@@MontyZander Now this is epic! Loved your Bioshock series and can already tell I will like this series too. TEW2 is one of my favourite all-time favourite survival horror games so I want to hear your thoughts on the matter as well!
Dude. DUUUDE. The fact you took into account that a lot of your audience listens to videos like this one to fall asleep. I'm actually going to be watching your channel for a while at night. You deserve it.
Thank you! I've never heard a content creator actually say that, and the fact that he's thinking about us really means a lot. I posted in gmanlives comment section asking him to please stop the jump scare noises he disperses in every single video. He commented saying if I didn't like it to not watch his videos... Pretty lame, cause I like his content, but when me and my girlfriend have been woken up multiple times while one of his videos is auto playing, I've had to stop watching.
@@Idolhands360gmans kind of toxic, hes known to berate and talk down to viewers. Guarantee he’ll catch himself into drama soon. But yeah, good to know some yters recognize people like to listen at work, to sleep etc. pretty cool
@@camy3493 When did I say I expected him to take it out? I asked him politely to stop doing it and he told me to quit watching his videos. I think you lack reading comprehension skills. Giving constructive criticism doesn't mean that you assume or expect the person to change. My issue was him responding like DSP would, being immature and telling me to fuck off.
I think the nurse and the save room itself was a result of Leslie’s ability to influence STEM. Like when he created that playground with all the bubbles, he made a safe place for Sebastian with his old nurse
@@itchytomato Well, same thing happened with Devil May Cry and Resident Evil, yet we still got sequels for both since that happened, so it's definitely not out of the picture
@@Falas5898 I respect your opinion. I found both of them very enjoyable. They both have their pros and cons. Respectfully I do enjoy the first one better but I do like the freedom the second one has where I can play at my own beat.
The design of the upgrade wheelchair isn’t supposed to make you more comfortable with torture and the aesthetics of fear, but instead convey a loss of humanity in exchange for power. You are altering your personhood and subjecting yourself experimentation in order to survive. To beat the enemy, you must use their tools and the remnants of their mind, without losing yourself to this madness. Great video btw! Only half way through but loving it!
From the history of interactive horror, to basic psychological theory, to one of the best E3 presentations ever, to the surrealism art movement, to why inventory limits work, to autopsy analogy. What a wide variety of writing Monty!
I hate to say it, but the jank is what makes me love evil within. As a fan of horror who watches every horror movie I can, works for haunted houses, and plays every horror game I can get my hands on, EVIL within truly is a love letter. And still stands as my favorite horror game.
This came out at an important time where Silent Hill and Resident Evil had been long gone abd/or a shadow of its former self. It would be awhile before RE would make a triumphant return. I love this game and it's sequel despite the flaws.
I think the first part is thee best part of the game. Every other chapter tho except the last one i feel can be rearanged in any random order and it really wouldn't matter to the story.
This game is so criminally underrated. I still love it so much. I feel like this is gonna end up as one of Mikami’s cult classic titles as time goes on.
I find the second one better. But to each there own. I didn't really liked this one. And I found the second 2 more ""scarier"" than this one. Not that a horror game or movie scares me anymore. But they defenitly intrigue me.
I did listen to this while falling asleep and came back to relisten today and let out a big “aww” when I got to the sweet dreams part. Bless up to that and to not getting woken up by shrieks✨
My favorite transition is at the end of chapter 4 where you fall down the pit and it changes from a pit to a hallway. One big complaint I have are the pre order bonuses. You get a double barreled shotgun that's initially stronger than the one you find. However you can't upgrade it, so the vanilla shotgun will be stronger eventually. The big one though are the incindiary bolts, they make it to where Laura is not a threat, but that's only if you preordered this game from 8 years ago.
Honestly I've forgotten 80% about this game. Every time I watch an essay about it, I go 'what? I can't recall this happening or that enemy or this item being a thing'. However, I do always remember the crossbow. Crossbow is best bud in this game for sure
The alter ego weakpoint is the monster head. You don't need to shoot both heads Also you can plant explosives on surfaces. U can also shoot haunted legs to make them fall. Then burn them. If timed right u can kill multiples of them with a single match since the fire spreads. U can also use bottles to stun enemies by throwing it into their faces. Then crouch and use the knife Some genius mechanics Edit 2: The water monster is not that bad .. You're supposed to shoot the corpse nearest to you because the monster prefers the corpse over you
as a survivor of childhood trauma, it's the dread of encountering someone who torments you and could make it worse if they catch you not doing what they told you to while the fear is from enabledly hoping for the figured good outcome hoped for while being paranoid about the prominence of the presence dreaded, of which encountering would cause jump scares. the circumstances they impose are intended to convey helplessness for pain but at some point accepting hopelessness for it being different makes it easier to figure making changes.
Just wanted to say you've done a great job perfecting your audio/EQ/levels/etc. Jumping from your Avengers video to this one was like night and day. I like to go to sleep to long commentary videos so you've been a godsend! Preciate you
Congrats Monty on the success of all these critique videos! It's super obvious how much time, energy, and thought you put into making these and we appreciate the hell out of you for it. I came for your fiance's suffering, but I'm staying for your incredible critiques
Great video. I always love seeing other folks opinions on one of my favorite games. I'm a huge survival horror fan and TEW really feels like a love letter to the genre and I love the high skill ceiling the gameplay has. Its a very satisfying game to get good at. I did have one thing I wanted to bring up. This is not your fault because the game just doesn't tell you like at all but you were actually brute forcing the Amalgam boss. You can stealth the 1st phase. If you hide and pop the eye it grows to search for you and the heads on the boss, you go to phase 2 in like 3-4 sniper shots or explosive arrows. Then its just a freeze/shock bolt and like one more sniper round on the eye and you're done. It's a very frustrating fight if you dont stealth kill it and the IK stuff (throughout the whole game, not just here) is very annoying but that fight can be really cool once you know how it works. Again I'm not trying to hit you with the "lol skill issue" or whatever because the game doesn't tell you this at all. Not your fault. Could make your next playthrough more fun though.
I think the game does 'tell' you that. The cutscene ends with Seb hiding and the boss in a 'searching' state. But what's cool is you can absolutely get aggressive if you know how to use your tools. I love how many different ways there are to play this game.
At 13:30 you state "clear signposting and linearity" and I think it's incredibly interesting how your prior experiences with video games shape how you experience it. People who don't have any experience recognizing game design might have instead still felt very, very scared there as a result of just taking in the moment. It's funny; genre savvy eventually starts to harm the experience eventually because after consuming too much of any kind of media it becomes BLATANTLY apparent what's going to happen next, and that really ruins the experience for some people.
So well said. I came to the comment section because this was one of the first horror games I played and I remember thinking how strong the opening was, and was kind of surprised to hear that someone read it as predictable when it was the complete opposite for me. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder I guess.
@@Bigskitch Thank you. I agree, I only stated this because watching my sister play games as a "non-genre savvy" player, it becomes obvious to someone like me where to go and what to do in difficult situations where the solution isn't spelled out, but she tends to wander in circles for an answer because she doesn't have the same kind of experience with games that I do. It's an interesting thing to see, watching someone go blind into a game with no experience versus a lifetime of gaming experience behind them. You can gain a lot of insight into quality assurance by doing just that.
Synchronizing Leslie's brainwaves with those of Ruvik makes sense if you assume that something about Leslie's thought processes allowed him to break free. I think that's the logic behind it. This one person managed to escape this mental labyrinth, so sync people up with him and they might be able to do the same.
