Shinji Mikami is best known as the godfather of the third-person survival horror genre, having created the iconic Resident Evil series. His The Evil Within was reasonably well received, cleaving closely to the formula that made his name. Its sequel — out next month — sticks to the script. Once again, you can expect creepy corridors, nasty shocks and large monsters.
The story follows Detective Castellanos as he travels of the city of Union in search of his daughter Lily. He finds himself caught between the real world and a ghastly alternative universe conjured by an evil corporation. This includes unnerving puzzles and horrid monsters.
The sequence we captured (above) includes a fight between Castellanos and a wholly unpleasant amalgam of dead body parts. He then goes on to solve some reasonably simple puzzles before confronting his fiendish nemesis, and a spider-ish boss.
At this point it all feels familiar, even old fashioned. The voice acting is is trifle forced, the characters are a bit silly. And yet The Evil Within 2 manages to create a sense of fear and tension, even when it's raiding the hoary old chest of fright-moments. Mikami understands light, sound and fear.
You can decide for yourself by watching our play-through of a 30-minute section. The Evil Within 2 will be released on Oct 13 for PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.
Alex Martinet contributed to this story.
