The Evil Within 2

I never got the whole 'limited saves' system, it's just a matter of dedication and how much play-time you have. I'd rather then have a mode where you can only save in between chapters or something, give it a more arcade feeling or something. I remember Max Payne 3 also commiting this sin where one mode asked you to beat the whole game in one sitting without dying on the hardest setting...pretty stupid. I might have the skill, but I am not going to sit down for nearly 8 hours and just play.

I'm pretty sure Akumu will make a DLC return though, as it was so infamously loved in the original. Doubt they'll not have it return.

Also hilarity of one of the worst gamers of all time:

I dont know if Akumu will return. The whole game is generally easier even on nightmare. You can lose an enemy instantly then just stealth kill them when they start walking back, and there are a lot of new tools like corner cover stealth kills, ambush, and AC style hiding in bushes.

Stamina is also like 11 seconds without upgrades.
Looks like they listened to complaints about the first game and wanted to make everything more accessible.

It's not bad though. Classic mode will be tough. Ammo isnt all that plentiful on nightmare, and no ammo capacity upgrade is going to hurt.

Smoke bomb stealth kills require an upgrade which makes them ridiculously good just like flash bolts but that's out. Shock will probably be the top tier bolt for classic.

The 7 save thing is putting me off though.

I did some digging and the Classic Mode isn't that hard I hear, mostly because of one designer-choice/oversight. Because you cannot upgrade all Green Gel is removed as are the upgrades, so all those drops are replaced by ammo and healing, effectively swarming you with bullets and ammo. 

And yeah I cannot understand why they used that 7-save thing. It doesn't add tension or skill at all, just forces a long session on you which not everyone can do.

How are the bosses?

Well that makes things way easier. Stealth is already op coupled with how limited enemy range is now. You'll still be killed in 1-2 hits though.

I was told enemy placement is the same as nightmare.

I guess I'll do classic only on weekends but will need to figure out optimal savepoints. At least now I know what to expect throughout the game.

I'm on chapter 13 now and have access to the open world again. I get the feeling it's giving me the chance to deal with any unfinished business. Just went through quite a few more linear areas as part of the story.

Sorry, I forgot to respond about the bosses. What did you want to know specifically? So far I've fought Stefano and buzzsaw lady though later I read you can escape the fight with her. I don't want to spoil too much or do you not care and I can go into detail on these fights?

Found this glitch that lets you run in crouch zones. Not fully tested yet.

Don't forget obscura the camera lady boss on loan from silent hill. The bosses general behaviour and attacks, any tricks to beat them? How are they effected by the bow?

It's got a good range of bosses but I'm disappointed by 2 in particular, but I'll not spoil those.

Mostly just, how are they. Are they fun boss fights that have nice mechanics? Or is it shoot-until-dead?
And yes please keep spoilers to a minimum, I heavily plan on playing this.

So far, Stefano was the most interesting and is more than just 'shoot till dead'. You still have to shoot him, but you'll see what I mean. He is the only true boss so far.

It's kinda hard to explain anything else without spoiling outcomes. Some are shoot till dead. Others could be on a timer, or stealth to escape. I consider these more 'encounters' than actual fights.

Does upgrading refill the gun btw? And is there a chapter where an instant-killer chases you (akin to chapter 7 from the original?)

I wasn't paying attention to my ammo when upgrading.

I can't remember what happens in which chapter, but there are instant killer stealth parts. Don't remember any actual chases other than the opening with buzzsaw lady.

What happened in chapter 7?

Chapter 7 was, I believe, the Ruvik dude chasing you through the mansion. I hate stuff like that haha.

It has something similar though not as difficult to avoid.

Finished it last night on nightmare. Unlocks magnum, brass knuckles, classic mode, and 3 costumes.

Edit: Nightmare was nowhere near as hard as EW1 Nightmare. And now with how easy it is to escape enemies, alongside the new stealth abilities, my whole playthrough of EW2 wasn't even as hard as chapter 3 of EW1 Nightmare. I'm serious.

It really is mainly the enemy aggro range. It's so silly. A whole group loses interest a few meters away and you can freely stealth kill while they walk back to their zones. EW1 enemies were relentless.

I'm not going to try classic for a while. I want to NG+ and mess around a bit and test some mechanics.

I'm a little pissed that they didn't give us the coat as a costume. Instead we get the EW1 outfit without it. And to further insult us, the coat is hanging in his office (safe room).

Does the drifter costume have a similar coat?

