The Evil Within 2 Ranking: A
The Evil Within 2 achieves something few sequels do – improve on their predecessor in almost every way possible. This game significantly tones down the bullshit from the first game. The controls are much tighter and I didn’t feel like I was fighting the camera along with the enemies. Some of the prompts, such as sneak kills and stomp kills, can be finicky, but the former is quite reliable the majority of the time and you can go through the entire game without even realizing stomp kills exist without issue. I also encountered no bugs except a few minor glitches. There were two or three times my shots went right through the enemy without the enemy taking any damage, but that’s two or three times out of my entire ~45-hour playthrough, so I can hardly complain.
Now improving from a low bar isn’t anything to write home about, but The Evil Within 2 also does many things well in its own right. I loved the game’s semi-open world setting, a simulated small town called Union, where I explored and snuck around and killed enemies and listened to memories of its citizens. The game took the first game’s upgrade mechanics and introduced some fun and interesting features, such as the upgrade that allows Sebastian to use bottles to smash enemies grabbing him or, my favorite, Synaptic Focus, which consumes stamina to slow down time.
The sequel has a much more meaningful plot. Sebastian in the first game was just…some guy who happened to be there because of his job. The Evil Within tells his backstory through a few journal entries and never touches on it again. The Evil Within 2, on the other hand, is all about Sebastian. It’s a very personal story about him overcoming his past and his despair. It’s a story of him going through hell to take back the life he lost. The villains aren’t even all that important – Sebastian’s biggest enemy is himself, and The Evil Within 2 sees his journey in achieving victory over his past.
Speaking of villains, I’d say the only area The Evil Within 2 does worse compared to the first game are the villains. Ruvik from the first game had a sympathetic backstory but a horrifying everything else. I don’t know anyone who played the first game and didn’t find Laura absolutely terrifying. And, of course, we can’t forget the Keeper, the guy who spawns out of safes and who ripped off his own safe-head so he could respawn from a safe closer to you. The Evil Within 2, on the other hand, features an annoying artist who gets off from killing people and a preacher who is, for all intents and purposes, a completely helpless tool by himself. The final boss also doesn’t really make any sense. The game tells us that only people with completely self-centered egos can manipulate STEM, but the final boss is there to protect her daughter, so she by definition isn’t just thinking for herself.
Here's my stats screen at the final chapter of my first playthrough. Fun fact: all three of the tripwires I tripped were my own explosive bolts because I’m a clumsy n00b.
The Evil Within 2 achieves something few sequels do – improve on their predecessor in almost every way possible. This game significantly tones down the bullshit from the first game. The controls are much tighter and I didn’t feel like I was fighting the camera along with the enemies. Some of the prompts, such as sneak kills and stomp kills, can be finicky, but the former is quite reliable the majority of the time and you can go through the entire game without even realizing stomp kills exist without issue. I also encountered no bugs except a few minor glitches. There were two or three times my shots went right through the enemy without the enemy taking any damage, but that’s two or three times out of my entire ~45-hour playthrough, so I can hardly complain.
Now improving from a low bar isn’t anything to write home about, but The Evil Within 2 also does many things well in its own right. I loved the game’s semi-open world setting, a simulated small town called Union, where I explored and snuck around and killed enemies and listened to memories of its citizens. The game took the first game’s upgrade mechanics and introduced some fun and interesting features, such as the upgrade that allows Sebastian to use bottles to smash enemies grabbing him or, my favorite, Synaptic Focus, which consumes stamina to slow down time.
The sequel has a much more meaningful plot. Sebastian in the first game was just…some guy who happened to be there because of his job. The Evil Within tells his backstory through a few journal entries and never touches on it again. The Evil Within 2, on the other hand, is all about Sebastian. It’s a very personal story about him overcoming his past and his despair. It’s a story of him going through hell to take back the life he lost. The villains aren’t even all that important – Sebastian’s biggest enemy is himself, and The Evil Within 2 sees his journey in achieving victory over his past.
Speaking of villains, I’d say the only area The Evil Within 2 does worse compared to the first game are the villains. Ruvik from the first game had a sympathetic backstory but a horrifying everything else. I don’t know anyone who played the first game and didn’t find Laura absolutely terrifying. And, of course, we can’t forget the Keeper, the guy who spawns out of safes and who ripped off his own safe-head so he could respawn from a safe closer to you. The Evil Within 2, on the other hand, features an annoying artist who gets off from killing people and a preacher who is, for all intents and purposes, a completely helpless tool by himself. The final boss also doesn’t really make any sense. The game tells us that only people with completely self-centered egos can manipulate STEM, but the final boss is there to protect her daughter, so she by definition isn’t just thinking for herself.
Here's my stats screen at the final chapter of my first playthrough. Fun fact: all three of the tripwires I tripped were my own explosive bolts because I’m a clumsy n00b.