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The Evil Within: The Assignment – Guide and Walkthrough

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Guide and Walkthrough (PS4) by Bkstunt_31

Version: 1.00 | Updated: 07/06/2015

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The Evil Within: The Assignment - Review

Choose to accept it.

The Assignment’s three-and-a-half-hour story runs concurrently with the main game’s, filling us in on what Juli Kidman – a detective, or perhaps an agent for a sinister agency? – was up to during her mysterious absences. Throughout, you’ll see original protagonist Sebastian and his partner Joseph in familiar situations, which adds to a sense of a much bigger and wonderfully ominous picture.

This story is still as high-concept as it ever was, but it helps that Kidman is a more knowledgeable character than Sebastian from the get-go, and more likable, too. Voiced with confidence by Dexter’s Jennifer Carpenter, she’s a more reactive, and therefore believably realistic, character. Carpenter even sells Kidman’s somewhat cliched backstory, told through audio tapes, with a performance that avoids theatrics.

Physically, Kidman is less powerful than Sebastian. Roughly 95% of the time she is unarmed, and there is no upgrade system in The Assignment. Instead, her skillset focuses on stealth.

Kidman can lure enemies by calling out while taking cover against walls or other objects, throw bottles to distract them, move without running out of puff, and auto-heal rather than use syringes.

These abilities work well – for the most part. The Evil Within’s old-school controls don’t always lend themselves to fluid movements, and occasionally I got stuck to a surface or unintentionally popped out of crouch when trying to turn a corner. The ‘stealth attack’, introduced later into the episode, also feels a bit haphazardly implemented – that became an issue for me when a boss fight relied on it.

But considering how thrilling it was to play a survival horror game with nothing at my disposal but a torch, I didn’t mind much. I spent a lot of the time running blindly with my heart thumping, hoping a distracted enemy wasn’t now in pursuit, or yelling in triumph after locking one in a room. Without a weapon, the tension builds quickly.

Adrenaline is encouraged by The Assignment's sinister environments. Tango has once again done some wonderful things with lighting, with many of its twisted corporate interiors drenched in sickly, flickering fluorescence, and others in dirty, wet shadow. I frequently found myself crouched behind flimsy cover in the dark, terrified to turn on my torch, as footsteps ever so slowly made their way towards me.

Although their A.I. isn’t as sophisticated as, say, Alien: Isolation’s, enemies in The Assignment will pursue and kill you quickly, so you’ll want to avoid confrontation at all cost. While I would have liked a little more variation in enemy design, and perhaps more threatening enemies overall (l died considerably less here than in the main game) there is a particularly vicious recurring enemy in The Assignment that I loved. To describe it at all would spoil, but it’s up there with The Evil Within’s keepers and Resident Evil 4’s regenerators; in other words, a Mikami Special.

• Great stealthy gameplay
• Creepy environments
• New protagonist
• Occasionally sticky controls

The Verdict

The Assignment offers up a thrilling three-and-a-half hours in The Evil Within’s grimy universe. Its stealthy gameplay, beautifully designed environments, and refreshingly grounded protagonist make it stand out from the main game, and a cliffhanger ending suggests there’s much more good stuff to come in part two: The Consequence.

The Evil Within: The Assignment

The evil within: the assignment review.

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The Evil Within: The Assignment – Chapter 2: Crossing Paths Walkthrough

Juli Kidman wakes up inside of a nasty room filled with bodies and bones. She doesn’t know where Joseph is, but he’ll have to fend for himself. She needs to search for Leslie .

When you gain control of Juli, search the room for the three star symbol you grew familiar with in Chapter 1: The Oath . Focus the flashlight beam on it to reveal a crack in the wall. Slide through it and be sure to keep the flashlight on because it’s dark on the other side.  

Walk to the left and watch as a bunch of televisions switch on mysteriously. Listen to the dialogue about Ruben Victoriano . When they switch off, continue in this direction until you hear glass breaking.  Now crouch and duck under the opening on the right.  

Stand up and shine the flashlight on the semi-transparent monster walking away from you. Don’t do anything to it yet. Instead, pick up the axe to the right to learn about Sneak Kills . Creep behind an enemy and press A or X to deliver a one-hit kill. For some odd reason this destroys the axe, making it a one-use weapon, but no matter. Sneak up behind the creature and tap A to make it dead.  

Continue forward and through the open entryway with the red door. Once inside, grab the axe lodged in the wall.   

Turns out there’s a monster in this room. Kill it with the axe or make a stealthy escape out the same door you entered from.  

If the creature sees you, run away! There are two doors leading into and out of that room, and you can basically loop around to throw your pursuer off Juli’s trail. In other words, kill that monster as soon as possible.  

Exit this room for good and look on the opposite side of the hallway for another red door. Push it and walk into the next room. Approach the desk and pick up Entry #239 . Listen to the recording.

Leave this room and look at the large metal gate blocking the path. Approach the wheel on the left and rapidly press A or X to turn it, causing the gate to lift.  

Enter and go down the ladder. Shine the light and search for a pipe next to some stairs. Crouch and go into the pipe. A monster will appear at the far end, but it quickly disappears and won’t hurt Juli. 

Drop down into the water and go right until you trigger a dramatic cut scene.

When you gain control, grab the pistol and kill (by our count) 17 monsters, the majority of which explode when they get in range; shoot these creatures before they blow up.

With those enemies destroyed, the primary antagonist will charge towards Juli. Wait until you have a clear shot and blast this creature’s face, aka the beam of light shining from its head. One blast is all it takes to make this adversary flee.  

Once Julie frees herself from the rubble, proceed forward and then turn left. Go into the tunnel and more TVs switch on. Keep moving until you see a ladder, then climb it to discover a red couch and black cat. Time to save!

After saving, look for the grate and press A or X to open it. Go into the air duct and walk straight ahead, then drop down. Round the bend to see Joseph , albeit momentarily. Keep moving until you come to a Junction Box Fuse . Walk over to the panel to the right and place one of the parts on the bottom left, which opens a door.  

Go into the room and down the ladder. Follow the path and search for that familiar three star pattern on a wall. Shine the flashlight to reveal a tunnel with a ladder on the opposite side. Climb the ladder and walk over to the box with the buttons. You must press select buttons to open the box, and the pattern is on the opposite wall in red paint. When the door to the box opens, pick up Letter Scrap 6 . Now climb down the ladder, through the tunnel and make a left. Walk to the end of the tunnel and up the next ladder.  

Turn the wheel to open the gate and enter the room. There are some monsters behind a fence, but you appear to be safe for now.  

Proceed through the next door and examine the science experiments contained within each chamber. Should we take bets on whether or not these things are dead?  

Look to the left and you’ll see a small space to crawl into. Do that and you’re in a morgue; note the body drawers. Go around the corner and through the red door. Approach the Junction Box and hit the switch.

From there, go back the way you came into the science lab. Surprise! The test subjects are alive and break out of their holding containers. Exit the lab and begin turning the wheel to open the gate. Run through the door and down the ladder. Hang a left and climb the ladder that leads back to the first Junction Box. Insert the part into the space on the right and a gate will open.  

Go down the ladder and enter this next stretch of tunnel. Turn right and go up the stairs, then head right again. There are several holes on the floor and we didn’t bother walking over those.  Instead we walked on the left side and opened the red door leading to the Junction Box.  

Switch off the box and go back through the red door. If you attempt to leave this area a hooded figure appears and seals off the exit. Now you’re stuck in here with a monster!

Give it the slip by entering the only remaining door in this area, only to discover two more monsters in the next room. Immediately crouch behind cover and use it to your advantage to avoid confrontation.

Approach and then hit the switch to open the grate, slip inside and activate the next switch to close the gate. Turn the wheel to open the door, and run like hell to the next door, avoiding monsters as you go.  

Now drop down and go up the ladder that leads to the original Junction Box puzzle. Insert all three parts to open a heavy looking metal gate. From there, drop down and head in that direction. Once inside, walk up the wooden pallets and push open the door. Walk to the left and drop down to find Joseph. Time to find another way out.

The solution is on a wall, with that familiar three star symbol. Shine the flashlight in its direction to make a door appear. Run down the hallway to discover a red leather couch and a cat. Save your game and put this area behind you.

After saving, walk up the long spiral staircase. At the top is a door on the left, but don ’ t bother going in there yet. Instead, continue walking forward until you see three red stars on the wall. Focus the flashlight beam to discover a door. Open it and you will immediately see this same symbol (in black) on the wall in front of you. In addition, there are three red sculptures in the center of this room. Press the switch on each sculpture, then go to the one on the right (if you are facing the black stars), walk back a few paces and shine the flashlight in its direction. Ideally, the sculpture should “ complete ” the bottom star. Focus the flashlight and a secret passage will appear. Go inside and grab Entry #215 .  

Go back to the platform near the spiral staircase and go through the door we previously told you to avoid. At the end, push open the next door and watch the cut scene.  

When you ’ re in control of Juli, your current objective is to kill Joseph, who seems possessed. With axe in hand, use cover to your advantage, sneak up behind this guy and perform a melee attack. Should he grab on to you, shake the left analog stick to get him off Juli. Thankfully he ’ s easily fooled, and you should have no trouble hiding despite it being a small room.

