]

Well this fuckin sucks.

 

[Neifirst]

Well, with the release only a few months away, maybe the team didn't have time to put together a really compelling demo since they're trying to wrap up development. At least, I hope that's the case...

 

[Mr. X]

Polygon has a piece up. http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/11/5606228/the-evil-within-demo-pax-east

Seems to have a different opinion.

 

[NIGHT-]

Game looks good to me. I'll wait for more impressions before giving up hope

 

[Jimmyfenix]

Don't fail me again Mikami...

 

[Krusenstern]

I will judge the game with my own opinion

Right here with you.

Maybe the demo was just crap.

 

[Xater]

Yeah heard negative stuff about this demo like yesterday or the day before as well. The game never looked amazing but yeah now there is no excitement from my side.

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

I'll probably buy it regardless. Can't say the Bethesda publishing instills much faith in me when it comes to polish and consistency, but I'm super hyped.

 

[Acquiescence]

I'm hoping it's just an awkward game to showcase as a demo, and that taken as a whole the game works the way it's intended to.

That's what I'm hoping anyway. I really don't want this game to disappoint, it's rare that you get a legit survival-horror game released at retail now, and I want Mikami's return to horror to be a success.

 

[BadWolf]

RE4, then God Hand, then Vanquish?

I'll believe in Mikami for now.

 

[TurtleSnatcher]

I saw this demo yesterday.

There was 0 talking from Bethesda during the demo.They just played and it there were two different demos.

The first was fairly dry and lifeless. There was some shifting city scapes going up and down and it looked impressive but it was just slow walking through the whole thing. There were some combat scenes toward the end that were standard and very jerky.

The first part ended abruptly and the second part was you stuck in some steamy dungeon type of area and you are trying to turn off valves to get out? There was one enemy and the combat was extremely dry and repetitive.

The demo chugged as it streamed in loading areas .. It was trying to be seamless but framerate dropped to single digits multiple times during the first demo as it was streaming in the new area. Some of this lasted for 3-5 seconds.

Likewise, the second demo totally broke at the end with the one enemy. He completely clipped through the t-posed main character. The crowd laughed in the demo I was in. I felt really bad.

I kind of wish they talked more during the demo about the game to help inform people at PAX. I'm honestly surprised they brought it here in that shape.

 

[Nemmy]

I will judge the game with my own opinion

This.
If there's psychological horror building up in the game (reality shifting, Sebastian questioning his own sanity) like the trailers are indicating, it's not really something that can be shown in a 20-minute demo. As for the action and shooting - what else is there to expect from Mikami?
I have my own worries regarding the game (too much reliance on gore is one), but having read those impressions and the Polygon article, I see no reason to despair

Don't fail me again Mikami...

Again? When was the first time?

 

[NewGame]

I don't know why people were hyped for this title. Wishful thinking? The demo video that was released months ago looked so bland and non-descriptive. If anything it just looks like the Western Silent Hill games- or worse.

 

[1st Course]

The graphics/animations looks really dated from the vids I saw. Very clear that the game doesn't have much budget behind it.

 

[StuBurns]

I'll probably buy it regardless. Can't say the Bethesda publishing instills much faith in me when it comes to polish and consistency, but I'm super hyped.

Rage might have been a weak game, but unpolished and inconsistent it was not.

This stuff was posted yesterday in the latest trailer thread. It is cause for concern, of course, there's no guarantee this will be a good game, and certainly it sounds like what they showed was bad, but Mikami really hasn't ever slipped up, PN03 isn't good, but it had a budget of virtually nothing. This has been cooking for a long time.

The only really cause for concern for me was his recent interview, where he seemed to resent having to make it at all. Maybe if he's heart isn't in it, and he's just shitting it out, then it'll be bad, fingers crossed that's not the case.

 

[Lernaean]

I have complete faith in Mikami too and will judge the game myself, but all those news the last couple of days combined with my own viewing of the latest video have left me a bit disappointed.
We shall see.

