It won’t change anyone’s perception of video gaming nor the survival-horror genre by any means, but its universe is even more consistently fun and exciting to wade through.

With the same element of B-horror cheesiness that made the first game so memorable (even if not in the way its creators intended), The Evil Within 2 expands its universe into something resembling an open-world in which its protagonist, Detective Sebastian Castellanos of the Krimson City PD, goes rummaging around Union, a town that is basically every small American town cliché rolled into a haunted one complete with cool store fronts.

The spooky moodiness of Union pervades throughout the game, with sharp graphics that is a clear development from the first game. There are side missions and plenty of things to keep players busy.

Along with his mysterious partner-in-survival, Kidman, Castellanos embarks on a mission to locate his daughter, Lily, who he thought had died alongside his wife in a house fire. The reality of her existence was brought to him by agents of Mobius, who are basically the 1990s B-movie version of what a futuristic shadowy/ghost organization would be.

All these elements work together well simply because they are united in their addictive cheesiness. As before, it is best not to take the narrative to seriously, even if there is a more personal sense of stake this time around, though it doesn’t help that some of the B-movie awkwardness gets in the way; as in the odd way Castellanos doesn’t sound surprised to find out that his previously-thought-as-dead daughter is actually, you know, not dead.

Castellanos himself remains a rather-dull protagonist, with a washed-up law officer routine that has been done better many times before in video games. It is mostly the fault of the clunky dialogue that gives him (and the other characters) that sense of robotic emotionality, but it’s a sore point in an otherwise decent game considering how strong modern video game characters are these days. 

The essence of the first game remains intact. This is still basically a Resident Evil knock-off with a more fluid sense of movement and pace. The town of Union is just the right amount of expansion the game needs. It’s significantly larger than the setting of its 2014 predecessor, but not too much so that players feel overwhelmed and the developers lose control of the environment.

There’s a freeing sense of playing that wasn’t there before, with players now having a little more leniency in how they would like to approach each mission or problem. For instance, when running into creatures, or when a side mission feels like a good breather to take between brawling against the waves of monsters.  

Those monsters all look great though, with the kind of gruesome deliciousness that harkens back to the Resident Evil series and 1980s gross-out horrors.

 Overall, the sequel works in providing more dynamics from the grind that sometimes come when having to try a mission over and over again to complete it.

As Costellanos, players will be able to remain in touch with a host of friendly NPCs (Non-playable characters) such as Kidman via a communicator, which itself is an item that will assist in locating some secondary objectives (meaning ones players are not required to complete, but may lead to new knowledge or items).

There are also a good amount of safe houses where players will be able to do what survivors do in these kinds of game — namely save their progress, get new items, craft weapons and get health goods.

As before, however, there are obvious issues with the game’s controls, which too often feel clunky and sometimes even frustrating. But alongside issues such as the way the game stubbornly refuses to make clear the damage inflicted upon enemies — all the while making the impact of certain attacks undefined — makes the “action” parts sometimes dull to go through.

Clunky controls and robotic dialogue aside, The Evil Within 2 is overall a fun little horror adventure. There’s a basic-ness even as it expands its range that makes it easy to just pick up and play without much emotional investment. Sometimes, that’s all you need in a video game.

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The Evil Within 2

Developer : Tango Gameworks

Publisher : Bethesda Softworks

Reviewed on PlayStation 4

Available on PS4, Xbox One, Windows

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