I will start off by saying I haven't had time to get too far in to The Evil Within as I had my first child the beginning of October, but I wanted to share what I've felt about the game so far.
I'm only a few chapters in, but I can safely say I love the game so far! I haven't done much gaming in 2014 as few of the new releases for the PS4 really appealed to me and I was pleased as punch to finally have the first legit survival horror come out for the new console.
The Evil Within has so far performed perfectly as a survival horror game. I can't say I've been too terribly scared when playing it, but I've definitely been stressed as hell when dealing with the limited ammo, masses of monsters and freaky atmosphere.
The atmosphere and scenery are what truly makes TEW great. Each area is meticulously detailed to be dark, gross and creepy as hell. Some rooms are literally bathed in blood and gore while others are twisted and torn up but it all fits to give the player a real sense of dread for whats waiting around the next corner.
Some of the monsters are truly scary, like the spider/Grudge ghost-like Reborn Laura, seen above. The non-boss monsters are less imposing. The most common are the zombie-esque people taken over by madness who are all in different states of decay who attack with melee weapons or guns. Early on in the game you're best bet is to use stealth tactics to take them down but the further along you get the harder that is as they attack in hordes and become almost impossible to avoid.
This is where the game gets tricky. It's incredibly difficult, even on standard-mode. In true survival horror style, you're given minimal ammo (sometimes picking up single bullets at a time) and never have enough for the number of baddies creeping around. There are also puzzles and traps everywhere with instant-kill consequences, and health packs are few and far in between. This is both good and bad in that it stays true to the genre but can make the game incredibly frustrating. In the few chapters I've played I've died an embarrassing number of times.
Overall I highly recommend TEW based on what I've seen so far and can't wait to dig a little deeper once I have time to play more.
So far I'd give it an 8/10.
