The Evil Within 2

The Evil Within 2 is a shining example of how to expand your game world while still having it remain a focused experience. Minor bugs cannot hinder what is ultimately a bloody (pun intended) good time.

TEW2 is a great game, tempered a bit by combat woes but nonetheless a game I gladly recommend to fans of the first or newcomers to the series (or genre, for that matter).

The Evil Within 2 is a game that uses stealth and atmosphere to create some great situations, but its use of sound elevates its scares well beyond those of lesser horror titles.

The Evil Within 2 is a ruthless nightmare that constantly challenges. The unsettling atmosphere contributes to a sense of unpredictability, and the unrelenting combat constantly takes more than it gives. Just when you start to get comfortable, it pushes back harder. Whether it’s a boss fight, a new enemy, or the ever-shifting environment, the circumstances always keep you off balance. The Evil Within 2 encapsulates the best elements of classic survival horror with a modern touch.

The Evil Within 2‘s goofy characters and cheesiness won’t be for everyone, but longtime fans of the genre will likely appreciate it. They will also appreciate its classic survival-horror gameplay that’s blended expertly with more modern features like open world settings, its improved graphics, and tighter narrative. By succeeding in all these areas, The Evil Within 2 is easily one of the best survival-horror games in recent memory, and is a significant step forward from its predecessor.

Point-for-point, The Evil Within 2 is a better game than its predecessor. But what defines it – and elevates it – is its ambitious design. Taking a horror game into an open world setting could have been a disaster, but Tango Gameworks pull it off with aplomb.

The Evil Within 2 is a tense and challenging game that still manages to remain accessible. The addition of open-world exploration is a huge success and it helps to create an overall excellent action-filled survival horror experience.

The Evil Within 2 is not a small-scale indie production that can only appeal to a special target group with a certain form of phobia. As an expensive mainstream product it has to compromise. But I think this has been a wonderful success.

If you like survival horror, you cannot miss The Evil Within 2. It finds the balance between the old and the new, the Western and the Japanese horror, and offers a great adventure with an excellent pacing and outstanding art direction.

Shinji Mikami’s philosophy is to focus on making the game’s good aspects shine even brighter instead of trying to eradicate its flaws. His latest work both benefits and suffers from that approach. The Evil Within 2 offers great exploration, but its story is laughable. It’s a thrilling shooter, but a mediocre stealth game. At the end of the day I find Mikami to be right – a game’s best moments count the most and make us turn a blind eye to its flaws. TEW2 fails to reach the level of my beloved Resident Evil 4, but in today’s circumstances a triple AAA survival horror without online components and intrusive microtransactions is a gem. [13/2017, p.72]

Evil Within 2 brings the classic survival horror formula - to the modern times. Few are the games of today that will grant you that "barely made it" feeling you had playing Resident Evil ages ago. A near perfect, pure survival horror gem.

A sequel that dares to go into the open world territory and do it right by creating a space that functions in its entirety in favor of the story, horror atmosphere and gameplay, without hindering its pace in the least. It may have its own share of caveats, but, nevertheless, The Evil Within 2 is a highly commendable sequel.

The Evil Within 2 exchanges oppressive survival horror for a more open kind of action in a messed up playground. That part is pure enjoyment, but some far fetched plot elements and a script that is not great, prevent it from being the classic it could’ve been.

The Evil Within 2 is an excellent thriller that keeps your attention until the final credits.

The Evil Within 2 offers more interesting gameplay than the first one, with open world sections to explore and many optional activities to do. Even though the horror element has been marginalized in favor of exploration and survival, it will disappoint neither those who enjoyed the first game nor newcomers to the series.

The Evil Within 2 is a solid survival-horror game. It scares you and keeps you tense at all times. Despite the minor flaws you will be enjoying a 15 hours game full of sick, twisted, bloody and scary events, which will haunt you for days. A must buy.

Although many (myself included) were somewhat concerned after learning that Mikami would not be the director on this occasion giving the opportunity to John Johanas, the American's work with a different tone and narrative direction helped the overall experience.

The Evil Within 2 is a very good game that proves that Tango GameWorks can make a great game even when Shinji Mikami isn't directing it, even though we would have loved a few more jump-scares and less rigid gameplay.

The Evil Within 2 is again an amazing chance to push ourselves into the darkness of fears and nightmares, a highly psychological experience with an interesting plot and an incredible use of terrifying creatures.

The Evil Within 2 is very similar to the previous installment, but with some nice novelty in gameplay, a great level design and great atmosphere. This is a must-play for fans of survival horror.​

The Evil Within 2 is a very solid and thrilling survival horror. Despite some not-so-good tension-breaking sandbox sections, filled with unnecessary fetch quests, this sequel is better than its predecessor: better game rhythm, better story, no more frustration and a compelling skill system.

A remarkable adventure that offers a great atmosphere, story and solid combat. Don't expect to be scared by it, though.