Unfortunately one whack with an axe isn ’ t enough. With Joseph dazed, run through two metal doors that open on their own and pick up the axe on top of the small machine, then duck behind cover before Joseph enters this room. Use the three rows of chairs to sneak around, and with Joseph ’ s back to Juli, let him have it!  

Immediately run into the adjoining lab and hide near a machine you can interact with. Wait for Joseph to walk by and activate this machine, which will temporarily blind him.  

At this point he whips out his pistol and fires off several rounds, so you want as much distance and cover between you and him. Although he stops shooting, the shooting will resume if he sees you.  

Look for another one of those flashing machines, wait for the best moment and then switch it on to blind Joseph again. There is an axe nearby, so be sure to pick it up. Now it ’ s a matter of repeating the same process as before. Creep up behind this guy and deliver the final blow. Now it ’ s cut scene time.  

Juli wakes up in a room that looks like nothing you ’ ve seen in The Assignment . Although there ’ s no couch to save, you ’ ve reached a checkpoint.  

Exit this room and go right to discover a shadow of what seems like a woman in a rocking chair. Get close and the shadow will point, then disappear once you round the corner. In fact, there ’ s no one in the rocking chair. There is, however, Recording #13: Disposition on the chair, so pick that up and read/listen.  

When that ’ s over, go back the way you came and out through the only door that opens. Now Juli is outside. Walk down the stairs on the right and then left to enter what appears to be a plaza. Follow the path left and walk through a hung piece of cloth. Approach the statue and Juli will see Leslie, who immediately high tails it through an archway.  

The scenery changes somewhat. A door now fills the archway that Leslie ran through, and the statue is gone. There is, however, a Search Light shining in its direction. Walk over to the other one and press A or X to focus its beam in the same direction. Then approach the third, only to discover the actual light isn ’ t there.

Return to the plaza, passing through that piece of cloth and follow the path all the way around. You ’ ll discover the final Search Light at the end on the left. Pick it up and go back to where the statue used to be. Place the remaining Search Light on its pedestal and twist it in the right direction.  

Focus your own flashlight beam in the direction of the statue and it will magically reappear. This causes the archway door to open. Move in that direction to drop down into a cave. Although you remain in control of Juli, a cut scene will play.

When the cinematic concludes, you should be in front of a jail cell. Turn right and crouch under the tiny archway to gain access to the next area. You ’ ll see a red leather couch directly ahead, and now is a great time to save. Before doing this, look at the small table next to the couch and collect Entry #201 .

When the game puts you in control of Juli, head back out through that little archway and go right down the new path. You’re back outside and will hear a bell in the distance, which attracts the attention of two monsters.   

Walk in their direction and push open the heavy-looking door. There’s a brief cut scene and Leslie is still on the run. Unfortunately there are some monsters in the way.

Go right over some wooden planks (they will break) and shine the flashlight on the three red star symbol on the wall. This grants access to a new area… with monsters of course. Pick up the bottle on the floor and throw it to distract these creatures, then run ahead and to the left. Break through the wooden boards and go back outside. Use the grave stones and crypts to avoid the enemies and reach the door Leslie ran through.

Kick open the door and walk through it to activate a checkpoint. There are a handful of enemies guarding a gate, and the bell should be on Juli’s left. Move in that direction and you’ll find a space for Juli to fit through. Pick up the axe and sneak kill the torch-carrying enemy that enters this area.

Move towards the bell and explore a bit until you find a ladder. Climb it and then walk over to ring the bell. With the monsters distracted, drop down and quickly run over to the door to interact with Leslie. What a weirdo, right?  

Leslie now joins Juli, so go right and through the entrance. Large stones will block this path, but that’s OK because you don’t need to go backwards.  

Proceed forward up the long flight of stairs and then go right to trigger a jump scare. Nothing harmful, we promise.  

Walk through the next entryway and up the stairs that lead outside. Make a left and then a quick left so Juli is on her way to a scary-looking church. Drop down and then continue along the path, up the stairs to a metal door you cannot open.

Turn around and go back down the stairs. This will trigger monsters to appear, prompting Juli to tell Leslie to hide. There’s also that red star symbol on a wall, so go ahead and shine the flashlight in its direction to gain access to a new area. In fact, you’ll almost immediately see those same red stars on a wall to the left. Focus the beam and walk through.  

There’s a door on the left, but first go right and look for those stars again, but in black, on a mausoleum.  Focus the beam and collect the Ox-Headed Idol . Now turn around and shine the flashlight beam on the next group of stars, then snatch up the Cross-Bearing Idol .  

Go to the door and flip the switch for a fun little jump scare. Unfortunately this doesn’t cause the door to open.  

Now go back the way you originally came and you’ll see the black stars on another crypt to the left. Shine the beam and grab the Winged Idol . Now make a right and go back to where Leslie is hiding. Look at him and you’ll see a Music Track , which you can grab by walking around to the other side.  

Go to where Leslie is hiding, walk up the stairs with the locked door and make note of the four pedestals nearby. You must place the previously collected idols in a specific order to open this door.  

Facing the door, place the Winged Idol on the pedestal on the right. On the left, put the Ox-headed Idol on the pedestal closest to the door, and finally put the Cross-Bearing Idol on the remaining empty pedestal.

Leslie comes out of hiding as soon as the door unlocks. Walk through this door to record a checkpoint. As soon as that happens the door shuts and a large monster chases after Leslie. This is now your problem, so duck behind the boxes and don’t let it see Juli. Instead, move between cover points and make a run towards the partially open gate to rejoin Leslie.  

The monster tries to bust through the gate but cannot, and seems to lose interest, so turn around and walk up the church steps. Approach the door and press A or X to launch a cut scene.   

Uh-oh, Ruvik’s here. Something bad is about to happen.  

When the smoke literally clears, you’re on the run towards the TV screen, Crash Bandicoot style. The floor will give way and now you see things from the familiar over the shoulder perspective. Dash through the door and continue running from your pursuers, making a quick left when one of them appears directly in front of Juli. Continue following the path and making quick turns when things go awry. Thankfully you pass through checkpoints along the way.  

Towards the end, long outstretched hands try to grab Juli, and you need to steer her to the opposite walls to avoid getting snatched. Keep running until Juli busts through a door and the chapter concludes. Enjoy the cut scenes that follow.  

Learn how to beat The Evil Within: The Assignment Chapter 1: The Oath , and for more, read our free walkthrough for the entire game.

The Evil Within: The Assignment Review

March 11, 2015.

Right from the get-go, it’s apparent that The Evil Within ’s first DLC is a departure from the original’s run-and-gun attitude towards combat. Shrunken down from the gun-toting Senior Detective Sebastian Castellanos to an able-minded but empty-holstered Junior Detective Juli Kidman, The Assignment looks at The Evil Within from a new angle as you navigate terrifying settings and avoid some frightening new monsters, all the while having nothing but a flashlight to defend yourself with.

The Assignment’s three hour story runs parallel to that of the main story, filling you in on what Juli Kidman was up to during after the initial crash at the beginning of The Evil Within.

The game feels very Alan Wake in this sense, shining your beam of light across markings on the wall to make doors appear, notes materialize, and what not. The emphasis is completely on stealth, which makes The Assignment even more nerve-wracking than the original – knowing that if you’re spotted by an enemy, the only thing you can do is floor it out of there. No guns, knives or traps: only a solitary flashlight and a pair of kitten-heels are at your disposal, which are an absurd choice of footwear for trying not to get eaten alive by a monster with a floodlight for a face. Not only do they click incessantly but I’m pretty sure they’re the reason that you can only run mere meters before collapsing into a wheezing mess.

What Juli can do is distract enemies by calling out, throwing objects to create a ruckus, as well as taking cover behind walls to sneak past those enemies that refuse to shift. These mechanics work well to drum up the suspense and give the impression of being hunted, but are held back by The Evil Within’s rather rigid controls, as they can sometimes result in accidentally slipping out of crouch and getting spotted, which is as frustrating as it is anxiety-inducing. The stealth attack introduced in the latter half of the episode is difficult to carry out, but makes you feel less powerless against enemies.

The environments contained in The Assignment surpass those of The Evil Within, thanks to masterful design that adds to the sense of dread and claustrophobia. Every detail from the grimy, repugnant scum that covers the floors and walls, to the luminescent hospital lighting has been perfected and ultimately makes the environments one of the best aspects of the game.

The enemies in The Assignment have clearly been hand-picked from the imagination of Shinji Mikami, their design being endlessly frightening and as gory as ever. Reminiscent of the beasts found in Resident Evil , they make for perfect inhabitants of this twisted world and certainly haven’t gotten any less terrifying in the five months since it was released. The only criticism of the enemies is their lacklustre AI: chases left me feeling unfulfilled, as the creatures tend to get confused and are easy to lose. Despite this, it’s pretty much one-hit kills all round so you’ll want to avoid confrontation at all cost.