What did you think of the level design? How does the hub area effect it, like less structured or mandatory enemy encounters? How much of it is the hub? From what you said about enemy aggro you likely can just run from one end of the hub to the other with impunity.

Really considering to buy this game for the weekend, just have a nice time with it. Getting a bit tired of Nioh to be honest.

He has that green jacket and it's not bad, but it's still not 'the coat'.

You don't even run very far to make them give up. Like still within sight. And if you break line of sight, even within a few meters, they'll lose you. It's actually ridiculous.

As for level design, there are plenty of linear areas you have to go through as part of the story. The open part is chapter 3, and there's another open part of Union you warp to later.

In the 'hub', as you call it, you really don't have to fight anything, and if you do, you can more than likely stealth kill it.

I spent around 3 hours in chapter 3 exploring, looting and killing enemies. I was super freaked so it was slow going the whole time.

So what does red gel do? Bullet time also? this sounds op unless it drains stamina fast.

Is most of the game in the open union area? From what I've seen later chapters are quite linear.

Some paths in the upgrade tree are locked behind red gel. For weapons you need an item called high grade weapon parts.

Never bought bullet time. It's 75000 gel. I'll get it in ng+.

The whole game is in Union but not in the open part I think you're talking about. There are tons of indoor areas and places the bad guys warp you to.

Will do an NG+ to mess around. Will choose survival and test some stuff like that kick and leg shots and find all the collectibles.

A few more little details.

*The menu wheel fully pauses the game.
*Aside from explosive bolts, there aren't any other explosives. No grenades or anything. That annoys me because in EW1 I found a way to cause glitches with these.
*If you aim at a wall you can set up your bolt like a tripwire.
*There's a 180 quick turn now.

Removing grenades makes the explosive bolts have more value I suppose, more use for the bow since it's supposed to be the multi tool and grenades function identically to explosive bolts minus sticky use. Grenades I seldom used, I forgot I even had them a lot of the time, was always full stock so I'd spam them during the final chapter gauntlet.

Just called my store, going to pick it up tonight after work. I don't have any plans for the weekend and really need something to take my mind of life in general, so this will do nicely!

Birdman wrote:Will do an NG+ to mess around. Will choose survival and test some stuff like that kick and leg shots and find all the collectibles.

A few more little details.

*The menu wheel fully pauses the game.
*Aside from explosive bolts, there aren't any other explosives. No grenades or anything. That annoys me because in EW1 I found a way to cause glitches with these.
*If you aim at a wall you can set up your bolt like a tripwire.
*There's a 180 quick turn now.

Great additions, but wasn't the tripwire thing already in the original? Or does it actually have a tripwire now? That's pretty sweet. Also like the pause menu, makes strategizing more easy I'd feel.

Awesome. Let us know how it goes.

I didn't end up using explosive bolts much. I think because stealth is so powerful now and enemy aggro so low that you never feel the need to pull out the big stuff other than on single, tough enemies or bosses.

Also, due to ammo crafting and basic components like gunpowder being required to make everything, it's up to you how to use it. I spent most of mine on shotgun shells and smoke or shock bolts.

You could set explody bolts as mines on environments or mobs but not actual trip wires. Also fire, poison and shock bolts emit a aoe for a time when shot.

Stefanie seems like what ruvik would be if he was fought as a human, same teleport and also has a knife too(Even an eye motif).

Disappointed that there isn't a higher mode above nightmare as classic is same but forced limited saves and NUR.

Pretty much every possible aspect is easier in EW2. Like they purposely took absolutely every element from the first game and either removed it or significantly toned it down. It's still got its tough spots and to be fair, enemies on nightmare can still destroy you, but the op stealth and enemy range are just silly.

Stefano is an interesting fight. He has says a line for each attack so if you're paying attention you can prepare and avoid his incoming attack. He has this one attack where he teleports to random spots in the direction you're facing then suddenly he's just gone, because his last teleport is out of your field of vision. From here he throws his knife at you, and even if you turned to face him before he throws it and try to run, he seems to know and throws it to where you're going to be. It might have a slight bit of homing. There are some walls here you can hide behind so I used those. I think you can shoot him out of it too if you're quick enough.

If classic isn't enough, maybe create your own challenge? NUR, no weapon pickups (so base handgun and shotgun, no sniper) and maybe no crafting? Not sure if that's possible because a lot of the time you get gun powder and are expected to make your own stuff, though maybe if you avoid everything possible, or stealth kill where you can't avoid, then save everything for tough encounters. Or maybe use field crafting only which takes twice as much resources.