I really really NEED The Evil Within 3 nowwww. Its been 5 years since the sequel and I'm dying to know what happened to Joseph. Eventho Sebastien himself has a happy ending, i think he has one more run left in him.
i had a love hate relationship with this game. but after this other game I was hyped for that came out. I began to appreciate it more. it may not be as good as everyone says but I'll agree and admit it has so much more heart than most games these days.
Great review, the only thing I really have a different opinion about is the final Ruvik fight. I think it is fantastic. The way I took the very end of the base story is, once Leslie is liquefied, Ruvik has escaped. I think there is a lingering shadow of Ruvik and his control as Leslie tries to grasp whats going on around him, but your not fighting Ruvik, your fighting Leslie as Ruvik. His mind isn't equipped to be the core of stem, he isn't sure of where he is and whats going on, he is scared and confused, and the arena reflects that, its a whirlwind of a fight ontop of a brain, trying to put a suffering individual out of their misery, not the big bad guy. Leslie is probably restructuring what he knows, and has seen in the hellscape without the Nuance Ruvik could. Also I do believe a shadow of Ruvik Lingers behind, not just letting Leslie run wild, just enough of a memory Leslie doesn't have full control of Stem, plus it gives Ruvik enough subterfuge those involved would think he is dead and why not, something died at the core of stem and everything went offline, and Ruvik just, walked out in the confusion, he got what he want. He may have even slipped out earlier before the hussle and bussle and was waiting for the right moment to slip away like Seb. You are right that the game doesn't have the cheese for it, and the rocket launcher isn't earned, and I think you are right, it isn't earned, your given it, your given the means to kill the core cause Ruvik's checked out and you're suppose to, your suppose to be empowered your suppose to kill Leslie as Ruvik, your suppose to cause chaos and bring down the project so Ruvik can slip away.
Okay, gotta mention that the slow walk through the lobby makes sense because these are police officers moving through what is very obviously a crime scene. They have to walk slowly and carefully so as to avoid stepping in blood or on evidence. Until they know what is going on, they have to be careful so that they don't accidentally contaminate the crime scene. Because seriously, you don't want the guy who filled a lobby with corpses to get away with it because you put your foot in the wrong place.
Always thought of the evil within games as the spiritual successors to resident evil 4. Absolutely adored both games despite a few niggles here and there. Love your videos too man! The bioshock videos are what helped me find your channel and so glad I did!
I wanted to mention something about the anachronistic nature of Ruvik's nightmare. With cults typically being seen as a "thing of the past" I'm willing to bet a huge reason why the village and a lot of the lost seem old and antiquated are because Ruvik associates the deliberate murder of his sister by the villagers with a less advanced society. It makes me personally think about vengeful burnings of property driven by religious mobs, and even to some degree the murder of innocent women with belief they were witches. While it's written out that the fire was done to "show the Victorianos that the land isn't theirs" and the people who started it intentionally ignored the sound of children inside, given that ruvik and Laura were younger at this point his mind could've gone through so many places trying to rationalize what happened. I can't recall how clear it is but on the wiki it says only two people started the fire, but Ruvik talks about it like it was a mob that burned that barn down. He's an unreliable narrator and likely projected his feelings about societal advancements on everything.
I mentioned on a previous video how much more I felt I could gather and experience from games from listening to your critiques. That still holds true - to an extent. Try as I might, as soon as I hop onto any game my brain immediately switches to goopy goblin gamer brain mode and I just wanna punch, stab, shoot and break stuff. Neverless, your videos are amazing and make me want to play every single game that I watch one of your critiques of.
I can't wait to see your thoughts on The Evil Within 2. Personally, although it lacks some of what made the first games special, I think that overall the sequel blows the original out of the water. I think it's one of the best survival horror games ever made and I desperately wish we could get a TEW3 that further evolves on the great ideas presented in 2.
The second game felt too predictable to me. It was so straight forward and simple in terms of storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, the first story was told quite badly. But once I got my head around it I was interesting, ruben as an interesting villain. It was interesting dissecting who he was. But the second game just didn’t feel like that for me. I also thought it to be nowhere near as scary! If the first had been told a little better I think it would so much better than 2
To me, the tew2 did feel more like a survival horror game, until I played nightmare difficulty for the first game. It felt like I had to be more careful with combat scenarios because the ammo was really scarce and the enemies felt extremely dangerous. It was a really fun experience. One thing I didn't really like about the second game was that the higher difficulties felt, for lack of a better word, too easy compared to the higher difficulties of the first. Not to say that the higher difficulties of the second were not difficult, they were, just not to the same effect that the first was. I could just be super lucky, but enemies dropped a lot of gunpowder so I was never super low on ammo for my main weapons, unlike the higher difficulties of the first where I was always fairly low on ammo so I had to be strategic about combat encounters which gave the higher difficulties a new layer of fun and complexity. With the second, I didn't feel it as much with the second game. Overall, tew2 is the better survival horror game, while, in my opinion the first game is better
@@iluvmyoosik entitled to your opinion. I didn’t think the first one was told very well at all and it was reviewed that way by many people at the time. Second is much clearer but then it is also a very basic and simple story that I found boring
It’s a shame this game wasn’t loved upon release. I remember the resident evil remaster coming out shortly after, while this eventually became forgotten about until the sequel. I didn’t even play it until 2018 simply because I forgot it existed and to this day it’s my absolute favorite survival horror game.
Aw, man, I'm so glad people haven't forgotten about this game! I only got into it this past year, but wherever I looked there was just so little out there talking about it. For all its warts, I love it--and I love the second one even more, so I can't wait to hear your thoughts on that. Loved how thorough and well-thought-out this critique was.
Despite my love of horror movies, I'm not a huge fan of horror games. Probably because the horror relies on me to continue through it instead of it just continuing on. But I do love video essays on horror games! The Evil Within has always been one of those games where I love looking at the creature and character designs, and the atmosphere has always been intriguing to me. Great work as always! Looking forward to whatever you publish next!
I discovered your channel a couple months ago, juuuust before the Infinite video released. I binged every video essay you have, and I applaud you for the work you put into them. I know they're time consuming to create. I appreciate that you don't shy away from discussing your own worldviews or politics when discussing the ones that games present. Too many people are too scared to present how they look at the world in their videos, to avoid scaring off the "hurr durr anything I don't like is political and therefore bad, but anything I like is completely normal and good" crowd. Thank you for the wonderful content, and for having the courage to speak for yourself and what you think is right.
This was so good. I have tried to watch a few other retrospectives on this game from creators I love and have not been able to get through them. However, your particular insight and perspective made it a very interesting listen. Thanks for putting this out there, fantastic work.
The beginning of the game IS terrifying, and I died on it more than once. You may not have realized it’s possible to die because you just lucked out into the right answer, but I was struggling about where to go. I remember thinking I might have to stop playing because it was simply too scary and I couldn’t figure out how to progress. And to clarify, I’ve played other scary games prior to this (RE7, The Dead Space series). Maybe you just psyched yourself out of the immerson Edit: regarding the upgrade chair, I do feel that the upgrade system was unimpressive, the actual chair still made me cringe every time it injected Sebastian. It never felt safe, and it was probably the one thing that made the sage room feel unwelcoming and cold
I adored this game! A shocking lack of in-depth, high quality analysis (analysi? Whatever the plural is..) of this game out there. Seeing these pop up in the subscription feed makes my week.
1:23:41 Musique Concrète has actually been a term in electronic music since the late 40's and is traced back to France not Japan. It was some of the earliest electronic music technique, using chopped up and spliced sounds of the real world to create modernist soundscapes.
