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ETTP: The Evil Within

Thanks for posting your impressions, your write up has me much more interested and less wary of the game than I was at first. It sounds like it could be really good!
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
I want to know what the OP thought of Resident Evil 6. Because then Id know how to gauge their impressions of TEW.
Liked it, but for very different reasons than TEW and I understand why it was critically middling and mixed reception from GAF'ers.

Meh'ish level design, way too many QTE's, a dumb unimportant story, matched with unexplained combat, some sections that are just not fun, and really not with the feelin of the rest of the series. Also, I hate forced walking sections 9/10 times, and this is no exception. And the prologue is super dumb. An the bosses are very meh, worst in the series I'd even say (more like set-pieces).

But it's a fun co-op game with fun combat mechanics once you get a handle of them. Mercenaries is great fun, the campaign is fun for the stupid amount of ideas on display on hand, and some segments are pretty good. PC version is the best for 60fps, no screen tearing, and No Mercy.
 
Getting headshots in the game is more challenging as the enemies bob their heads around and you need to shoot in a very specific spot, and I've found out Sebastian's accuracy when on low level with a weapon is horrendous. I've had shots with the pistol shoot over a foot in another direction of where I shot, so on low accuracy level the reticle box is actually more, 'the area your shot will actually land at' rather than the reticle middle or circle. A cool feature is you can shoot off part of an enemy's head without getting a headshot.

Interesting.

On that, I hit an enemy with a explosive bolt, but it takes a few seconds to explode, enemy grabbed me and I exploded. Game confirmed to have dissection deaths, Sebastian literally exploded into pieces, but you could tell what all the pieces were. Happy to have Mikami deaths back after they left RE with RE5. Another one involves an enemy slitting your throat and blood purring out.

Speaking of blood. A fun blood splatter effect in this game. Killing enemies near a wall or furniture will splatter blood on these that stick for a small bit. Killing an enemy close to you in a gory fashion will have blood coat Sebastian for a few moments as well.

Yeah, I dig. A bit gore makes horror games more complete to me.
 
Liked it, but for very different reasons than TEW and I understand why it was critically middling and mixed reception from GAF'ers.

Meh'ish level design, way too many QTE's, a dumb unimportant story, matched with unexplained combat, some sections that are just not fun, and really not with the feelin of the rest of the series. Also, I hate forced walking sections 9/10 times, and this is no exception. And the prologue is super dumb. An the bosses are very meh, worst in the series I'd even say (more like set-pieces).

But it's a fun co-op game with fun combat mechanics once you get a handle of them. Mercenaries is great fun, the campaign is fun for the stupid amount of ideas on display on hand, and some segments are pretty good. PC version is the best for 60fps, no screen tearing, and No Mercy.

I'm pretty hard on the game, but I think this is a fair assessment of 6. It had ambition, I'll give it that.
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Final thoughts, beat the demo and got to play more at the event. Wasn't timed so got to experience it fully, just need to tidy up my post and fix all the typos/grammar errors/auto-correct mistakes in the next few days.

So I managed to play the demo once all the time through and two other times 3/4s of the way through at the event. Outside of the event, I had playe the demo one other time to about 3/4s of the way through, played once half-way through, as played the first 10 or so minutes six times in total. I got to experience some more variations of locations through deaths. The deaths were forgiving in the demo (outside of load times), but I'm aware the main game uses save rooms.

I'll start off with a few problems I noticed by playing it a fair bit. For now, the bottles are broken. You're supposed to pick then up and throw then to distract te enemy, but it only worked for me once of the couple dozen times I tried using then. Hoping that gets fixed.

Also the enemies detected me almost every single time I was trying to sneak up on them, except once. I feel there's some wonkiness in the demo with stealth.

Not complaining on this one, but the enemies never hear me super loudly kicking open a door they're right next too. you can open doors slowly or kick them open, they never hear you if you kick a door open.

I also think on Normal difficulty the game may give you too much upgrading gel. Maybe this was for the demo to let you upgrade some stuff in the demo, though.

