Thanks! Will try it if it goes on sale again. I was playing Resi Revelations 2 ep1 (the free one) and gosh, I love this kind of games, i'm really missing the genre.
-
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 lovely horror of The Evil Within (warning: many pics and location spoilers)
- Thread starter Neiteio
- Start date
Thanks! Will try it if it goes on sale again. I was playing Resi Revelations 2 ep1 (the free one) and gosh, I love this kind of games, i'm really missing the genre.
Death Metalist
Member
I should note, I first played TEW in... I think it was end of 2014. So I may have had the benefit of patches that came out after its fall release. Again, worked well for me. It's not WiiU levels of silky smoothness by any means, but it's perfectly playable, and looks great.
edit: lol, Death Metalist
Fancy Clown
Member
Death Metalist
Member
....
I haven't
Man, you're in for something special. Really there hasn't and probably will never be a horror game that has such a memorable story, haunting characters, amazing soundtrack and ending like SH2 had. More than a decade later, I'd only put SOMA up there but even then it doesn't dethrone SH2. Every facet of that game is molded to perfection, playing through it again you'd connect and piece together so many things you didn't in your first playthrough because you didn't have the info that allows you to see why everything in SH2 is the way it is.
I really urge you to track down a copy and play the game(don't try the butchered HD version. However the game is available on the original Xbox and it's backwards compatible with an Xbox 360), then maybe we could hear your thoughts about it as well you could check out the voice actor of the lead character commentating on the entire game. Such a shame that this IP is not in good hands, even though Silent Hill games in general never reached the greatness of 2, it still is a worthy series to see more games from.
I myself haven't played SH2. I'm primarily familiar with the series through the trippy Shattered Memories, which I thought was excellent aside from some tedious chase scenes. I wonder if SH2 is available to download on PSN? Might be a good candidate for an LttP writeup. I'm certainly fascinated with this brand of head-trip horror after TEW.
GinoFelino
Member
Yep! SH2 is incredible. I loved SH and SH3 as well, but SH2 takes the cake.
Also, seriously, you put SOMA on the same level? Good grief. I hated the beginning and it's been collecting digital dust for a week now. The first monster encounter is very poorly designed imo, and the art looks like ass. I've been meaning to go back to it. It'll have to wait until I finish TEW now
You too?? Heavens! It's a must-play if there ever was one. You can't download it on PSN unfortunately. You'll have to play it on PC, PS2 or Xbox (/360) to do it justice.
I didn't say anything about SOMA. I think you're responding to Death Metalist?
Although SOMA does look interesting. Amnesia was amazing, and I know SOMA is a different sort of game, but I'm intrigued.
TEW is really the last truly grand large-scale horror game that comes to mind, though. It's probably the biggest horror game ever. Makes one wonder when we'll see another horror title that is similarly ambitious in scope and scale (i.e. variety of creatures and environments, set-pieces and scenarios, etc).
GinoFelino
Member
Yeah, I was responding to him. Got mixed up when I edited your response in. I'll change it now.
Death Metalist
Member
Yep! SH2 is incredible. I loved SH and SH3 as well, but SH2 takes the cake.
Also, seriously, you put SOMA on the same level? Good grief. I hated the beginning and it's been collecting digital dust for a week now. The first monster encounter is very poorly designed imo, and the art looks like ass. I've been meaning to go back to it. It'll have to wait until I finish TEW now
Not on the same level but it's there, below it. I mean it sets the benchmark for these type of "hide from the enemy" horror games as far as I'm concerned. While the encounters suck, the story and characters are fantastic. Infact, as soon as I beat the game, I bought it on PC just to play it with the NO MONSTERS mod. If there is one thing with the encounters that ruin one aspect of the game is that they limit you from exploring and learning more about the place you're in because there's so much to read, see and hear from the game besides the regular story beats itself.
GinoFelino
Member
That benchmark will forever be set by Alien Isolation. Now there's a horror game that knows how to do the hiding stuff.
Also, it looks stupendously good and it's probably better than any Alien-related product since the first movie. I'd recommend it to anyone in this thread. One of the generation's best games, imo.
I'll get to SOMA, though. It's hard to play mechanics-wise after playing Alien, and it's not a looker. I'll take everyone's word on story and characters being awesome, for sure, so I'll definitely get around to it.
Death Metalist
Member
Gameplay, yes but certainly not in characters and story. I think anyone that finished SOMA can agree with that statement especially since it also doesn't overstay it's welcome. It ends at just the right moment.
Fancy Clown
Member
I love Alien but SOMA is the better game overall. Better paced and much much better story and integration of gameplay which causes a more profound sense of horror. I'd say it's a wash for their settings, they both mine a lot of good stuff from deep space and deep sea.
IcyRhythms
Member
I disagree. Alien: Isolation is a much better experience and I thought SOMA was great.
