QuakeCon 2014: The Evil Within Makes Me Squeeze My Sphincter

July 19, 2014 Patrick "iTZKooPA" Mulhern General, Preview 0

lh_quakecon_preview_EvilWithinIt’s scary, alright! To make matters worse, the employees standing guard at the door kept playing with the lights as a handful of journalists played, individually, on a collection of PS4s and Xbox Ones. Despite my proclivities for PC (keyboard & mouse or die and all that) I deposited myself in front of an Xbox One and donned its fancy headphones. Slapping those cans around my protruding flaps of cartilage and flesh I quickly slipped into the survival-horror world that is The Evil Within.

Instantly hit with a trippy experience involving a black-and-white screen showcasing a sunflower morphing into a bipedal banshee I knew I was in for an experience. One to set some hairs on end, emasculate me publicly and generally appreciate the ability to turn on lights at a clap. Seconds after this realization I was deposited into a reduced palette of colors in front of a mansion. In the woods.

“I swear I’ve seen this before” says me, followed by a similar statement from the protagonist. Not just the mansion, but also because it was the same demo shown at E3. So, while I got more time with the scary title, there’s little point in reinventing the wheel. As such, I’ll leave you with quick thoughts and the all important plug that if survival-horror is your jam, then you’ve got to keep an eye on The Evil Within. It’s shaping up to be a superb mix of atmosphere, pacing, puzzles and environment with gunplay only as an honorable mention.