Also maybe a good/bad thing, since the scenes have high randomization set-up I find the game sometimes gives you better/worse hands. On some runs I had a lot of good luck with items from crates, and had very few enemies. Other times, I had scarce supplies and more enemies littered about. So on this front I can see how this can make the game more challenging/easier based really on chance, and that can be a good/bad thing, but I do like it. Not everything is randomized but it does make it fun to replay.

I've actually played different versions of the areas enough times by replaying and dying that I think I have experienced almost every combination of possibilities of enemy placement in most of the rooms in the manor.

Now, the rest of it, which I am indeed positive on.

Enemy AI can be clever in places (dumb in others but works with their zombie-like nature and didn't see anything that struck me as dtupid or bad AI outside of stealth stuff I mentioned above). Things like when I pull my gun out not facing the enemy and try to aim at them they duck under or dart to avoid, or hide around a corner waiting for you to come near to attack (or in one case as I went down a hall suddenly barge from around the corner at the end of the hall and madly dash at me with a knife). They responded well a lot of the time to my player actions, an all of this was dynamic and not scripted, which impressed me. They even have some team dynamics when in a group, like of two paths they'll try to corner you off with hand motions and movements and everything, but retain a creepiness from how they move as sound and being a threat still.

I also found out enemies stay where you left them even if you leave and come back, I went to the save room running from enemies and they retained their positions when I cane back. Through this I also found out enemies when they aren't alerted do things and sort of idle and move around the place on their own doing things. I foud some enemies I left I the library with one checking out a desk, another climbing a ladder, and the like.

Creepy clown laugh must of been one of those mood setting things I mentioned earlier as I don't think I heard it again, though there were enemies with clown masks still but not all of them like it did that one time, only in the room after the laugh I heard the first time.

I tested more with the agony bow now as they seem to give you rounds for it from the start of the demo. Explosive attaches an explosive prickly thing to an enemy that explodes five seconds later, it's a modified mine from the game as it has the same light and tripping noise. A frozen now freezes an enemy and let's you shoot or melee then to shattered them. Electrics zaps them and makes that enemy blind so it swings around randomly and it's eyes bleed and covers them, so you can sneak attack/stoke/easily kill. Also electrifies enemies nearby. The agony bows seem to be alterations of traps enemies can use on you in the game, so assume there's some kin of frozen and electricity trap in the game you can dismantle if carefuly.

The nurse in the save room hub, what's her name, changed her 'welcome' dialogue based on certain things. Visiting her multiple times in one demo session lead her to say to me, "You're evidently one cautious patient." Comin in when I was almost dead made her tell me she doesn't provide medical services. If I have a lot of green gel, she tells me I should use it. I assume there is a lot more to this.

Also from the PAX event, not the demo, there was an actress playing her which gave me more eyesight into her character. She acted a she did in the demo, but some added elements, like she would ask questions of the patient, things like, "Are you awake, or are you sleeping?", and something about delusions. Also as one of the winners of the Xbox One, I ha this thing done where she put me in a medical thing, strapped my wrists and ankles, she took out a syringe and fiddled with it but in the end slrayed something in my mouth, and outside of questions about name and such, asked something about if the set-up I can't quite remember, and gave me a memo note saying, "go to the church." I'm assuming this was all in role for something from the game, a Bethesda representative asked me to come with her in the middle of me playing the demo, and told me to talk to the nurse, and as I did that happened, and then try informed me I won an Xbox One.

I found out Ruvik can appear anytime again. Popped up during a puzzle and jump scare (which scared me as I knew the jump scare was coming for playing the demo a few times but then he appeared righ after).

I actually found a couple rooms I had missed before in my other runs. Not much important inside, but got a second map piece showing some islands and there are some side areas that are easy to miss in this game.

The rest I woul have to say would have to do with the Demi's content in question, so will hold off talking about it. All I will say is there was some fun effects effects going on at the end.

Also there were some interesting things at the party I thought must be a reference to the game somehow. Newspapers were liked in the bathroom, talking about who is running Beacon Mental Hospital, as the owner died 30 year ago. Something about a whole village who just died of an outbreak of something and left abandoned. There was also a room with nothing but a wall wrapped in platic with a black and white photo of a woman behind it hung on the wall, guess it might be important?
 