 

[Gbraga]

Seems in line with my own impressions of every gameplay footage they've shown. The game always looked boring, waaay too scripted for the sake of being "cinematic". If it wasn't for that, it could be a great game that's just not scary, like RE5 was, but if they're taking the controller away from you all the time "because horror", then the horror better be damn good.

It's still a day one purchase though, Mikami's name makes it so I need to judge it for myself and I want to do it as soon as possible.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

]
The only really cause for concern for me was his recent interview, where he seemed to resent having to make it at all. Maybe if he's heart isn't in it, and he's just shitting it out, then it'll be bad, fingers crossed that's not the case.

Woah! I had no idea he was regretting making this one. Can you please link to that interview, i never saw it.

 

[doofy102]

I kind of saw this coming from watching previous gameplay trailers.

Still, gaming journalists rarely give this director's games proper justice, so of course there's that niggling doubt I can't help but feel. I expect the combat to at least be more nuanced than they make it out to be. That's maybe all I expect.

Stuff like the "character being unfazed at the horror" doesn't really matter, I'll say that much. It's only been a 'standard' thing in recent Western games like Tomb Raider and Last of Us. Older, scarier games without it don't need it. What's most important is the atmosphere - and being in a room with a couple people (or worse, an entire conference room) ALWAYS kills the atmosphere of even the best horror games.

 

[Duxxy3]

 

[Man]

Thankfully TLoU Remastered was just announced to tide me over.

 

[EL CUCO]

R.I.P. We hardly knew ye

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

Rage might have been a weak game, but unpolished and inconsistent it was not.

I was thinking more of Brink and their internally developed games. Haven't gotten around to playing Rage yet.

 

[Insane Metal]

About what I expected, looked ugly and boring. Same old stuff.

 

[Vinterbird]

I was thinking more of Brink and their internally developed games. Haven't gotten around to playing Rage yet.

That Bethesdas internally developed games has bugs, really has nothing to do with the games that Zenimax publishes.

Just because they share same publisher doesn't mean they share same quality.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

 

[StuBurns]

Woah! I had no idea he was regretting making this one. Can you please link to that interview, i never saw it.

I can't find it now, but while looking, I read a recent interview with Polygon where he says he's putting everything into the game, so I guess there's no reason for concern.

The interview I was talking about wasn't like he was super negative, just sounded frustrated because two Tango games were canned, and he said he didn't leave Capcom to make big action horror games, but that's what Bethesda wanted first from the studio. Something like that.

 

[Kade]

I loved Shadows of The Damned and everyone hated that so whatever. I'll hopefully enjoy this.

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

That Bethesdas internally developed games has bugs, really has nothing to do with the games that Zenimax publishes.

Just because they share same publisher doesn't mean they share same quality.

I assume they share many of the same ideals when it comes to QA. Then again, the company I work for isn't consistent across its various services, so maybe I'm being idealistic.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Pn03 is gonna have some comp for worst Mikami game

 

[PensivePen]

I really feel like billing this as a straight horror game rather than an action horror game like RE4 was a huge mistake in the marketing. It really looks like it's going more for that.

Stuff like the "character being unfazed at the horror" doesn't really matter, I'll say that much. It's only been a 'standard' thing in recent Western games like Tomb Raider and Last of Us. Older, scarier games without it don't need it.

Honestly it's a trend I find annoying. I don't need to see a cutscene or canned animation of the character recoiling in fear, if your game is doing its job I'll have that reaction naturally without being told how I should feel about the thing.

 

[Vinterbird]

I assume they share many of the same ideals when it comes to QA. Then again, the company I work for isn't consistent across its various services, so maybe I'm being idealistic.

They probably share some QA staff at Zenimax central, but the games themselves are also very different. Bugs in an traditional open world Bethesda game is unavoidable, but more strict and linear games are easier then make smoother.

Plus different engines, different development teams and different everything.

I think it's unfair to everyone by saying that everything published by the publisher behind Bethesda will be filled to the brim with bugs.

