The Evil Within 2’s Third Chapter is a Work of Art

I’m just getting started with The Evil Within 2, and I wasn’t too sure about the game initially.  It seems a little derivative at first, reminding me a lot of The Last of Us, Resident Evil 4, and Silent Hill 2 (admittedly, those are all pretty great games).  Having not played the first game, I was – and am – utterly baffled at the game’s decision to have all of the action take place in a virtual world rather than a distorted real world (I hate games where I play a character who is playing a game).  That premise seriously undercuts the story’s stakes.  Then when I thought about inventory maintenance (there are theoretically few bullets in the game, though I’m actually pretty heavily armed) and stamina regeneration (your hero can run about ten feet without getting winded), I really considered letting this title find it’s way back to Gamefly largely unplayed.  Then I got to the third level and everything changed.  The Evil Within 2’s third chapter is a masterwork in teaching gamers how to play an open-world survival horror game.

Wait, there’s a virtual office in the virtual world with a virtual cat running it? This whole thing is just weird.

The Evil Within 2’s third chapter is a master class in teaching the player how to play.  The entire level takes place in about two (virtual) city blocks of the small town of Union.  As you leave your safe room, your first encounter with the screaming zombies that inhabit the city occurs right away in a subtle encounter outside a church.  You hide behind a crate while a zombie walks up and throws a body onto a stack of bodies and then wanders away.  You get a clear look but this one is best avoided as he wanders off down the street.  You learn that zombies are fierce and best avoided if possible.  This idea is quickly tested as you then enter the nearby church where two zombies attack.  That’s where I panicked and first died.  Second round, though, I got it right, and even managed to sneak out of the church and ambush one of my ambushers, saving quite a few bullets.  Not a bad start, and I learned another lesson: zombies could be ambushed if you could see them coming and kept your head.  Another lesson learned.

Yeah, coffee is a good idea. I never planned to sleep again anyway!

I crept down the street to a group of about five zombies ambling around a grocery store.  There was a fire hydrant to open and an electric bolt to grab, so putting those two items together allowed me to clear out that party quickly.  I started to get a little confident in my monster hunting abilities….but then I encountered a witch – a screaming knife-wielding woman who is pretty tough to kill (yeah she’s not the most creative enemy).  She got me, but I found my way back and eventually defeated her, as I’d learned early to save my game repeatedly.  That’s how I got through the level, slowly clearing an area, looting, and running back to save.  It was slow, but I eventually I got the neighborhood cleared.  The real highlight was when I cleared a hillside of zombies (including a spitter).  I started by ambushing just one and saving.  Then I killed two and saved.  Then I tried for my fourth kill and got spotted by the remaining horde.  They all gave chase and I ran and hid.  However, I quickly realizing that the zombies didn’t chase very far and that they gave up pretty quick.  Being seen wasn’t the end of the world, it was almost part of the gameplay.  I managed to clear the hill pretty soon after that.  There was a lot more to the level, but that part was the part that taught me how to play the game.

I forgot to mention the freaky ghost who shows up to kill you every now and then.What I found interesting was that I was enjoying the gameplay, but I didn’t realize that my confidence was building too.  I gradually went longer without saves, became more excited and less anxious about finding zombies (because the ambush and combat is really fun), and started experimenting with different gameplay styles.  It’s funny, by the end of the level, the game regenerates a lot of enemies between you and the exit.  It’s meant to be scary but I found it exciting.  The game allows you to slip past them and exit, but I took the time to take them out.  I actually went back through the entire city hunting down the remaining zombies I could find.  It’s a stark contrast to the first few minutes of the level, where you hide from a single zombie.  Now I’m a zombie killer.  I don’t know how the game took me from nervous newbie to zombie slayer, but I never felt frustrated, or confused, or angry at the process.

These freaky guys are fun to kill.

That’s why I say that level (which is enormously long if you seek out all the extras) is a work of art.  It teaches you everything you need to know about the game without making the monsters particularly easy or weak.  There’s never one particular sequence that requires you to trudge your way up a difficulty curve.  It’s an open world game that somehow provides a very structured experience in teaching you how to play.  As I said, the game itself isn’t terribly creative, but that innovation is really remarkable.  I’m not sure what I’ll find in chapter 4, but I’m already excited to see what else this game has.