The Evil Within

Cool, widescreen it is then. Thanks!

I'm always a bit wary to step too far from the "intended" experience of games I play, but in this case it sounds like the letterbox offers no advantages whatsoever. Very strange.

Yeah it is strange. Never looked back after it was patched.

EDIT: I forgot to mention something. While I was doing this last playthrough, I did a different NG+ playthrough downstairs on my Pro. I was very wrong about the Pro not making a difference. After playing them basically side by side, the Pro helps immensely with this game. The burning house in chapter 6 keeps a stable frame rate, as does chapter 2, which are the biggest performance offenders in the game. Not that anyone is rushing out to by a Pro, but if you have one, it makes a huge difference.

I remember trying the game at a friend's house years ago with that letterbox on, and getting dizzy while playing...

Good post man, and interesting to read such a passionate message about the game. Feels very familiar to a lot of people here I'd imagine in how they feel about their favourite title.

> Match system
I think this system really is what also broke a lot of players, in that it was (in essence) a simple finisher but with a ton of layers to it. While most other games have a cool finisher against downed enemies where you're fully invincible, here comes TEW with making it a risky move based on a resource. It was also offputting to me at first, also in how hard it was for me to gauge whether it would work or not. The 'stomp' from TEW2 is a lot more in line with the 'classic' finisher. I feel both have their ups and downs, but cannot deny how brilliant the system is. Do agree that I'd have love to see more creative use of it later-on. Also that you can also use them on enemies that you lured into bear-traps: fantastic stuff.

I think the note on traps is spot on, and also what I love about the games and series as a whole. The game is, as noted, all about knowledge and preparation, and traps play really great into that. If you know what's coming, you can win fights before they even begin.

@Gregorinho
Generally speaking, it isn't RE4, not even close. This is also why a lot of people were miffed at first, as they expected it to play like RE4, while it didn't.

> the first mission
I always hate games that start off this way. While I quite liked the hospital and the part where you have to sneak to get the keys, once you get your leg sliced it is all downhill for me until you get your first combat scenario. I recall really raging against that stealth segment at first as well with the chainsaw, didn't know what to do, where to go. Really wack.

> letterboxing
One thing that's pretty cool is that there's a few hidden flashback scenes in TEW2 that have forced letterboxing, pretty nice detail.

Giving this game a replay and gonna try to give 2 another chance after.
Looks fantastic on pc, I played it on 360 back in the day.
Found out you can kill the sadist in CH1, didn't know that. Is everything killable?

This player is also fantastic, it is crazy what knowledge allows you to do in this game. This game is the exact opposite of modern AAA games that are extremely scripted and allow only one way to beat a challenge.

Yeah you can kill everything iirc, except those scripted encounters with Ruvik. Every Laurel encounter can also be 'beaten', which is pretty neat. You can straight up nuke her to oblivion after her spawning period. Don't know that runner, going to give it a look.

Downloaded a save file to play on Nightmare. Last time I played the game was a Nightmare play trough on release. God damn is Chapter 2 brutal. That last checkpoint before the wooden gate you have to open has a lot of enemies to clear.
The building with the key to the right on chapter 2 had like 5 guys pop out of the house and kill me my first run. After re spawning and trying again, they were not there. Not sure what that is about.
Do they only spawn if you fire bullets there?

I pulled the FOV back also. I get why the choice was made for it to be almost first person when aiming, it definitely makes it claustrophobic. I know you can get used to it, but I really think it is just a flaw. It affects close range aiming too much. If you were pointing a pistol near your feet you would not be so zoomed in, it really makes no sense. It plays much better with a slightly pulled out FOV IMO.

Is it worth tracking down a key for the incendiary and poison bolts? They look like win buttons with no real utility.

I need to replay this.

I think your best bet is to send Infinity a message, since he's far more versed in this title than I. Chapter 2's fight has a weird trigger IIRC and can be de-spawned, the rest can be skipped to some extent. Note that you *can* stealthkill the giant horde if you play it smart before the transition to Chapter 3 for some sweet sweet nectar.

> dlc bolts
IIRC they are just overpowered and not really worth the effort to get. Poison is a DOT that the game was not designed around either.