Aight picked it up together with FEAR(xbox), Heavenly Sword (PS3), Splinter Cell Conviction (x360) and this one. Two of those I already mastered on PC but they were only like..5 bucks so thought fuck it. Played quite a bit on Nightmare Evil Within 2, really - really and I have to stress this: really love it so far. The artstyle, direction, it's just a perfect Twin Peaks episode. It is legit freaky but not in a "too scared to play" way, no jumpscares so far, just great level design and freaky enemies. 

I only just reached the first safe-house and was stuck in the house for quite a bit. I wanted to learn the patterns but..it was a bit weird. The Crouching Slash is by far the best, and can stunlock...sometimes. I have no clue what lets them break free. Combat feels weird anyway and stealth still inconsistent. At the first enemy I immediately ran away, turned off the TV and hid around the corner. One time she walked by and I stealth killed her. Other time she ran to me and killed me, knowing exactly where I was. The other time she went around me and backstabbed me. Really unpredictable. Fun, but unpredictable. Same happened when I tried to sneak up on her. Sometimes she'd be predictable, other times she'd flail back and forth and catch me.

Still no clue how to deal with the one outside. I kicked the door open and knifed her, shot her in the face. But cost a bit too much ammo for my taste. It's funny that if you kick the door in and hide immediately after up stairs in the corner she will run to you in a straight line and kill you, which I found to be a bit weird. 

Pistol seems pretty pointless so far.

But all in all, great game. Love the designs, the atmosphere and all. Just feels way more complete. New voices are really 'meh' for me, just don't like 'em. Sebastian sounds too...regular. Not really sure how to describe it. Really interested in the new villain too and just how the gameplay will evolve!

Good to hear you're liking it so far.

I found when using the knife standing on a regular, they do the same as EW1, that is, they hit back so you can't follow up. But you can wait for them to do that then knife again. I played around a little with this on my first playthrough but decided to leave it for my ng+.

That first enemy in the house never followed me upstairs. Haven't had any major inconsistencies with stealth. I used it for most of the game.

Who is 'the one outside'? Outside the first house?

The pistol has a critical upgrade, but I have no idea how effective it is. Handgun ammo is the most common item you'll find in terms of ammo, so maybe upgrading critical and capacity just like I did in EW1 might be worth it. Overall I didn't rely on the handgun at all. Later you'll get a few types.

Edit: Regarding the kick ability, you can cause a stun by shooting an enemy in the leg, get up close and you'll see the prompt. This kick causes a unique animation, which I mentioned before, where the enemy rolls like a log and goes quite far. Definitely does what the description says of creating space. He got up before I could catch up so I'm not sure if you can get the stomp from this.

I'm not sure if difficulty or handgun power have anything to do with it, but it took two leg shots to stun on survival with a decently upgraded handgun.

Caused an enemy to lose a leg today. It was the final shot and it died though. I don't think they can lose legs and stay alive. If they lose an arm they can, and it grows back and also has a unique animation. Not sure what this means though.

The limbs regrowing seems interesting, not often regular grunts can regen, usually relegated to bosses or elites.

Does this extend to all zombies? The flaming elite ones also?

Haven't seen it happen to the flame ones.

What does it take to destroy a limb? How much damage per gun?

No idea. It depends on upgrades too. I shot a guy with a fully upgraded flame harpoon and it hit his arm, blew it clean off, and he died right there. Might just be a random thing, or possibly a critical hit. I've done it with the knife as well.

This game really is turning out to be what I wanted The Last of Us to be. Love the open world setup, love the strategy, love the enemies, love the sneaking - it all feels so perfect almost. The combat is a bit meh still so far, I haven't become good at it yet. Getting a kill feels really hard with the pistol and I'm note sure how to deal with large groups. I generally try to shock them and stomp, or use an axe. As always I'm at max ammo haha.

I cleared the entire south side of the village including the church and found a weird warp point to something called 'the marrow'. Now clue as to what that is, I'll investigate it more later-on.

But really glad I picked this title up, truly a great game and maybe even - finally - the successor to RE4.

I won't spoil anything about the Marrow or anything else. You'll soon get all the explanation you need. I believe O'neal tells you all about it. Might as well focus on your combat comments.

The pistol isn't very useful unless it's seriously upgraded with critical and firepower. Enemies move so erratically that headshots can be difficult and won't even kill them anyway.

The emphasis seems to be on stealth in this game. You could quite possibly do the entire area you're in with stealth alone.