The Assignment is a worthy addition to The Evil Within. It pulls off its scares in a totally different way, despite some sticky controls at times. Being equipped with nothing more than a flashlight may feel like a cliché, but Tango Gameworks make shake off all those feelings as you explore their masterfully crafted world of nightmares. Juli Kidman makes for a more realistic and likeable protagonist than Castellanos, too, even if only by a stones throw – but an improvement nonetheless.

Masterfully crafted environments. Stealthy gameplay is a refreshing change. Enemies remain as scary as ever.

AI can be disastrous at times. Sticky controls detract from stealth immersion.

Horrifying environments and enemies keep you on your toes, but a few choice mechanics can be frustrating and detract from immersion.

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The Evil Within: The Assignment

The Evil Within sits in a weird space for me. I like the head-trip aspect of the whole game, but at the same time it makes for a very non-cohesive experience. The first DLC add-on; The Assignment kind of makes things feel a bit more constrained within the story of Juli Kidman, and offers a good sense of where her head is on the whole Ruvik and Leslie mess. The assignment starts off by clueing us in on why Kidman is a part of the operation in the first place, despite being fairly new to the Krimson City police force.

The gameplay in the assignment starts off on a completely note from the core game, and for the most part the stealth gameplay works. Until you encounter the first major boss fight. I was never a fan of the instant death mechanics of the base game, and they rear their ugly head here as well. I get that it makes for a tense experience, but when an instant death happens over and over, it starts to drag the whole experience down. To Tango Gameworks’ credit, they have crafted a rather terrifying monster that stalks the halls, Spotlight, following Kidman around, bringing back memories of the Big Sister in Bioshock 2. When this character comes around, you’d better high tail it or hide, the latter of which being the better option.

I harp on instant death mechanics, and even getting spotted by a normal enemy feels like a death sentence. Kidman is woefully short on weaponry aside from her forward kick, but it does little to stop even the most common enemies, so you’ll be spending a great deal of time skulking around in shadows. I’m glad the development team has incorporated some interesting puzzles and solutions that can be used to distract enemies because it at least makes the journey toward the eventual conclusion a bit entertaining. Kidman’s flashlight is also a very handy tool for puzzle solving and is necessary for tracking down some hidden items that help unravel the story a bit.

The overall time you’ll spend on The Assignment will be predicated on your patience, since you’re going through large chunks of stealth gameplay that are broken up with the occasional puzzle. This DLC is not for gamers who lack patience, as you’ll want to sit and study your enemies on numerous occasions. You’ll also want to do some exploring to find some of the hidden unlocks that are sprinkled throughout the chapters. The pace of The Assignment is definitely slow though, and it’s intentionally so, which I hope isn’t the case for future DLC chapters.

The Mobius office complex offers a different style from the main game and it is a welcome change of pace. It gives you an unsettling look at how an office space can be used as a set piece that works against the player just as much as the enemies you’ll encounter. The last time I remember an office being this scary was back when the first F.E.A.R. title came around, so kudos to Tango Gameworks for pulling that off.

The Assignment is kind of difficult to recommend, if only because the entire experience is such a dramatic shift from the core game. At the very least when you messed up stealth with Sebastian you had some kind of way to make up for it with weaponry, but with Kidman if you’re spotted you might as well reload your save. Sure she can recover health just by standing still, but it kind of feels like lazy design. If you want to get more story out of the Evil Within then yes The Assignment is worth checking out. For me, I’m hoping that there’s more meaty gameplay with future DLC packs.

There's nothing horribly wrong with The Assignment, but the instant death rules that I disliked about The Evil Within continue to plague the DLC, making Kidman's story one of frustration and retries. 

Rating: 7.4 Above Average

* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.

About Author

In a past life I worked with Interplay, EA, Harmonix, Konami, and a number of other developers. Now I'm working for a record label, a small arm of casual games in a media company along with Gaming Nexus, and anywhere else that sees fit to employ me.  

Evil Within, The: The Assignment (Video Game DLC)

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Rated M for Mature

Distributed by Bethesda Softworks

This is a bit of a nostalgic moment for me, seeing as how The Evil Within (review) was my first ever game review for DreadCentral. My 5 page blowjob disguised as criticism was rough and passionate, and like any good lover not entirely unaware of the flaws and issues of its partner. Even though I haven’t seen him in half a year, I remember my time with The Evil Within fondly, as I explored every orifice for weeks to see what treasures and pleasures I may find. And here again, he calls, like a sailor back from his first tour. Forever changed, he is different now, more serious, driven, and focused, as though he was always meant to be this way. He doesn’t fuck around with all the boyish frivolity, and instead is focused on pleasing you as intensely as possible. The first of three DLC packs, The Evil Within – The Assignment is so good, that it makes me question how I could ever love before.

Told from the perspective of the mercurial Julie Kidman, who was memorable in the main game but largely separate from the main cast. Her dubious intent culminated in what seemed to be a betrayal, followed by an unexpected rescue in the post final fight sequence. The Evil Within was a bit divisive, with some loving the more obscured plot and Twilight Zone logic, and others hating how the game doesn’t really explain what the fuck is going on. Those in both camps should be equally pleased with The Assignment . Answers are given in a way that is still open and mysterious, and it doesn’t raise a hundred more questions to just make the game more confusing.

When I played The Evil Within , I remember being underwhelmed by the poorly implemented stealth mechanics. I think I mentioned this in my review, but shit man, that thing is like… 5 pages long. I can’t be bothered to go back and read it! It felt that the game at some point in the past was significantly different, but had evolved without cutting out all of the previous features. To that effect, The Assignment feels like the title they were trying to make before they cut out all the sneaky sneak for shotguns. Kidman is unarmed aside from a few single use melee weapons, and even those can only be used as a stealth attack. You do briefly get a gun, but it is only for a gallery style defense segment that serves to break up the stealth bits. Given all of the cabinets to hide in and beds to hide under that went mostly unused in the main game, it is awesome that they decided to turn these elements into the main gameplay focus.

Similarly, this game is almost entirely focused on puzzle solving. Even combat breaks down into puzzles, requiring the player to figure out the best sequence to trap/avoid monsters rather than just shoot them until they all stop moving. Enemies are more obstacles than anything, and correct sequencing and intuitive world interaction is your tool to break them down. Don’t expect to just axe most foes in the face, as using phones or your voice to lure enemies into traps or lockable rooms is most often the key to success. New blind explosive enemies are introduced to pose a unique threat, and are disgustingly terrifying enough to fit into the world perfectly.

Similar to Resident Evil: Revelations 2 , the character’s only constant item is a flashlight. Unlike Revelations 2 , the flashlight has no combat application, opting instead for puzzle solving utility. Shining your light at specific markings will reveal hidden objects, ranging from passageways to collectibles to story flavor. The use of lighting is integral, as certain puzzles require you to mix shadows together to create a figure. Its a simple enough mechanic, but the way the developers utilize it to its maximum effect keeps it interesting.

Solid combat and questionable story aside, easily the most memorable thing about The Evil Within was the presentation of the world. The “STEM,” following in the footsteps of Silent Hill , was an amalgam of every emotional state of every person plugged into it. Dominated by the central personality Ruvik, it was mostly a reflection of his past and tortured psyche. The world is a medium to express the mindset and history of the character, and functions less so as a real entity that has a backstory, plot thread, and resolution.

The main problem with the narrative of The Evil Within was their attempts to give the STEM a real story, which falls apart when you actually pull at the little threads like “how did everyone get in in the first place” and “wait, the big bad guy is just a brain in a jar?” This is similar to the divide between people that loved Silent Hill 2 more than Silent Hill 3 . In the second, the how the town came to be was inconsequential, instead serving as an outward manifestation of the protagonist’s guilt. In the third, the exposition served largely to explain how the town got to be the way it is. While The Evil Within certainly had a unique idea, it suffered from not exploring enough the way the world mirrored those within it, opting more for an inferior explanation of how Ruvik for some reason created a neural interface pain dimension to get over the death of his sister.

So here comes The Assignment to the rescue, capitalizing on the ideas that the original game only hinted at. The world of The Assignment is a reflection of Kidman, explaining elements of the main game in a way that doesn’t come off as forced bullshit. There is a new antagonist aside from Ruvik, a shadowy entity that represents her corporate overlords at Mobius. The face of the character is always obscured, giving the uncanny sense of an inhuman human. There is also a new boss monster to be avoided, a gaping maw wrapped in a jacket with two sexy woman’s legs and a lighthouse for a head. Read into that what you will.

Over the course of the DLC, we explore a shadow version of the corporate offices where she was first given her assignment, the sewers where she intersects with Sebastian and Joseph, and part of the cultist village level. We find out that the village is a reflection of her own past growing up in a secluded religious cult, and while smacking a bit of being last minute and roped in, is at least a proper use of the game’s narrative framework. I was disappointed that I never got to see any of Sebastian’s fears manifested, and it seemed like a massively wasted opportunity. The DLC doesn’t squander such an opportunity, instead crafting a world that is both tailored for Kidman and reflects Ruvik’s twisted grasp.

