Game review the Evil Within 2

In 2014, I told you about the game authored by the famous game designer Shinji Mikami and his new Studio Tango Gameworks. To be honest, the game seemed eerily secondary and did not live up to its expectations. So the sequel, I mentally prepared before its release. There were fears that the developers will once again step on the same rake and is really scary horror film will offer us another third-person shooter. Fortunately, not all my fears come true.

Game: The Evil Within 2
the Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows
the Genre: Survival Horror
the release date: October 13, 2017
the Developer: winner
the Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Since the misadventures of the protagonist in a hospital, "beacon" three years have passed. Detective Sebastian Castellanos spends all his free time at the bar trying to drown the guilt for the death of the deceased in the fire daughter, Lily, whom he failed to save. At some point the question comes familiar to us Julie Kidman, shocking him with the news that his daughter is actually alive, and the fire was just a hoax. Lily became a part of the experiment of the Corporation "Mobius", which was used as the core for a new machine STEM, uniting the consciousness of many people in a single virtual space. But something went wrong and now the child needs the help of a father. Without a second thought, Sebastian rushes to the aid of her daughter and reconnects to the ominous machine.

Generally, you could do a small digression. Me, to put it mildly, troubled by the fact that the ending of the first game developers suddenly decided to care. I have the feeling that they abandoned it in favor of some alternative scenario, which the players for some reason no one explains nothing. We don't say a word about the antagonist of the first part – Ruvik, and indeed, what we saw in the finale of The original The Evil Within, seemed no longer to be considered Canon in the game universe. And here you sit for the sequel, hoping to continue the story from where it ended last time. But no! You have to frown and try to understand what is going on and why is that so? It is, as I said earlier, it seems to me very strange.

Once inside the updated device STEM, our protagonist must not only find his missing in the wilds of the psychological reality of the daughter, but also to help people in trouble operatives "Mobius", sent there shortly before. As it turned out, the project is literally bursting at the seams from the inside. Each participant had to undergo a thorough psychological examination before being admitted to the STEM, but somehow the system managed to get to a certain Stefano Valentini – photographer-psychopath who is trying to reshape the fictional world in his own way, and at the same time to obtain unlimited power, captured the "core system" — the daughter of the protagonist.

Inside the virtual space we have a sort of a hub where you can briefly escape the madness going on in the STEM world. Hub this was the private office of detective Castellanos. Here it can read a file on the given characters, to see found in the course of slides, to spend experience to gain new skills and even participate in the mini-game by shooting monsters for prizes. Save your game progress, you can either automatically in some key points of the plot, either in the Cabinet or in multiple safe places that become available as the disclosure of the plot. This is done using the special terminals "Mobius".

The Engineers and designers of the Corporation "Mobius" sought to make the virtual world the most welcoming for its new inhabitants, and therefore designed the small town of Union, reminiscent of many North American settlements. It is in Union events will unfold in the game. The player will explore the homes of local residents, offices, city hall, research laboratory and other locations. Given that due to the lack of "core" reality literally falls apart, travel between locations will sometimes need through a dedicated network of service tunnels, where there was a gas leak. These movements in gas mask that was a pleasant surprise for me, taken from the first person. And look such a small tie-in game is very cool!

The gameplay since the original is almost not changed. The protagonist acquires a cold and small arms, gathering various supplies, craft yourself ammo and crossbow bolts to Skyrim, improve your Arsenal using found parts and workbench collects all kinds of collectibles and so on. With the enemies you can fight, but you can avoid direct contact using standard stealth mechanic. Hiding in the grass to distract the enemy abandoned bottles, often bend down and stick to the shadows, trying to attack opponents as besshumno and preferably from the back. All of this is familiar to almost every modern gamer and should not cause any difficulties.

Monsters new games are quite varied and require an individual approach on the part of the player. Traditionally I was very impressed with the bosses, made with great imagination and finesse. Take a giant creature, made from pieces of women's bodies and brandishing a huge circular saw. Against such with the standard knife you will not trample, so the protagonist will need all his skill to win in this unequal battle. The boss fights are widely used elements of gaming locations. For example, you can light a puddle of gasoline, which included the enemy, then enjoy the smell of burning flesh and screams.

To Pump the main character, you can use green manure, collected from the corpses of defeated monsters. Skills are divided into five separate categories. Category "Health" will allow you to increase the maximum length scale of vitality, to increase resistance to enemy attacks and even master regeneration. "Athleticism" that its name implies, will increase your stamina, allowing longer run and Dodge the attacks of monsters. "Restoration" is aimed at improving the effectiveness of medicines, as well as a quick regeneration. "Stealth" will turn you into a real ninja, providing quiet your walk, and opening up access to a rapid stealthy attacks. The "battle" reduces hand tremors when aiming, reduces recoil, and also slows down time during a particularly dangerous moments.

As it passes you from time to time will give you optional side-quests when you can get distracted from the main plot and explore the town of Union in the pleasure. For example, at some point, one of the operatives "Moebius" will tell you that not so far away, he saw an abandoned armored personnel carrier Corporation, therefore, there can be a good idea to replenish ammunition. You can risk your life, breaking through hordes of monsters to this place, or just continue to develop the main plot. To decide what to do next, only you.

When developing The Evil Within 2, the famous game designer Shinji Mikami has faded into the background, replaced by the Director of the game John Johanas that in the first game was responsible for visual effects. And I think that it went sequel exclusively for the benefit. The developers abandoned the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, which greatly expanded the picture and made it more expressive. Some scenes, especially with the misdeeds of a mad photographer, so beautiful that I involuntarily recalled the chic film "the Cage" directed by the visionary Tarsem Singh. It seems that the developers were inspired by them in their work. Especially for The Evil Within 2 graphic engine id Tech 5 was heavily modified and renamed the STEM Engine. It went to play the benefit. It has become more detailed and beautiful. His only shortcomings I think intermittent problems with the loading speed of textures (old sore), as well as regular clipping, when opponents stick out of the closed door.

The music in the game is not particularly memorable, but the sound is quite a level. All quite impressive and atmospheric, but I would immediately recommend that you buy a high-quality headphones or a headset so as not to miss a single sound and know exactly which side you approaching danger. The Russian voice acting tolerable, but, of course, loses much in English. Sometimes Russian actors are so overplayed, that involuntarily wrinkle my nose. Fortunately, it happens not so often. If you can play with the original audio and Russian subtitles – play that way. Fortunately, in the setting of the game is such an opportunity.

The Puzzles in the game are not as often as I would like, but they are kind of dilute the gameplay focused on fighting monsters and stealth. Often the puzzle associated with the activation of different mechanisms, a bunch of switches or levers, with a combination of two different amplitudes on the oscilloscope, using various items to open passageways to other premises, and so on. The legacy of Resident Evil there is in the game everywhere, even after Mikami stepped away from development, limiting themselves to the role of producer and consultant.

Despite the fact that the game mostly consists of well known mechanic characteristic of the genre of survival horror, it should be commended for the fact that this time it unites them more confident than in the original game of 2014. The battle system was brought to mind, the stealth in the game is very high quality, and the overall gameplay experience is solely positive. However, as I feared, before us anything but not horror. To frighten the game still can not, and still trying to do this with the dash...