This video by jigzawkiller is EXCELLENT. His speed run videos are great as well, learned an amazing Laura route from it. So much info here I would have never thought, freeze bolts disarm traps, sticking an explosive bolt to Joseph in chapter 6 so the guys that grab him die instantly lol.
Right after that section on the bridge the enemies won't attack you if you just stand on the plank, they are programmed to go after Joseph. Crazy.
My playthrough has been hyper efficient so far. Trying to maximize everything. I killed the optional lauras and the sentinel, trying to get as much gel as I can. The flash bolt is soo powerful upgraded, and it only cost 2 trap parts.

Only on this playthrough have I realized how much skill and thought subconsciously goes into positioning and distance, when throwing a match. Each enemy can do a million different things depending on their weapon, it is more than just hit the button like RE4, I love it.
There seems to be a split second of I-frames right when the match ignites. I matched a guy as another dropped his molotov, it exploded but I took no damage as the match went off.

I have been trying to figure out the exact differences between akumu and nightmare, the only sure thing I know is the trap mini game is more strict. Spawns and damage seem to be the same.
There really isn't much info on this game.

Yeah the information on this game and its details are sorely lacking, maybe more can be found on the Chinese boards? I remember finding a huge vault of information in an old NGII topic that I had translated eons ago, they tend to go really indepth. I know China at least has a TEW community as one of them reached out to me regarding my TEW2 knife only run, he wanted to upload it to Billibilli so he could share it around to more players (which I was fine with, of course!).

Not sure if you already watched it but Infinity's run is also well worth watching imo.

Watching Infinity's as I beat chapters. Akumu no upgrade is one thing but the no flash/ freeze, damn eff that. I can't believe how bad the ps4 performance is in his run. Pc locked 60 with a better FOV is the way this masterpiece be played.

Jigzaw’s videos are wonderful, that’s where I learned to disarm dynamite by throwing grenades.

>enemies despawning in ch2

The only thing I can think is that certain enemies despawn after dying like in RE4, but in this game they come back eventually.

>match throws

One of my favorite things about the game that separates it from everything else, it’s not just a braindead finisher or context specific thing, you have to have spacing depending on the enemy type, whether they’re on their back or stomach, you also have to time the throw if you want to catch a nearby standing enemy, etc. It’s really unlike anything else I’ve seen.

>no flash/freeze

It’s not as bad as you may think once you really know the game. Looking back I’m actually very annoyed at how poorly I played in some spots, I’m probably going to do another challenge run to redeem myself.

>bad performance

Yeah it runs pretty horribly in spots on the base ps4(chapters 2,3, and 6 especially). I normally play on my Pro but the base PS4 is what my wife has hooked up to the tv near her computer so I just went with it. It wasn’t until I was re-watching the footage I realized how choppy it is. Is it really 60FPS on PC? I thought it couldn’t reach it.

The PC version runs at 60fps, though they had to do a lot of bugfixing to get it to work without any glitches. Some are still present from what I know. Out of the consoles the Xbox One X still performs the most stable iirc. I actually have that version somehow, never played it though. Might be cool to dive into that game after I complete MGS2 on Extreme.

>Is it really 60FPS on PC?

I have a 2080 Super for the express purpose of brute forcing shitty ports, so hard to say.
I think it had a rough launch, that has been patched better.
For me it is rock solid, but I can't stress enough how amazing the FOV is pulled back.
You can see so much more when aiming, especially close quarters with the pistol. Game changer.

I’ve been thinking about getting a gaming pc/laptop for a few weeks now, that might just be the thing to get me to pull the trigger.

Yes, a 6 year old game I’ve played to death running at 60FPS is what gets me to buy something that costs ~$1500. I might be insane.

Do it. Shooters are real nice on mouse and keyboard. Games generally tend to look, and run a lot better as well. Mods for a lot of games exist; For example, Dark Souls 3: Cinders.

If you want PC build guide let me know. You could spend $700-800 and still get a beast RIG. If you get a PC now you will never want to buy the new consoles, other than exclusives. Pc just gives you so many options.
I am eyeing an LG C9 4k OLED, I have been on 1080p 60 forever. Just a lot of damn money and I have no room for more TVs lol

I wouldn't mind a gaming PC. There are a few games like Pillars of Eternity 1&2 I want to try but don't feel they control as well on PS4. The PC version of Nights of Azure has the preorder DLC.