I think I got a idea of what the nurse is, and it's kinda based off Leslie and her disappearing at the end. She is a Sebastián's mental defense. She shows up in a place that is originally safe, tricks him into upgrading himself and acts like she shouldn't have to say anything but point. She's his subconscious taking a form he can trust and get better and ultimately survive. Why does Leslie correspond? Leslie is ryvik's humanity or last bit of it. Attempting to bring ryvik's mind back to reality. It's why ryvik is wanting Leslie, so he can gain his humanity to attempt an escape into a body, possibly Sebastián. To end it off, the nurse dissappears because his subconscious has nothing more to make sure he understands. The threat is just ahead, Leslie's goal is understood and what is at stake is completely understood.
This game is very special to me, it's the first game I played like it and it got me into survival horror. I also just really like Sebastian, he gives me Call of Cthulhu character vibes
Monty - You really outdid yourself in the writing of this piece. The way you smoothly transitioned story into commentary segments and back was awe inspiring. Also terrified of what you'll have to say about the second game, because God I love it so much lol
I absolutely adore that you put together a video coming to bat for this game. It's one of my all time favorites and I'm so tired of people dumping on it. Can't wait to watch this one, man!
I'm absurdly late for this but I just watched it. Great stuff man. Definitely will suscribe. I wanna say something from my own mind Canon though. I always thought that when ruvik puddles Leslie, he is out. The rest is purely Seb. Big monster, bullets flying, action setpiece, rocket launcher. It's Seb's subconscious doing action hero stuff to end the nightmare because that's what he knows I guess. At least that's what makes sense to me lol
It's not just you. Im pretty good at competitive FPS game and I struggled with the camera being so close lol But I love this and the sequel. Wish we could get a third even if it's with different characters
Big fan of your content. I feel so seen with the wind-down comment! I like to watch your videos in their entirety first, but later I'll go back to listen as I'm falling asleep. I've lost count of how often I've played your Bioshock series. Your analysis videos are certainly more soothing than Lore Dumps, but I do occasionally fall asleep to those too! Thanks for all you do. Always fascinating and entertaining, and amazing for my insomnia
Man I’ve been listening to this video when I can’t sleep ever since you uploaded it, and I just have to say I really appreciate how much thought you put into it. We don’t necessarily agree on every facet of the game, but we definitely share the same level of love and nostalgia for it as a whole.
Here I was thinking I didn't have time to watch a movie I wanted to watch, and then you go ahead and upload a 2 hours critique of the evil within. Damn you and your awesome content 🫠
The Evil Within is easily my fav Survival Horror franchise today. One thing that makes Shinji Mikami such an amazing game director is that he's able to create, along side his team, games that are immersive in the theme and fun at the same time. To me, the man is one of the best in the industry because he's still doing FUN games
I just wanted to say I really enjoyed the video! I just beat both games for the first time in the last two weeks so it was really perfect timing that this video was waiting for me at the end of my playthroughs. I more or less completely agree with entirety of the critique. I can't say I *loved* playing TEW1, but I've sure been thinking about it a lot since I beat it. Keep up the great work, I look forward to diving into your video backlog!
I think one of the reasons it might be forced is because a lot of people doesn't try to meet the game on its own terms, they would just speed past anything and not appreciate it and soak in the atmosphere. Now having it all forced doesn't solve that and yes it can overstay its welcome if done poorly, but a lot of this is also up to the player, like have the lights on, have friends around you, stream, low volume, bunnyhop if that's possible, or as I saw someone describe how he just ran up to the first monster he saw in Soma, and therefore it wasn't scary and blamed the game. If you're not willing to try to immerse yourself in the world, then it is quite easy to shrug anything off as not scary or atmospheric, no matter how good or bad it is. Scripted and linear events can be one of the most powerful ways to convey tension, atmosphere and powerful moments. That in itself isn't an issue, just as cutscenes aren't just obtrusive and annoying by default. A lot of gamers just needs to admit sometimes that game X isn't for them, rather than impose their subjective opinion on everything while leaving out any sort of objective professionalism and appreciation for what game Y is and was trying to achieve.
I attribute clair de lune to safety so much that I listen to it when upset. I love this game and this video thank you for reviewing my favorite game (:
Another absolute banger right here! I'm too much of a coward to play horror games, but I really enjoyed your look into the symbolism and monsters of this one. Surrealism especially seems to be a style that games excel in; it's so easy to make something seem slightly "off" when the audience is so deeply engaged with the systems and the environment.
Really enjoyed this one just like the others. I do not play horror games, watch horror movies, or anything close but I am usually intrigued by the story lines. Usually I have to watch RUclipsrs play games through a blanket and then still get scared by jump scares. Because of the editing of this video I got to enjoy both the video and the audio since the game play chosen was really friendly, I think, for people like me. Can't wait to see what game you do next!
I'm replaying this one right now for my own analysis and review so perfect timing. Definitely a lot of stuff to think about here. Great work dude! I love every second of your breakdowns.
Amazing video, as always! I love how thoughtfully you structure all your critiques. I typically watch these over a few days, and the way you organize your chapters is perfect. For a classic description of the "call of the void" phenomenon, I always recommend reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Imp of the Perverse" :)
I’ve been watching these types of video essays since I discovered Matthewmatosis nearly a decade ago and just started getting recommended the channel. Based on this video alone I can already tell you’re one of the best I’ve seen
I appreciate the dedication and effort put into this video! I was (and still am) a huge TEW fan and when the game came out I was bumped out cause it seemed to me like it didn’t get the attention it deserved. Now, looking back… nah, it got all the attention it needed (and a pretty loyal fan base as well). It’s not a masterpiece of a game, but it’s just enjoyable enough to be somewhere around the good ones.
On those harder difficulties, man resource management is insane, it becomes alnlmost a puzzle game trying to maximise the use of bottles and crossbolts. I still haven't finished the second one, butbfinished the first one 4 times.
I think my favourite detail about the DLCs is that the serum Mobius gave to Kidman that was suppose to protect her from Ruvik actually worked. And I don't just mean it in an obvious sense that she didn't get any headaches nor was she affected by the infection. No, I mean the fact that through the entire time Ruvik wasn't able to hurt Kidman directly even once. He could have been standing right in front of her a yet he still didn't kill her. So that's exactly why he is using the STEM world to get her. Either with ordinary Hounted, Kidman's nightmares or just Sebastian and Joseph. I mean it's no coincident that both of them turned right as they were alone with Kidman. Another nice thing I noticed is that while not always (I watched both DLCs ages ago so that's why I can't say it happens every time) usually the only times Ruvik can find Kidman is whenever there is someone else around which makes the undetectable part of the serum also true. I think the moment I remmeber best is right before Kidman gets stuck in a water tank. She is slowly walking and literally a few seconds after she hears Sebastian and Joseph nearby, Ruvik appears right in front of her and tries to kill her. Pretty much just another reason to adore those DLCs.
I remember when this launched and I never got into it cause I was over with horror but then as I slowly got back into it I remembered this game and so I got it and 2 on gp and man what a ride I absolutely loved it even though it was frustrating. I can gladly say I'm part of that fan base too! I even discovered the pc gamepass version fixed some issues and it's tough to even max achieve the xb version cause of the constant restarting where pc let's ya get the pre order stuff and infinite ammo but I still love the jank. Loved the critique you always make bangers.💙
The paintign you show at 1:08:40 is from Bosch, not Escher. You're still right about Berserk referencing Eshcer - I think most notably at the first appearance of the Godhand they use the escher stairs.
