10 Years Later, The Evil Within’s Psychological Horror Was…

Summary

The Evil Within's emphasis on surreal, psychedelic scares influenced many modern horror games in the past decade.
The game's unsettling mindscapes and character designs set a template for exploration in horror.
The title's impact resonates in various games, showcasing a trend towards psychedelic, psychological terror.

The Evil Within was released a decade ago today, on October 14, 2014. As the initial production and new horror IP from Tango Gameworks (and published by Bethesda), the studio formed by legendary Resident Evil creator and director, Shinji Mikami, in 2010, The Evil Within understandably had many curious and eager about it prior to its debut. While its launch was generally successful in terms of sales, the resulting experience nevertheless left some fans and critics divided over its quality and content, with certain decisions leaving some confused and feeling that it didn't quite live up to the legacy it promised.

Despite these mixed reactions and misgivings, though, one of The Evil Within's most notable and widely praised aspects was its heavy emphasis on the surreal, particularly its liberal use of trippy, psychedelic scares woven into more traditional horror and gameplay. The Evil Within experimented with veering much further into disturbing mental spaces (both figuratively and literally) than many other games within the genre at the time. Now, with 10 years worth of horror titles since, it's abundantly evident that Tango's work on The Evil Within in this area marked a clairvoyant vision that has been embraced by numerous developers, from AAA to indies.

Though the developer was unexpectedly shuttered by Microsoft earlier this year, Krafton then acquired Tango Gameworks, allowing it to continue operating.

the evil within remake remaster sequel threequel franchise survival-horror

The Evil Within Deserves the Remake Treatment

The Evil Within seems shelved indefinitely, but the survival-horror franchise is more than deserving of a remake, remaster, or third entry.

Posts

By Jared Stewart

The Evil Within's Psychedelic Psychological Horror Presentation Proved Prescient, 10 Years Later

The Evil Within's Influence on Psychological Horror Games is Undeniable

In a fairly standard setup, The Evil Within sees Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners investigating odd occurrences in a creepy asylum. But it quickly becomes the case that The Evil Within sends gamers on a whirlwind tour through an impressive range of surreal scenarios and off-putting situations. The characters gradually descend into the dark depths of a gifted but mad mind, forcing them to question reality and their own sanity along the way. Its sequences of macabre mindscapes and terrifying revelations begin to mirror the protagonists' own fears, and its premise and subsequent twists allow The Evil Within to continually confront players with a barrage of inventively disturbing material, going well beyond the usual fare that many of its survival-horror contemporaries contained.

Complementing the above, The Evil Within's creature designs also allowed it to emphasize its off-kilter psychedelic storytelling, as the memorably bizarre abominations borne from antagonist Ruvik's extensive trauma and imagination set them apart similarly. Although certain portions and plot beats were again criticized for feeling out of place, the intent to disorient players was clear. Thus, while it originally seemed disjointed, The Evil Within's overall atmosphere and constant nerve-wracking shifts provided a template for future titles playing with audiences' imaginations and perceptions, and its essence would go on to be used and popularized afterward.

The Evil Within's Tendrils Reach Deeply Into Modern Horror

In the time following its release, The Evil Within has become more favorably looked upon, and its status as a true psychological horror classic is solidified. Various developers have pulled from its style and tone for their own titles, and many of the visual tricks and cinematics that The Evil Within utilized as well as other elements of its direction and designs have been replicated and iterated on in a number of games. Some examples include Bloober Team's Layers of Fear series and, later, The Medium, both of which make great use of distorted perspectives while leaning hard into tales of psychological torment.

There are other notable and innovative horror titles that, while all may not be as directly influenced, still employ an adjacent bent that makes them akin to spiritual inheritors of the surrealistic sensations that The Evil Within contained. Resident Evil itself explored more internal and personal terror in RE7 and Village, while recent indie games like Signalis and Hollowbody carry on the tradition, adding their own unique modern spins. Elsewhere, Alan Wake 2 and Alone in the Dark (2024) also have clear traces of The Evil Within's reality-warping flair.

In retrospect, The Evil Within echoes across the genre, and can be pointed to as a precursor to the kind of "out there" psychedelic/psychological works that have become an increasing trend in all sectors of the industry, and has certainly earned the credit it is due for impacting horror in this regard.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image