What's the deal with discs though? Are they useless? Basically just a key right? Is it better to buy from Steam?

Yeah, it's generally better to just buy from Steam. But you can also look on isthereanydeal to see if there's a better price on other storefronts that will give you a Steam key.

Most physical PC games are just a steam key, no disk. I have had a PC since 2014 and have never had a disk drive.

My monster PC is basically only used for older games as well, it helps to be able to just brute force them. Also, if you ever want to edit videos for your channel, it helps having a strong machine to handle the rendering faster.

> discs
Most PCs don't even have a disc-drive anymore, you're better of just going to Steam/GoG and buying the keys there.

I could definitely use a guide of some kind, I don’t really know what I’m doing or where to start. Really don’t need anything top of the line, as long as I can play most games at 60FPS I’ll be good.

Also just realized that after all of these years and through all of my playthroughs, I’ve never got all map fragments in one run, and I’ve never tried the two weapons you get from doing so. Looks like I’ll be doing that here shortly.

Might be fun to save that for the PC version, then you have something to look forward to!

Regarding building a PC, depends on your budget. Not sure if you also need screens or speakers or keyboard and mouse etc. I always use Alternate, but that's Netherlands only I fear. But there should be plenty of sites in the 'states as well where you can just build your PC and it gives you warnings if something is amiss with your build.

The need to knows imo:
- RAM, preferably 16 or above.

- A good CPU, generally speaking the "Intel Core i5-10600K" is considered the best. This is the heart of the computer, you want it to be strong to pump the blood so to speak.

- For videocards, don't be fooled by fancy functions. The number is really important, but the trick is looking at the last two digits. A SuperRaeng 1080 is generally worse than a SuperRaeng 995. This is because the first two digits are the series, while the last two are the versions, with higher numbers being more expensive. At least, that is how it was when I was young. Maybe they changed that.

- A good motherboard to arrange it, you can see that as the body of your computer. You slot everything into it.

- power and coolers of course.

- an SSD, speeds up your games to no end. Don't buy a hard-drive.

If you play your cards right and don't go for fancy builds with lights and god knows what you can easily build a good computer for around 800-1000 bucks, if not less.

> map fragments
IIRC you need to beat the game for this, right? As the last one is NG+ exclusive.

I would recommend AMD Ryzen Cpus over Intel for anything that isn't a top of the line build. They are what most people get because performance wise is equal to intel for half the price.

This video is honestly perfect, if you got those exact parts and he shows how to build it.

EDIT: another good similar build


I would probably get a terabyte NVME SSD which is what the new consoles will have, you can youtube how to install one it is easy. The one in the video is just an external SSD that is slower than NVME.

This is what i have.
(https://www.newegg.com/sabrent-rocket-q-1tb/p/0D9-001Y-00024?Item=9SIAME8ARP9899)

3200 mhz ram over the 3600hz in the video, you really don't need that fast, the money is better saved for a better Graphics card.
If you want to spend more the 2070 Super is a fantastic Card, and the AMD Ryzen 7 3700x is the CPU I have and is a beast for the price.

That's a really good video, a lot better than that other flunked one I remember going viral where the guy basically made a gamer-pc for...polygon? And it was a firehazard.

haha oh yeah this


Linus, Paul, and Jayztwocents are good PC channels, they know their stuff

Cool, thanks a lot guys. I’ll probably go ahead and bite the bullet here shortly. If I build something similar to what’s in those videos, how long can I expect to be good until upgrades are basically necessary?

Seeing as how most games will still need to come out on PS4/XONE for a while you could keep that rig for 4 years at least before you might have to drop some settings at 1080p 60fps. Even then you could probably hold 1080p 60 for most of the next gen with this rig.

It really depends on what you are doing with it. 1080p 60fps maxed settings for sure no problem.
1440p/4k or 120 fps will depend on the games, check some 2060 or 2070 super benchmark videos and compare them.

EDIT: Here is a great video with the different cards so you can decide how much performance you need for the price, even a 2060 is holding 60 FPS on red dead 2 with ultra settings. Damn that's impressive.


Also save all of the boxes and packaging and if you upgrade you can sell the old parts for like 70% what you bought them. New GPUs don't really get cheaper.
Some ports are just bad though or some settings barley change the graphics but hit performance by like 20%. I always check the Digital Foundry videos to see what to turn on or off.