I know this is an overused meme by this point but if they ever make an Evil Within 3, they should make the antagonists say "it's mobin time" at some point (if Mobius still has a presence after The Evil Within 2)
11:05 The smelling blood line is actually the resson i know im wierd for not being able to smell blood. I can smell rotten blood but not fresh, and ive never had a nose bleed, so its conpletely anomalous, but its also one of those that is so abnormal you would neve know unless someone pointed out they can do it. I also have aphantasia which is why that type of thing is so interesting to me.
I like/dont like how the intro alone is so to the point and engaging Im aware of my own need to be so in my own work. So thanks/no thanks for inspiring me...! Now to watch the rest
I LOVED every single word you said and agreed with all of it. Your way of analyzing this game is excellent and the little sarcasm in every time stamp makes it even better. Btw, i can assure you, that bug in chapter 6 is still there, 2023. I hate it. Have to waste 2 to 3 arrows.
I couldn’t sleep tonight and I was up this time for the part where you opted not to play the screaming because you know we’re weird asses who listen to your videos to fall asleep. Wholesome horror content.
The Evil Within 2 is one of my favorite games. The first may not have changed much but i feel that the sequel took it's stregnths and made an engrossing stealth action experience. The story is farely generic a man trying to save his daughter from an evil secret society, but enough to keep you invested in the characters. The set pieces and environments have some fantastic use of non euclidean geometry, along with it's small scale open world you never feel like you're on rails most of the time. Nice video, I hope to see if you make another on the sequel.
Oh man, it's been ages since I've thought this much about The Evil Within--and what an excellent dissection! It's one of those games that's stuck in my brain because it's exactly as you said: the execution was lackluster, but the heart and vision it had was amazing! It just got lost in some murky soup of poor choices, gameplay jank, and trying to be a little too much like its wide array of inspirations instead of what it was. (But damn was that DLC was so much sharper.) Thank you for another incredibly thoughtful and pristinely edited video! You can really tell the time and passion you put into your work, and I appreciate it to the point that makes me so excited for every upload. :D
I swear, Monty, this is a brilliant project you're sharing with us - I love the campiness entwined with pure dread in the Evil Within series, the monsters, the atmosphere, the gameplay (PCMR here). Your critique is magnificently accurate, shows that you definitely know what you're talking about. Finally a smart gamer who's actually "gud". Personally, I find the game a bit too scary to enjoy it too many times - the second game has nothing of the original spirit, but it's a fun powertrip true a bizarre world nonetheless. Thank you so, so much for this critique - you're amazing. p.s. I indeed fell asleep during my first watch, the melody of your voice can have such an effect on a sometimes tired soul. It's appreciated despite that ... scratch the last part - especially because of that.
This is the game that got me intp the resident evil franchise i loved it when i was a teen but going back to it now after playing the modern resident evil games is tough still holds a special place in my heart though.
I spent hours dying to the amalgam at first it was because he moves really fast and you have to stand In place if you want to actually hit your shots but then I ran out of ammo so I had to go to the rooms to get the ammo "safely" until he grabs you and throws you out but when I got to second phase it was over. He walked over and decided that I shouldn't live. After a few more deaths I realized that he has a giant eye that looks for you when he can't find you and when you manage to hit it he falls over and let's you throw a grenade or few at him. I also saw that you can hide under the cars and that you can hide behind pillars. So I did this strat of hiding, shooting his eye and then running away to hid again. This worked "fine" (sometimes he had the 6th sense and would find me go crazy and destroy everything to hide behind) until the second phase were he actually knows where you are at at all times and so my whole strat got destroyed instantly. Many more deaths later I was able to do enough damage to finally kill him. I watched some videos after this of people beating him and apparently you are supposed to spam ice and electric bolts and stun lock him very cool fight.
1:28:08 - THANK YOU. I just played this game for the first time recently (on Standard difficulty), and I honestly thought I was the only one who had legitimate trouble with the Amalgam Alpha boss, because I didn't have any shock or freeze bolts at my disposal (relying on the sniper instead for a lot of the fight). I'm not going to lie when I say it nearly turned me off from wanting to finish the game. (Which I didn't want to stop, because I was genuinely enjoying a lot of it and driven to see the story through to the end.) I was so tempted to lower the difficulty, but knowing I was at the end of the chapter, I didn't want to have to play through it again, just to get back to the Amalgam boss. After putting the game down for a week and then playing it for three straight days after, I FINALLY took him down. But man, the game really lost its fun factor for me right there. (Which, on a side note, I kind of have to disagree about the post-Heresy turret and bus driving sections - I found those bits to be very cathartic and actually started to have fun with the game again. I'm not saying I wanted the entire game to be like that, but I thought those parts were a nice breather after some frustrating sections.) Anyway, great video, man. It was a pleasure to hear your thoughts on this beautiful, mixed-bag mess of a game.
Because I checked bestgameprice.net, I got A Plague Tale: Requiem for almost a full tenner off 👇👇
www.bestgameprice.net/a-plague-tale-requiem
Will you do The Evil Within 2? Haven't watched the full video yet but I think this might be a good binge-watch series.
@@mahic98 I will! I replayed it alongside the first game for the sake of context. Finishing up the script now! Hoping to get it out in November.
@@MontyZander Now this is epic! Loved your Bioshock series and can already tell I will like this series too. TEW2 is one of my favourite all-time favourite survival horror games so I want to hear your thoughts on the matter as well!
@@MontyZander I love the fact that you called that giant field of Sunflowers, Dandelions, I just think it's funny
good thing Sessler is gone now he is a horrible person
RE7 and 8 are Resident Evil with a Silent Hill protagonist. The Evil Within is Silent Hill with a Resident Evil protagonist
Dude. DUUUDE. The fact you took into account that a lot of your audience listens to videos like this one to fall asleep. I'm actually going to be watching your channel for a while at night. You deserve it.
Thank you! I've never heard a content creator actually say that, and the fact that he's thinking about us really means a lot. I posted in gmanlives comment section asking him to please stop the jump scare noises he disperses in every single video. He commented saying if I didn't like it to not watch his videos... Pretty lame, cause I like his content, but when me and my girlfriend have been woken up multiple times while one of his videos is auto playing, I've had to stop watching.
@@Idolhands360gmans kind of toxic, hes known to berate and talk down to viewers. Guarantee he’ll catch himself into drama soon. But yeah, good to know some yters recognize people like to listen at work, to sleep etc. pretty cool
@@Idolhands360 I mean it sucks it wakes you up but you can't expect the guy to take that out of his videos just because one person asked him too
@@camy3493 When did I say I expected him to take it out? I asked him politely to stop doing it and he told me to quit watching his videos. I think you lack reading comprehension skills. Giving constructive criticism doesn't mean that you assume or expect the person to change. My issue was him responding like DSP would, being immature and telling me to fuck off.
@@Idolhands360 telling you not to watch his videos if you don't like it isn't immature he's just being honest with you
I think the nurse and the save room itself was a result of Leslie’s ability to influence STEM. Like when he created that playground with all the bubbles, he made a safe place for Sebastian with his old nurse
THIS finally someone understands
Man, I love The Evil Within, it's a very great nod to classic survival horror in my opinion. I really hope we see an TEW3 in the future.
well ghostwire tokyo was going to be TEW3, but underwent massive changes to become what it is now
@@wavemediaincorperated892 I heard about that! Really a shame they went that route 🫤
@@itchytomato Well, same thing happened with Devil May Cry and Resident Evil, yet we still got sequels for both since that happened, so it's definitely not out of the picture
Hopefully not open world. The second game sucks.
@@Falas5898 I respect your opinion. I found both of them very enjoyable. They both have their pros and cons. Respectfully I do enjoy the first one better but I do like the freedom the second one has where I can play at my own beat.
