Stressful journey.
It has been a long time since I wrapped up The Evil Within. So much in fact, I had forgotten how genuinely creepy it was. Another thing I had forgotten about was that a season pass was sold with the game, and now five months later, we finally have the first piece of content. The Assignment is more than just some retreaded areas with the same characters. This is a whole new experience, both in game play and design. New areas, new enemies, and a new focus on stealth delivered roughly four more hours of creepy content.
The Assignment is part one of two packs featuring Juli Kidman, Sebastians partner that was missing during a large chunk of the original game. This first chapter picks up right after the ambulance crash, and explains her whereabouts during the original. There are entirely new areas and enemies, and the focus in this first pack is completely on stealth.
Don’t even try to fight them.
MSRP: $9.99 (stand alone) $19.99 (season pass)
Platforms: XB1, PS4, PC, PS3, 360
Time to Complete: 3-4 hours
Price I’d Pay: $9.99
Creeping around the halls as Juli is stressful. If an enemy got wind of me, it was almost certain death. Juli has distraction items and a flashlight at her disposal, and also a melee kick, which is almost useless except to escape dire situations. Roaming around the halls is terrifying, especially considering the new main enemy, which is a tall female frame with a diver’s helmet on that moves in a way that nightmares are made of. This is the creepiest enemy in any game to date. I shudder thinking about it now.
A lot has changed for The Assignment. As I mentioned Kidman spends the bulk of this episode sans weapons. Her health regenerates, but only when enemies are not nearby. She can take cover behind objects and call to enemies to lure them in various directions. This is 100% stealth trial and error, but it actually works at terrifying as opposed to annoying.
He’s dead Jim…I hope.
The systems in place work, but are hindered by the design of the controls. Going into cover forced me to crouch. Peeking around corners and getting the best angle is not always ideal, and there is still the issue with the widescreen framing of the game. A lot of real estate is left out of view, which led to several deaths because I could not see the enemies coming.
These issues aside, this is one of the most pulse-pounding experiences I have had in a while. The Evil Within did a fantastic job of bringing the true terror and stress of the genre back into light, and this first DLC pack offers up some new spin on the game itself. With the way it ended I am stoked to get on to the next chapter, and of course see what the third and final standalone pack has to offer. I definitely recommended for stealth and horror fans.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