Now this might just seem like me taking the chance to give the game two and a half more pages of tender tongue action, but a funny thought struck me as I was thinking about what I would say in this review. It has been about 7 months since the game was released, and I remember seeing it had come out and thinking “wow, a bit late to the party, huh?” We have become so used to cheap, cash in DLC, purposefully left on the cutting room floor for later release or behind a paywall day one “pre-order bonus” bullshit, that the idea of well crafted, thoughtful, and wholly after the fact DLC seems strange.

This used to be how games were made. You would have a main release, and you would maybe get an expansion pack for 30 bucks that would bring massive expansions to the main game. Red Alert 2 was awesome, but the Yuri’s Revenge expansion pack cemented it as one of the all time greats. It is almost unthinkable to think of Starcraft without also including the Brood Wars expansion, to the point where people just think of them as the same game. Let me ask you though, does anyone even fucking remember which 60 minutes of Black Flag was the exclusive Playstation content? Or which mission of Far Cry 3 was the day 1 mission? Okay, I do remember the Far Cry one, but that was only because it was laughably terribly and roped in.

This is how DLC should be. It was created post-release, expanded on the universe without convoluting it, provided a different way to play, and shored up the weaknesses of the original while exploring missed opportunities. Somewhere out there is an early development document, describing a game that looked a lot like this, but would eventually be scrapped for the more combat heavy version. It isn’t that this is strictly better than The Evil Within , rather that this is another version of the gameworld that learned from its mistakes. The DLC manages to be an absolutely integral part of the main game, without being required to feel like the original was a whole package. This is a must buy.

Categorized: Horror Gaming Reviews

The Evil Within: Story explained in full

The Evil Within drops you into a twisted world where the old and the new worlds smash together, filled with unspeakable horrors.

Come with us as we drop down the rabbit hole and explore the story behind The Evil Within ahead of The Evil Within 2's expected release on October 13, 2017. If you want to know what happened in the first game without playing through it yourself, we have the details.

Of course, it should go without saying, but, all the spoilers for The Evil Within lay ahead.

It all started at the hospital ...

Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners are called to the scene of a mass murder at Beacon Mental Hospital. Upon arriving at the scene, there are bodies everywhere, with blood and gore splashed all over. When Sebastian finds a lone survivor, there is also a video feed.

Sebastian rewinds it to see what happens. There is a video of a squad of policemen shooting at an unseen enemy before being cut down where they stand, a hooded figure standing there. The figure looks up and then appears behind Sebastian, which is when everything goes to hell. Quite literally.

Sebastian is attacked and knocked out, and when he wakes up, it's in a nightmare. There is a cleaver wielding psycho, and humans hanging next to him like sacks of meat. He manages to get himself down, steal a key, and then run to escape the beast of a man behind him, but the asylum is not what it should be.

Sebastian has fallen into a nightmare somehow, and it is just, all, bad .

Descent into madness

It doesn't take long for Sebastian to escape from the Asylum, but he's faced with a world that is not quite right. A massive earthquake rumbled through Krimson City, sending Sebastian tumbling once again. He comes to in a dark forest, with looming trees and unnatural enemies lurking in the darkness before coming to a town.

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Filled with enemies, including a chainsaw wielding psychopath locked in a barn, Sebastian has to make his way through the town. While trying to do so he comes across Dr. Marcelo Jimenez who is in the town searching for his patient, Leslie. It's the doctor who identifies that hooded stranger as Rurik, though he's thin on any other details.

The doctor helps you open a gate. Once you do this you'll be able to head out of the town following the good doctor into more chaos.

The evil within STEM

This insane world that Sebastian and his partners are stumbling through is more than it seems. It's obvious from the weird time jumps and disjointed world that something here is very, very, wrong. That's because the world that Sebastian is running through is actually a shared consciousness powered by a machine called "STEM."

Rurik was originally a man named Ruben Victoriano. Ruben was intelligent but disturbed, and after a tragic accident, he killed his beloved his sister. The accident left him horribly burned, and he was further damaged. Eventually, he killed his parents, taking control of their vast fortune and donating large chunks to Beacon Mental Hospital in return for patients he could experiment on.

STEM had been intended to be a way for Ruben to reshape his reality, so he could return to his sister Laura. However, Doctor Jimenez had taken interest in STEM and revealed it to the shadowy Mobius organization, which wanted to use the machine for its own purposes.

Mobius killed Ruben but was forced to leave his brain animated, as a brain is necessary to run the STEM world. This left Rurik in charge of the world, filling it with the terrible creatures that Sebastian keeps running into. Mobius intended to use Leslie as the new brain in charge of STEM, a less willful mind that would be theirs to mold a new world with.

Juli's ordeal

The Assignment is DLC for The Evil Within, but the events occur at the same time as the main game. They follow the events that are inflicted upon Junior Detective Juli Kidman. While Sebastian knows her as a junior detective, the truth is that she is a Mobius agent who has been sent into STEM to retrieve Leslie.

When she initially falls into the STEM world she is in a forest, where she is attacked, causing her to fall off of a cliff. It's soon after this that she's trapped by Ruvik before being saved by Sebastian and Joseph. Both Juli and Joseph fall through the floor, where she is attacked yet again.

She manages to escape, find Leslie and bring him to the church where things go bad yet again. Rurik possesses Leslie, forcing Juli to point her weapon at them. Ruvik and Leslie disappear, and the Administrator begins to admonish Juli reminding her that they need Leslie alive, while she argues that they have no clue what Ruvik is capable of.

She then flees, seeing a variety of memories of Sebastian and Joseph from their earlier days, as well as seeing how Ruvik was mistreated by Mobius during his time with them. Eventually, she meets back up with Sebastian, attempting to escape the STEM world.

A return reality

As Sebastian fights through horror after horror, he is putting together the clues of Leslie, Ruvik's past, and the STEM machine from fragments of documents he comes across through his travels. Eventually, he winds up helping Doctor Jimenez to use Leslie to get out of the STEM world, along with Juli and Joseph.

In retaliation, a beast from Ruvik's subconscious destroys Doctor Jimenez and scatters the rest of the group across the landscape of the STEM world. Through a back and forth, Sebastian finally finds Leslie and tries to get him to the lighthouse. Ruvik attacks again, and in the end, winds up absorbing Leslie as they are all pulled back out of the STEM world.

Sebastian wakes up in a bathtub watching as SWAT bursts into the room. Though it's never explicitly laid out, it's implied that Ruvik has taken control of Leslie's body in our world, in order to get revenge on Mobius.

What comes next?

The Evil Within and its associated DLC, The Assignment, are just the first chapters in the story. The next will begin on October 13, when The Evil Within 2 is expected to be released on Xbox One and PC, with a new journey through terror for Sebastian Castellanos. It should cost $19.99.

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Jen is a contributing writer for WindowsCentral. She's an avid gamer, especially when she gets to kill zombies, craft things, or use a bow. She can often be heard yelling about her chainsaw while playing Gears of War 4. You can follow her on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

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New DLC Available - The Evil Within: The Assignment

Every horrible monster youll meet in The Evil Within

Face your fears.

So you think you know what you're up against in The Evil Within. You've seen the lurching masses of grey-faced undead, the spider-armed women, the water creatures with human molars that are unsettling for reasons you can't quite describe. With that in your back pocket, you think you're ready to face all that's within the evil. You know who else thinks like that? People who get their faces stomped or neck ripped out by a chest-burster because they were not prepared!!!

Lucky for you, I've compiled a description of each of The Evil Within's most terrifying monsters, so you can see what you're up against ahead of time. Think of it as a public service, putting the info out there so you know if you can handle all this evil in the first place. You're about to go down the blood chute into a monster death-pile (and that's not hyperbole), so better study up before they sink their claws into you. And they will get their claws into you. Trust me.

WARNING: THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD. When I say every monster, I DO mean every monster.

The Haunted

In an utterly unprecedented twist, the world of The Evil Within is populated by mangled, shambling creatures called the Haunted, which are neither alive nor dead. It is worth shaking off the sarcasm to note that the Haunted aren't your average shuffling horde, and treating them as such will get you ripped to pieces.

It's hard to explain the origins of the Haunted without leaping into a bloody spoiler pit, so I'll keep it vague. Something really bad happened to all of them and now their minds have more holes than swiss cheese. They seem to respond to only two things: the lighthouse atop Beacon Mental Hospital, and you. Poor, squishy you. They don't even want to eat your flesh or anything, all they want is to throw you on the ground and curb stomp you without hesitation. You're going to want to do everything you can to stay well out of their reach. Or put a knife in the back of their heads. Either or.

Masked Haunted

Take the Haunted, make them smarter, give them creepy safety masks and heavy artillery, and you have the Masked Men. Yaaaay. These clown-faced creep-sacks are twice as threatening as other Haunted for the sheer fact that they can navigate environmental hazards and traps much better, and even one poses a serious threat to your survival. They're also much harder to take out with headshots because of their bulletproof masks. While it feels great to shoot that off their face, you'll often waste more ammo doing it than you can afford. They also get better weapons as the game progresses, and spotting one of those masks hovering over a machine gun will totally ruin your day.