The design of the upgrade wheelchair isn’t supposed to make you more comfortable with torture and the aesthetics of fear, but instead convey a loss of humanity in exchange for power. You are altering your personhood and subjecting yourself experimentation in order to survive. To beat the enemy, you must use their tools and the remnants of their mind, without losing yourself to this madness. Great video btw! Only half way through but loving it!
From the history of interactive horror, to basic psychological theory, to one of the best E3 presentations ever, to the surrealism art movement, to why inventory limits work, to autopsy analogy. What a wide variety of writing Monty!
I hate to say it, but the jank is what makes me love evil within. As a fan of horror who watches every horror movie I can, works for haunted houses, and plays every horror game I can get my hands on, EVIL within truly is a love letter. And still stands as my favorite horror game.
This came out at an important time where Silent Hill and Resident Evil had been long gone abd/or a shadow of its former self. It would be awhile before RE would make a triumphant return. I love this game and it's sequel despite the flaws.
Maybe I'm in the minority but I actually love the opening 30mins of this game. It's relentless and actually scary.
Same. I thought it was awesome! Got me intrigued for sure
Same 100% it was amazing perfectly scripted nd mysterious enough sets you for the horror then the whole game evolves with each chapitre to art
The evil within 2 as well I absolutely loved the beginning (s) of both games
I think the first part is thee best part of the game. Every other chapter tho except the last one i feel can be rearanged in any random order and it really wouldn't matter to the story.
people seem to be split between the 1st and 2nd game, but I love both just for different reasons.
This game is so criminally underrated. I still love it so much. I feel like this is gonna end up as one of Mikami’s cult classic titles as time goes on.
Mad underrated
fact
I find the second one better. But to each there own. I didn't really liked this one. And I found the second 2 more ""scarier"" than this one. Not that a horror game or movie scares me anymore. But they defenitly intrigue me.
@@Kvs-vf9ntI’ve just downloaded Evil Within 2 do I need to play the first one first or can I just go ahead and play the 2nd cheers
@@magz9816 You can just go ahead mate.👍
Edit: have fun!
I did listen to this while falling asleep and came back to relisten today and let out a big “aww” when I got to the sweet dreams part. Bless up to that and to not getting woken up by shrieks✨
My favorite transition is at the end of chapter 4 where you fall down the pit and it changes from a pit to a hallway.
One big complaint I have are the pre order bonuses. You get a double barreled shotgun that's initially stronger than the one you find. However you can't upgrade it, so the vanilla shotgun will be stronger eventually.
The big one though are the incindiary bolts, they make it to where Laura is not a threat, but that's only if you preordered this game from 8 years ago.
That cutscene, in my opinion, is one of the coolest cutscenes I've ever seen in a video game, it's just so cool
Late reply ,but you can upgrade the regular bolt to make it incendiary)
Honestly I've forgotten 80% about this game. Every time I watch an essay about it, I go 'what? I can't recall this happening or that enemy or this item being a thing'. However, I do always remember the crossbow. Crossbow is best bud in this game for sure
😅 I only remembered the 1st enemy encounter, the barn, the hospital/safe room, and the crossbow
@@danirodriguez3682 I remember crossbow and the spider lady thing (or is that evil within 2?). A year later...
Came to the channel for Kingdom Hearts, stayed for long-form analyses on horror games. I'm growing to love this channel more and more 😁
Same
Funnily I came to see his girlfriend scream at dark souls and now I’m hooked on KH lore. Gotta love Monty
Let's just all agree dude has the best lineup of content.
The alter ego weakpoint is the monster head. You don't need to shoot both heads
Also you can plant explosives on surfaces.
U can also shoot haunted legs to make them fall. Then burn them. If timed right u can kill multiples of them with a single match since the fire spreads.
U can also use bottles to stun enemies by throwing it into their faces. Then crouch and use the knife
Some genius mechanics
Edit 2:
The water monster is not that bad .. You're supposed to shoot the corpse nearest to you because the monster prefers the corpse over you
as a survivor of childhood trauma, it's the dread of encountering someone who torments you and could make it worse if they catch you not doing what they told you to while the fear is from enabledly hoping for the figured good outcome hoped for while being paranoid about the prominence of the presence dreaded, of which encountering would cause jump scares. the circumstances they impose are intended to convey helplessness for pain but at some point accepting hopelessness for it being different makes it easier to figure making changes.
Just wanted to say you've done a great job perfecting your audio/EQ/levels/etc. Jumping from your Avengers video to this one was like night and day. I like to go to sleep to long commentary videos so you've been a godsend! Preciate you
On that note, Id love to know his tricks. Im having a hard time projecting and also being listenable
Congrats Monty on the success of all these critique videos! It's super obvious how much time, energy, and thought you put into making these and we appreciate the hell out of you for it. I came for your fiance's suffering, but I'm staying for your incredible critiques
Great video. I always love seeing other folks opinions on one of my favorite games. I'm a huge survival horror fan and TEW really feels like a love letter to the genre and I love the high skill ceiling the gameplay has. Its a very satisfying game to get good at.
I did have one thing I wanted to bring up. This is not your fault because the game just doesn't tell you like at all but you were actually brute forcing the Amalgam boss. You can stealth the 1st phase. If you hide and pop the eye it grows to search for you and the heads on the boss, you go to phase 2 in like 3-4 sniper shots or explosive arrows. Then its just a freeze/shock bolt and like one more sniper round on the eye and you're done. It's a very frustrating fight if you dont stealth kill it and the IK stuff (throughout the whole game, not just here) is very annoying but that fight can be really cool once you know how it works. Again I'm not trying to hit you with the "lol skill issue" or whatever because the game doesn't tell you this at all. Not your fault. Could make your next playthrough more fun though.
You can WHAT!? AGHHH
I think the game does 'tell' you that. The cutscene ends with Seb hiding and the boss in a 'searching' state. But what's cool is you can absolutely get aggressive if you know how to use your tools. I love how many different ways there are to play this game.
At 13:30 you state "clear signposting and linearity" and I think it's incredibly interesting how your prior experiences with video games shape how you experience it. People who don't have any experience recognizing game design might have instead still felt very, very scared there as a result of just taking in the moment. It's funny; genre savvy eventually starts to harm the experience eventually because after consuming too much of any kind of media it becomes BLATANTLY apparent what's going to happen next, and that really ruins the experience for some people.
This is an absolutely great point.
So well said. I came to the comment section because this was one of the first horror games I played and I remember thinking how strong the opening was, and was kind of surprised to hear that someone read it as predictable when it was the complete opposite for me. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder I guess.
@@Bigskitch Thank you. I agree, I only stated this because watching my sister play games as a "non-genre savvy" player, it becomes obvious to someone like me where to go and what to do in difficult situations where the solution isn't spelled out, but she tends to wander in circles for an answer because she doesn't have the same kind of experience with games that I do.
It's an interesting thing to see, watching someone go blind into a game with no experience versus a lifetime of gaming experience behind them. You can gain a lot of insight into quality assurance by doing just that.
finally somebody does a long form critique on this game. love it!
Synchronizing Leslie's brainwaves with those of Ruvik makes sense if you assume that something about Leslie's thought processes allowed him to break free. I think that's the logic behind it. This one person managed to escape this mental labyrinth, so sync people up with him and they might be able to do the same.
really do love that u acknowledged viewers like to fall asleep to these types of videos!
I really really NEED The Evil Within 3 nowwww. Its been 5 years since the sequel and I'm dying to know what happened to Joseph. Eventho Sebastien himself has a happy ending, i think he has one more run left in him.
