The Evil Within 2 debuted with e wonderfully surreal and bizarre trailer that had a lot of people excited about it, regardless of whether or not they’ve played the first game, because the trailer makes it look like the game is going to be so much more than your typical survival horror game. You know, the kind that tries to scare you mostly with jumpscares. The Evil Within 2, however, won’t be going down that road- not completely. Apparently, it’s going to be a mix of regular in-your-face horror moments and some good old psychological horror.
“There’s definitely jumpscares in there,” said John Johanas of Tango Gameworks in an interview with the PlayStation Blog. “Like you see in the trailer, and when you see the gameplay, you see that there is that psychological element that we brought up a little bit in this one, and players will definitely see that when they play it.”
Bethesda’s Pete Hines, who was sitting in on the interview as well, was of a similar opinion. “Don’t get the wrong idea. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it’s not like ‘Saw- The Video Game’, it’s not just non-stop blood and dismemberment and guts. Turns out there’s a lot of ways to scare people and make it off-putting. And I think that’s one of the interesting things about the game, that if you don’t like being scared at all, there’s no chance you should play The Evil Within 2.”
Hines then went on to say some even more interesting stuff, saying that Tango Gameworks had done a really good job with finding the perfect balance for how much “horror” there needs to be in a horror game for it to really work. “I think the other thing that John [Johanas, game designer] and the team really focus on is the notion that a survival horror game can’t just be terrifying non-stop,” Hines said. “You put a player into that kind of environment, after two hours you’re just desensitized to all of it. You’re like, ‘yeah, it’s all horrifying, it’s all terrible, whatever, I’m scared’.”
“But I think what Tango does really well is not only finding that balance of resources, but that balance of intensity [as well],” he continued. “It turns out if you give the player time to breathe, or to get a little story, talk to somebody about a side mission, you’re actually setting up the game that much better so that those scary moments can be scary. And I think the skill that these guys have, you don’t even appreciate it until you play it. It’s not even a survival horror thing. I think it’s even more important than survival horror.”
Those are bold statements indeed, and they definitely have us excited for the style of horror the game will try and imbue in its storytelling and gameplay. The Evil Within 2 launches later this year for the PS4, Xbox One and PC. Stay tuned for more updates.
