The Evil Within It has been a title that has generated a lot of expectation in recent months, mainly for two reasons: the return to the genre of the survival horror by one of the creators of resident evil, the Japanese creative Shinji Mikami, and the bet on a kind of game that seemed doomed to extinction, or at least as we enjoyed it in its early stages, with classics like those famous zombie games from Capcom or Silent Hill de Konami.
Tango Gameworks, backed by Bethesda, presents us with a title that closely follows the line marked by games like Dead Space, and it is not at all a coincidence that many of you will experience a feeling of constant déjà vu and remember, pad in hand, what we already live in Resident Evil 4 -program precisely the same director- more than 9 years ago, in its original debut in the outcast GameCube.
Define The Evil Within as an original experience it is very difficult. On the one hand, we have scarce resource management, which can remind the Classic Resident Evil; on the other, there is the visceral action traced to that of Resident Evil 4; And finally, we have the paranormal touch, which has been what has been most attractive to me about the title, which plays with the notions of reality and twists them in scenarios that at this point are clichés, such as a hospital or a prison in ruins , clearly evoking Silent Hill.
And while this hodgepodge of ideas taken from here and there may sound bad to some, they mesh quite convincingly, although the odd piece of machinery from The Evil Within squeaks badly. Generally, the development of the chapters is marked by the abuse of anti-climax moments followed by others of apogee -which can mean an end of the game if we are somewhat careless-, all in a very similar way to Resident Evil 4but wow, the detective Sebastian Castellanos not as agile as the agent Leon S. Kennedy and is always more vulnerable and humane than the famous survivor of the Raccoon City.
The game is divided into chapters -as RE4-, with a macabre staging that fans of the genre will love, even if you don't expect a title that stands out for a technical section of heart attack, which also suffers from the problems of ID Tech 5, more accused on consoles. At the playable level, we find a lot of action, seasoned with intermediate objectives, such as collecting different objects -for example, the classic keys-, or activating mechanisms, which lead to tension situations when we run into herds of enemies that stalk us from anywhere although ultimately, most situations lead to the easy trigger.
And speaking of the horrors that populate The Evil Within, once again we notice the influence and recycling of foreplay ideas from Mikami: The beings that attack us usually advance relentlessly towards you, even if you have given them a shot that seemed lethal, they will continue to crawl and wriggle until their last putrid breath of life - and what to say of the spawn that seems a distant relative of Pyramid head-. It is convenient to know how to make good use of resources and each cartridge of ammunition: even what seems like a good idea a priori can easily turn against us.
Completing this horror adventure can take up to 15 hours, and I certainly wouldn't recommend very long sessions, as they might get a bit strenuous. Certainly, in the middle of the game, the set loses interest, as the mechanics are repeated over and over again, we will cross some uninspired scenarios and the story is not very attractive. Keep in mind that Bethesda plan to launch downloadable content to prolong the duration of the game -and sable a few euros-, where we will get to get into the skin of the Guardian and we will handle Sebastian's partner, Julia Kidman. As a curious note, The Evil Within It was going to be set in Spain, hence some Spanish names are preserved, but Mikami decided to change the location of the game, in his own words: "The game was originally set in Spain, so many characters retain the Hispanic names and many of the sets (a graphic documentation trip was made to Spain) as well as other influences , they remained in the final product […] It is like a tuna caught in Spain that later becomes sushi in Japan ”. Remember that Resident Evil 4 it took place "somewhere in Europe" where Spanish was spoken.
The Evil Within can feel like a jumble of past jobs from Shinji Mikami, with special remembrance of Resident Evil 4 -the analogies found between him and the one who occupies this review have been constant in each game for me-. We are not facing a classic horror game, but rather another timid twist to that 2005 mechanic -with high doses of action- and that, although it is not innovative or devastating as a whole, it is a program recommended for those who enjoy waves of monsters that sharpen teeth and nails as they creep towards you and fans of the macabre. Of course, if on the contrary you expected a unique experience and you are already very seasoned in this cut of programs, I am sorry to tell you that The Evil Within It is not the best nor the most original work of Mikami.
FINAL NOTE MUNDIVIDEOJUEGOS 7.5