I just want to say I really love these long form critiques and the noobus humanus videos. Never ceases to entertain
i had a love hate relationship with this game. but after this other game I was hyped for that came out. I began to appreciate it more. it may not be as good as everyone says but I'll agree and admit it has so much more heart than most games these days.
Great review, the only thing I really have a different opinion about is the final Ruvik fight. I think it is fantastic.
The way I took the very end of the base story is, once Leslie is liquefied, Ruvik has escaped. I think there is a lingering shadow of Ruvik and his control as Leslie tries to grasp whats going on around him, but your not fighting Ruvik, your fighting Leslie as Ruvik. His mind isn't equipped to be the core of stem, he isn't sure of where he is and whats going on, he is scared and confused, and the arena reflects that, its a whirlwind of a fight ontop of a brain, trying to put a suffering individual out of their misery, not the big bad guy. Leslie is probably restructuring what he knows, and has seen in the hellscape without the Nuance Ruvik could.
Also I do believe a shadow of Ruvik Lingers behind, not just letting Leslie run wild, just enough of a memory Leslie doesn't have full control of Stem, plus it gives Ruvik enough subterfuge those involved would think he is dead and why not, something died at the core of stem and everything went offline, and Ruvik just, walked out in the confusion, he got what he want. He may have even slipped out earlier before the hussle and bussle and was waiting for the right moment to slip away like Seb.
You are right that the game doesn't have the cheese for it, and the rocket launcher isn't earned, and I think you are right, it isn't earned, your given it, your given the means to kill the core cause Ruvik's checked out and you're suppose to, your suppose to be empowered your suppose to kill Leslie as Ruvik, your suppose to cause chaos and bring down the project so Ruvik can slip away.
Okay, gotta mention that the slow walk through the lobby makes sense because these are police officers moving through what is very obviously a crime scene. They have to walk slowly and carefully so as to avoid stepping in blood or on evidence. Until they know what is going on, they have to be careful so that they don't accidentally contaminate the crime scene. Because seriously, you don't want the guy who filled a lobby with corpses to get away with it because you put your foot in the wrong place.
Always thought of the evil within games as the spiritual successors to resident evil 4. Absolutely adored both games despite a few niggles here and there.
Love your videos too man! The bioshock videos are what helped me find your channel and so glad I did!
more like silent hill then re
I wanted to mention something about the anachronistic nature of Ruvik's nightmare.
With cults typically being seen as a "thing of the past" I'm willing to bet a huge reason why the village and a lot of the lost seem old and antiquated are because Ruvik associates the deliberate murder of his sister by the villagers with a less advanced society. It makes me personally think about vengeful burnings of property driven by religious mobs, and even to some degree the murder of innocent women with belief they were witches.
While it's written out that the fire was done to "show the Victorianos that the land isn't theirs" and the people who started it intentionally ignored the sound of children inside, given that ruvik and Laura were younger at this point his mind could've gone through so many places trying to rationalize what happened. I can't recall how clear it is but on the wiki it says only two people started the fire, but Ruvik talks about it like it was a mob that burned that barn down. He's an unreliable narrator and likely projected his feelings about societal advancements on everything.
There’s so much work that goes into these videos it’s hard not to feel the love in them. I really enjoy watching these.
I mentioned on a previous video how much more I felt I could gather and experience from games from listening to your critiques.
That still holds true - to an extent. Try as I might, as soon as I hop onto any game my brain immediately switches to goopy goblin gamer brain mode and I just wanna punch, stab, shoot and break stuff.
Neverless, your videos are amazing and make me want to play every single game that I watch one of your critiques of.
I can't wait to see your thoughts on The Evil Within 2. Personally, although it lacks some of what made the first games special, I think that overall the sequel blows the original out of the water. I think it's one of the best survival horror games ever made and I desperately wish we could get a TEW3 that further evolves on the great ideas presented in 2.
The second game felt too predictable to me. It was so straight forward and simple in terms of storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, the first story was told quite badly. But once I got my head around it I was interesting, ruben as an interesting villain. It was interesting dissecting who he was. But the second game just didn’t feel like that for me. I also thought it to be nowhere near as scary! If the first had been told a little better I think it would so much better than 2
@@Jwallworth amen on all fronts
To me, the tew2 did feel more like a survival horror game, until I played nightmare difficulty for the first game. It felt like I had to be more careful with combat scenarios because the ammo was really scarce and the enemies felt extremely dangerous. It was a really fun experience. One thing I didn't really like about the second game was that the higher difficulties felt, for lack of a better word, too easy compared to the higher difficulties of the first. Not to say that the higher difficulties of the second were not difficult, they were, just not to the same effect that the first was. I could just be super lucky, but enemies dropped a lot of gunpowder so I was never super low on ammo for my main weapons, unlike the higher difficulties of the first where I was always fairly low on ammo so I had to be strategic about combat encounters which gave the higher difficulties a new layer of fun and complexity. With the second, I didn't feel it as much with the second game. Overall, tew2 is the better survival horror game, while, in my opinion the first game is better
@@iluvmyoosik entitled to your opinion. I didn’t think the first one was told very well at all and it was reviewed that way by many people at the time. Second is much clearer but then it is also a very basic and simple story that I found boring
It’s a shame this game wasn’t loved upon release. I remember the resident evil remaster coming out shortly after, while this eventually became forgotten about until the sequel. I didn’t even play it until 2018 simply because I forgot it existed and to this day it’s my absolute favorite survival horror game.
Aw, man, I'm so glad people haven't forgotten about this game! I only got into it this past year, but wherever I looked there was just so little out there talking about it. For all its warts, I love it--and I love the second one even more, so I can't wait to hear your thoughts on that. Loved how thorough and well-thought-out this critique was.
Despite my love of horror movies, I'm not a huge fan of horror games. Probably because the horror relies on me to continue through it instead of it just continuing on.
But I do love video essays on horror games! The Evil Within has always been one of those games where I love looking at the creature and character designs, and the atmosphere has always been intriguing to me.
Great work as always! Looking forward to whatever you publish next!
I discovered your channel a couple months ago, juuuust before the Infinite video released. I binged every video essay you have, and I applaud you for the work you put into them. I know they're time consuming to create. I appreciate that you don't shy away from discussing your own worldviews or politics when discussing the ones that games present. Too many people are too scared to present how they look at the world in their videos, to avoid scaring off the "hurr durr anything I don't like is political and therefore bad, but anything I like is completely normal and good" crowd. Thank you for the wonderful content, and for having the courage to speak for yourself and what you think is right.
This was so good. I have tried to watch a few other retrospectives on this game from creators I love and have not been able to get through them. However, your particular insight and perspective made it a very interesting listen. Thanks for putting this out there, fantastic work.
I always look forward to one of your in depth game critiques/analysis videos
The beginning of the game IS terrifying, and I died on it more than once. You may not have realized it’s possible to die because you just lucked out into the right answer, but I was struggling about where to go.
I remember thinking I might have to stop playing because it was simply too scary and I couldn’t figure out how to progress. And to clarify, I’ve played other scary games prior to this (RE7, The Dead Space series).
Maybe you just psyched yourself out of the immerson
Edit: regarding the upgrade chair, I do feel that the upgrade system was unimpressive, the actual chair still made me cringe every time it injected Sebastian. It never felt safe, and it was probably the one thing that made the sage room feel unwelcoming and cold
Bro, some of this guys criticism is valid but most is just pointless ranting.
I adored this game! A shocking lack of in-depth, high quality analysis (analysi? Whatever the plural is..) of this game out there. Seeing these pop up in the subscription feed makes my week.