 

[Nemmy]

The interview I was talking about wasn't like he was super negative, just sounded frustrated because two Tango games were canned, and he said he didn't leave Capcom to make big action horror games, but that's what Bethesda wanted first from the studio. Something like that.

Now THAT is a legit reason to be frustrated.
God damnit, Bethesda.

 

[friskykillface]

that line was pretty big at PAX , if it really is that bad then jeez

if there's free swag I'll play it today

 

[Moobabe]

I was thinking more of Brink and their internally developed games. Haven't gotten around to playing Rage yet.

Brink wasn't made by Bethesda

 

[real_slime]

Never really thought this looked any good. I want an actual horror game to come along at some point. But y'know, I'll keep my eyes peeled for when it does come out to see how it looks.

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

They probably share some QA staff at Zenimax central, but the games themselves are also very different. Bugs in an traditional open world Bethesda game is unavoidable, but more strict and linear games are easier then make smoother.

Plus different engines, different development teams and different everything.

I think it's unfair to everyone by saying that everything published by the publisher behind Bethesda will be filled to the brim with bugs.

I never said it would be filled to the brim with bugs, but I don't have the same expectations of quality from Bethesda Softworks games due to my experiences with some of the games they've published as I would with games from other studios. I expect some level of bugginess in open world games, but some of their games have been released in an almost unplayable state and that reflects poorly on their entire brand.

Brink wasn't made by Bethesda

Published. Same as this game.

Edit: Now I'm feeling like I'm somehow being unfair to this game despite my desire to play it day one. We'll just say I'm hyped, but still somewhat skeptical.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

Might as well delay the game if they need more time to iron out animations and graphics. Not to mention possible game mechanics and pacing.

Truly disappointing to read. The initial gameplay looked and seemed to play amazing, I wonder what happened. Was it one of those "lets polish this demo to oblivion while we stop developing the rest of the game" or something?

 

[Messofanego]

I saw this demo yesterday.

There was 0 talking from Bethesda during the demo.They just played and it there were two different demos.

The first was fairly dry and lifeless. There was some shifting city scapes going up and down and it looked impressive but it was just slow walking through the whole thing. There were some combat scenes toward the end that were standard and very jerky.

The first part ended abruptly and the second part was you stuck in some steamy dungeon type of area and you are trying to turn off valves to get out? There was one enemy and the combat was extremely dry and repetitive.

The demo chugged as it streamed in loading areas .. It was trying to be seamless but framerate dropped to single digits multiple times during the first demo as it was streaming in the new area. Some of this lasted for 3-5 seconds.

Likewise, the second demo totally broke at the end with the one enemy. He completely clipped through the t-posed main character. The crowd laughed in the demo I was in. I felt really bad.

I kind of wish they talked more during the demo about the game to help inform people at PAX. I'm honestly surprised they brought it here in that shape.

Ouch lol

Might have just been a bad vertical slice that is totally not at all paced like the final game...that they still decided to show to the public...yeah, I don't know.

Killing the Boxhead requires 5 shotgun hits, but he does nothing and just walks up to you? Pulls his own head off and kills himself to be revived as a box somewhere else that can become a new one? That at least sounds interesting on paper, like the Regenerator in Dead Space.

 

[Vinterbird]

I never said it would be filled to the brim with bugs, but I don't have the same expectations of quality from Bethesda Softworks games due to my experiences with some of the games they've published as I would with games from other studios. I expect some level of bugginess in open world games, but some of their games have been released in an almost unplayable state and that reflects poorly on their entire brand.



Published. Same as this game.

Edit: Now I'm feeling like I'm somehow being unfair to this game despite my desire to play it day one. We'll just say I'm hyped, but still somewhat skeptical.

Bethesda is not publishing. Zenimax is. Bethesda is just another developer at Zenimax.

 

[bhytre]

Lifeless... so like Dead Space?

 

[Bladenic]

Nooooooo ((( I need this to be great

 

[dan2026]

To be fair every impression of this so far has been bad.

Were people really expecting otherwise?