![\"Was](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/tew2-1280-1507850483434-1633011052821.jpg?resize=1080%2C608&ssl=1\")
Let me just get this out right now, The Evil Within 2<\/em> is one of my favorite games of the past five years. I’m sure that when people saw that Shinji Mikami was not going to be the director of The Evil Within 2<\/em> they probably shared my reaction of “thank god!” Replacing him would be John Johanas who had worked on the much-praised pieces of downloadable content for the first Evil Within<\/em> game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I first started getting hyped for Evil Within 2<\/em> I was worried it was going to be a gruesome game. More so than the first game based on the change in look from Evil Within<\/em> to Evil Within 2<\/em>. While there were scary moments in the first game, TEW2 felt more like the original Resident Evil 2<\/em> as a result of an increase in ammo and feeling like you had the ability to destroy any enemy you could possibly run into. There is a particular scene that sums up how I played TEW2, Sebastian had to go into an underground area and wasn’t able to use any firearms due to combustible gases so as Sebastian I was sneaking through the underground area when I (you experience this area in first-person point of view by the way) ran into a nightmare creature who will grab you and hit you. I just so happened to have an absurd amount of knives so I just spammed the right trigger and just like that, the enemy was defeated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My comparison of TEW2<\/em> to RE2 <\/em>is more along the lines of “these games are very similar”. After playing through The Evil Within 2 I also got the feeling that despite its predecessor’s attempt at horror, being scary, and art style, the refresh that was so desperately needed was to ironically become Resident Evil 4<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Josh Miller – “The Shape” of VGU<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until Dawn <\/strong><\/em>(2015)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I loved me some Until Dawn<\/em>. I would argue it was one of my favorite games of the last generation of consoles. Despite it involving a slasher and…something else…, I never felt scared. I don’t say that as a knock against Until Dawn<\/em>, because I was engaged every step of the way. But like so many campy slasher flicks, it was fun but not terrifyingly so. But unlike those flicks, at least I was in control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that’s where a good chunk of the magic lies in Until Dawn<\/em>. It is the closest thing to someone being in one of those horror flicks. Those things people do in films you yell at the screen about? You can do it differently. Or maybe the same…who am I to judge? Either way, it’s easy to become invested in the story and the characters. Yet, even with that, I was never afraid of losing the characters in a horror sense but instead in a “completionist” sense. And the antagonists themselves were more of an obstacle than an actual threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I said, this isn’t a slight to Until Dawn<\/em>. I don’t think they set out to make a game that haunted our dreams. It’s fun, engaging, and left me wanting more experiences from the Supermassive Games team. It’s a great example that horror comes in many forms. In this case, just not a particularly scary one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Emmett Watkins Jr. – PlayStation All-Star and Range Brother<\/p>\n\n\n\n Resident Evil 4<\/strong> (2005)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve likely talked about this fact on The Player’s Club Podcast in the past, but I really, really<\/strong> don’t like horror media. I’ve never seen any movie in the Saw, Scream, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, or Halloween franchises, and I have no plans on changing that. Massively popular horror shows like Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House are shows I’ve steered clear from as the dread associated with them just doesn’t sound fun to experience. There are of course exceptions to this. I love Get Out and Raw, for example. But the joys I hold dear in film and TV are even more apparent in games. So many of my games are about obtaining, maintaining, and improving a power fantasy, so the vulnerability associated with horror classics like Silent Hill 2 and Fatal Frame never appealed to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, that was until Resident Evil 4. Now, before I even got around to that game, I first played Resident Evil 5 back in 2012. As someone who stuck to a strict diet of actions games, it was exactly what I wanted. And I enjoyed it so much that, once I hand enough money to pick it up on sale, I picked up the HD remaster of Resident Evil 4. It was definitely terrifying, but I found myself more willing to tackle its challenges. Thanks to RE5 catering so heavily to my trigger-happy nature, I felt that my methods of play would adapt to the earlier title. So, despite the famously tense intro, and my dozens of deaths thanks to it, I felt firm in my belief that if I just placed more shots, or dodged enough hits, I would finally progress. Turns out, I was only half right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure, I was able to dodge the opening chainsaw villain at the start by remembering a path, and dodging every zombie while sticking to it. But as the game continued, every roadblock I came across was minimized by the dynamic difficulty. I wasn’t aware of this system until I was nearly done with the game, but its presence made me feel powerful and made the game feel more in line with the action-packed adventure I was first introduced to in the sequel. However, the scarcity of ammo and resources made every improvement to Leon’s kit all the more impactful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That dynamic difficulty system, paired with the gradual tonal shift throughout the game to an outright shooter, helped keep me powerful enough to feel confident I could overcome my troubles if I pressed on. But the ammo scarcity and creatively horrifying new enemies I faced throughout, kept me intimidated enough to fear that I might not be able to make it. But I did. It took 3 restarts on each the PS3, PC, and finally PS4, but I finally completed it after several years, and I’m glad I did. It was the most positive experience I had with a horror title, and I’ve not only gained interest in going back to the likes of Silent Hill 2 and Siren: Blood Curse, but I’ve now played and enjoyed its much more terrifying sequel in Resident Evil Village. I’ve forever thankful for the accessible frights of RE4, and I can’t wait to continue to experience the horror genre in new ways over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/PsychoAndSam.png?resize=1080%2C607&ssl=1\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vgu.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/be02248f-151e-4643-8310-32ce5b6c3cb9.jpg?resize=1080%2C601&ssl=1\")