Yeah generally speaking, especially if you don't mind turning off some extreme PC-only functions like the Witcher 3 calculating every light reflection on every leaf individually or playing in 4k, you can look to 4+ years of gaming enjoyment easily.

Back on topic, killing Laura on chapter 10 with a fresh save is one of the hardest things I have done in a bit. I had something like 80 parts saved up so it was just a matter of dodging and crafting explosive bolts. It was honestly good fun and probably harder than anything in the main campaign I can think of.

I knew if I had upgraded towards fire harpoons it would have been a cake walk, but I wanted upgrades in other places. Max sprint is amazing.

I just circle strafed and massacred the amalgam and completely forgot you could stealth the first phase lol.
I just wasn't scared of that guy, felt so powerful after Laura.

Sweet! That’s a lot more mileage than I was expecting. Thanks for all the help. And yeah that’s crazy about RDR2, that game is probably the hardest to get running at max settings right?

>back on topic

80 parts? Hot damn, you’re a good saver haha. Max harpoon bolts are definitely a godsend for her and most other enemies, especially since she suffers a special stun when she’s on fire. She does take half damage when on fire though, so nuking her with fire harpoons and then shotgun/sniper rounds doesn’t kill her as fast as you’d think.

Amalgam is definitely a first-run killer, but yeah after fighting Laura he’s nothing. He has less than a quarter of the health iirc. If you utilize the two rooms properly you can get tons of safe damage in. His second phase is kind of a joke when you realize you can just nuke him right away and he can’t do anything.

Chapter 11 is amazing, I don’t care what the haters say.

Chapter 11 is good, my favorite is definitely 10. The carnival of death area is just so awesome. Everything about it, killing the traumas is fun and then you face off against two bosses in a row.
That chapter really throws it all at you. Laura is the most terrifying thing in the game for me, but now that I actually killed her every time instead of running, I have a real appreciation for her.

I am basically doing a no damage nightmare playthrough, if I take a cheap hit right before a new checkpoint, I just let it ride though. You really don't have to use many trap parts if you play smart.
I would be all for akumu if it wasn't for the disarm mini games. They are hard enough for me on nightmare and akumu is just too small.

Chapter 10 may be my favorite level in any game ever. Amazing fights, unique environmental stuff like the spinning blade(that can be used to kill the haunted who come out into they room), probably the best chase sequence ever with an optional super boss, a hard boss fight, the best environments in the game, etc. If the whole thing was like chapter 10 then the game would really be on another level.

>disarm mini game

I can’t tell you how many times I’d clear a fight on Akumu, only to fail the disarm and have to redo everything. Eventually I just started using them as a bomb against the enemies until I was comfortable with them.

Almost done with this playthrough. Will mess around with NG+ for a bit then will be trying TEW2 again.
I dropped off around chapter 3 or 4. I just hated everything about it, everything felt different.
Art design is too western and bland imo, enemies just didn't really react to shots, stealth was OP, and I hated stealth in TEW. After chapter 3 i never stealth kill in TEW.
Gonna go in with an open mind and I understand it is simply a different game.
Also I played it without seeing the Kidman stuff and man that was a mistake. I watched a playthrough and it has all of the real story from TEW, there should have been a recap video or something.

Infinity, have you played the keeper DLC any? It looks kinda fun honestly.

>enemies don’t react to shots

Yeah the reactions are definitely decreased, especially with the handguns. After going deep into TEW1 I played 2 for a bit and was really surprised by how much enemies would tank shots. Enemies in general have a lot more health as well which encourages stealth.

>never stealth kill past chapter 3

Same here, really most chapters only let you kill the very first enemy with a stealth kill, like chapters 6, 9, 10, 11, and 13. Stealth isn’t even an option for 95% of enemies. Part of me feels it was only added because the game was developed for a big publisher where every game needs to have a generic checklist of gameplay styles included.

>go in with an open mind

It’s certainly different but for all of the ways I think it went backwards from the first game, I still love it and the combat is 100x more satisfying than most TPS, including the new REs.

>keeper DLC

Nope. I have it but have never tried it, for whatever reason.