The trick is to outsmart these guys before they can take you down. Even a smart Haunted has a few screws loose, and will still walk into a trap,stick their head into your crosshairs, or explode when you throw a grenade at them. Keep that in mind if you don't want to get killed by a crazy murder clown. *shiver*

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A hulking, metal-skulled brute and Pyramid Head's squarer cousin, The Keeper is all about keeping precious things safe. Not that you'd know, because you're not on the list, and he's happy to massacre anything he's not protecting. According to the development team, The Keeper is the inspiration for much of the game's signature look. You can see the resemblance too: from his faceless geometric head to his disconcerting butcher's apron, the Keeper is an imposing and deeply unsettling figure. You'll often find him dragging corpses around and dropping barbed-wire traps for the unaware to tromp into. Make sure he doesn't see you with his lack of eyes or he'll quickly acquaint you with the business end of his spiked knapsack, because of course he has that.

The Keeper may not be fast, given his size, but he does have one nasty trick that will keep you running scared. As long as there's a safe nearby, he can possess it and regenerate in the goriest fashion possible like a safe-based Agent Smith. So if you see him in line at the bank RUN!

Sadists--men with metal head-masks and chainsaws who would make Quentin Tarantino weep with joy--should be familiar to anyone who saw The Evil Within's early gameplay demos. The guy who chases Sebastian around the mental hospital's bloody basement is one of them, which gives a clear picture of how much you should NOT mess with these guys. Though they're easily the least intelligent creatures you'll encounter outside standard Haunted, they don't need smarts to drive a spinning saw blade through Sebastian's back and out his chest.

These dudes seem to have a sixth sense for detecting when you just got through some challenging stuff and would rather not die, which is when they tend to show up. Even one slash of that saw too close to home will break you into 1000 bloody pieces, so try to stay outside swinging radius. That's just good advice in general, really.

Aww, Laura. What a pretty--OH MY GOD! Also known as ReBone Laura and Creepy Spider Lady Get Away From Me, her otherwise normal name disguises a grotesque, many-armed monster of Grudge-sized proportions. It's not a very good disguise though, since even before you know her name you get to witness her erupt out of a blood fountain while shrieking equally bloody murder. Just as her appearance implies, you'll want to run away from her as fast as you can, because if she catches you she'll beat your head in until it explodes. How unladylike.

Laura is definitely a demon to watch, and not just when looking over your shoulder as you sprint away. Files found early in the game suggest that someone named Laura is of importance to the world you find yourself in, and there are hints that she wasn't always so demonic. For instance, the developers pointed out that she wears shoes "in order to keep a piece of her humanity." I checked myself and confirmed she totally IS wearing shoes--you know, before she ripped my head off.

Neun and Zehn

You've got double trouble when you're facing off against twins Neun and Zehn. Or actually quadruple trouble, since each one is twice Sebastian's height and weight. Both of these hulking brothers have unique personalities, with Zehn being the shy one and Neun being so aggressive that his eyes and ears have been covered so nothing upsets him too much. Though wouldn't that in and of itself be irritating? Just saying. Either way, both also have their own fighting styles to contend with: Neun will not stop charging until he's steamrolled you, and Zehn can hurl a club that will take off your head. So much for being "shy."

Combating these two has its difficulties, for obvious reasons, and the best strategy seems to be to run around in circles while taking potshots. There's also a hidey-hole in one part of their abode, but fate help you if each twin sits at either entrance. At that point, all that's left to figure out is if you want to be beaten or stomped to death.

Uh, I think this dude's got something on his shoulder. Oh no, my mistake, it's just his other, grosser, angrier head. Silly me, that's part of the territory with the AlterEgos, now please excuse me while I curl up in a ball and cry. Designed to be reminiscent of dual personalities in cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder, this two-headed beast has one head that's the stronger of the pair and dominates the body, while the other goes dismally along for the ride. You might also run into an AlterEgo with only one head, and you'll want to get the hell out of there , because the more vicious of the two heads is about to come bursting out of their collective chest in one hell of a nasty Alien/Total Recall homage.

In addition to all of that, these dudes are so tough that they barely notice grenades going off in their faces. Their big weakness is their legs, which can be blown out from under them with a couple good shotgun blasts. Make sure to stomp and burn though, or they'll kill you by chomping your ankles. Naturally.

Invisible Haunted

You're wandering through a creepy hospital, as will often happen in horror games, and you hear an odd squelching noise in the distance. You look around, finding nothing, in time to see a gurney roll across the floor all on its own. Keep calm, keep calm, the game's only try to scare yo--and the thought ends there because you just got punched to death by nothing with glimpses of something flashing in between. Congratulations, you've just met the invisible Haunted, inexplicably squid-faced shufflers who remain invisible until the moment after they attack. Well isn't that a barrel of bullshit fun?

These guys are a massive pain because of how hard they hit and the aforementioned cannot-be-seen quirk, so you have to beat them at their own game. Standing in a puddle helps, because you can see where their steps are and fire in that general direction. Alternatively, you can fire an explosive into a doorway and wait for them to walk over it--but do it fast, or you might accidentally hit them and explode yourself when they attack you. Not that I'd know or anything.

Trauma Haunted

Now this is a monster with a lot of weight on its shoulders. Like, literally--the Trauma Haunted carries a big ol' wooden beam on its back. I suppose that compliments its massive claws and messed-up face, and it sure does the job of making this beast look weird and terrifying. Official word also says the shoulder-beam is a nod toward religious corruption and indoctrination, leading to the idea that this is a bastardization of a prominent religious figure who famously carried a heavy burden and wow that got uncomfortable fast. That's the Trauma Haunted in a nutshell: uncomfortable to look at, uncomfortable to think about, uncomfortable when it's shoving its big metal nails into your gut.

Though the Trauma Haunted just lumbers around most of the time and can be outrun, that doesn't help when you're trapped in a tiny room with it. Which is basically every time you meet one, since it seems that claustrophobic spaces are its natural habitat. My suggestion is to try to outmaneuver it as best you can, because in addition to being freaky and gigantic? It's also a bullet sponge. Greeeeeat.

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Former Associate Editor at GamesRadar, Ashley is now Lead Writer at Respawn working on Apex Legends. She's a lover of FPS titles, horror games, and stealth games. If you can see her, you're already dead.

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The Evil Within: The Assignment

The Evil Within™ © 2014 ZeniMax Media Inc. Developed in association with Tango Gameworks. The Evil Within, Tango, Tango Gameworks, Bethesda, Bethesda Softworks, ZeniMax and related logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of ZeniMax Media Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Rights Reserved.

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The Evil Within Wiki

Welcome to The Evil Within Wiki . This wiki contains unmarked spoilers!

NOTE: The wiki is currently under maintenance.

• The Evil Within
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The Evil Within was released on October 14 2014 for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

• 6 Pre-order bonus
• 7 Censorship
• 8 Development
• 10 Concept Art

Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners - Joseph Oda and Juli Kidman arrive at a crime scene located at the Beacon Memorial Hospital.

Having arrived, they find a massacre has taken place inside the hospital, with the place now seemingly deserted. After finding a sole survivor , Sebastian witnesses through the hospital CCTV, fellow K.C.P.D officers running from and firing upon an unseen force. They are then brutally killed by a disfigured, supernatural, hooded man , who then appears behind Sebastian and attacks him, knocking him unconscious. Sebastian then awakes in the basement of the Hospital, and is forced to flee from a monstrous man wielding a chainsaw.

Upon reuniting with his colleagues, they attempt to escape via ambulance while Krimson City is destroyed and rearranged by Ruvik 's will, eventually causing them to crash. Freeing himself from the wreckage, Sebastian wanders through unnatural forests and abandoned buildings full of monstrous creatures, and witnesses the apparition of a disfigured man in a white hood. Trapped in the nightmare world, Sebastian encounters one of Beacon's doctors, Marcelo Jimenez, who is searching for his patient, Leslie Withers. Jimenez identifies the hooded stranger stalking them as Ruvik.

Sebastian eventually reunites with Joseph, though it is shortly revealed that Joseph is suffering from a strange form of transformation which compels him into a murderous rage. While he is able to control it for the most part, Joseph warns Sebastian to be wary of him if he turns. The two eventually find and rescue Kidman from drowning in a crude contraption, though they are soon separated again after hearing the high pitched noise.

Elsewhere, Kidman is being forced to relive memories of her indoctrination into an organization known as Mobius. It is revealed that Kidman is actually an undercover agent, sent by Mobius to retrieve Leslie from Jimenez, apparently as leverage to force Jimenez to continue working for them. Jimenez had been working with Mobius on a project known as STEM - a machine capable of uniting minds into one, with one influencing mind at its center. Jimenez activated STEM without Mobius' permission - signaled by the high-pitched noise - but Mobius anticipated this, and trained Kidman to navigate the STEM world and retrieve Leslie.

