#The evil within 2 gameplay Ps4

An early-ish encounter in a photographerвЂ™s dark room with a bundle of legs whose face is a camera lens attached to the body by a fleshy accordion, for example, has a lot going for it thematically and visually. These perception-altering sequences are some of The Evil Within 2вЂ™s best moments, and the boss fights that occasionally lie in wait at the end of them are always memorable, if not particularly sophisticated in their design. The wall you thought you were walking towards? ThatвЂ™s a painting, and youвЂ™re walking down stairs you didnвЂ™t realise were there. The photographer messes with your sense of direction, remixing level arrangements on the fly so that as you turn back round on a door you just walked through, now itвЂ™s a floor-to-ceiling mirror. ItвЂ™s certainly central to the plot for much of the game, as Seb tracks down an otherworldly photographer who delights in setting up violent scenes and capturing their beauty, as he sees it.Д®ncounters with this chap also inject a bit of linearity and vision back into the game after youвЂ™ve schlepped from derelict bungalow to derelict warehouse in the hub world, following a radio signal to locate some shotgun shells. Perhaps instilling that begrudging respect for the grotesque is a deliberate move on Tango GameworksвЂ™ part. Despite invariably depicting decay and gore, it does so with such a technical flourish that you canвЂ™t help but stop and admire the smeared viscera at times. In this way, itвЂ™s a really beautiful game. Lights are placed thoughtfully in every interior environment too, which bustle with sinister mise en scГЁne to better sell a sense of place. Or to illuminate the parts of Union towering above you as it folds back in on itself, a la Inception. ItвЂ™s used not simply to guide your eye to the next important door or dramatic scene, but to make the white-fronted abandoned church appear even ghostlier by casting bright light on it in an otherwise dark and desolate street. But itвЂ™s also helped along by the gameвЂ™s fantastic use of lighting. There is still a sense of atmosphere to Union, though, and of course in large part thatвЂ™s generated by the various monsters roaming the streets. In a heartbeat, The Evil WithinвЂ™s gone from guiding you through an expertly built house of horrors, so many layers of reality deep that you lost count, to an overly familiar North American suburb overrun by zombies in which you can roam freely. That corrupted small town simulation, known as Union, is represented by a number of quasi-open-world hubs, like those in Crystal DynamicsвЂ™ Tomb Raider games, and arriving at the first of these hubs after an opening hour or so of traditional, scripted horror вЂ“ long, dark corridors, bizarre visions and well-paced jump scares вЂ“ is a disappointing experience. But oh look, itвЂ™s crawling with David Cronenberg body horror visions now. Following a lead from Kidman as to the possible whereabouts of his daughter (itвЂ™s probably best to play the first game if you want a hope in hell of following the plot in this one), Seb once again enters a nightmare STEM world that was intended to simulate idyllic small-town America. The fine head of hair that is Sebastian Castellanos returns to the middle of the screen in this sequel, having understandably resorted to substance abuse following his harrowing experiences at Beacon Mental Hospital in the first game. Rather than berating the studio for not matching the highs of the first Evil Within, IвЂ™m more inclined to applaud it for not having somehow avoided a complete creative disaster.Д«uy The Evil Within 2 now from Amazon UK |

Not just bashing heads, but magnetically repelling each other вЂ“ one is all about imposing tight control over the player and environment, the other about empowering the player by removing that control.ДЄnd yet Tango Gameworks has nonetheless produced an enjoyable and occasionally mesmerizing game by combining the two.

The more you play The Evil Within 2, the clearer it becomes that horror and open-world game design donвЂ™t mix.

#The evil within 2 gameplay Ps4

Available on PS4 (version tested), Xbox One and PC