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LTTP: Evil Within 2, or; Better or worse than the original? SPOILERS

fart town usa

Gold Member
I played the bulk of the demo, which is probably the best demo I've ever seen, but I just couldn't get into it like I could the first game.

It seemed much more open with lots of stealth and I just absolutely hated the stealth aspect. I also didn't care for how the lead guy was portrayed, just seemed insanely cliché.

Never went back to it but I do plan on getting it at some point, just not interested now.

However, it has one of the greatest optional scenes of all time
 

Unk Adams

Banned
The first one is a horror classic. The second altered the formula too much. It wasn't a bad game but it's not what I wanted in a sequel. It was too open, had too much stealth, and felt like it didn't have the same "soul" that the first did.
 

tommib

Member
The first Evil Within is one of my most beloved gaming experience, the gameplay is superb and the setting and atmosphere is completely unique it has so many different inspirations if you are an horror movie fan and played survival horror games, you'll find something in that game that echoes some memories.

For me it is on par with RE1 (director's cut) and RE4 as a continuation of the formula, the gameplay is the key here, I put this above everything else when i rate my time with a game, especially with a horror title, due to the inherent flaw of this genre : once you get familiar with the game, it cease to be scary, so you are left with the atmosphere, setting, story, OST and more importantly the gameplay.

RE1 is amazing to this day because it is very precise and running around raising up your shotgun to blow zombie head off never gets old, nor does it fails (a particular flaw of the remake for me) you replay the game many times for this reasons.
RE4 is the similar, don't tell me it's story is what kept you playing it times and times again (for the memes it is) gameplay is king so does the pacing of the game.

The Evil Within is all of that, with added traps you can set, defuse or avoid when used against you and more importantly stealth mechanics (one hit kills ala Tenchu conserves ammo and don't alert all the enemies) a pseudo RPG system for leveling your character (currency found on dead enemies or by exploring that can be spent on either your stats/capabilities or weapons, choices again!) and a reward for each hidden keys you found during the game in the form of a randomized loot (could be ammo, health, currency etc), you can have double HP and more powerful guns to gun everything down or be more agile and have more traps to flee encounters and hide if things didn't go as planned, letting you try again after the enemies ceased to search for you.

This is more freedom given for you as a player to tackle each situation, more control for you to play stealth mostly or gun blazing by leveling up specific stats that emphasize your playstyle, and a huge boost for the feeling of player progression as you complete the game.

They are so many cool ways to kill many enemies all at once by using smart strategies or setting traps it will reward you the more you experiment, say you got 3 guys running to kill you, you can shoot one in the leg (he falls) you can use a match on him to set him on fire and killing him, if timed correctly you have effectively created a fire trap when the others got so close to maul you, you took a risk and now they are all dead, just using one bullet and one match while avoided taking damage, then again you can just shoot them and spent precious scarce ammo and health recovery item for 3 goons.

The whole game is like this, with dozens of enemies thrown at you like (RE4 in the cabin) there is explosive barrels, electrical hazard or traps that can be used in the environment if you find them, superb action moments, memorable boss, classic puzzles, the whole game is full of sandbox type encounters for you to enjoy it's gameplay, it often feel insurmountable but you got so many options that there's never just only one method that work.

Then you got the story and the diversity of locals, periods and enemy types to never let the player feel at ease or accustomed to a situation.

For me personally, it's the only game that merged gameplay, story, horror and depth in its mechanics this well, others got a much better story but flawed/basic gameplay, others would have fun as hell gameplay but a shit setting and a near non existing plot, none of them got the balance quite right as the Evil Within does.
No lies detected.
 

lillars

Member
I just played through parts 1 and 2 back-to-back, and I am amazed that they weren't big hits. Part 1 was great as a more linear, old-school RE4 game. The crazy story was hard to follow however. Part 2 blew me away in general. The freedom it offered (not full open-world, but similar to something like Metro Exodus) was amazing, and the story was much tighter. I'm now a huge fan and hoping against hope that there's a part 3 or spiritual successor at some point. We can always use more survival horror :messenger_horns:.
 

Beechos

Member
If i remember correctly tew 1 was hard as hell and had some cheap kills. The checkpoints when you die made you watch unskippable cutscenes which was super annoying. Tew 2 wins for me just based om that alone.
 