Sebastian learns of the story of Ruvik, born Ruben Victoriano, through various memories that Ruvik places him in. Ruben was an intellectually gifted but mentally unstable child, and was close to his sister, Laura. While playing in a barn on their family's estate, Laura was killed and Ruben severely burned after the barn was set on fire as an act of revenge against their parents. Ruben's father began hiding him in the basement of the family manor. Deeply traumatized over Laura's death, Ruben eventually killed both of his parents, took control of their fortune, and continued to "donate" money to Beacon Mental Hospital in exchange for test subjects for his experiments into the human psyche.

Ruvik began designing STEM as a means for him to reshape reality, so that he could physically travel back into his memories and live his life again with Laura. Jimenez then took notice of Ruvik's work, and revealed it to Mobius, who wished to use it for their own purposes. However, with the machine only being calibrated to work with Ruvik as its center, Mobius were forced to use Ruvik's brain after killing him, which allowed Ruvik to maintain control of the STEM world. Kidman realizes that Mobius in fact wants the meek Leslie as a replacement for Ruvik's brain - an easily manipulated 'blank slate' mind, which they can use to power STEM and create a world of their own design.

When Dr. Jimenez, aided by Sebastian, tries to use Leslie to return to reality, he realizes that Ruvik wants to transfer his mind to a compatible host, and escape into the real world. A beast created from Ruvik's subconscious then kills Jimenez, and Ruvik scatters the group across his mind. Kidman finds Leslie first, and is about to shoot him to prevent Ruvik from using him as a host, when Sebastian and Joseph intervene, prompting her to shoot Joseph, before Ruvik separates them again. Kidman tries desperately to turn against Mobius, but realizes that she has been given a serum which has allowed Mobius to travel into the STEM world with her.

Sebastian finds Leslie, and guides him back to the hospital. At the top of the lighthouse, he sees his own body in a bathtub hooked to the STEM machine. Kidman arrives and attempts to convince Sebastian that Leslie has to die. Ruvik interrupts them, gets hold of Leslie, and absorbs him.

Sebastian battles a gigantic creature created from Ruvik's subconscious and defeats it, waking up in the bathtub. He pulls himself off the machine, removes Ruvik's brain from the STEM, and crushes it. He wakes up in the tub again with Kidman by his side, monitoring him and Joseph, who is unconscious in a second tub next to him; Kidman motions for Sebastian to stay quiet. Sebastian falls unconscious, and later wakes up in the same tub, with no one around except for the bodies of Jimenez and Connelly. As police and S.W.A.T. reinforcements arrive, Sebastian exits the hospital and notices Leslie walking out of the main gates. Sebastian has a brief headache — a sign of Ruvik’s influence on subjects within the STEM — which causes him to lose sight of Leslie. It is implied that Ruvik has returned to the real world, and is able to influence those who were connected to his machine, intending to take revenge on the organization that betrayed him [citation needed] .

The game primarily focuses on 3 key gameplay elements:

• Survival Horror -  The player must navigate through the hostile game world with limited resources. This requires the player to use their wits to survive and correctly manage their few resources as they encounter various terrors and dangers throughout the game.
• Traps and Puzzles -  The player not only needs to struggle to survive, but also face dangerous traps and mechanisms. Being careless with traps can cause death. However, the player can also utilize the traps to their own advantage.
• Alternating Environments - Throughout the game, the environments may change without warning in real-time based on the player's actions, adding more variables to the game.

While exploring, the camera is set behind the player and is able to freely move them around. However, the camera can also change views sometimes. During combat, aiming puts the camera in over-the-shoulder mode. Combat isn't usually forced upon the player; as supplies are scarce in the game, the player can run away and hide, avoid the enemy by sneaking or performing stealth kills. The player also has access to a last resort weapon called the Agony Crossbow, capable of utilizing various bolts. The player can shoot them either at enemies or onto surfaces, setting them up as traps.

In case of inventory managing, the player can bring up a circular menu to change items/weapons anytime. At the same time, the player is also able to set the items to a designated shortcut so that they are able to quickly change items/weapons in real-time. Depending on the difficulty, the player can only carry a specified amount of items and ammunition by default, but can choose to upgrade the amount later on. 

• The Haunted  - The most common enemies in the entire game. They are hapless victims who lost themselves to the destructive and uncontrollable nature of the STEM system, twisting and deforming their appearances into hideous zombie-like beings, melded awry with objects like barbed wire, glass, rope and nails. They can wield an incredible variety of weapons, and at times can demonstrate impressive combat maneuvers. Though they endure a tremendous amount of damage in battle, they have a particular weakness to fire, similarly to the man who took of them their lives, Ruvik. They can also be found in an invisible variety.
• AlterEgo - In contrast to the Haunted, AlterEgos are victims of STEM who had dissociative identity disorder, and as such, both of the consciousness' manifested themselves within the system, becoming shambling husks of their former selves: pink, corpse-like creatures, pulsating muscles bursting through their stomachs, and two heads fighting over the same body, the hostile personality overtaking the host personality, living off of it like a parasite, spewing acid from its tumor-like maw, razor-sharp teeth always snapping, moaning in agony. If they come near Sebastian they will slash at him with their bone-claw like hands, or try and grab him and take a substantial amount of health by biting into him. They will also vomit acid, and, at times, release an insectoid-like creature from it's stomach at the end of a long tentacle, crushing Sebastian's head if it manages to latch on. These foul creatures are brought down quickest by destroying the parasite head. Newborn versions of these creatures, known as The Babies , can be seen crawling and hopping around in a few places of the game, and can easily be killed by stomping and kicking, or simply walking on them.  
• Trauma - Tall, naked humanoids with pale skin and drooping flesh where a face would normally be. They are manifestations of Ruvik's immense hatred for the religion that was brought upon him as a child, shown by the large wooden beams they carry on their backs. They have no forearms, but rather a massive hook-clawed gauntlet attached to their right arm, while their left arm chained to the beam on it's back, which it will angrily tear off if it is damaged enough. Apart from slashing at Sebastian with their gauntlets, or charging at him with them plowing the ground, they will sometimes lob the large hook (chained to the second beam) forward several feet, attempting to snag Sebastian, and pull him back to them, impaling him on their gauntlets. 
• The Keeper - A dangerous being within STEM that has a safe wrapped in barbed wire for a head, as a manifestation of the safe where Ruvik kept his research. He wields a large meat tenderizer which is also wrapped in barbed wire as well as a spiked sack filled with the brains of his victims. When killed he will reanimate through a nearby safe. His appearance is similar to that of a butcher, as he wears a plastic apron and protective gloves.
• Laura - The horrific reincarnation of Ruvik's sister, who perished in a barn fire to save her brother's life. Ruvik longed to be with her so much that his memory of her manifested itself within STEM, twisted by his rage. She has long black hair and four strong arms with long, sharp claws. Though she wears no clothes, she still has shoes on her feet. Similarly to the Haunted and Ruvik himself, it is revealed that she too has a particular weakness to fire.
• Sadist  - A large deranged man wearing a metal apparatus over his face who heavily enjoys mutilating others with his chainsaw, the Sadist is a recurring foe and the first opponent that Sebastian will face in his journey. Though he is usually seen wielding his barbed-wire chainsaw, he can also be seen using a butcher's knife and a rocket launcher.
• Sentinel - A massive guard dog seen outside of Cedar Hill Church , which Sebastian must battle to escape with Joseph and find Leslie in the church. The Sentinel is Nearly seven feet tall, with patches of fur missing, and barbed wire wrapped around the entirety of it's body, as well as orbitoclasts and railroad spikes impaled into it in various areas. It's face seems almost paralyzed, apart from its ability to howl, and a veiny, festering growth leading to the massive maw protruding from it's throat seems to have rendered its lower jaw deformed. Next to it's original eye, now glazed over and milky white, is a massive, yellow eye that seems connected to the growth. It has grown feral due to a consistant diet of human flesh "offerings".
• Zehn - One of the twin giants found chained up within the courtyard before the church. He was left on the doorstep of the church, and soon grew nearly ten feet tall. The right side of the face seems to have a bothersome deformity, resembling a healed burn wound. He wields a stone club, which he will swing about wildly, sometimes even throwing.
• Neun - One of the giants found chained up within the courtyard before the church, and twin brother to Zehn. He was so unstable that a mask was placed over his head, making it so he couldn't see or hear anything. He has a chain protruding outwards from his heart as well. In contrast to his brother, Neun will fight using his arms and legs, and his signature finishing move is to tear Sebastian's arms off and step on his face.
• Heresy - A massive, pustule, spider-like creature born as a result of a person who lost their identity to STEM and went on a rampage, devouring anyone he found. He now has numerous tubes connecting his face to his anus, living eternally off of his own fecal matter. He is the predominant entity found roaming throughout Krimson City, chasing Sebastian and his partners throughout the city, eventually latching onto their bus and battling them. Apart from shaking the bus and using various attack patterns with his legs, he will also release large centipede-like creatures from his tumorous gumma-like masses.
• Doppelgangers - The results of test subjects who connected on a closer level to Ruvik himself while inside STEM, (though not on a level as close as Leslie's) becoming a doppelganger of him, appearing almost identical in appearance, save for wearing a mental patient outfit rather than no shirt, and having no head inside their hood, only darkness. They can summon Laura-like hands from puddles of blood that will chase Sebastian relentlessly, unless the doppelganger is knocked over or killed. If they catch Sebastian, they will drag him under.
• Quell - A horrid creature born from Ruvik's desire to remain unseen by others, as evidenced by its inherent ability to turn invisible. It possesses six tentacles, which it uses to catch it's victims, and atop its torso is a head with no eyes, but a large mouth that can unhinge back to reveal layers of sharp, jagged teeth. It prefers to hunt it's prey from the shadows, but when forced to, it will come out and fight in the open. It possesses several unique abilities, such as spraying black ink, similarly to an octopus, which will make Sebastian dizzy. It can leap great distances, and move incredibly fast when slithering along the floor or through pipes. When hiding, it will spawn out slug-like creatures that will chase Sebastian around. When invisible, it can be found sticking to walls, the ground, or even sneaking up on Sebastian.
• Amalgam Alpha - The Amalgam Alpha is a beast manifested from the final consciousness of subjects who died while connected to STEM, forming a hulking monstrosity that can teleport to locations and chase Sebastian, or even teleport him, although it lives in the parking garage, where it prowls around on all four of it's limbs searching out victims to devour with the long retractable eyestalk that can emerge from it's back. At the front of it's body are two large heads missing their lower jaws and noses., and with black marks sewn into their forheads where their eyes would be. Atop the base of it's body is the upper half of a man, flopping around in agony as the creature moves. Chains jangle from it's limbs, which serve as both arms and legs. Apart from leaping and using it's body mass, the creature can also pick Sebastian up, and reverse it's body, opening up a gaping aperture in it's body with a purple glow. It's eye will then end up there, though if it catches Sebastian it will swallow him whole. The eyestalk is it's weakness, although it will only reveal itself if Sebastian is well-hidden, save for it's second form.
• Shigyo - An aquatic being born from the consciousness of a woman who drowned while connected to the STEM. It has a relatively bony physique, but possesses long arms, which it uses to pull under anyone who it can't catch with it's mouth. It's body ends in a fish-like tail, and it's head has strands of long, stringy black hair. It's enormous mouth is the only quantifiable feature of it's head, with numerous crooked teeth held down by braces, a manifestation of how unhappy the woman was with her crooked teeth. The creature cannot be fought, and should be avoided at all costs in underwater environments.
• Ruvik  - The main antagonist of the game, Ruvik is the man who developed the STEM system almost entirely by himself, and with his brain at the center, he has complete control over everything within it, turning it into a terrible nightmare world that reflects his own psychotic mind. He possesses all manner of abilities within the world he has created, though most frequently used by him are teleporting himself and others, and summoning monsters. He appears as a menacing young man wearing a hooded cloak and pants, the rest of his body ravished by burn scars that constantly cause him pain. The right half of his head is covered with a glass plate, exposing his brain. His primary goal throughout the game is to escape STEM and once again wreak havoc in the real world, seeking vengeance against those who took his life away from him.
• Amalgam - A creature that serves as the final boss of the game. It is a combination of Ruvik and the Amalgam Alpha , among other things, forming a beast nearly 100 feet tall, with various deformed limbs, and a glass dome over it's brain, where Ruvik controls it from. When it's brain is damaged, it's head will transform, a mouth stretching the flesh of the brain and reappearing there.
• Anson Mount - Sebastian Castellanos
• Jennifer Carpenter - Juli Kidman
• Yuri Lowenthal - Joseph Oda
• Aaron Landon - Leslie Withers
• Jackie Earle Haley - Ruvik
• Daniel Riordan - Marcelo Jimenez
• Kiff VandenHeuvel - Oscar Connelly
• Liam O'Brien - Valerio Jimenez
• Julie Granata - Tatiana Gutierrez
• Laura Post - Laura Victoriano
• Jeffery Parise - Ivan Diaz

