The Evil Within Aspires to Breathe Life Into Survival Horror

Myles Milligan

It’s no secret that former Capcom game developer, Shinji Mikami, doesn’t approve of the direction that modern survival-horror games are taking these days.

“It’s all action now,” says Mikami. “With no true survival-horror games left anymore.”

And with recent titles such as Resident Evil 6 and Dead Space 3, it’s easy to see where he’s coming from.

Mikami’s goal with The Evil Within is to bring the genre back to it’s roots; aspiring to harmoniously blend action and horror into one game. By this, he means to disempower the player without totally eliminating the thrill of being able to fight back. Players will be able to utilize small weapons such as knives, axes, and handguns, and will additionally be able to lay traps for enemies to fall into. The game is still very early on in development, so Tango Gameworks is testing out what weapons work and what doesn’t. They’ve gone on the record to state that it’s not likely that players will be able to use heavy weapons like a machine gun.

“You might be able to use guns in close-range battles to survive, or maybe you can sneak around to avoid being noticed; that or you can strategically fight with traps. We want people to enjoy the choices involved, and as a result, you might feel there’s less ammunition available than in previous games.”

The story is set to follow a detective named Sebastian Castellanos and his partner Joseph Oda, as they investigate a distress call from a mental hospital, the apparent scene of a massacre. The two end up walking into an absolute slaughter-fest of corpses, and are attacked by an unidentified enemy. Eventually, Sebastian awakens, hanging upside down from the ceiling, to the sight of an enormous butcher chopping up bodies.

The game is also supposed to incorporate a shape-shifting landscape that will cause corridors, stairs, and objects to shift in a surreal manner, turning a familiar landscape into one that is frighteningly alien.

“The game starts out as a modern drama, then becomes this world where you really can’t tell whether it’s reality or not. You have situations that couldn’t happen in reality, so overall it’s a very mysterious and therefore creepy game.”

The Evil Within is currently slated to come out for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and PC. If you haven’t already, you can check the gruesome and very unsettling teaser trailer for the game below.

[Famitsu]