Faust

Perpetually Tired
Staff Member
I didn't much care for TEW1. It had wonderful atmosphere, but its controls felt so... middling? Its environments had some cool ideas, but it never went all the way.

TEW2 had fantastic world design, fun locations, went all in on its setting, and controlled far, far better for me personally.
 

Beechos

Member
I just played through parts 1 and 2 back-to-back, and I am amazed that they weren't big hits. Part 1 was great as a more linear, old-school RE4 game. The crazy story was hard to follow however. Part 2 blew me away in general. The freedom it offered (not full open-world, but similar to something like Metro Exodus) was amazing, and the story was much tighter. I'm now a huge fan and hoping against hope that there's a part 3 or spiritual successor at some point. We can always use more survival horror :messenger_horns:.
I think tew wouldve been better if they kept it more grounded without all that tech stuff and crazy japanese story telling. The opening got me so hyped with the atmosphere hanging upside down in that texas chain saw massacre looking place. Once i got jacked into that matrix thing it let all the air out for me. Kinda reminds me of the original ass creed game was super dope and then you find out youre in some matrix shit.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
I played through most of the Demo, which is actually a decent chunk of the game but I just wasn't feeling it.

Really disliked how Sebastian was, I have no patience for drunk, down on their luck protagonists. Just bores me. I also wasn't feeling the stealth mechanics and combat.

I thought the first game was alright but nothing special. Funny enough, I was at gamestop like 30 mins ago and was looking at it, thought maybe I should get it and give it another go but ended up getting Ni No Kuni Remastered instead.
 

Larsowitz

Member
I was a massive fan of the first game, finished it like 6 times.

2 is significantly worse in nearly every way, what a massive disappointment. Beat it once and have never revisited it.

That is exactly how I felt.

1st one is still one of my favorite games from the last 10 years or so.

Despite some good scenes/fights the 2nd one was a big disappointment.

Still hoping that Mikami will come back for another great survival horror game.
 

NeverYouMind

Gold Member
The first one is a nightmare for all the wrong reasons with technical issues, dumb design choices, incoherent structure, and David Lynch style turn a sensible plot into nonsense kind of writting without any of the character building moments or artistic intricacy. The second one is a modern, surreal horror-adventure game done right.

Zero Punctuation has a much more comedic take on the matter:

 
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The Evil Within 2 is in my top 10 of all time. Love the stupidity, the visuals, and the pseudo open world with a lot of cool secrets.

The Evil Within 1 was great but had stupid design choices sprinkled about, really weird pacing at times, and the WORST offender of all: That awful ADS camera angle. It zooms in WAYYYY too close to Sebastian. Sure, you get used to it after awhile (because you have to) but this is one of the few times I've knocked some points off a game for something so minor, and there's no option to change it.
 
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It’s been a while since I played either, but I really prefer the first game. The way the chapters were so random in terms of settings and transitions made it unique and gave it a dream-like quality that enhanced the atmosphere. The second game was just like “hey you’re in the Matrix also there this artist guy who acts just like Sander Coen from Bioshock, and it’s semi open world.”

I also remember it taking even longer to upgrade stuff in 2 than 1, which was already pretty slow in that department. The whole plot of finding his daughter was more cliche too. Getting stuck in, and having to escape a schizo’s brain in the first one was more interesting. I also didn’t like how they removed the fire mechanic for making sure enemies were dead.

But people usually seem to be pretty 50/50 as to which they prefer.
 
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lillars

Member
It’s been a while since I played either, but I really prefer the first game. The way the chapters were so random in terms of settings and transitions made it unique and gave it a dream-like quality that enhanced the atmosphere. The second game was just like “hey you’re in the Matrix also there this artist guy who acts just like Sander Coen from Bioshock, and it’s semi open world.”

I also remember it taking even longer to upgrade stuff in 2 than 1, which was already pretty slow in that department. The whole plot of finding his daughter was more cliche too. Getting stuck in, and having to escape a schizo’s brain in the first one was more interesting. I also didn’t like how they removed the fire mechanic for making sure enemies were dead.