Pre-order bonus

Those who pre-ordered the game or bought specific copies were provided with a pack called the Fighting Chance Pack, which gives the player some exclusive items, such as the Double Barrel Shotgun, as well as useful extra items found in the base game:

• Medical Kit
• Double Barrel Shotgun
• Incendiary Agony Bolt
• Poison Agony Bolt

Owing to its graphic nature, the Japanese release of the The Evil Within ( "Psychobreak" ) was heavily edited to censor out the various situations or effects deemed overly gruesome to meet CERO D requirements (a rating of 17+ as opposed to adults-only). Examples of such censorship are the removal of dismemberment and decapitation effects, such that The Haunted no longer blow apart when struck by explosives or headshots, and various corpses are covered up or replaced with generic viscera.

However, Japanese players who are 18-and-up and have reserved a copy of Psychobreak ahead of time were given a redeemable code that restores the game's original graphical content, which was tentatively named "Gore Mode".

Development

The game was revealed in April 2012 under the code name ZWEI  with Shinji Mikami being the director. It was originally intended to be an open-world sci-fi game with horror aspects, before difficulties with concept creation caused Mikami to reconsider and retooled it into survival-horror. On April 15, 2013 and over the next few days, Bethesda Softworks released a series of short cryptic videos of the new game. It was officially announced in April 19, 2013 revealing the title of the game, the consoles it will be released on and a live action teaser trailer.

Concept Art

• 2 Sebastian Castellanos

Every Video Game Developed By Tango Gameworks, Ranked

• Tango Gameworks faced closure in 2024 despite having fantastic titles like The Evil Within 2 and Hi-Fi Rush.
• The Evil Within DLCs, while fun, had some flaws like annoying stealth sequences.
• The original The Evil Within wasn't really bad, but its sequel knocked it out of the park by improving almost everything.

For many gaming enthusiasts, Tango Gameworks was a big studio to look out for. Established in 2010 by Shinji Mikami after he had left PlatinumGames, the studio started off on a rocky road but eventually flourished big time with new creative leads like John Johanas and Ikumi Nakamura.

Every Bethesda Game Studios Game, Ranked

The studio's latest games have kicked a ton of ass, and witnessing Tango close seemed like an out-of-season April Fools' joke. Their 2023 title had real multimedia franchise potential, being the best new IP in nearly a decade, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

All of Tango's games, besides the short-lived Hero Dice, will be included, as well as all paid DLC content.

The Evil Within: The Assignment And Consequence

Kidman's side story breaks the game.

These two DLCs are being lumped into one, as it's essentially a two-part story. In The Assignment and Consequence, you play as Juli Kidman during the first game's events, and right off the bat, it loses you. What Sebastian sees in his world is heavily based on the villain, while Kidman's world is largely based on herself.

The devs try to explain this with a quote at the beginning, but it still doesn't make sense why the villain has little to no influence on Kidman's world. Most of the campaign is filled with annoying as-all-hell stealth sequences that aren't fun in the slightest, and by the time you do get a gun about three-fourths of the way through, it doesn't make up for the rest of the DLC. At least there's some cool Easter eggs you can find .

The Evil Within: The Executioner

Fun for what it is.

The final DLC to the original Evil Within was The Executioner, allowing you to play as The Keeper. With the Victoriano Estate as the hub world, you'll go to many areas of the campaign and absolutely wreck house.

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The Keeper's actually really fun to play with, and the new first-person perspective was a nice way to freshen up the gameplay. It feels a bit like Dead by Daylight , but this DLC oddly came out before. Unfortunately, The Executioner does outstay its welcome and goes on a little too long, but it's still the best of the DLC content.

The Evil Within

Not the debut smash hit people were hoping for.

Platform(s) PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, PC, Xbox One

Released October 14, 2014

Developer(s) Tango Gameworks

Publisher(s) Bethesda

The Evil Within 1 is a mess, but like with most messy games, there's tons of positives to go with the bad. One, the Kafkaesque atmosphere is stellar, and it perfectly captures that dreamlike, nightmarish reality. It actually looks like a horror game, which you can't say about Evil Within 2. The campaign's also quite varied and mixes things up a lot, akin to Resident Evil 4.

Unfortunately, the gameplay and campaign quality aren't in the same league. Despite Evil Within being hyped up as a true return to survival horror, it's just Resident Evil 4 again, and not anywhere near as good. In fact, you could argue that RE5's better because the low points in that game don't come anywhere close to the lows in Evil Within.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Sometimes, waiting is better.

Platform(s) PS5, PC

Released March 25, 2022

With the modern state of triple-A games, some think it's better to wait a year for a title to really flourish and be all patched up. Ghostwire: Tokyo would be one of those games, as by the time it was released on Xbox, the title went through a massive overhaul.

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The combat was improved so much from the heavily restrictive feel of the PS5 launch version, and it also matches great with the more combat-focused new game mode Spider's Thread. Tango even put in new secrets, including a Silent Hill-style joke ending, for crying out loud. On its own, Ghostwire: Tokyo is a fantastic open-world game with many things to discover, and while there's some issues, like the overabundance of collectibles , it's still a blast to play.

The Evil Within 2

Better in almost every way.