I found out Ruvik can appear anytime again. Popped up during a puzzle and jump scare (which scared me as I knew the jump scare was coming for playing the demo a few times but then he appeared righ after).

iuvITssNlBwCU.gif
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
I also will throw out there that, once completely polished, I know they said they wouldn't but I think releasing this demo to the public would be a good idea. It's a good demo and most all who have played it have been positive of it, and woul probably sell some people on the game. I would say maybe not as it might be spoiler-y, but various huge YT have already played it as it is, so that shouldn't be a huge deal anymore I would think and I feel certain would sell more people on the game.

I feel part of the reason they aren't is because of how the demo is handled though. From finishing the demo and the problems I had with the PS4 I the first demo stand, I can tell it's a disc-based demo and I think it might be the full game modified to play a section for the demo. Would explain how they easily update it with game updates and why when the demo ends the sound of the next scene starts playing and then gets cut off and gives you the demo end screen.
 
How does Sebastian ‘feel’? More specifically, does Sebastian and the enemies feel heavy and have a sense of weight to them? It’s pretty hard to tell when watching all the videos so I was wondering if you could weigh in (pun intended).

Resident Evil 4 nailed it, Resident Evil 5 nailed it and Resident Evil 6 failed at it. A big reason why the combat was so satisfying in Resident Evil 4 + 5 was because of the sense of weight from both the main characters and the enemies.
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
How does Sebastian ‘feel’? More specifically, does Sebastian and the enemies feel heavy and have a sense of weight to them? It’s pretty hard to tell when watching all the videos so I was wondering if you could weigh in (pun intended).

Resident Evil 4 nailed it, Resident Evil 5 nailed it and Resident Evil 6 failed at it. A big reason why the combat was so satisfying in Resident Evil 4 + 5 was because of the sense of weight from both the main characters and the enemies.

I think I understand what you mean, and would say things feel heavier, but works for what the game is. The enemies seem kind of like they lurch around and take up space, and have the feeling of presence and lanky movement of how they approach you. When they go for an attack, their attacks have that sort of feeling where it feels like it was a blow, rather than no... Response from them hitting you or a graze or something.

Shooting doesn't feel a heavy due to how the enemies respond to it, they can walk off being shot in most spots even as parts of their flesh or even skull are literaly chipped away, but hitting vital points gives the sort of stumble and moment of weakness you'd expect.

Sebastian feels appropriately weighted, I thin a big part is attention to detail like when he's sneaking how he'll go a bit quicker when he first lurches himself forward and then slows down before he puts his next foot down rather than move a constant speed. Also small details in the environment, lighting, breakable objects, etc., add to the sense of belonging and like they're there and limited by being there in this situation rather than being passive beings in a location.

Sebastian as a character himself makes a lot of obvious or snarky remarks from what I've seen.
 
I think I understand what you mean, and would say things feel heavier, but works for what the game is. The enemies seem kind of like they lurch around and take up space, and have the feeling of presence and lanky movement of how they approach you. When they go for an attack, their attacks have that sort of feeling where it feels like it was a blow, rather than no... Response from them hitting you or a graze or something.

Shooting doesn't feel a heavy due to how the enemies respond to it, they can walk off being shot in most spots even as parts of their flesh or even skull are literaly chipped away, but hitting vital points gives the sort of stumble and moment of weakness you'd expect.

Sebastian feels appropriately weighted, I thin a big part is attention to detail like when he's sneaking how he'll go a bit quicker when he first lurches himself forward and then slows down before he puts his next foot down rather than move a constant speed. Also small details in the environment, lighting, breakable objects, etc., add to the sense of belonging and like they're there and limited by being there in this situation rather than being passive beings in a location.

Sebastian as a character himself makes a lot of obvious or snarky remarks from what I've seen.

Sounds amazing! Thanks for the detailed reply.
 

Xpliskin

Member
Dat marketing budget.


Ohhhh I know what's up:

I'd say the Xbox One demo is the most recent one.

PS4 was already at gamescom and chapter 8 had already been renamed chapter 9, they reused that.

The load times have already been reduced in the new build and it's going to be better by the time the game becomes gold.
 

ivb_1973

Banned
The game is semi-randomized? Ohhh shit, I love good level design on horror games. Randomization destroys the experience to me... I hope it doesn't turn out to be another Daylight (even if it is less randomized).
 