It's "analyses."
@@midnightkiteflight6333 Thank you! I had a momentary lapse.
1:23:41 Musique Concrète has actually been a term in electronic music since the late 40's and is traced back to France not Japan. It was some of the earliest electronic music technique, using chopped up and spliced sounds of the real world to create modernist soundscapes.
Ah my bad - appreciate the correction!
@@MontyZander not a correction just an expansion! love your vids, the BioShock critique is a literal masterpiece!
I think I got a idea of what the nurse is, and it's kinda based off Leslie and her disappearing at the end. She is a Sebastián's mental defense. She shows up in a place that is originally safe, tricks him into upgrading himself and acts like she shouldn't have to say anything but point. She's his subconscious taking a form he can trust and get better and ultimately survive.
Why does Leslie correspond?
Leslie is ryvik's humanity or last bit of it. Attempting to bring ryvik's mind back to reality. It's why ryvik is wanting Leslie, so he can gain his humanity to attempt an escape into a body, possibly Sebastián. To end it off, the nurse dissappears because his subconscious has nothing more to make sure he understands. The threat is just ahead, Leslie's goal is understood and what is at stake is completely understood.
This game is very special to me, it's the first game I played like it and it got me into survival horror. I also just really like Sebastian, he gives me Call of Cthulhu character vibes
Monty - You really outdid yourself in the writing of this piece. The way you smoothly transitioned story into commentary segments and back was awe inspiring.
Also terrified of what you'll have to say about the second game, because God I love it so much lol
I also love the second game! More than the first, but it does have a couple of weird issues. Video in the next 2 weeks (hopefully!)
@@MontyZander Holy Cow Monty! You over delivered and got it out in 5 days! So excited to watch it!
@@lucariojet I usually work a month ahead of myself so was sorting editing etc when you commented!
I absolutely adore that you put together a video coming to bat for this game. It's one of my all time favorites and I'm so tired of people dumping on it. Can't wait to watch this one, man!
I love this game so much. It's such a beautiful mess. The experience of making it through this game is something I will never forget
The pre order bonus giving you the ability to craft fire bolts which makes Laura’s fights too easy is mind boggling
I'm absurdly late for this but I just watched it. Great stuff man. Definitely will suscribe.
I wanna say something from my own mind Canon though. I always thought that when ruvik puddles Leslie, he is out. The rest is purely Seb. Big monster, bullets flying, action setpiece, rocket launcher. It's Seb's subconscious doing action hero stuff to end the nightmare because that's what he knows I guess.
At least that's what makes sense to me lol
Honestly the creatures on EW1 are some of the freakiest i've seen in a horror game
I just finished streaming Evil Within 2 yesterday! I love this series
It's not just you. Im pretty good at competitive FPS game and I struggled with the camera being so close lol
But I love this and the sequel. Wish we could get a third even if it's with different characters
Big fan of your content. I feel so seen with the wind-down comment! I like to watch your videos in their entirety first, but later I'll go back to listen as I'm falling asleep. I've lost count of how often I've played your Bioshock series. Your analysis videos are certainly more soothing than Lore Dumps, but I do occasionally fall asleep to those too! Thanks for all you do. Always fascinating and entertaining, and amazing for my insomnia
Man I’ve been listening to this video when I can’t sleep ever since you uploaded it, and I just have to say I really appreciate how much thought you put into it. We don’t necessarily agree on every facet of the game, but we definitely share the same level of love and nostalgia for it as a whole.
I’ve platinumed both 1 and 2 and they were a ton of fun!! Akuma and Classic mode were hell but I’m glad I did it! Love the video!
Here I was thinking I didn't have time to watch a movie I wanted to watch, and then you go ahead and upload a 2 hours critique of the evil within. Damn you and your awesome content 🫠
The Evil Within is easily my fav Survival Horror franchise today. One thing that makes Shinji Mikami such an amazing game director is that he's able to create, along side his team, games that are immersive in the theme and fun at the same time. To me, the man is one of the best in the industry because he's still doing FUN games
I just wanted to say I really enjoyed the video! I just beat both games for the first time in the last two weeks so it was really perfect timing that this video was waiting for me at the end of my playthroughs. I more or less completely agree with entirety of the critique. I can't say I *loved* playing TEW1, but I've sure been thinking about it a lot since I beat it. Keep up the great work, I look forward to diving into your video backlog!
I think one of the reasons it might be forced is because a lot of people doesn't try to meet the game on its own terms, they would just speed past anything and not appreciate it and soak in the atmosphere. Now having it all forced doesn't solve that and yes it can overstay its welcome if done poorly, but a lot of this is also up to the player, like have the lights on, have friends around you, stream, low volume, bunnyhop if that's possible, or as I saw someone describe how he just ran up to the first monster he saw in Soma, and therefore it wasn't scary and blamed the game. If you're not willing to try to immerse yourself in the world, then it is quite easy to shrug anything off as not scary or atmospheric, no matter how good or bad it is.
Scripted and linear events can be one of the most powerful ways to convey tension, atmosphere and powerful moments. That in itself isn't an issue, just as cutscenes aren't just obtrusive and annoying by default. A lot of gamers just needs to admit sometimes that game X isn't for them, rather than impose their subjective opinion on everything while leaving out any sort of objective professionalism and appreciation for what game Y is and was trying to achieve.
I attribute clair de lune to safety so much that I listen to it when upset. I love this game and this video thank you for reviewing my favorite game (:
Another absolute banger right here! I'm too much of a coward to play horror games, but I really enjoyed your look into the symbolism and monsters of this one. Surrealism especially seems to be a style that games excel in; it's so easy to make something seem slightly "off" when the audience is so deeply engaged with the systems and the environment.
Really enjoyed this one just like the others. I do not play horror games, watch horror movies, or anything close but I am usually intrigued by the story lines. Usually I have to watch RUclipsrs play games through a blanket and then still get scared by jump scares. Because of the editing of this video I got to enjoy both the video and the audio since the game play chosen was really friendly, I think, for people like me. Can't wait to see what game you do next!
I'm replaying this one right now for my own analysis and review so perfect timing. Definitely a lot of stuff to think about here. Great work dude! I love every second of your breakdowns.
Amazing video, as always! I love how thoughtfully you structure all your critiques. I typically watch these over a few days, and the way you organize your chapters is perfect.
For a classic description of the "call of the void" phenomenon, I always recommend reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Imp of the Perverse" :)
I’ve been watching these types of video essays since I discovered Matthewmatosis nearly a decade ago and just started getting recommended the channel. Based on this video alone I can already tell you’re one of the best I’ve seen
i do often listen to you while falling asleep so i appreciate that you acknowledged that
I appreciate the dedication and effort put into this video! I was (and still am) a huge TEW fan and when the game came out I was bumped out cause it seemed to me like it didn’t get the attention it deserved. Now, looking back… nah, it got all the attention it needed (and a pretty loyal fan base as well). It’s not a masterpiece of a game, but it’s just enjoyable enough to be somewhere around the good ones.
I love that you mentioned the save room puzzle game. It's so satisfying.
On those harder difficulties, man resource management is insane, it becomes alnlmost a puzzle game trying to maximise the use of bottles and crossbolts. I still haven't finished the second one, butbfinished the first one 4 times.
I think my favourite detail about the DLCs is that the serum Mobius gave to Kidman that was suppose to protect her from Ruvik actually worked. And I don't just mean it in an obvious sense that she didn't get any headaches nor was she affected by the infection.