But people usually seem to be pretty 50/50 as to which they prefer.
I can see that. The first one definitely had the more varied chapters, and I did love it for different reasons. Regardless we need a part 3. It's crazy to me that it's been 5 years since the sequel. I'm happy I played them both. The Christmas sale made them a no brainer for $4 and $8 respectively (not to mention they are free on GP).
 

lillars

Member
I can see that. The first one definitely had the more varied chapters, and I did love it for different reasons. Regardless we need a part 3. It's crazy to me that it's been 5 years since the sequel. I'm happy I played them both. The Christmas sale made them a no brainer for $4 and $8 respectively (not to mention they are free on GP).
Also it's important to note that I played the sequel on PS5. It being 4k/60 made a big impact.
 

Doom85

Member
Just going to quote myself from a thread a while back:

Part 1 was pretty good but it had a lot of flaws. One of them is no longer an issue, but the game was embarrassing on launch in how glitchy it was to the point of even occasionally crashing. Not to mention how garbage the forced widescreen was. Beyond that though, the game is SO uneven. The first 9 acts are generally pretty good (even if the first chapter is just unnecessarily slow-paced and basically Outlast but not as good. Then the rest of the game becomes nothing like the first chapter in gameplay, so weird) but after that, GOD. Some people bitch about the Island in RE 4, I mean I liked the Island even if I admit the Village and Castle were better, but I have barely anything positive to say about the city chapters in EW 1. Just a mess.

The character development is basically non-existent, Ruvik gets fleshed out, but Sebastian's entire backstory is left to notes and not mentioned ONCE in the main game, Joseph has a single plot element and zero characterization, and Kidman is meant to be a certain Resident Evil character clone but done far less effectively. Leslie and the doctor....exist. And the plot mostly boils down to, "we're in someone's mind, and it's pretty fucking obvious whose it is." Thankfully some ambience and some good gameplay elements help, but good lord did this game need more time in the oven.

Evil Within 2 thankfully addressed all these issues. All the characters are fleshed out in-game. There's no dip in quality in the chapters. The game ran fine at launch. The story has a few twists and turns and has a more logical progression whereas 1 was mostly random events/locales under the "justification" of "well, we're in a crazy mind, so fuck it we can just go anywhere!" There's FAR more stuff to do gameplay-wise, if you just run from main objective to main objective you're missing out on some good shit, and the map actually makes it clear what auto-locks you into story (and definitely makes it clear when going to a point will make the map no longer visitable) whereas the first game was basically like, "hey, do you want main path or a side path with some good shit? We're not making it clear at all which is which! Oh, you picked the wrong path and now can't check out the side stuff, well fuck you then!" And anyone who tries, "hey, it makes the game hard!", puh-leeze, fucking Soulsborne doesn't do this shit, it's just bad game design plain and simple.

I'm sure there are those who legit liked the first game more, I don't get it, but you do you. But to me, EW 2 is everything a game sequel should be in fixing all of the issues of the prior entry. I got the platinum last year after several playthroughs and had a blast each time.
 

dcx4610

Member
Part 2 is worse but still decent. I didn't like the idea of part 2 going open word but the open world felt like the size of a city block.

The first game's story was really silly and all over the place but it had great graphics and a lot of special set pieces. You could feel the Resident Evil in it.

I'd go 8/0 on 1 and 6/10 on part 2.
 

Y0ssarian

Banned
I kind of liked TEW1. It reminded me of RE4 in some ways. I dropped TEW2 pretty fast, maybe a couple chapters in.
 

Rickyiez

Member
I finished both but the sequel is actually more memorable. The town is really atmospheric and it's a real good looking game. Perhaps I play it linearly don't have much complain of the world structure here
 
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Malio

Member
I loved them both but I thought the first one was more horror-based and more interesting. EW2 was great as well, but it felt more like a "game" than the first one. I got way more RE vibes off the first one.
 

Doom85

Member
I’m still sad that they didn’t continue Ruvik’s story in 2nd game.

The post credits scene implied he would be returning in 3 (and there was a secret unlockable conversation between Sebastian and Kidman where Sebastian finds out Joseph might still be alive somewhere).

I personally preferred they switch it up with villains, especially the final villain as they’re crucial to Sebastian’s story (and the 1st and 2nd villains impact the plot as well).
 
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