The game is semi-randomized? Ohhh shit, I love good level design on horror games. Randomization destroys the experience to me... I hope it doesn't turn out to be another Daylight (even if it is less randomized).

The enemy encounters are randomized, not the levels. I think that gives it good replay value.
 

ivb_1973

Banned
The enemy encounters are randomized, not the levels. I think that gives it good replay value.

Even then, in a horror game enemy placement is a key asset. Randomizing will give the game some replayability but will make the entire experience lucky based.
I will try it since it has its perks, but I'm not very fond of the idea.
Hope I'm wrong...
 
Even then, in a horror game enemy placement is a key asset. Randomizing will give the game some replayability but will make the entire experience lucky based.
I will try it since it has its perks, but I'm not very fond of the idea.
Hope I'm wrong...

-Dusk stated not all enemy placement was random. So there seems to be a mix.
 

BBboy20

Member
Just foud out where the Evil Within event is being held.

seattle-underground-tour.jpg


Well this should be fun...
That looks like a screenshot from REmake 2.

Wicked jealous. So I'm playing RE4 right now.
I really need to start playing that on my PC. Been holding off to see how modders can improve it.

Def my man, I just went to my comic book shop and ordered the 4 prequel comics that are being released over the next few weeks. :D
Whaaa?

Sebastian feels appropriately weighted, I thin a big part is attention to detail like when he's sneaking how he'll go a bit quicker when he first lurches himself forward and then slows down before he puts his next foot down rather than move a constant speed
That's more attention to detail then actual stealth games. Dufuq?
 
I seem to only see a hardcover version line.

Yep that was my problem. Seems there isn't any great way to get them other then find a local shop or perhaps ebay to buy them. Kinda annoying but I want them badly enough, I went looking in town. Either that or just going to have to wait for the hardcore released with all 4 of them.
 

Lucent

Member
Btw, how does inventory works? Are there limited slots? Can you carry all weapons at once?

I remember seeing that you can assign stuff to the d-pad for quick selection but also a radial thing where you could pick them in a menu where time is slowed but not stopped.

Also, I'm extremely jelly of that console after seeing it. Wish I knew how to paint consoles to look good and not like a mess. lol
 

Neiteio

Member
So stoked for this game. Unfortunately, coming out in October means I'll be pulled in multiple directions by other heavy hitters like Bayonetta 2, Smash Bros., etc.

I really hope there's a satisfying logic to the lore. Mikami usually errs on the side of "science" rather than "supernatural." Here we appear to be dealing with experiments on the mind, and from what I've gathered via the synopsis of the comic, it appears that
it's all set inside Ruvik's mind
, in which case I hope that it doesn't feel
meaningless like The Matrix or other "dream worlds."
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Dat marketing budget.


Ohhhh I know what's up:

I'd say the Xbox One demo is the most recent one.

PS4 was already at gamescom and chapter 8 had already been renamed chapter 9, they reused that.

The load times have already been reduced in the new build and it's going to be better by the time the game becomes gold.
That's what I'm thinking, since the PS4 version was at recent cons and all, but hadn't heard of the Xbox One version being anywhere and it seemed further optimized from the PS4 one. Stable frame rate and lower load times, though hope they still lower loading more in the near future. I'm not a frame rate expert, but the demo looked 30fps with no dips, but a few points it'd stutter a bit on the PS4 bit. I do think due to the crisp visuals on PS4 te Xbox One was downscaled some to achieve this.

If I ever was marketing a game my condition would be to be honest that I am, as I don't jive well with being deceitful to people and about things I am passionate for. But Evil Within is one of my most anticipated games for this year, I had worries though, but playing it, it was much different feeling that I was expecting and there were a lot of things I was noticing that I had never really heard previews or anyone talk about or notice, and I really liked the demo, made me solidfy my anticipation for this title as a horror fan, so I needed to tell GAF since this game is surrounded I can say honestly now with misconceptions of what it is and people being uncertain on the game itself.


The game is semi-randomized? Ohhh shit, I love good level design on horror games. Randomization destroys the experience to me... I hope it doesn't turn out to be another Daylight (even if it is less randomized).

