User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1960 Ratings

User score distribution:
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  1. Oct 15, 2014
    2
    One game i really looked forward to.
    but sadly it was a big let down.
    30 or 60fps doesnt matter, the story and gameplay is... well boring.
    its mediocre at best.. and sadly not worth the money.
    Survival horror without the horror, but just alot of "zombie" splatter
    I will say that the damage the monsters take is really cool

    So sad to see this game fail
  2. Oct 16, 2014
    0
    AWFUL il start with pros and cons
    Pro - I didnt pay for it ;)
    graphics arent bad not best ive seen but not worst eather CONS everything literally everything POOR and i mean POOR combat system HORRIBLE camrea you cant see anything more then 100 degrees its a console port so its massivly zoomed in therefore horrible combat / vision 30fps - BUT been told you can put to 60fps by
    AWFUL il start with pros and cons
    Pro - I didnt pay for it ;)
    graphics arent bad not best ive seen but not worst eather
    CONS
    everything literally everything
    POOR and i mean POOR combat system
    HORRIBLE camrea you cant see anything more then 100 degrees its a console port so its massivly zoomed in therefore horrible combat / vision
    30fps - BUT been told you can put to 60fps by changing commands WTF why wasnt this already done ... just money rush for pc i notice
    MASSIVE con / black bars about 2 INCH top and Bottom of the screen - aspect ratio again they forgot to change this for pc the master race wtf why wouldnt they put pc first is behond me
    in summary
    expensive
    poor camrea angles make combat awkward
    poor AI very poor
    CRAP STEALTH they cant see you from one foot away
    boring story line - well there isnt even a story line screw reading all books in game to learn it
    look at the red reviews there all correct this is a crap game big let down love horror games this isnt one its predictable
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  3. Oct 16, 2014
    0
    DO NOT BUY THE PC VERSION!!! Maybe the XBox version is good, I can't say. But the PC version is a perfect example of a lazy port. Controls are unresponsive, clunky, and completely drain any enjoyment you might get out of this. The devs should be ashamed!
  4. Oct 16, 2014
    4
    Unfortunately this is a poor quality port of a reasonably good game.

    If you enjoyed any of the Resident Evil games you will know what to expect and quite certainly enjoy what is on offer here. If you look at the finer points of the level, enemy and overall gameplay design you will start to notice while this is a solid survival horror game, the overall design and execution is a little
    Unfortunately this is a poor quality port of a reasonably good game.

    If you enjoyed any of the Resident Evil games you will know what to expect and quite certainly enjoy what is on offer here. If you look at the finer points of the level, enemy and overall gameplay design you will start to notice while this is a solid survival horror game, the overall design and execution is a little rough around the edges and becoming a little dated. Still an enjoyable game, but likely only if you already a fan of the genre.

    On PC however, this is a really poor quality port. The framerate is locked to 30fps, aspect ratio and FOV are both locked and the framerate is both poor and inconsistent.
    You can boost the framerate to 60fps by enabling the console, however this has various problems associated with it. Various environmental effects are noticeably still rendered at 30fps, you will get noticeable frame time and stuttering issues, as well the game struggles to stay above 60fps consistently even at only 1080p. Despite the use of a high end graphics card, you will still experience poor performance as the game underutilizes the GPU, as well it is has horribly unoptimized multi-threaded CPU performance to boot.
    Altering the aspect ratio reduces the effective FOV and you cannot increase the FOV, leaving very little adjustment available here.
    The Ultra Wide aspect ratio also will not display full screen on Ultra Wide displays, which is especially horrid as you end up with black bars on top and on the side of your screen.
    The game also crashes infrequently throughout.