More "Survival" than its predecessor, but still anxious and angry, and challenging, The Evil Within 2 lets you play with pleasure from start to finish. It does not look for originality at all costs, and does not want to invent anything from the point of view of the gaming mechanics, but looks like a solid and addictive product with some unexpected bumps and an intense finish. More than a day-to-day nightmare, it's a very calculated thriller: a nervous, violent and explicit adventure that has to be marked by an excellent alternation of situations.

The Evil Within 2 improves a lot over the first title, with better graphics, more action elements and a more open level design. Nevertheless, it remains faithful to the original formula, and does an excellent job in blending narrative, gameplay and aesthetics in order to create a robust and challenging horror game.

Superior to the original in almost every department, The Evil Within 2 will still divide opinion with its difficulty. Persevere though, and you'll find a gore-soaked diamond.

It may sound like I'm nitpicking a lot, but the issues I've highlighted are relatively minor when looking at The Evil Within 2 as a whole. This game is just plain fun. I don't remember the last time when I had completed a game's campaign and immediately wanted to start a new game and play it all over again. The Evil Within 2 had that effect on me. The constant shifting between the visceral gunplay and tense stealth sections provided hours of entertainment. The Evil Within 2 wears its inspirations unabashedly. The crafting and resource gathering feel like they were ripped straight out of The Last of Us. The gunplay and stealth feels similar to Resident Evil 4 or even Uncharted. The juxtaposition between open world areas and linear corridors has a Silent Hill: Downpour vibe. However, the folks over at Tango Gameworks have taken these inspirations and molded them into a mad scientist amalgamation of ideas that feel like its own beautiful, yet horrific, beast.

Its characters aren't much chop, but The Evil Within 2 coughs up some gruesome enemies and scares, while mostly justifying its shift to an open world design.

With the original game having done so little to impress me, The Evil Within 2 has come as a massive surprise. Although the story still failed to hook me, clever gameplay changes and well-used horror tropes combine to create a vastly-improved sequel.

Though I never expected to ever see a sequel to The Evil Within, we’ve now gotten one, and I’m rather glad that we did. While The Evil Within 2 isn’t without problems—and I’m not sure it’s the kind of game I’ll ever want to play through a second time—by the time the final credits rolled, I had legitimately enjoyed the adventure I’d just gone on, and the improvements that Tango Gameworks had tried to bring to the series.

The Evil Within 2 isn't flawless, but it delivers where it counts. It's an at times scary and at often exhilarating experience with an intriguing story, hampered slightly by mediocre graphics and lacklustre voice-acting.

Even though The Evil Within 2 is not a perfect game, it managed to keep us on the edge our our seats through its 15 hours of gameplay, with lots of surprises. We keep our fingers crossed for a triquel.

The Evil Within 2 is a great addition to the survival horror genre. It improves in a lot of aspects from its predecessor, but also makes some sacrifices that made the original so memorable from a horror standpoint. The Evil Within 2 is a damn good game and any fan of the genre should give it a shot.

John Johanas has masterfully taken up the directorial reigns and given us a game that, while it shares many trace elements of DNA with its predecessor, has more than enough of a distinct identity in order to separate it from the pack.

The game’s greatest strength is avoiding the pitfalls of the first; removing frustrating boss fights and lessening the amount of forced stealth sections. It also manages to sustains its variety for a long time – you will fight similar enemies and you will see patterns in how it deals outs its frights, but the interesting setup and constant design flair begs to be seen as you tiptoe through its suspenseful world.

While the difficulty level has been ratcheted down noticeably in the name of accessibility, the harder modes should suffice for those looking for a challenge.

The Evil Within 2 is horrifying delight, using a feeling of vulnerability to make players appreciate every moment they’re still alive.

The story makes more sense this time around, and the atmosphere delivers the right amount of unease, which is what will keep players plugging away to the end. The gameplay has been tweaked to be easier, but it's not to the point where you can go through without much trouble. Despite the presence of a few technical issues, TEW2 looks and sounds great, and it's certainly worth your time.

The Evil Within improves the game mechanics by adding the exploration of a few open zones. A very good game for horror fans.

What this cerebral horror game does isn't totally new, but it rarely feels routine, and offers plenty of surprises. Coming in at a lengthy and surprisingly packed 15-hour campaign, the sequel does an admirable job of ratcheting up the tension and scares when it needs to, while also giving you the freedom to explore and proceed how you want. It's a tough thing to balance, but The Evil Within 2 does it remarkably well, and in a way that leaves a strong and lasting impression after its touching conclusion.

The Evil Within 2 overhauls every aspect of the original to create a surprisingly adept sequel that makes us a hungry for more. Both gunplay and stealth have been refined and lend themselves well to the restrained open world format. Its surprisingly heartfelt narrative and many twist and turns round out the experience.

The Evil Within 2 is a must-play for fans of survival horror.

The Evil Within 2 is definitely one step ahead of its predecessor: a rich, deep and long-lived horror survival. The level of difficulty has been considerably softened. If this makes the title more accessible, on the other hand, it denies that authoritative uniqueness of the title that inspired it.

