#i only bought this dlc recently and when i saw it had a gallery i just knew id have to grab the images hehe im in ur files im eating them

[ruvik-haunting-eyes]

My thoughts about The Evil Within 2 (spoilers)

I’m not good at constructing criticims (besides I only played it once for now) , but I just want to let you know my thoughts about The Evil Within 2, guys. 

The first game was such an amazing surprise when I decided to purchase it. I’ve never been such passionate by a game for years. I bought it on PS3, then PS4, did the freaking Akumu mode twice. I’ve played this game again and again, without ever growing weary. Sure, it wasn’t perfect. But this game has such a good balance in differents ways : difficulty, recent/old school games mechanisms (I miss those), true boss fights (not just quick time events), horror/infiltration and actions phases. The story was really intriguing, it was like a puzzle you had to reconstitute. Every detail was important, the files were important. The game was literally making you losing your mind.

So, of course, I really wanted a sequel. I’ve made several dreams about it. The story wasn’t finished, and I always thought that this game has great potential, and a uniquness. 

When I finished The Evil Within 2... I had mixed feelings. I felt empty. In a good, and in a bad way. In a good way because, the ending made me feel nostalgic which is the proof to make me think that the game was obviously good enough. In a bad way, because all the answers I’ve been waiting for were mostly unanswered. 

When you think about it : what answers The Evil Within 2 gives us about the questions we have from the first game ? If you bought the game to know what happened to Ruvik/Leslie and Joseph, well, be on your way. The first game was essentially focused on Ruvik’s backstory. Now, it is the turn of Sebastian and his family. Now, don’t get me wrong : I couldn’t wait to hear way more about Sebastian, and also the new antagonists Stefano and Theodore. But it still turned out pretty much different from what I expected it to be. “What happened in Beacon is in the past. You need to forget it.” says Juli. Well, that’s exactly what I felt while I was playing this game. It’s almost like a message from the developpers : this game was made for a new public so forget everything you know about the first game. What is the point to make up the plot and have such a huge cliffhanger at the end, if there’s nothing behind it in TEW 2 ?! Do you want to save Ruvik/Leslie & Joseph for another TEW ? Fine, no problem. I am open minded, and I have nothing against the idea to make the sequel focused about Sebastian and new characters. But you can’t just make us completely ignore these facts in the sequel, like nothing happened. It’s been years since we’re talking and making theories about it. And the game shows NO sign at all from them. At least, Joseph was confirmed to be alive. But Juli said that Sebastian stopped Ruvik. So what ? Are you going to decide that he and Leslie are truly dead now ? I don’t get it. That little moment at the very end of the game, when you see the STEM coming back online by itself... I don’t want my enthousiasm to take over. It could be anything, anyone. Maybe Myra, who knows. 

There was also interesting moments about Sebastian’s past (the events after beacon, his memories,the psychologist) with Anima, but most of them are completely optional. Why ? They should have make this inevitable ! In my first walkthrough, I missed the Anima parts and these moments are one of the most scariest in this game ! After you meet her, she occasionally appears to haunt you while you’re exploring. It’s adding that pressure you had just like in Chapter 9 while you are exploring the mansion with Ruvik’s ghostly appearance. 

It leads me to a point that unfortunately, affected my horror experience for this sequel. The semi open world. I really don’t want to say bad things about it. I love to explore. Semi open world, linear world, both of them have their advantages and flaws. The thing is : in the first game, you were somehow forced to confront the enemies, especially in the action parts of course. The thing is, I really felt tension in the first game. I felt danger. And to be honest, it didn’t really happen in the sequel. Because I think that the semi-open world gives so much possibilities to hide and avoid combats. My way of playing, I think, didn’t allow me to sense that stress that I felt from the first game. The places were big enough to run and hide, but still, it was limited, you couldn’t always choose the stealth option. Sometimes, you just had to think fast, and do with what ressources you possess (Chapter 6 with Joseph, for example). Do you remember Chapter 10, The Craftsman's Tools ? That chapter was really oppressing. In fact, you were in that mood since the first chapter. Chapter 1 in TEW2, is just a flashback, plenty of cutscenes, and walking in a dark screen. Anyway, I hope there is some understanding here. I think they were also much more enemies in the first game, more variety too, that’s why I felt more uncomfortable. 