    I would recommend this on PS4 or Xbox One, but the framerate drops away from 30fps quite often. So while on one hand I wouldn't recommend this game on PC, as a PC game, I would still recommend it over the console counterparts. Load times on the PC are significantly faster and you will be able to maintain a steady 30fps at a native 1080p with a reasonably powerful PC, just expect to have virtually no level of customization and essentially a console style experience from top to bottom.
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  5. Mar 18, 2015
    1
    Definitely NOT a survival horror.
    Not even a horror game.
    Poor storytelling. You spend your time to don't know what you're doing and why you need to do it. Poor level design. You spend your time to don't know where you are or where you go. You feel lost every-time, and, actually, you are. Enemies are awful, they're buggy and have terrible collisions. You spend your time fighting bosses,
    Definitely NOT a survival horror.
    Not even a horror game.
    Poor storytelling. You spend your time to don't know what you're doing and why you need to do it.
    Poor level design. You spend your time to don't know where you are or where you go. You feel lost every-time, and, actually, you are. Enemies are awful, they're buggy and have terrible collisions. You spend your time fighting bosses, one after the other, like in a beat'em'all. You cannot play 5 minutes without having an enemy jumping in front of you.
    Poor game design. No, this it not like "old survival horror games". There is a huge difference between having not much ammo and dodging enemies, and having no ammo and being forced to kill every single enemy. Enemies see you, even when you don't see them. Doors are closed until you killed everyone. Enemies loot stuff.
    That's not fun at all.
    That's a terrible game, and it fails in so many ways.
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  6. Nov 3, 2014
    5
    I'm sorry to say "The Evil Within" is not a must have game, did not buy a game with so much potential for frustration earlier this year. 3 Bullets + 15% health at boss fights is no fun, at least not at the easiest level.
    graphics is poor, looks like this game stayed 10 years in a tray before selling it, a lot of tearing, curious clipping, it's pretty hard see progress in the story cause
    I'm sorry to say "The Evil Within" is not a must have game, did not buy a game with so much potential for frustration earlier this year. 3 Bullets + 15% health at boss fights is no fun, at least not at the easiest level.
    graphics is poor, looks like this game stayed 10 years in a tray before selling it, a lot of tearing, curious clipping, it's pretty hard see progress in the story cause of the absolutely unfair balancing. it has not a real soundtrack, only two classical samples are played from time to time. even DRM was a bad decission from bethesda, I'm over 18 years old and ready to choose for myself what I want to see.
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  7. Dec 18, 2014
    1
    very slugish and underwhelming game play, controlls that cannot be edited to preference, and forced aspect ratios are among the issues with this "game" forced "press this button repetedly to do a basic task, gameplay features also are an issue. then you have the fact that the game just feels horrible. i reduced all the settings to minimum thinking it had to be a hardware issue.. but it isvery slugish and underwhelming game play, controlls that cannot be edited to preference, and forced aspect ratios are among the issues with this "game" forced "press this button repetedly to do a basic task, gameplay features also are an issue. then you have the fact that the game just feels horrible. i reduced all the settings to minimum thinking it had to be a hardware issue.. but it is not. that is just how the game play is. I would not reccomend this game to any one. if you want a decent survival horror type game, you should look at alien isolation. this game is a huge dissapointment from a person who brought some of my fave survival horror games to life. it is a shame. Expand
  8. Oct 18, 2014
    1
    Absolutely horrendous. I had little to no knowledge about the game prior to playing so I didn't know what expect. Nor did I have high or low expectations.
    I had watched the trailer for it but that's about it.
    The graphics are terrible, the gameplay is stale and repetitive, the AI is appalling, and even after 90 minutes of playing I'm not the least bit interested in the story. If you can
    Absolutely horrendous. I had little to no knowledge about the game prior to playing so I didn't know what expect. Nor did I have high or low expectations.
    I had watched the trailer for it but that's about it.
    The graphics are terrible, the gameplay is stale and repetitive, the AI is appalling, and even after 90 minutes of playing I'm not the least bit interested in the story. If you can even call it a story...
    The game is incredibly vague and not even slightly engaging. I was more annoyed than anything.
    It's almost 2015... we're way beyond this standard of game development.
    To summarize, it's nothing we haven't seen before and it's about as scary as a carebear.
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  9. Oct 16, 2014
    1
    Was waiting for a nice scare and wasn't disappointed.

    Black bars don't let you see any detail on the monitor and when removed, the image's zoomed in. The character is so close to your eyeball it makes you dizzy in a matter of seconds. When removing the black bars with the help of the debug console the aiming is offset so you no longer shoot where your crosshair is. Niiiice!
    Was waiting for a nice scare and wasn't disappointed.

    Black bars don't let you see any detail on the monitor and when removed, the image's zoomed in. The character is so close to your eyeball it makes you dizzy in a matter of seconds.

    When removing the black bars with the help of the debug console the aiming is offset so you no longer shoot where your crosshair is. Niiiice!

    Although the game can be unlocked to 60 FPS, I can only imagine incompetence on the developer's side for this initial setting.

    The PC development skills on the japanese developers are low to none. There are plenty of examples with extremely bad PC ports lately.
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  10. Nov 20, 2014
    3
    The choice to make your character LIMP through huge parts of the game is a deal breaker for me. It's just too slow to be fun. Also, it's like you're playing as someone's grandma. It's far easier to shoot a gun, dodge a haymaker punch, or just sprint for more than 2 seconds in REAL LIFE than in this game. Developers can increase difficulty through making tougher enemies or throughThe choice to make your character LIMP through huge parts of the game is a deal breaker for me. It's just too slow to be fun. Also, it's like you're playing as someone's grandma. It's far easier to shoot a gun, dodge a haymaker punch, or just sprint for more than 2 seconds in REAL LIFE than in this game. Developers can increase difficulty through making tougher enemies or through gimping your character. Choosing that 2nd option is a recipe for frustration. Expand
  11. Jan 24, 2015
    3
    Piss poor attempt at horror, cliched, over produced, too much unskippable dialog and forced pacing.

