tassletine
Member
I think your definition of 'dudebro shooter' is off, while I can see the subjectivity of the phrase, TEW doesn't really have dudebro elements even later in the game when it gets more action focused for a couple chapters. "Dudebro" was originally coined for big dumb action shooting games and multiplayer shooters. Shooting in TEW has way too much high-stakes for failure and often precision to really fall into the "Dudebro" category, most casual gamers into shooting who played it would actually be pretty pissed off by TEW shooting because it's not dumbed down enough or easy to pull off. You have limited ammo and can't just shoot mindlessly, and even when you have ammo you can't shoot mindlessly due to high stakes and how enemies react to being shot. Even if you shoot an enemy in the head in TEW, this game has some of the most precise headshot systems I've seen since it only works if you shoot them squarely in the brain. Miss the shot and enemies will still keep coming at you.
^In fact, it's due to this system that TEW somewhat prevented headshots from being the end-all of its combat, because compared to almost any other shooter TEW has very hard to pull off headshots, enemies lurch around, change speeds, and shooting them in the head simply isn't good enough, you have to be precise or else you shoot off their jaw or a hole in side of their head or a hole in the middle of their face, etc. It often becomes worthwhile to shoot a limb to stun them so you can get a clearer shot at the head or to immobilize them.
Add to that most enemies can kill you pretty quickly in TEW for fucking up shots (many enemies are about as fast as you and punish you quickly if you're not be careful), many enemies you think you may have defeated may pretend to be dead to try to sneak attack you unless you use finite match resources, and there be a surprising amount of strategy you can put into the combat (from setting up traps, working with your environment, using matches at the perfect time to set enemies on fire, and other methods), and how you upgrade Sebastian, along with most enemies not shooting you back and there not being a cover system in the game.
IE, shooting gameplay =/= dudebro shooter, and behind the shoulder is a camera perspective, not all behind the shoulder shooting are dudebro. The stereotype was done by Gears of War, which had a behind-the-shoulder camera yes. But GOW didn't invent the camera angle, and it's been supplied in a variety of types of games, not all of which are 'dudebro'. Dudebro was coined for games that made shooting simplified for a more casual gaming audience with an easy to pull off bombastic action set-up. Not only is The Evil Within's combat not particularly easy, it also is very rarely bombastic in any way.
I agree, and the area you posted your faceless screenshot from, if tried on nightmare difficulty is the antithesis of dudebro shooting. If you don't know what you're doing in that area you'll be dead within 5 seconds flat.
I think most of the criticisms of this game come from people not trying the harder difficulties. It's a completely different experience.