StrongBelwas
Banned
Agree with th guy above me. Both are fantastic. But i must be in a small camp that didn't think Alien outstayed it's welcome. I was sad when it was over.
IcyRhythms
Member
Yeah, my first thought was "NEED SEQUEL"
grandwizard
Member
They really put a lot of work into the themes and kind of lore that you need to read into a lot to understand, and it does remind me a lot of the theorycrafting that happened in the Silent Hill series. Unfortunately I think some problems with the basic presentation of the story turned people off initially to the point where most people didn't care to look that deep into it. For one the voice acting outside of Ruvik is pretty bad, and the dialogue seems like a poorly done translation whether intended or not. It's something that people would probably get past in the ps2 generation but I think today people expect more and clearer story and dialogue, with more hooks to keep you entertained rather than the pacing of TEW which can have long segments of nothing but gameplay.
It's a shame because like you explained there is a lot there that people still don't know exists. The big theory about the last chapter of the game and the nature of it still is surprising to people when I tell them about it if they've played the game, and you can see the kind of moment of realization as they put it all together. The game didn't make it obvious and spell it out, but it's clearly pointing toward it.
More shots!
Four of my favorite monsters, as seen in the model viewer you unlock post-game. In order: The Keeper, Laura Reborn, Quell, and Amalgam (Final Form):
They'd make for great movies about a serial killer, Grudge-style ghost, mutant and kaiju, respectively!
Here are a few more shots from Ch. 11, one of my favorites. I like the look of the walls from inside the sinkhole:
Now for some Quell-created mucus in the metro, and more eyeballs! (I think this is the start of a beautiful new fetish)
Oh, and the most unwittingly funny line in the game:
Four of my favorite monsters, as seen in the model viewer you unlock post-game. In order: The Keeper, Laura Reborn, Quell, and Amalgam (Final Form):
They'd make for great movies about a serial killer, Grudge-style ghost, mutant and kaiju, respectively!
Here are a few more shots from Ch. 11, one of my favorites. I like the look of the walls from inside the sinkhole:
Now for some Quell-created mucus in the metro, and more eyeballs! (I think this is the start of a beautiful new fetish)
Oh, and the most unwittingly funny line in the game:
Waldo Lydecker
Member
A great quality this game has is that it is unsettling and oppressive from the first second like no other game ever is.
Yeah, I was just watching footage I took of the Ch. 1 Sadist encounter, and it actually made me wince when he ran down the hall. Something about his shifty/erratic movements and the deafening sound of his chainsaw knocking down lockers, flinging open doors, etc. Everything feels forceful and super-charged with a sort of manic energy. Makes me jump even when I'm not playing, lol.
I'd love to hear your LttP impressions here!
On another note, I like this game's use of color, lending each scene a distinct feeling. Sometimes a different color can make an old place feel new!
A red hallway:
A blue hallway:
A green scene:
A gold scene:
A black scene:
Or sometimes it's the color of a single element to provide contrast — in this case, the yellow lift in a city of silver and white:
The encounter in the furnace room where you can drop her in the fire? That means you just finished Ch. 5. You still have two-thirds of the game to go! And the seaside churchyard of Cedar Hill is next. But perhaps you should replay those first five chapters to relearn the game? Game pulls no punches where you're going, but it's worth seeing what's next!
RyougaSaotome
Member
Wonderful thread for an incredibly underrated game.
Ended up playing through the entire thing with my mom and dad watching from start to finish over Christmas break a year ago. I had come home from Japan for the holiday and brought my PS4 with me, and as soon as I started the game, they came into the living room, sat down, and couldn't look away.
Good memories.
Ended up playing through the entire thing with my mom and dad watching from start to finish over Christmas break a year ago. I had come home from Japan for the holiday and brought my PS4 with me, and as soon as I started the game, they came into the living room, sat down, and couldn't look away.
Good memories.
I love my mom and dad with all my heart, but I can't imagine them doing that, lol. Growing up, I always wanted to show them a full-length game. I think that's pretty cool your parents are open-minded enough to watch a whole game like that.
Did they have any particular reactions you remember? Certain scenes, etc? (I'll leave it to your judgment whether you want to use spoiler tags!)
Yeah, the artbook is excellent. Although the first half of it is not for the squeamish lots of fleshy, blood-soaked monsters!
I think you're thinking about the first half of Ch. 15, which being the final level has a fitting showdown against many different monsters in a multi-level arena.
Ch. 13 and Ch. 14 were both pretty slow and suspenseful.
StrongBelwas
Banned
There was a chapter where you're on a bus with a lot of shooting isn't there? That was probably my least favourite part of the game.
Yeah, that's Ch. 12. The first half of Ch. 12 is fighting the giant spider (Heresy) on the back of a bus that had its roof torn off. You're still fighting it on foot no turrets or anything but there's very limited room to move around.
