The Evil Within 2 will see players back in the shoes of Sebastian again, but he’ll apparently be a much more relatable character this time around. Things definitely aren’t going well for him after the events of the first game (which was bad enough for him personally as it is), but developers Tango Gameworks say that they’ve focused more on his character progression this time around, focusing on making The Evil Within 2 a redemption story for Sebastian.
“The Evil Within 2 starts not long after the events of the first game,” said Bethesda’s Pete Hines in an interview with the PlayStation Blog. “And it’s basically Sebastian at rock bottom. Since the events of the first game, his life has kind of completely fallen apart. Nobody really believes him about what he says took place in the asylum, he’s become an alcoholic, and he’s basically at the bottom of the barrel.”
“And that’s really where you find Sebastian,” Hines continued, “when Kidman, his old partner from the first game comes back and says, ”the daughter that you thought was dead, that you had lost years ago, isn’t dead. Mobius has her, they’re using her, and you need to go in and find her’. It’s a redemption story. It’s a chance for him to pick himself up and use finding her to start to rebuild his life and put himself back together.
Game designer John Johanas also echoed that sentiment, while also emphasizing that developers Tango are focusing on providing a better narrative this time around as well. “We definitely wanted to have a game that focused more on characters, more on story,” he said in the same interview. “We put a lot of effort into it this time. Sebastian is coming back- he’s a much more relatable character. And you get to really journey with him from the beginning of the game to the end, and see his evolution as a character. Like Pete said, it’s a redemption story, so you really get the quality out of there.”
“I think it’s a big one,” Hines chipped in once again, adding to Johanas’ statements. “In the first game, Sebastian is kind of a jerk. And his whole motivation is, he shows up and the police get called to this thing, and he’s a detective. But there’s no pull or relatable moments where you empathize with him. It’s like, it sucks for you and it sucks for him ‘coz you’re both getting scared, and both trying not to die. Whereas this time around because you see him so broken down by what happened in the first game, and you sort of understand the connection between a father and his daughter, and that motivation I think is much more relatable.”
The Evil Within 2 was announced earlier in the week at Bethesda’s E3 press event. You can watch the reveal trailer here, and there’s gameplay trailer here. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more updates.