    Buy Outlast instead if you want a proper horror game.
  12. Oct 16, 2014
    0
    As other reviews are saying, the PC version is basically broken. 30fps cap, clunky controls (keys seem to "mimic" a badly ported analogue controller), non-rebindable keys, poor camera control, are the tip of the iceberg.

    The ONLY way they'll stop churning out these intelligence insulting infantile rubbish ports is to stop buying them until they get their act together!
  13. Oct 16, 2014
    8
    The Evil Within is a great example of what a Survival Horror game needs to be. It's Like a mixture of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Siren, Easily some of the best horror games of the last decade. The Result is one of the most Terrifying Survival-Horror Experiences to date. Despite The Sometimes Laughable voice acting, Forgettable Characters, and rather emotionless Protagonist, SebastianThe Evil Within is a great example of what a Survival Horror game needs to be. It's Like a mixture of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Siren, Easily some of the best horror games of the last decade. The Result is one of the most Terrifying Survival-Horror Experiences to date. Despite The Sometimes Laughable voice acting, Forgettable Characters, and rather emotionless Protagonist, Sebastian Castellanos. Survivor Horror is Back with The Evil Within. Expand
  14. Oct 24, 2014
    0
    30fps, a cheap console port. If you are going to take a console game, and say "lets just make it for the pc to sell it pretty much for free on our part" expect these reviews and no less.
  15. Oct 18, 2014
    5
    Too linear. If i wanted a movie, i'd go watch netflix. The game will also lag on PC. Ill admit though, I didnt play it though. However, thats for a reason.
  16. Oct 15, 2014
    10
    Very impressed with this game so far. Very throwback to the golden years of survival horror (resi 1, silent hill 1/2, Dino Crisis 1). With a Great mix of sneaking and combat, there is a limited amount of supplies that i love in games as i like rationing my ammo in games.

    The Graphics are fine to me and run mostly at the designed 30fps and have no issues with this and i feel the black
    Very impressed with this game so far. Very throwback to the golden years of survival horror (resi 1, silent hill 1/2, Dino Crisis 1). With a Great mix of sneaking and combat, there is a limited amount of supplies that i love in games as i like rationing my ammo in games.

    The Graphics are fine to me and run mostly at the designed 30fps and have no issues with this and i feel the black borders and 2.35:1 aspect ratio is a bold and daring way to go. But i think it pays off in the overall feel of the game.

    The atmosphere is great and the enemies are also very well done along with there AI. I would say this game broke my expectations as a survival horror work of art. Difficulty is as to be expected but its not frustratingly difficult and havent been stuck for too long at any part in the game.

    Got to give this game a solid 10 as i love the classic survival feel and havent played a game quite as good since Code Veronica back on the Dreamcast.
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  17. Oct 14, 2014
    8
    For starters, people who are complaining about the lock at 30 fps are lazy sobs. First off, you can do a console command to change the fps limiter (best set to unlimited on my PC setup). Second, keep the aspect ratio of the game at default, that is the way it was meant to be played, why not enjoy the correct way! Now some people will say Bethesda said it was meant to be played at 30 fps,For starters, people who are complaining about the lock at 30 fps are lazy sobs. First off, you can do a console command to change the fps limiter (best set to unlimited on my PC setup). Second, keep the aspect ratio of the game at default, that is the way it was meant to be played, why not enjoy the correct way! Now some people will say Bethesda said it was meant to be played at 30 fps, but that is **** they just say that so the consoles can run the game.

    Besides all that bickering! The game, (which I have not beaten yet) so far is what you would expect from an action horror game. This game is hard, sets an atmosphere, art style is gloomy, dark and uses light correctly You don't get a lot of ammo, so you must conserve to survive. AND the cutscenes are in engine! Not like those crappy games where the cutscenes drop down to 30fps or just straight CG scenes.