Unless you want to go nuts and waste all your shotgun rounds, groups can only be dealt with using something like shock or smoke bolts. I recommend focusing on smoke bolt upgrades and use your first high grade weapons part on them because that will give you the ability to stealth kill while the enemies are blinded.

What difficulty are you on?

Edit: What the fuck?

Some interesting news.

I'm doing a survival NG+, so my guns are fully upgraded and this makes it easier to test stuff.

100% confirmed, leg shots lead to a stun that can be followed up with the kick ability. This DOES do damage, because I kicked an enemy and their head exploded.

You can completely blow off legs and the enemy still survives. This lets you follow up with a stomp.

But again, NG+ with full upgrades, so all of this is easy to set up. I recall on nightmare it could take two leg shots to get a stun.

I wonder what the dismemberment is based on? The handgun and shot gun have a critical stat that mentions enemy 'weak points'. Arms and legs might be classed as weak points now.

I'm playing on Nightmare, it said it was made for fans of the first game so I'm going with that. I think the main thing that bothers me is that, if I get into combat, I have no clue what to do. Inside stealth I am almost Sam Fisher/ Agent 47 like, they have no chance. But once I get detected it's really hard for me to deal. Takes me around 4-5 bullets per mook to gun them down.

Also the crow, the hell hahha! Nice that they keep this tradition alive!

It depends what you're willing to use to take them down. Shock bolt to stomp is always good for any group. Or waste shotgun shells blowing their heads off.

Low level pistol just isn't very useful in nightmare unless it's 1v1 and you get consistent head shots. Or go for the leg for a quick stun then try for the head. I avoid them as much as I can.

Otherwise just run and get out of sight and they'll lose interest almost immediately unless it's a forced fight, then stealth them as they return to their positions or just reassess the situation.

I'll get this after I beat BB nearly done.

Also found a . Stealth kills don't work on her, took me by surprise to be honest haha.

Really taking my time, scouting ahead and just playing around while killing what I can find. Really treating this like my only playthrough so checking everything and really getting immersed. Really really really love this game, it is excellent. But the length alone, in this day and age, makes me not want to replay it already. I've already got nearly 10 hours played and am still in Chapter 3, with a dozen houses and areas to clear remaining. Really curious to see how this pans out.

EDIT: finally went down to the Marrow and found the goodies. The game is pretty low on the jumpscares so far, for which I am grateful. I love the new pistol I found too, very RE4'ish.

EDIT2: that blue..thing. I don't like that haha.

Stealth kills don't work on her, took me by surprise to be honest haha.

Well, they work, it's just that she's a tougher type that has more HP. She's way more capable than the others too. Total psycho.

Due to the decreased enemy aggro range, you can just run and get out of sight, then stealth her again, though after the first stealth kill she's actually almost dead so it shouldn't be any drain on ammo to take her down.

I was the same in chapter 3. I've read that a lot of people were. Lots of area to explore and it's where the sidequests start.

Yeah I'm starting to learn how to abuse the system. I generally try to stealth, if it fails I retreat around a corner and if their eyes go normal red again, I go for a corner-stealth kill (seriously this move is too good).

I'm a bit surprised by how good Corner Kill and Bottle Break are. Like those two singlehandedly clear rooms.

The game did 'get' me once though. When I went back into the house with the portal to the Marrow there was a mook feasting on some bodies in front of the door. I decided to sneak up on her but she, probably scripted, turned on me and I ran, only to find another one in the hall way. I literally said "oh shit" and kept on running haha. The tension was high.

I am liking the horror-style, it is a lot less scary but the tension is high. Also really liked the Marrow area. Very RE2'ish.

How's the mix of linear levels to mini sandbox ones? The open areas look to be for exploration/item gathering/quests and linear are for focused enemy encounters/bosses.

NUR would be a different game without the op skills/upgrades.

Some massive glitches have been found allowing chapter 4 and 5 to be skipped.

Chapter 4-6 skip


Chapter 3 skip


Not sure if it works on console. Check this guy's other stuff. He's taking this game apart.

How's the mix of linear levels to mini sandbox ones? The open areas look to be for exploration/item gathering/quests and linear are for focused enemy encounters/bosses.

It's pretty good, the sandbox is more like lots of mini linear levels in one. You can see each house as a level in and of itself, and stuff like side areas like the Marrow or a few other houses are completely seperate from the main game in terms of content. Really interesting way imo.

And even then you can play any way you want. I prefer to kill everything, but even in the linear content you can just avoid encounters if you're smart.