The double Keeper fight is so easy with a powered up magnum. 3-4 bullets in each and they were dead as soon as they spawned. This game really needed a proper final boss. I think the last chapter is easily the worst. The pacing throughout is fantastic, then the last chapter you are just running through Beacon for 10 minutes, do a quick gauntlet and then that awful amalgam "fight."
The rocket part at the end took me about 10 tries lol.

For the disarm mini-game, you can soft-skip them by using the item-wheel while disarming them. Slows down the 'clock' making it super easy to disarm them. Exploit, but a fun one haha.

https://twitter.com/Bethesda_ANZ/status/1291182892089929728

There will be a presentation and QnA about the series development. Should make for interesting viewing. The host will be TEW2's director.

Well that’s not something I expected.

The QnA is live: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/705150738?t=10h28m22s

Apparently nothing new from what I've gathered, but should make for interesting viewing regardless.

What happened with it?

Interesting talk. They mention that Lisa was really OHKO-happy, and that they wanted that to show how dangerous this world was. He notes that most stages in TEW1 were each build by another team / directed by someone else, and chapter 2 and 3 were made for the longest time (nearly the entire dev time). This didn't happened with TEW2 as they felt TEW1 already did that and they wanted to try something consistent. He notes he loves both directions, but he was glad he didn't do the same thing twice. Not going to lie, I find that incredibily commendable and also shows Mikami's influence shining through. The director of TEW2 directed the Mansion episode (interesting). Should also note that John has a very elitist voice that you ... really have to sit through haha.

He notes that TEW1 was very obtuse storywise and this was also because the dev-team didn't know what the plot was as it shifted so much during development. The DLC was an afterthought apparently for TEW1, they did it to fix the story mistakes they made.

This is also why TEW2s story was apparently so 'clear', and why you immediately know you're in the 'matrix'.

John was automatically chosen to lead TEW2 after the DLC, he was pretty intimidated by it since doing a DLC and a full-game was a totally different scale. He did note that the open-world was a challenge and that they wanted to avoid it becoming a big open space with nothing in it. I think they nailed that pretty well since the open worlds are really full.

Originally though Chapter 3 and 7 were only one map together, and they ended up splitting them in two at the last minute because testers totally forgot what the core mission was since they were just exploring constantly.

The interviewer asks John for his 'biggest regret with TEW2', John escapes the question by saying that he wanted the cat to be petable. They ran into animation and coding issues. He has cats of himself which is why he keeps pushing them. Ironically afterwards they noted that you can pet animals in Ghostwire.

Apparently the story of TEW2 really resonated in Japan, to the point that Mikami called it "Crying horror" (not in a negative way), in that it tugs at people's emotions. They were sort of surprised by this and that the game didn't get this type of reception in the West.

Ironically John was respected and useful in his team as the other members wanted to push more to Western gameplay ideals and he was more a fan of traditional Japanese horror games i.e. RE. Because the team wanted more western appeal though, Union was shaped to look like a USA location compared to the more European style of TEW1.

He also notes that the First Person segment was just put in to shake things up and they later added it as a free mode to see if they could do something like that in the future (which they did, Ghostwire). So it was basically a free beta-test haha. They wanted to see how it impacted the artstyle, the depth, movement etc.

They do note that TEW2 was made to be easier and could be used as a jumping on point for newcomers. He then notes, and this is pretty interesting, that the difficulty in TEW1 was not intentional. They all played the game nonsstop for a long time and got too good at it and he notes that they didn't really realize how 'overtuned' things were for starting players.

When they saw the initially feedback to TEW1 regarding the difficulty and people dying 300 times John and Mikami facepalmed apparently with the notion "fuck, that wasn't out goal".

He does note that this resulted in people saying TEW2 was "dumbed down". And he goes on to say that's what Nightmare mode is for. He also notes that a lot of directors of TEW1 were disappointed that only 1/3rd of the buyers saw their stages, since they came after the end. Apparently only 1/3rd got past chapter 3. That's nuts. He called it "a bummer".

John was also the bugtester for Akumu difficulty in TEW1 since he was the only one skilled enough to beat it consistently in the office. It was originally even harder apparently, he noted it was really 'bullshit'. One designer apparently also had a grudge with John and they'd overtune it further just to see John die even worse. Some of that stuff he'd beat and they kept that in (lol).

