The Evil Within 2
5 New Perspectives in The Evil Within 2’s New First-Person Mode
The Evil Within 2
A brand-new first-person feature has crept its way to The Evil Within 2 as a free update! For anyone who already owns the game, toggling between the classic third-person and new first-modes is easy – and you can switch back and forth at any time without making a new save file. If you haven’t given The Evil Within 2 a shot yet, you can play through the game’s opening chapters – and try out the first-person mode as well – in the Free Trial.
To celebrate this new mode, we’re sharing five of our favorite moments from the first few hours of The Evil Within 2 worth revisiting in this brand-new perspective.
1. Entering the unknown
For those who like to dive in headfirst, maybe even literally, first-person mode makes peeking around every corner and peering into every dark corridor that much more intimate. Braving the next potential batch of terrors in first-person made things especially interesting during our first visit to the seemingly benign residence at 336 Cedar Avenue…
Cued by an icy aura and a chilling sing-song voice, a short stop for supplies suddenly became a deadly game of hide-and-seek against the foreboding, wisplike Anima. Since Anima can’t be defeated the ol’ fashioned way, Sebastian must rely on stealth – an experience made particularly frightening when you’re furtively stealing a first-person glance as you skulk from the safety of cover to cover. Don’t get caught!
2. Taking it all in
While heart-pounding situations like evading Anima feel tense and claustrophobic in a first-person camera, other environments in Union can feel more open and free.
Exiting O’Neil’s safehouse for the first time is different in first-person mode. While we love having The Evil Within 2’s Dad of the Year on-screen, we appreciate having more visual real estate for the things that matter most as we entered the first truly nonlinear portion of the game – including an enhanced ability to spot baddies, hiding spots and precious, precious resources.
3. Don’t look back!
The Evil Within 2 spares no time throwing poor Sebastian into life-or-death chases, thanks to the sudden appearance of a certain giggling Guardian and her not-so-laughable buzzsaw near the beginning of the game.
Woefully unprepared and unarmed, Sebastian has no choice but to run – a decision made even more distressing in first-person, since you can’t afford to peek back at the chuckling chopper slowly gaining on you.
Whether it’s an imposing creature, a horde of enemies or dearth of ammo, Sebastian must go with his “flight” instinct over “fight” frequently in The Evil Within 2. In first-person mode, those chases become even tenser, as looking anywhere but ahead could spell doom for the haggard detective.
4. Lamenting a close-range encounter
Sebastian may prefer to rely on a mix of wits and ranged weapons to survive, but that doesn’t mean he can’t throw down with his trusty knife when the situation demands it. That said, no amount of melee machismo could convince us to get up close and personal the first time we stumbled upon the writhing, wretched, acid-spewing monstrosity known as a Lament.
Towering well over Sebastian’s frame, the Lament is even more terrifying when faced in first-person. Adding to that terror is the fact that close range is the absolute last place you want to be in relation to a Lament, thanks to its lethal face-melting grab attack. (Trust us, it’s not a pretty sight from any perspective.)
Even melee scraps with more conventionally sized enemies take on a new light in first-person. It feels a little more desperate and brutal when you get all up in your grisly foe’s grill to land a blow – whether there’s acid spit to follow or not.
5. Do you ‘appreciate the art’?
Stefano Valentini may be a sadistic serial killer roaming the equally twisted town of Union, but you gotta give the guy some credit: He certainly has an aesthetic figured out.
Sebastian gets his first taste of Valentini’s still-life art early in The Evil Within 2. However, it’s not until Seb ventures out to Union’s City Hall that he gets to, as Stefano puts it, really “appreciate the art.”
And appreciate it we did. In first-person we got a closer look at the sometimes engrossing, other times just-plain-gross works Stefano has put on display. Sure, we still struggled with Stefano’s creepy taunts and room-bending mind games, but seeing it all through Sebastian’s eyes made this macabre museum trip that much more memorable.
The Evil Within 2 is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC and has received high praise from critics. As Sebastian Castellanos, you’ll have to dive into hell once more in the sequel to the hit 2014 survival horror game from the mind of Shinji Mikami. Take on twisted creatures in horrifying domains and face off against your own worst nightmares as you race to save your daughter.
For more on The Evil Within 2, check out these features:
The Evil Within 2 – Free Trial
How to Survive The Evil Within 2
Everything You Need to Know About The Evil Within 2
Hacking, Slashing & Smashing Sebastian
The Evil Within 2 – Customizing Your Experience
