Between lights and shadows, The Evil Within however, he managed to get us excited enough to intrigue us at the announcement of the first DLC, entitled The Assignment. The protagonist of the adventure is the detective Juli Kidman, a character we already met during the main adventure as Sebastian Castellanos. Let's see together how the developers of Tango Gameworks have decided to bring us back to the sick terror of their survival horror.
Unexpected double agent
The plot of The Evil Within: The Assigment sheds light on some obscure points left by the wayside after the conclusion of The Evil Within: the protagonist of the adventure is Juli Kidman, colleague and co-star of the main game together with Sebastian and Joseph. Kidman has secretly struck a deal with the secret agency Mobius, promising to recover Leslie for them. The latter is another old acquaintance of ours: he is the only patient still alive at Beacon Mental Hospital and, although his mental faculties may apparently make us suspect that not all wheels are in place, this is the he is the only one able to withstand the brain stress that Ruvik's machine - unassailable and terrifying antagonist we have learned to fear as Sebastian - generates in its user. After the first few minutes in which things seem to go the right way, as expected, Kidman's adventure plunges into a whirlwind spiral of terrifying madness, forcing the detective to go through the same decadent scenarios already seen in the role of Sebastian, suffering from time after time the bewilderment caused by the sudden change of location without interruption. Even the feeling of claustrophobia and the sick method chosen to cause fear - blood rivers and violent deaths - are what we have come to know in The Evil Within. Nothing to complain regarding the plot, therefore, also calculating that it took us three hours to complete this first DLC for the 9,99 euros which is offered in download, it seems to us a quality / price ratio definitely above the average of the competition.
Old fashioned survival
Who will play at The Assignment will have to prepare for a significant paradigm shift in gameplay: just know that we waited over an hour and a half before being able to fire a bullet, among other things in a game session where Kidman was unable to move and following which the gun was always unloaded. The only other weapons available in the adventure are the lumberjack hatchets, also present in extremely limited quantities and really useful in a single point, during which you will have to deal with an ex-friend who will try to make you skin. How to play, therefore, a The Assigment? Hiding: armed only with the flashlight, Kidman will have to continue the adventure with only the stealth approach, bitterly regretting the noise produced by that twelve model heel that doesn't suit a police officer. Crouched behind the shelters you can use the voice and the empty bottles to attract enemies and, always being careful not to be discovered, sneak to the next area. Fortunately, the enemies do not pay attention to the light of the torch, which you can always keep on to illuminate the way: it is a slight forcing that was in our opinion necessary to make the gameplay less demeaning, since, a bit like it happened with some game phases in The Evil Within, even in some places of The Assigment you risk frustration. Having already experienced the adventure as Sebastian, we were still prepared to face game sessions to be overcome by trial and error, which however we report to be inferior and simpler than the original adventure.
The puzzles are simple and the solutions intuitive, but the total lack of weapons increases the level of challenge: even opening a simple door is an action not to be underestimated, since it is necessary to make sure that there are no enemies nearby able to see the beautiful detective. Furthermore, some doors and objects will only be revealed when Kidman illuminates them with the torch, helping to fuel that aura of madness that hovers throughout the game. Warning: there are also a couple of enemies that you will not be able to see with the naked eye, but which will only reveal themselves if illuminated: be ready to jump on your chair and don't say we didn't warn you.
Lens flare everywhere
The technical sector is the same as the original The Evil Within, with the same strengths and weaknesses that we had highlighted in the review at the time: dust, particle effects and numerous lens flare effects are exploited to perfection to cover the technical flaws of a graphics engine that has some gaps compared to what we you would expect from a modern production. Fortunately, Tango Gameworks has worked to clean up the textures, creating an environment that is still more captivating and refined than that of the original adventure. There are still a couple of problems that we already reported at the time: the first is the presence of black bands at the top and bottom of the screen which, even if desired by Mikami to emphasize the theatricality of the narrative, take away useful space for the visual field ( as well as hiding the curvy side b of Kidman, but that's another story); the second is the excessive size of our virtual alter ego, which, like black bands, sometimes obstructs the view, preventing you from seeing enemies and leading to evaluation errors in the gameplay.
Of particular value is the Kurayami mode, to be unlocked together with the New Game + once the DLC is completed for the first time: in this curious mode the only source of light will be the torch in your hands, making the whole experience more difficult and, at the same time, incredibly more intense and fearful.
[signoff icon = "quote-circled"] The Evil Within: The Assigment is a DLC that has positively surprised us: on the one hand we have the explanation on some aspects of the plot previously left open, on the other a purely survival horror adventure as we have not seen since the days of Haunting Ground, able to make us feel that feeling of constant danger at times fugitive in the role of the much more tough and armed detective Castellanos. Given the longevity and replayability with the interesting additional modes, we would like to strongly recommend the purchase to all owners of The Evil Within: at this price it is worth returning to the Beacon and taking another round in the dangerous and sick Ruvik. [/ signoff]