He mentions the shutter section near the end and how hard it was for him.

He did feel Akumu was too focused on 'frustration' and the horror got lost due to repeated deaths. As such he wasn't too happy with that. This is why Classic was introduced, as it keeps the horror since you're always scared of deaths. He also notes that when he sees people's clear screens of Akumu he's pretty annoyed like "was that fun...okay". I think he's kind of traumatized haha.

Also notes "making it hard to beat was never the goal, even with the original".

He also says 'stealth' was a way to design your own difficulty. You want to take forever and be safe? Go for it. Etc. Same with the coffee maker. You can use it. You can skip it. Up to you.

The radio thing in TEW2 was added to avoid a map full of 'markers'.

When asked what he'd really change of TEW2 he notes that he doesn't know (scary). He does regret that the ending is so lineair, but he also kind of liked that since it gave more focus.

It is really...a weird interview though, as one guy is playing TEW2 on easy while interviewing John and...he is barely paying attention to either I feel. The interviewer is also a member of Bethesda, so it is probably also pretty scripted.

PS: I was kind of hoping he'd mention me beating the game with the knife haha!

While I will always respect John's hustle of just winding up at Mikami's studio with like no experience, eveything he said confirms my suspicions that he should not have been placed in charge of 2.
I will never forgive him for what he did to my boy Seb :'(.

From interviews with Ikumi, I really think she brought everything that I liked about TEW and I guarantee she left after the direction 2 took and probably Ghostwire. it is liked they killed her baby.

Yeah I respect his hustle in that sense too, and I also trust Mikami's judgment. TEW2 was a lot better for me personally, but it is clear that this is another case of "developers should never see the results". They're professionals, they don't need the input from bad players.

> Ikumi
Have to say I feel Mikami made the right call. Note that she *was* director of TEW's DLC at numerous points iirc (or was it TEW2?) and probably also got her shot at directing a stage of TEW1. I think she probably just didn't have the 'stones' so to speak, directing requires a spine and stepping on skulls. She seemed too softhearted for that.

Not sure why she midway through Ghostwire, though I assume it was because of her pregnancy.

To be honest, I’m kind of glad the series seems to be done. With its poor sales and complete misunderstanding from casuals, I’m sure Bethesda would try and force TEW3 into something awful to cater to a larger player base.

I find it very interesting about the chapters being directed by someone else/different team. It sort of makes sense since the game itself feels pretty disjointed(not that I really care, I love the variety).

>1/3 of players got past chapter 3
They didn’t get to the best parts! Terrible.

Bethesda hasn't had a lot of influence on TEW though. Mikami has been very picky about who he has as a publisher after the whole E.A. debacle with Suda. Most notes I find about him show he's very, very happy where he is and who he is working with, which is great to read considering his troublesome past.

That said, I think it's good that they are doing something new again. The Evil Within honestly shouldn't have gotten a sequel I feel, just let them make new things constantly.

> director per level
I like both methods. He notes that the stages felt very disjoined as a result but that kind of also worked because of the setup (in someone's mind). Think it's commendable that they didn't do the same thing twice.

> cater to a large player base
That's all the team themselves, they just cannot handle critism and want their game to be enjoyed by the whole world equally (understandable if you slave away at a project for years). In this case Bethesda has no influence on that.

I figured Bethesda would have had more of a say, that’s interesting. Looking at Eternal it doesn’t look like they really interfered there so it makes sense.

>shouldn’t have got a sequel
Definitely feel TEW2 could have just retained all of its traits and been a different game.

>directors for different stages
I’m sure whoever did chapter 12 isn’t happy. Personally I don’t mind it but it’s one of the go-to criticisms of the game.

Fiddled with AKUMU on Chapter 2. Passed.

Chapter 3: The Claws of the Horde was delightful. Got the checkpoints changed around? I didn't get one before The Sadist. Never mind. Luring knobheads into spring traps to torch them is fun. Really changing my, uh, conversive method of playing.

Got flushed down in Ch. 4 and awaiting now the march of the dumbsters. I love that bit. So strong.

I'll just keep on playing till there is no room for me anymore. Never be game over.

Just bought a gaming laptop. This will probably be the first thing I play, can’t wait to see how it performs.