I am trying to be as non-spoilery for Gabriel as possible, but I have to note that I found a really cool house in Chapter 3 that really has some nice nods to the first game, the most important one being the letterboxing. I noticed it immediately and it was weird how "Evil Within 1" it felt. 

I really have to give credit to the game in general, in how great the optional content is. Nearly every house, room, train etc. that I've entered had some event tied to it or something to do or explore. Ironically the things that were 'hyped' up ended up feeling shallow. I managed to power a door, only to laugh as I find out it is story related and I cannot continue into the building. I find a big truck that's obviously filled with enemies, kill them all and find just...2 pieces of ammo inside haha. 

I do dislike the Ghost Lady, a lot. I find that she is the worst designed element of the game, because there's not skill to it. If she appears, run in the opposite direction for a few seconds and she vanishes. It's more annoying. First few times I hid for nearly 10+ minutes and she wouldn't go away, turns out you just have to run - which is a bit...meh.

EDIT: I felt like I was done with Chapter 3 (8 hours played lol, the balance is way off), so I checked online. Pretty proud to say I missed nothing, was very thorough apparently. 

EDIT 2: I always laugh at "top 10 things you should know" articles, which are all horrible. I honestly doubt they even played the game.

So as a rebellion to that, here are 10 actually useful things to note for starting players that I wish I knew:

1. you cannot kill enemies with the knife indirectly, you have to do two in a row to trigger the 'kill' animation, so make sure they are at low health.
   
2. enemies with bright red eyes know where you are and cannot be stealth killed, enemies that have regular red eyes might go to where you last were, but can be stealth killed - using for instance the corner stealth kill.
   
3. enemies on the streets that are lying motionless will only wake up under 3 reasons. Being attacked, being woken by those acid-queens or if they are scripted to wake up (very rarely). You can walk up against them just fine, shoot near them or sprint near them. A nuke could drop nextdoor and they wouldn't know.
   
4. eventually you'll reach a house guarded by a white lady, inside the house is journal. Don't pick this up until you are planning on finishing the chapter.
   
5. if you see a wire, it means a trap is closeby (duh). Generally you can spot the type ahead of time. If you don't see anything nearby, it is a camera that will open a slow-down bubble and generally summon an enemy or two. Otherwise there's a mine nearby that will become active (and get a tripwire of its own).
   
6. Eventually you'll start encounter a random enemy that will hunt you down. Don't hide, run away. Running away far enough will despawn it.
   
7. upgrading ammo-capacity does NOT refill your ammo, upgrading your health does refill your health though.
   
8. crafting items causes an auto save, there are a few stations across Union - use those if you want a quick save (I generally make sure I can always craft 1 harpoon at any given time).
   
9. you can stealth kill the whole of Union if you invest in Bottle Break and Corner Kill, use this knowledge.
   
10. killing a molotov-enemy will have him drop the molotov, but this is a purely visual effect. Don't panic.
    
11. And one extra because I'm such a nice guy, axes aren't instantkills but it is close. You can, if you line it up nicely (not too hard) kill multiple enemies with one stroke if they are hit by it. My record is 4 with one axe.
    

Don't worry about spoilers I've watched the whole game, just haven't studied the gameplay much.

Regarding classic mode: I think given that ammo is more plentiful due to no gel or upgrade part drops and that it's difficulty is same as nightmare then in theory nightmare NUR would be more difficult due to less ammo drops. Classic seems redundant if it's just nightmare but forced NUR and 7 saves, unless it has some enemy and hazard changes, I think I've seen that mentioned so it might.

I like the ghost lady, but yeah there's no real threat even on Nightmare when she shows up in the open randomly. I liked the concept though. Reminded me of Clock Tower or Haunting Ground.

I have read a bit about classic and it seems it's Nightmare enemy layout and slightly stronger. Still not 1 hit kills though.

It's not that I don't like her visually, but her mechanics feel a bit lazy. First time she appeared randomly it scared the living hell out of me. The time she entered while I was in a house and locked the door it didn't do anything to me because I knew "yeah this will just pass".

Will you be trying Classic?

I might try to speedrun it, sounds interesting. Never tried Speedrunning, not really, but it might be a cool game to start it with.

I'll complete it at some point.

She only appeared twice for me. I was never actually sure of the mechanics until you posted that you just outrun her. I thought it might be a timer or entering a building, because she happened to vanish just as I entered one. But yeah, it's just distance between you and her.

I actually still get totally freaked out by horror games. Somehow, I never became desensitized. At best I get used to stuff I've seen before in a game, like now I'm not too freaked by this game but I still don't want to go anywhere near these critters.