The Evil Within: The Consequence is the second DLC dedicated to The Evil Within, a title from Bethesda and Tango Gameworks developed with the help of Shinji Mikami, father of the original Resident Evil. As in the first additional content, the player is called to impersonate the detective Juli Kidman, through whose eyes he will experience parts of the plot not shown in the main adventure.
Mobius, this mysterious one
The narration of The Evil Within: The Consequence picks up exactly where it left off (quite abruptly) The Assigment. If in the first DLC we had begun to understand the real mission of Agent Kidman, in this second episode we will see in depth his with the mysterious Mobius agency, on behalf of which the beautiful detective must recover Leslie, the patient of the Beacon Mental Hospital who already we know from The Evil Within.
Compared to the first DLC, The Consequence it seemed more cohesive and interesting from the point of view of the narrative: on more than one occasion the storytellers have included very clear references to the main plot, to make us better understand what moment in the story we were living in the role of Kidman, many times showing us from different points of view what has already been experienced impersonating the protagonist Sebastian Castellanos. All this made us very happy, since one of the weaknesses of the previous DLC was precisely the lack of interest that in the long run could be created towards the narrative component, well recovered in this sequel. A real shame that no other additional content is planned for the moment, right now that the brand seemed to have found the perfect balance between storytelling and twists, in a world of mental illness where terror lurks at every blink of an eye. , with the scenarios that continuously change between the sunny summer day and the blood-dripping cellar. We really hope to see more content in the future that follows the same path, since the developers seem to learn from the mistakes of the past, refining their work more and more referring to the style of the undisputed master Mikami.
Give me a weapon
If in the first DLC we had limited ourselves to running and hiding, solving simple puzzles and luring the enemies to sneak behind them, finally in The Consequence Kidman will get his hands on the coveted pistol and, later on, even on a sawn-off shotgun. Don't expect the firepower of a Third Person Shooter though: in this respect The Evil Within is and remains a Survival Horror as it should be, during which it is necessary to ration the use of the (scarce) bullets available. Let's admit that we cursed Juli at the moment of the game when he loses his gun for the umpteenth time, terrified of having to crawl back into the shadows: fortunately this is a short amount of time compared to the three hours it takes to complete The Consequence, all well balanced between stealth sessions and moments in which to take off more than one satisfaction by balling enemies.
The combat gameplay remains the same as the original The Evil Within, with a slight greater emphasis on stealth: aiming and shooting is always difficult in the right place and is an action to complete only if really necessary. In many parts of the game it is in fact required to approach enemies hidden, to eliminate them with an ax or to throw them off a cliff. In other cases, however, as in the two intense boss fights present in The Consequence, a mixed approach between stealth and attack will be required, to be used simultaneously to get the better of the enemy. Let's take advantage of what has just been said to report a problem that afflicts this second DLC as much as the first: prepare to die at least as much as in The Evil Within, if not even more times. In The Consequence some game sessions require the classic trial and error approach we have already learned about, while boss fights feature a level of difficulty that offers a high degree of challenge to veterans but which, at the same time, risks turning into real frustration . About two and a half hours into the game you will face a boss that the writer took a good half hour to break down, risking in more than one opportunity to throw the pad against the wall. The good news is that the three hours of longevity reported by us do not take into account the continuous restart from previous checkpoints following sudden deaths and therefore, if you can accept the challenge and you will be able to remain calm until the end of the adventure, the total game time also calculating the boss fights will certainly exceed three hours, longevity well above the average of a normal DLC of this genre.
Concluding the gameplay chapter, we point out the appearance of the signal lights, to be thrown in the dark to illuminate the path instead of the torch - yes, Kidman will make you despair by losing that too - and the presence of slightly more complex puzzles than the previous DLC, component much appreciated by us and certainly useful to balance the moments of exploration and shootings.
Fog on sale
Graphically, the strengths and weaknesses are the same already extensively treated in the review of The Assigment and The Evil Within. This time, however, the graphic imperfections have been even better hidden behind special effects of lights, shadows and reflective surfaces able to emphasize the sick horror atmosphere by turning a blind eye to some too poorly defined textures. The downside in all this is fog and haze in general, present in massive doses throughout the adventure and, many times, annoying enough to make you lose track of an enemy or a boss able to surprise us from behind and kill us with a single shot. Kidman doesn't enjoy the character growth system we were able to exploit for Sebastian and that means the same energy and vulnerability throughout the game. For this reason, the fog that prevents you from approaching an enemy correctly often risks increasing the frustration that less patient players will surely experience.
On the other hand, the style with which some scenarios of the game have been recycled should be appreciated: if we would normally have pointed out this recycling as a lack of originality, in this case crossing in the role of Kidman the places already faced with Sebastian helps the overall coherence of the plot, increasing the same time the feeling of terror in the player who thinks he knows - and that's the beauty of it - which enemies and pitfalls to expect from the aforementioned game zones. The originality lies in the fact that the various levels will be overcome by Juli in a different way than what Sebastian did, thus giving a breath of fresh air to the experience and preventing the player from getting bored walking the same claustrophobic corridors simply with a different one. character.
Finally, a handful of lines should be dedicated to the enemies and polygonal models of the main characters, all interesting and credible: even if she uses the same moves as Sebastian, Juli Kidman is a protagonist who boasts a character design of exceptional charisma, as well as the new and old monsters he's going to face, most of which are only featured in these DLCs and not in the original game. We particularly wanted to emphasize this aspect, since the graphic creation of the protagonist and enemies will contribute not a little to accepting the already listed defects present in the other components of the DLC, which in our opinion remains a must have for anyone who has appreciated the effort. by The Evil Within to rediscover the roots of old-fashioned Survival Horror.
[signoff predefined = "Signoff 1 ″ icon =" quote-circled "] The Consequence is a difficult DLC to consider in its own right: it is the second part of a six-hour campaign dedicated to detective Juli Kidman and, as such , we must analyze it in a broader context: if on the one hand we have the graphic gaps and the risk of becoming frustrating for less experienced players - defects already listed in the review of the original game and of the first DLC - on the other hand we have seen with pleasure a greater cohesion of the plot and the expansion of the gameplay with regard to exploration, puzzles and combat. It seems to us that Bethesda and Tango Gamework are finally on the right track to find the blend that can please everyone. Now we just have to hope for a new chapter worthy of the name, still recommending the purchase of the season pass to all fans of The Evil Within: six hours at about twenty euros represent an excellent longevity / price ratio, always bearing in mind that in some respects The Consequence surpasses in quality the experience lived during the adventure of Sebastian Castellanos. [/ signoff]