Which leads me to another point. The sequel clearly doesn’t have the same atmosphere from the first game. It is not about the gore, blood everywhere or something. Gore doesn’t necessarily means that’s it’s super scary. I really felt that Shinji Mikami was not the director in the sequel here. The first game was 100% Japanese. There was definitely a big American touch in many ways in the sequel. And the fact that it was made for a larger audience. More scripted like a movie, playing less, more “simple”. Without any doubt, the game is shorter than the first one to me, if you don’t take the time to explore and wander in Union city. I was shocked how much the chapters seemed to pass before my eyes so rapidly even though I am definitely not the kind of person who rushes through the levels of a game, I can assure you. I finished TEW2 in a little more than 17 hours. I finished TEW1 in 22 hours. Where’s the error ? o_o

Okay, I still enjoyed the story. A lot of people seemed to complain about how Sebastian gets too much emotional here, and I was also scared that the developpers would turn Seb into a Drama Queen. But I honestly think they added more depths into Sebastian’s character, without changing his tough personality. Hey, he’s been through a lot, his reactions are normal. I was touched whenever there was the family moment. Especially at the end of the game, with that damn good “Ordinary world” theme. As awesome as “Long Way Down” by the way. Didn’t think it sounded too much cliché. It was cool to see Seb’s “dad side”. I was just hoping that he would find more on his journey, with the events from TEW1, even as a minor part. But no. NOTHING. 

Once again, the other characters could have been so much more interesting. But to be honest, let’s face it : in TEW1, Ruvik was the only character that was well developped. Sebastian’s backstory was only present in his journal. We barely knew something about Joseph and his friendship with Seb. And I don’t even talk about Juli, you had to play the DLCs for that. I’m trying to stay impartial, TEW2 was still better on this side. I was just hoping something better. The Mobius agents, well... When they begin to die one by one, you just understand that is going to happen for the rest of group. Hoffman’s sacrifice was predictable. It would have been a good suprise if she didn’t die. It would have been a good thing if you were able to save some of the agents depending on your choices. But they would have died anyway because of the ending (I’ll get back to this later on.)

Stefano and Theodore... Well uh... When I encountered Stefano, it felt like, the chapter after, I had to kill him already. Stefano : “Ok let’s fight because you know, Theodore is about to replace me, we don’t have much time.” XDDDD

Whyyy ? I wanted more to just “admire” Stefano’s seedy gallery, needed more backstory again, more interaction with him. But Theodore was the one who disappointed me the most. This kind of character are often the most interesting for me, the ones that use the words with such ease to make you feel uncertain, distort you thoughts, or all the contrary, convince you they’ll change your life for good, manipulate you, uses your inner fears and desires... From what I reminded, his speech was all about “Give me Lily, blablabla, give me her power blabla.” I was expecting more charisma in these two characters, but their apparitions and personalities were unimaginative, or rather too much furtive. It felt more like minor characters to me while they could have been more remarkable. :( Their presence weren’t as memorable as I thought. Still like them. I just think that the developpers would have take one more year to do this game. I am sure that it would have been more in-depth in the form. That moment when Theodore tries to destabilize us with the events from Beacon ( Laura, Keeper, Sadist Boss Fight ) was pure gold. Fan service, but still epic, and intense. That reminds me how much the first game left his mark on me. Maybe because it was the surprise. The mystery of the story, where you were wondering and trying to discover what the hell was going on in this place. By the way, does anybody know what this religious sign we saw everywhere in the first game, and now in the sequel, actually means ? We still don’t get any information from this, do we ? It is a cult but... Is it finally somehow linked to Mobius, or not ?? I didn’t understand. Oh, and I still don’t get why the boss all look like Laura. No answers again. Is it really her, or a model of Stefano ? If that’s the case, they could have changed her design because she looks awfully like Laura. Is it simply because Sebastian’s memories have an impact in this world, so he sees Laura everywhere in different forms ?

And Mobius is dead. The Administrator is dead. 

... WHAT ? ALREADY ??? Oh my, I saw a future where Mobius represented what Umbrella represents in Resident Evil series. A powerful organisation that will persist in the years. And they all dropped like flies. Are they going to make a conclusion to the story already ? Or was it necessarily for a possible reunion with Ruvik ? I mean, Mobius was in the way. Ruvik needed to take them down. I suppose he played a part in TEW2, even if we don’t see him. I’m pretty sure his consciousness is still alive. Ruvik had plans to make sure he’ll be “born and reborn again”, just like he said in the torn letter. I’m pretty sure parts from him still resides in the persons who were connected to the machine such as Sebastian, Juli and Joseph. We still don’t have a clear explanation for Juli’s wound. 

TEW2 is a good game. It’s a step forward in some ways, and a step down in other ways. I know I haven’t discussed a lot about what I enjoyed about this game but... I needed to speak more about this sensation of dissatisfaction. I was pretty sure that I was going to think “WOOOOW THIS GAME WAS SO AWESOME !!!” and instead, I was more like “Oh... that’s it?” When I had TEW1 I just couldn’t wait to play it again. Now, for TEW2, a new day comes and I ask myself “Should I play it today ?... No, I don’t really want to.” which just makes me feel really, really sad.

#The Evil Within #the evil within 2 #Psycho Break #psycho break 2 #tew 2 spoilers #opinion