What makes a great survival horror game? The conventions of the genre are well established by now. Limited saves. Tight inventory space. Surprise attacks and swift deaths. But almost 30 years since the first Resident Evil, classic-style horror has come to mean a lot more. Between Silent Hill, Amnesia, Alien Isolation, and dozens more, today, as well as puzzles, ammo management, and everything else, a truly great horror game needs a robust story, a distinctive aesthetic, and a unique twist. Produced by Shinji Mikami, and boasting a 9/10 rating on Steam, one such game is now available for less than $6.
The Evil Within 2 is a survival horror game with a distinctive structure. As rugged occult detective Sebastian Castellanos, you’re placed into a virtual reality world where everything has gone awry – a would-be utopia, designed after the suburban idealism of the American ‘50s, the make-believe town of Union has been usurped by a malevolent preacher and his serial killer accomplice, transforming most of the inhabitants into violent, flesh-hungry monsters.
For half of the game, you explore the semi open world of Union itself, uncovering secrets, completing incidental quests, and trying to avoid and survive against the hordes in a scaled-down game of DayZ or Dead Island. The other half transpires across tightly designed story missions, which you accept and clear almost like dungeons in an RPG.
The stakes are high. The tension is extreme. The headshots are nice and gooey. The first The Evil Within suffers from a convoluted plot and samey aesthetic – it’s not bad, but there’s a lot of talk about prophecies and chosen ones, and it all takes place in a grey-brown metal world that’s been lifted from the later Saw movies. The Evil Within 2 has a much clearer (if still somewhat overwritten) plot and seriously leaps off the screen thanks to some imaginative set pieces. Like its predecessor, it also makes excellent use of Debussy’s Clair de Lune.
One of the best survival horror games of the last ten years, The Evil Within 2 is now available at a big, 85% discount, dropping the price from $39.99 / £34.99 down to $5.99 / £3.74. Scary, stylish, and often overlooked, you can get The Evil Within 2 for cheap right here.
Alternatively, try some of the best survival games, or maybe the best zombie games available on PC.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.