From playing the demo a lot, not fully randomized, but to a decent degree with some elements. Puzzles are the same on a difficulty, some enemies are the same, level layout is the same, and there are some scripted moments. But there are like, 2-4 different variations of what could be in each area, or more accurately, the game seems to randomly decide if a number of enemies are either there, or they aren't. Like a hallway for instance ha four possibilities. There's an enemy laying on the ground that may be there or not, an there's an enemy waiting around a corner that may be there or not. Thus, you could have neither, you could have both, or have one or the other. They're still in scripted positions, but it's like random if they're there or not.

The biggest toss-up room in the demo was the library. There could be no enemies in there, or up to six e enies in there, or any number between 1-6, but they would always be in the same locations doing the same things if they were there. That's how it works, so not fully randomized positioning but of they were there or not basically. An seems more random at first unless you're like me and play the same area over 10 times. Some enemies are very 'common' when popping up, some are very rare, I am guessing some sort of ratio to this instead of all being a 50/50 chance.

As people below show, pics of what'll it will look like online, but when I get it I'll definitely tak pictures of it. XD


Btw, how does inventory works? Are there limited slots? Can you carry all weapons at once?

Oh, thank you for reminding me to talk about this! This was something I was meaning to talk about. This is one element I am sort of ehhh on. I like how there is an inventory, and how usin it slows down the game works but doesn't stop it or keep it going full speed, on control type A it's right Analog press on both PS4 and Xbox One (also in the demo there are 4 control schemes, A - D ), and from here allows you to select an object in your inventory to use or set a weapon, healing item, or trap to the D-pad buttons for quick select, or for you to just select on the fly. There's different buttons to access different parts of the menu, like to make traps or view documents and such. But the ehh thing is that there's individual capacity for type of ammo, trap, etc, which I'm not big on. It wasn't much of a problem in the demo, but could see as an annoyance in the game.

But this said, you can upgrade capacity of ammo, healing items, traps, etc., with green gel via upgrading.

I also can say on upgrading most everything has five levels. Getting to level 1 costs 2000 gel. Level 2 costs 5000, level 3 costs 10000, and didn't see beyond that. These points seemed to go over most all upgrades.
 

Ateron

Member
Man, I hope the ps4 version will get some of that polish too. I'm expecting nothing less than rock solid 30 fps. If the X1 can do it, no reason for the ps4 to fall short of that.

Other than that, everything seems awesome. Thank you for your effort in this thread, Dusk :)
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
I'll have to fix the OP in particular, an sometime soon write up my thoughts on other games, I did in fact play more than Evil Within at PAX but now the game I'm most anticipating. Also played a variety of indie games, Until Dawn, Bloodborne, Escape Dead Island, Sonic Boom, Bayonetta 2, Smash Bros WiiU and 3DS, and others, but the rest I think most have an idea how they work, except maybe Escape Dead Island, which was different than I was expecting.
 

Drewfonse

Member
I'll have to fix the OP in particular, an sometime soon write up my thoughts on other games, I did in fact play more than Evil Within at PAX but now the game I'm most anticipating. Also played a variety of indie games, Until Dawn, Bloodborne, Escape Dead Island, Sonic Boom, Bayonetta 2, Smash Bros WiiU and 3DS, and others, but the rest I think most have an idea how they work, except maybe Escape Dead Island, which was different than I was expecting.


Hold on, hold on, hold on.


You got to play Bayonetta 2, Bloodborne, The Evil Within, AND you won a freaking TEW branded One? Not fair. Just not fair.
 

thesaucetastic

Unconfirmed Member
I'll have to fix the OP in particular, an sometime soon write up my thoughts on other games, I did in fact play more than Evil Within at PAX but now the game I'm most anticipating. Also played a variety of indie games, Until Dawn, Bloodborne, Escape Dead Island, Sonic Boom, Bayonetta 2, Smash Bros WiiU and 3DS, and others, but the rest I think most have an idea how they work, except maybe Escape Dead Island, which was different than I was expecting.

I'm so jealous. Congrats on winning the xbox! You definitely deserved it.
 