The Evil Within 2 is held back by a forgettable story and annoying AI issues that would probably put a serious damper on your gameplay experience if you were playing on Nightmare difficulty. And yet, it also does exactly what a horror game should do, and it does it well. Despite its flaws, The Evil Within 2 is a thoughtfully constructed horror rollercoaster ride that strikes a delicate balance between giving the player the power to fight back, and also making them realize that sometimes, all those guns and gear won’t save you from the terrors you can’t understand.

It won't be remembered as the best horror game of 2017, but it will certainly send some chills down your spine.

The Evil Within 2 is a solid horror game that expands the scope of the series to extend out of the shadow of a titan in the horror genre, even if it sometimes leans heavily on borrowed ideas. Its progression and difficulty curve create a satisfying loop that repays resourcefulness and strategy, but its set pieces and structure don’t build enough on the many ideas they borrow to make them feel new or interesting. The result is a ride that offers some fun thrills in the moment, but I don’t think I’ll lose too much sleep over these particular nightmares.

An ambitious and relentless horror adventure that keeps coming up with startling new ideas. [Nov 2017, p.78]

The Evil Within 2 still has some nagging control issues when it comes to combat.

The first flirt with the open world genre is not a successful one for The Evil Within 2, but it is definitely not bad either. The gameplay is amazing.

While it didn’t scare me as much as I wanted it to, it packs plenty of tense moments and interesting situations into its somewhat inflated length and is definitely worth investigating for its atmosphere alone.

Exploring the game's main town, which is full of monsters, new weapons and items, is a blast. New discoveries will immerse you into the gameplay, and make you forget about that daughter you have to save.

A likeable follow-up that addresses valid criticisms of its predecessor and provides gory fun, but loses a little of what made it special in the process. [Christmas 2017, p.90]

It’s a little hard to achieve that goal when relying on “been there, done that” tropes like an innocent girl juxtaposed with evil motives and supernatural powers. But there are new, interesting things at work. These get better as the game goes on, culminating in a satisfyingly climactic endgame sequence.

This game reached its peak early and then became weaker with every new chapter. It is not as well designed as the first game and it doesn't reach its uniqueness in the art style, but it had its strong moments and those moments will be very pleasing for Survival Horror fans.

The Evil Within 2 often feels uneven, but that's probably the point. Even if it isn't, there's enough blood, guts, and horror to keep your heart racing.

When compared to other games in the horror genre, The Evil Within 2 seems a few steps behind its contemporaries, both in terms of storytelling and execution. However, what it lacks in genuine scares and creepiness it makes up for in atmosphere and gore, especially during the final chapters.

The Evil Within 2 has fine-tuned its solid mechanical base and visuals, and even crafted some big improvements to areas such as exploration and character direction. Yet it lacks creativity and diversity with its level design and bosses. The game may be more presentable and refined than its predecessor, but it's also lost some substance in the process.

The Evil Within 2 is a more coherent and purposeful journey, strengthened by its voyage into non-linear level design, while at the same time reinforcing the foundation with which the original’s gameplay often shined through on. That’s not to say the sequel doesn’t throw up a few too many unfair fail states — be it in and out of stealth mode — not to mention the occasional performance mishaps that show up. It’s during combat where the biggest flaw unfortunately shows itself, ultimately preventing the sequel from achieving a higher level of success.

The Evil Within 2 doesn't quite manage to step out of the first game's shadow - but while it may not have the same bold, unified style, you won't have to worry about frustrating mechanics or enraging difficulty spikes. If you've got a soft spot for the original game in your survival horror-loving heart, you'll surely enjoy this sequel (and get a kick out of the many callbacks to the previous plotline).

The Evil Within 2 offers a few solid scares, some glimpses into a more promising game, and a lot of unexciting bloat. In such a crowded release season, it’s gonna take more than that to earn a recommendation from me. But hey, at least they got rid of the letterboxing. That’s a step in the right direction.

The Evil Within 2 doesn’t have anything new to offer the franchise. It fails to be frightening, the narrative is a mess, and it only manages to keep its head above the blood water with some decent survival-action mechanics.

For all its flaws, The Evil Within felt like the work of a singular voice. This feels like several shouting at once, eventually settling their differences by compromise. The black bars are gone; instead, it's convention that keeps The Evil Within 2 constrained. [Christmas 2017, p.108]

It is fun to prowl through the open levels. The Evil Within 2 is also a sweet b-movie story with many sympathetic characters. On the other hand the game compromises more or less all of the predecessor's strongest suits. The visuals are considerably duller, the action is weaker and worst of all: It's a far more predictable and conventional experience. As a sequel it highly disappoints.

If it’s possible to preserve a sense of tension and genuine horror in an open-world setting, The Evil Within 2 hasn’t discovered how. In an attempt to introduce a more contemporary gameplay style than that of Shinji Mikami’s classics, this game ends up diluting its best qualities by filling your time with tedious milling about and resource-gathering. With that said, its peculiar imagery and narrative, which is so far past ridiculous that it comes full-circle back to engaging, still shine brightly enough that The Evil Within 2 still gets under your skin.

Enjoyable to play, but derivative and badly-written. [Issue#194, p.76]

Some monstrously lovely set pieces are let down by a bit too much padding, some broken mechanics, and an overwrought story.