Platform(s) PS4, PC, Xbox One

Released October 13, 2017

After Evil Within 1 was a bit of a disappointment; not everyone was excited for the second game. Helmed by John Johanas instead of Mikami, Evil Within 2 blew the first game out of the water. Unlike the original, the sequel actually tries something new for a third-person horror game: open-world elements.

Two chapters, in particular, have a lot to uncover, including side quests and random events that add significantly to the gameplay and story. Evil Within 2 is a rare sequel that enhances the first game's narrative while wrapping up the story in a pretty satisfying manner. There's definitely plot threads that could continue in an Evil Within 3, but since that game probably won't ever happen, it's nice to see a resolution for our heroes, unlike poor Isaac Clarke.

A Truly Special Action Game

Platform(s) Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS5, PC

Released January 25, 2023

Despite Starfield being the most hyped-up Xbox exclusive of 2023, the most critically acclaimed Xbox game of the year ended up being Hi-Fi Rush. The title felt incredibly fresh, being a rhythm-focused action game with varied enemy types, good level design, and a loveable cast of characters.

It even does cool down timers well, which is normally a big no-no, especially for Japanese action game fans, but the timer's so short you won't complain. With a great cast of characters and a solid rhythm-focused foundation, Hi-Fi Rush had the potential to be a multimedia franchise with sequels, a movie, an anime — everything really. It's probably the best new IP since Five Nights at Freddy's back in 2014, and it's a damn shame the series is dead already.

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The Evil Within: The Assignment - Review

Choose to accept it.

It’s remarkable how much of a departure The Evil Within’s first story DLC, The Assignment, is from the main game. Where the original is all about bullets and confrontation - albeit with a blundering lug of a character - The Assignment is more about staying in the shadows, avoiding enemies, and keeping a cool head in the face of terrifying monsters. It’s the sleek black cat to The Evil Within’s big shaggy dog, and a great addition to Game Director Shinji Mikami and Tango Gameworks’ new survival horror universe.

The Assignment’s three-and-a-half-hour story runs concurrently with the main game’s, filling us in on what Juli Kidman – a detective, or perhaps an agent for a sinister agency? – was up to during her mysterious absences. Throughout, you’ll see original protagonist Sebastian and his partner Joseph in familiar situations, which adds to a sense of a much bigger and wonderfully ominous picture.

This story is still as high-concept as it ever was, but it helps that Kidman is a more knowledgeable character than Sebastian from the get-go, and more likable, too. Voiced with confidence by Dexter’s Jennifer Carpenter, she’s a more reactive, and therefore believably realistic, character. Carpenter even sells Kidman’s somewhat cliched backstory, told through audio tapes, with a performance that avoids theatrics.

Physically, Kidman is less powerful than Sebastian. Roughly 95% of the time she is unarmed, and there is no upgrade system in The Assignment. Instead, her skillset focuses on stealth. Kidman can lure enemies by calling out while taking cover against walls or other objects, throw bottles to distract them, move without running out of puff, and auto-heal rather than use syringes.

These abilities work well – for the most part. The Evil Within’s old-school controls don’t always lend themselves to fluid movements, and occasionally I got stuck to a surface or unintentionally popped out of crouch when trying to turn a corner. The ‘stealth attack’, introduced later into the episode, also feels a bit haphazardly implemented – that became an issue for me when a boss fight relied on it.

But considering how thrilling it was to play a survival horror game with nothing at my disposal but a torch, I didn’t mind much. I spent a lot of the time running blindly with my heart thumping, hoping a distracted enemy wasn’t now in pursuit, or yelling in triumph after locking one in a room. Without a weapon, the tension builds quickly.

Adrenaline is encouraged by The Assignment's sinister environments. Tango has once again done some wonderful things with lighting, with many of its twisted corporate interiors drenched in sickly, flickering fluorescence, and others in dirty, wet shadow. I frequently found myself crouched behind flimsy cover in the dark, terrified to turn on my torch, as footsteps ever so slowly made their way towards me.

Although their A.I. isn’t as sophisticated as, say, Alien: Isolation’s, enemies in The Assignment will pursue and kill you quickly, so you’ll want to avoid confrontation at all cost. While I would have liked a little more variation in enemy design, and perhaps more threatening enemies overall (l died considerably less here than in the main game) there is a particularly vicious recurring enemy in The Assignment that I loved. To describe it at all would spoil, but it’s up there with The Evil Within’s keepers and Resident Evil 4’s regenerators; in other words, a Mikami Special.

• Great stealthy gameplay
• Creepy environments
• New protagonist
• Occasionally sticky controls

The Verdict

The Assignment offers up a thrilling three-and-a-half hours in The Evil Within’s grimy universe. Its stealthy gameplay, beautifully designed environments, and refreshingly grounded protagonist make it stand out from the main game, and a cliffhanger ending suggests there’s much more good stuff to come in part two: The Consequence.

The Evil Within: The Assignment

The evil within: the assignment review.

The Evil Within digital bundle now available

10 new paperbacks to read this summer

These critically acclaimed books are worth your limited suitcase space.

If your suitcase has space only for paperbacks, choose one of these award-winning and critically acclaimed titles — then leave the book behind at your destination for the next traveler to discover.

‘The End of Drum-Time,’ by Hanna Pylväinen

While a Lutheran minister proselytizes to Sámi reindeer herders in 19th-century Sweden, his daughter falls in love with an elder herder’s son and follows him on the group’s annual seaward migration. Pylväinen’s historical saga, inspired by true events, was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction . (Holt)

‘Family Lore,’ by Elizabeth Acevedo

At a portentous gathering, women from two generations of a Dominican American family share stories from their past. Infidelity, infertility and other secrets come to light, inspiring the sisters and cousins to change their lives for the better. Acevedo pays tribute to the sacrifices that immigrant families make and highlights the love expressed through sharing collective memories. (Ecco, May 28)

‘A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them,’ by Timothy Egan

In the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan was ascendant in American culture and politics. Millions of followers revered one particular leader, a bigot with White House aspirations, until he was jailed for a rape conviction, diminishing the stature of the Klan in the public’s eye. “Egan mostly resists making explicit parallels to the present,” Richard Just wrote in The Washington Post’s review, “but they lurk just below the surface of this well-crafted and thoughtful book .” (Penguin, June 4)

‘Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice,’ by Cristina Rivera Garza

Liliana Rivera Garza, a university student in Mexico, was murdered by an ex-boyfriend in 1990. Thirty years later, her older sister, Cristina, mines childhood memories to celebrate the woman Liliana was and the one she never got a chance to become. In this 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir that Post reviewer Erika L. Sanchez called “an artful catharsis,” Cristina links Liliana’s personal story to the politics of femicide in Mexico and beyond. (Hogarth)

‘Pageboy: A Memoir,’ by Elliot Page

The Canadian actor pens a poignant memoir about his journey before and after coming out as transgender in 2020. Regularly encountering homophobic menace while also suffering from gender dysphoria and other psychological challenges, Page offers his perspective on society’s often oppressive beliefs about gender and sexuality from the unusual vantage point of someone who transitioned while in the public eye. (Flatiron)

‘The Peacock and the Sparrow,’ by I.S. Berry

Berry’s former role as an operations officer for the CIA lends authenticity to this morally complex espionage tale set in Bahrain during the Arab Spring. While on his final assignment to expose Iranian insurgents, a CIA spy finds his loyalties tested when an informant is compromised, leading him to grapple with the gray areas between good and evil while a revolution unfolds around him. (Atria)

‘Rouge,’ by Mona Awad

A woman is drawn into the orbit of a luxurious spa to understand why her late mother had been so devoted to the beauty treatments she received there. As she begins to comprehend her mother’s obsession with the mirror, she exhumes the monsters lurking within. “Darkly comic and squirm-inducing,” according to reviewer Charlie Jane Anders, Awad’s novel explores the dependencies of a mother-daughter relationship through the lens of horror . (Marysue Rucci)

‘Small Mercies,’ by Dennis Lehane

After the disappearance of her 17-year-old daughter, a hardheaded mother takes on the Irish mob during Boston’s school desegregation turmoil of the 1970s. Lehane tackles working-class Boston’s racially charged history with gritty realism and never shies away from depicting the era’s moral complexity in a crime novel reviewer Dennis Drabelle called “masterful.” (Harper Perennial)

‘The Unsettled,’ by Ayana Mathis

Ava Carson and her son, Toussaint, are burdened with housing insecurity in 1980s Philadelphia while Ava’s estranged mother, Dutchess, lives in a traditionally Black enclave in Alabama where the land is being sought by developers. Mathis effectively uses third-person narration to evoke the depersonalization imposed on those at society’s margins, while the family’s story captures the humanity of people who struggle to make ends meet. (Vintage, June 4)

‘What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez,’ by Claire Jiménez

Loss has constricted the Ramirez family of Staten Island for 12 years, since middle child Ruthy disappeared after her high school track practice. When Ruthy’s sisters see a woman on a reality television show who bears a strong resemblance to their missing sibling, the family embarks on a road trip to bring her home. Winner of the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, Jiménez’s debut novel is a hilarious and heartbreaking portrait of a family hoping to heal. (Grand Central)