It's probably my least favorite chapter, too. That being said, it still plays well, and it's a nice palate cleaner after the tense set-pieces that came before (the mannequin warehouse, mermaids, etc). And the creature itself looks really cool, scrambling after the bus on hairy spider's legs. *shudders*
StrongBelwas
Banned
I still need to play the dlc, I really enjoyed the game.
But one could argue that the game itself is not for the squeamish
And yeah, the artbook is great, and easy to find.
The 2 first are great (Kidman DLC). They also fill the gaps in the story.
Did you guys ever see the trailer about the enemies in the game? It's pretty great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u59sV5FxlLU
Haha, touché!But one could argue that the game itself is not for the squeamish
What's up Neiteio!!
Wow, I've never seen images of the mermaid...but it looks awesome. Sad that the designers work didn't get to shine in-game.
Would have been great if there was an area where you go down a corridor that's glass fitted. Like a tunnel through water, this way you could look around and see the mermaid swimming around and potentially add a cheap jump scare with it smashing into the glass wanting a piece of you.
Then you finally get to interact with it in the are that we've come to know that's actually in the game.
I also like the default fov when aiming, I want this in more TPS games. It feels like the perfect mix between third and first person aiming.
Started a new play-through tonight, from scratch on Survivor. Playing on PS4 with the latest update and black bars disabled.
This is glorious.
And very smooth, too — including Chapter 3! The only time I've noticed slowdown is at the very, very start when you're standing outside the hospital in the rain, and even then I only noticed it when spinning the camera around Seb with multiple light sources nearby — this caused a brief hitch, similar to the frame pacing issue in Bloodborne. But it was all smooth again once I was inside. And the outdoor environments of Ch. 2 went perfectly smoothly. I'm now at the start of Ch. 3, and so far, so good.
I think they must've patched this game quite a bit. It's a lot smoother than I remember.
And the gameplay is SO GOOD.
Oh, and a tip for anyone starting out: You might want to maintain multiple save files. Best as I can tell, there's no limit on how many you make. This way, if you find yourself squandering resources, you can reload a save and try it again more efficiently. Helps when you make dumb mistakes like running through a tripwire, lol.
Actually, they could do all kinds of neat things with an aquarium setting. Make it a lab or something — an homage to the Aqua Ring from another Mikami game, Resident Evil 1!
And yeah, agreed on the aiming — having Seb's hand in the corner creates this nice middle ground between third-person and first-person. Works well!
This is glorious.
And very smooth, too — including Chapter 3! The only time I've noticed slowdown is at the very, very start when you're standing outside the hospital in the rain, and even then I only noticed it when spinning the camera around Seb with multiple light sources nearby — this caused a brief hitch, similar to the frame pacing issue in Bloodborne. But it was all smooth again once I was inside. And the outdoor environments of Ch. 2 went perfectly smoothly. I'm now at the start of Ch. 3, and so far, so good.
I think they must've patched this game quite a bit. It's a lot smoother than I remember.
And the gameplay is SO GOOD.
Oh, and a tip for anyone starting out: You might want to maintain multiple save files. Best as I can tell, there's no limit on how many you make. This way, if you find yourself squandering resources, you can reload a save and try it again more efficiently. Helps when you make dumb mistakes like running through a tripwire, lol.
Kodecraft, I like your ideas for the mermaid! Man, if they make a TEW2, that'd be a really cool scenario.
Actually, they could do all kinds of neat things with an aquarium setting. Make it a lab or something — an homage to the Aqua Ring from another Mikami game, Resident Evil 1!
And yeah, agreed on the aiming — having Seb's hand in the corner creates this nice middle ground between third-person and first-person. Works well!
MaverickVII
Member
I picked this up cheap a while ago and never got around to playing it. I should rectify that.
Chapter 11 into 12 is as awful as 3 into 4 was great. It's one inconsistent-ass game, but I do love the good parts more than I dislike the bad.
Ch. 11 is actually one of my favorites.
Love the scenery with the toppled skyscrapers and sinkholes, the bit with the hanged men and mermaids in the flooded streets (tense as hell!), the mannequin warehouse rigged to explode if you shoot (one of the scariest scenes in the game), the lift defense sequence, rescuing Kidman and teaming up with her, the Hooded Haunted summoning hands... and Ch. 11 actually made enemies with guns scary, with just one of them being so deadly that it immediately becomes priority No. 1.
The way they handled those enemies (only like three or four of them overall, and 10x as deadly) was very smart. Rather than becoming a shooter, it remained a horror game but with a handful of regular enemies who were suddenly very threatening.
I can understand Ch. 12 being polarizing, at least the first half (Heresy on the bus — it's action overload!), although I think it's cool spectacle (spider legs!) and a necessary palate cleanser before the slow boil of Ch. 13 (the hotel) and Ch. 14 (the metro). I'd think most people dig the second half of Ch. 12 with the tense game of cat and mouse in gridlock traffic, though. Great stealth there.
Similar threads
- Poll