No, I mean the fact that through the entire time Ruvik wasn't able to hurt Kidman directly even once. He could have been standing right in front of her a yet he still didn't kill her. So that's exactly why he is using the STEM world to get her. Either with ordinary Hounted, Kidman's nightmares or just Sebastian and Joseph. I mean it's no coincident that both of them turned right as they were alone with Kidman.
Another nice thing I noticed is that while not always (I watched both DLCs ages ago so that's why I can't say it happens every time) usually the only times Ruvik can find Kidman is whenever there is someone else around which makes the undetectable part of the serum also true. I think the moment I remmeber best is right before Kidman gets stuck in a water tank. She is slowly walking and literally a few seconds after she hears Sebastian and Joseph nearby, Ruvik appears right in front of her and tries to kill her.
Pretty much just another reason to adore those DLCs.
Yes I did fall asleep to this video and rewatched in the morning. I appreciate you.
Yesssss love the channel man keep it going
I remember when this launched and I never got into it cause I was over with horror but then as I slowly got back into it I remembered this game and so I got it and 2 on gp and man what a ride I absolutely loved it even though it was frustrating. I can gladly say I'm part of that fan base too! I even discovered the pc gamepass version fixed some issues and it's tough to even max achieve the xb version cause of the constant restarting where pc let's ya get the pre order stuff and infinite ammo but I still love the jank. Loved the critique you always make bangers.💙
Thank you for all the love you put into these videos ❤ you show unbridled love to these games
One of my FAV long-video youtubers, great video
The paintign you show at 1:08:40 is from Bosch, not Escher. You're still right about Berserk referencing Eshcer - I think most notably at the first appearance of the Godhand they use the escher stairs.
I know this is an overused meme by this point but if they ever make an Evil Within 3, they should make the antagonists say "it's mobin time" at some point (if Mobius still has a presence after The Evil Within 2)
“It’s Mobin’ Time” *plugs themselves into STEM*
11:05 The smelling blood line is actually the resson i know im wierd for not being able to smell blood. I can smell rotten blood but not fresh, and ive never had a nose bleed, so its conpletely anomalous, but its also one of those that is so abnormal you would neve know unless someone pointed out they can do it. I also have aphantasia which is why that type of thing is so interesting to me.
One of the best underrated channels. I love all your content. Please keep it up
I like/dont like how the intro alone is so to the point and engaging Im aware of my own need to be so in my own work. So thanks/no thanks for inspiring me...! Now to watch the rest
I just want to say, amazing video, you dedicated a lot of thought and perception on this game that I never thought of.
Had to come back to comment; hearing "sweet dreams btw" while dozing off was so sweet
I LOVED every single word you said and agreed with all of it. Your way of analyzing this game is excellent and the little sarcasm in every time stamp makes it even better. Btw, i can assure you, that bug in chapter 6 is still there, 2023. I hate it. Have to waste 2 to 3 arrows.
I couldn’t sleep tonight and I was up this time for the part where you opted not to play the screaming because you know we’re weird asses who listen to your videos to fall asleep. Wholesome horror content.
The Evil Within 2 is one of my favorite games. The first may not have changed much but i feel that the sequel took it's stregnths and made an engrossing stealth action experience. The story is farely generic a man trying to save his daughter from an evil secret society, but enough to keep you invested in the characters. The set pieces and environments have some fantastic use of non euclidean geometry, along with it's small scale open world you never feel like you're on rails most of the time. Nice video, I hope to see if you make another on the sequel.
Feeling called out for listening to this while napping. Good job, sir.
Oh man, it's been ages since I've thought this much about The Evil Within--and what an excellent dissection! It's one of those games that's stuck in my brain because it's exactly as you said: the execution was lackluster, but the heart and vision it had was amazing! It just got lost in some murky soup of poor choices, gameplay jank, and trying to be a little too much like its wide array of inspirations instead of what it was. (But damn was that DLC was so much sharper.)
Thank you for another incredibly thoughtful and pristinely edited video! You can really tell the time and passion you put into your work, and I appreciate it to the point that makes me so excited for every upload. :D
I just found this channel and I'm liking what I see, the future looks promising
WTH, one of my favourite critiquers, critiquing a shattered masterpiece (Sorry JA). I'm eating good today.
@@Icepick614 Maybe "What the hell"
@@ralfsstuff damn, I'm gunna be honest I high af right now lol, that does make sense 😂
Stop swearing young man
I swear, Monty, this is a brilliant project you're sharing with us - I love the campiness entwined with pure dread in the Evil Within series, the monsters, the atmosphere, the gameplay (PCMR here). Your critique is magnificently accurate, shows that you definitely know what you're talking about. Finally a smart gamer who's actually "gud".
Personally, I find the game a bit too scary to enjoy it too many times - the second game has nothing of the original spirit, but it's a fun powertrip true a bizarre world nonetheless.
Thank you so, so much for this critique - you're amazing.
p.s. I indeed fell asleep during my first watch, the melody of your voice can have such an effect on a sometimes tired soul. It's appreciated despite that ... scratch the last part - especially because of that.
I love that everyone unanimously agreed that it should be called "brain goop"
This is the game that got me intp the resident evil franchise i loved it when i was a teen but going back to it now after playing the modern resident evil games is tough still holds a special place in my heart though.
I spent hours dying to the amalgam at first it was because he moves really fast and you have to stand In place if you want to actually hit your shots but then I ran out of ammo so I had to go to the rooms to get the ammo "safely" until he grabs you and throws you out but when I got to second phase it was over. He walked over and decided that I shouldn't live. After a few more deaths I realized that he has a giant eye that looks for you when he can't find you and when you manage to hit it he falls over and let's you throw a grenade or few at him. I also saw that you can hide under the cars and that you can hide behind pillars. So I did this strat of hiding, shooting his eye and then running away to hid again. This worked "fine" (sometimes he had the 6th sense and would find me go crazy and destroy everything to hide behind) until the second phase were he actually knows where you are at at all times and so my whole strat got destroyed instantly. Many more deaths later I was able to do enough damage to finally kill him. I watched some videos after this of people beating him and apparently you are supposed to spam ice and electric bolts and stun lock him very cool fight.
29:20 obviously this makes sense. It saws chains it says it right there in the name. Chain saw :P
this game was heavily inspired by silent hill even some of the themes about facing your inner demons like sebastion not saving lily
1:28:08 - THANK YOU. I just played this game for the first time recently (on Standard difficulty), and I honestly thought I was the only one who had legitimate trouble with the Amalgam Alpha boss, because I didn't have any shock or freeze bolts at my disposal (relying on the sniper instead for a lot of the fight). I'm not going to lie when I say it nearly turned me off from wanting to finish the game. (Which I didn't want to stop, because I was genuinely enjoying a lot of it and driven to see the story through to the end.) I was so tempted to lower the difficulty, but knowing I was at the end of the chapter, I didn't want to have to play through it again, just to get back to the Amalgam boss. After putting the game down for a week and then playing it for three straight days after, I FINALLY took him down. But man, the game really lost its fun factor for me right there. (Which, on a side note, I kind of have to disagree about the post-Heresy turret and bus driving sections - I found those bits to be very cathartic and actually started to have fun with the game again. I'm not saying I wanted the entire game to be like that, but I thought those parts were a nice breather after some frustrating sections.)
Anyway, great video, man. It was a pleasure to hear your thoughts on this beautiful, mixed-bag mess of a game.
Because I watched the opening sequence of this game when it came out I put off playing it for so long. I'm sure glad I gave it another chance!
I really love Evil Within! I liked listening to your take on this because those wore things I never thought of before. Very interesting takes!
Oh boy did I get excited to see Akidachi's TMA video in this unrelated game essay :D