Riposte

Member
Beating a dead horse here, but thanks Dusk Golem. It's great to see a preview by someone who's opinion I come to value in the past.
 

jett

D-Member
What is it about tank/-ish controls Mikami loves so much about. It's miraculous Vanquish doesn't have that.

Thanks for the lengthy impressions.
 

Xpliskin

Member
If I ever was marketing a game my condition would be to be honest that I am, as I don't jive well with being deceitful to people and about things I am passionate for. But Evil Within is one of my most anticipated games for this year, I had worries though, but playing it, it was much different feeling that I was expecting and there were a lot of things I was noticing that I had never really heard previews or anyone talk about or notice, and I really liked the demo, made me solidfy my anticipation for this title as a horror fan, so I needed to tell GAF since this game is surrounded I can say honestly now with misconceptions of what it is and people being uncertain on the game itself.

Nooooooo dusk I didn't mean it that way. I meant it in a way that the game has been available at every(?) trade show since it's been announced. There's been an event similar to the one at Pax inTokyo too at the beginning of this month, specially dedicated to the evil within.

They sure are not shy on spending marketing money..
 

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Nooooooo dusk I didn't mean it that way. I meant it in a way that the game has been available at every(?) trade show since it's been announced. There's been an event similar to the one at Pax inTokyo too at the beginning of this month, specially dedicated to the evil within.

They sure are not shy on spending marketing money..
Ahhhh, it's all good, I thought you were just teasing before as I often gush when there's something I enjoy a lot.

I am guessing they are pushing marketing as the game releases in 6 or so weeks. Let people play it to be interested, attract attention, and try to push for the new IP to succeed. I hope Bethesda has reasonable expectations for the game though, I am very grateful they're funding this and letting the game have developers have creative freedom, but Tango said a while ago they want this to be a series.

I honestly don't know how the game will be received. I love what I've played and I'm certain I'll love it. I expect some other gamers to love it too, genre ethusiast, and I expect some good word of mouth will spread if the game can retain or succeed the area I've played. Sales wise, critically, and general gamer reception? I'm not sure.

On one hand, Shadows of the Damned was received pretty well, I like SOTD but I think it has some glaring flaws and is kind of weird level design an control wise than many similar games, and not as tight as other similar games either. It scored higher than I would of expected.

Horror was gone for a while, and is coming back into style, will critics be harsher or kinder on a game like this because of that?

And critics I think do matter in this instance. I know a lot of people on the edge with this game and not really certain if it's good or not. If the game scored fantastically with critics, I do think it'd push those on the edge of the game to give a purchase.

The game is single player only, has a season pass, somewhat styled like a new-school old-school game, and from what I've played is a game with some mechanic depth and demanding of player skill as while the game isn't unfair, from what I played it can sometimes be ruthless, though I was getting much better at it towards the end there. Will gamers like this? Will this game catch or become underlooked?

I feel like EW needs to win a sort of uphill battle against uncertainty on the game, but if things work out well it could find some genre success. I'll be curious to see how this all plays out and now that I know I like what I playe quite a bit, I will see if I can get more people interested as I believe the game will surpass many people's expectations, but may not translate to mass appeal or sales, but to be seen.
 
What is it about tank/-ish controls Mikami loves so much about. It's miraculous Vanquish doesn't have that.

Thanks for the lengthy impressions.

I think he just simply likes them haha... Even God Hand had them. There is no way Vanquish would have worked with them though... The entire game was based upon being extremely mobile and agile.
 
What is it about tank/-ish controls Mikami loves so much about.

It's simple. He wants to make encounters more intimate, though I highly doubt given the impressions of Dusk that this is at the old school level of tankiness.

It's miraculous Vanquish doesn't have that.

No it doesn't, this is an example of a developer who knows how to integrate mechanics into gameplay with minimal dissonance as possible - something most developers this generation don't seem to get a firm grasp on. The guy revolutionized the TPS, so I find it surprising you don't give him enough credit being capable of expanding his design.
 
I haven't heard anything about motion controls, thankfully.

Yeah nothing I've stormed the net for has revealed anything about that. Also working on a new preview video for Evil Within with as much info that we known of so far. Like a recap for people before it releases but nothing that's super long. Quick, to the point, and informative.
 
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