    Well, I know I am not a writer, but I hope this review helps some people buy this game. I am having a great time playing the game, after I figured out how to ditch the 30fps cap (which was easy to do). Hope you all love and play this with me!
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  18. Oct 19, 2014
    0
    To be clear this game is awesome, but I will be repurchasing this on PS4 and looking to get refund for my PC copy if an upcoming patch does not fix the constant crashing issues on my computer. I don't have any other game that crashes my computer the way this one does. I even tried reinstalling STEAM, nothing works. I have a 4770K, GTX 770 with 4GB, an SSD and 16 GB of system RAM! ItTo be clear this game is awesome, but I will be repurchasing this on PS4 and looking to get refund for my PC copy if an upcoming patch does not fix the constant crashing issues on my computer. I don't have any other game that crashes my computer the way this one does. I even tried reinstalling STEAM, nothing works. I have a 4770K, GTX 770 with 4GB, an SSD and 16 GB of system RAM! It should certainly be enough to run this without problems.

    It used to crash about once per chapter, but now I am on chapter 6 (or 7, I forget), it crashes every 5 minutes and I cannot even complete a section.

    The gameplay is awesome, the atmosphere is great, the graphics aren't great, but the effects are okay and Shinji did a good job retaining the awesome elements from RE4 and adding to the forumla. If only I could play the game reliably I would rate it a 9.
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  19. Oct 21, 2014
    0
    60€, 30fps base (you can unlock it but newbies don't know how), not good gameplay, so, why the hell does this game cost 60€? Are we crazy? This should cost 15€.
  20. Oct 26, 2014
    1
    A poorly made rehash of Resident Evil 4. Most of the levels even look like the same Balkan village of RE4. The graphics are dull and dated, video aspect ratio is awful, and the controls are a clumsy port from a console. This game is an unplayable disaster that is not even worth picking up on sale in the bargain bin.
  21. Nov 23, 2014
    0
    The fan boys defend shinigaminichi or whatever his name is but most of us credit him for ruining the RE franchise. Just get Alien Isolation instead, runs great, is scary has challenge and looks amazing compared to TEW's playstation 2 gfx with a PS3 character model.
    Dev's unlocked 60 fps, unfortunately the "fix" for the FOV is basically no better than the console command(it probably is the
    The fan boys defend shinigaminichi or whatever his name is but most of us credit him for ruining the RE franchise. Just get Alien Isolation instead, runs great, is scary has challenge and looks amazing compared to TEW's playstation 2 gfx with a PS3 character model.
    Dev's unlocked 60 fps, unfortunately the "fix" for the FOV is basically no better than the console command(it probably is the command hard coded). They blew it on the FOV if you love nausea and headaches get TEW! If you love having you character take up 47 percent of the screen space go for it. ALSO not SCARY!!
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  22. Oct 6, 2021
    10
    Way better than the second game. Part 2 was just a disappointment but this one is really great and challenging.
  23. Oct 31, 2014
    3
    very poor game . the first 30 minutes are OK, nice graphics, enigne demonstration, some monster, but then it get very boring. the surrounding is very dark, the story is somehow pooor ... i did not even finish the game . i was very interested in the ID software engine id tech 5 which this game uses, but i am very dissapointed .
  24. Oct 18, 2014
    6
    For anyone who doesn't want to read all of my review the game is buggy as hell(on the pc release at least) and the enemies are just terrible in all honesty dumber and glitchier than anything i've seen i quite some time. (note: i'm also a fan of Shinji mikami's other games but this is a load of trash for the price you'd be paying)

    The game is a disappointment it really is...... I've been
    For anyone who doesn't want to read all of my review the game is buggy as hell(on the pc release at least) and the enemies are just terrible in all honesty dumber and glitchier than anything i've seen i quite some time. (note: i'm also a fan of Shinji mikami's other games but this is a load of trash for the price you'd be paying)

    The game is a disappointment it really is...... I've been looking forward too this game since it was first announced however after playing the game doesn't seem finished it seems like it was shipped early about 85% complete : The game play would be fun if it wasn't so buggy the biggest problem i'm having is the frame rate is absolute murder it constantly goes up and down on a ridiculous level to the point where sometimes it becomes completely unplayable. The enemy ai behaves really badly. Some situations where it should be nerve racking terrifying and difficult are in fact laughably easy due to the enemy a.i. behaving such as running into walls i have only gotten to chapter five but the last boss Laura i think her name was behaved so stupidly that i could literally walk around at ease without any threat whatsoever.
    The voice acting is bad and when i say bad where i think they just used where the voice actors read the script in completely neutral and decided to use them like that i honestly didn't believe until i played and tried it i literally laughed because it was so out of place in the environment. The graphics are fine they don't have any problem for me the story seemed like it would be decent too if i could actually play the game and get to it i'm at the point where i thought it seemed like such a complete and total waste of my time i'm extremely unhappy with the product. Maybe get the game in awhile when its much cheaper but as it stands now do not get this game for its price it seems like it would be a great game if nor for the performance issues and bad a.i.
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  25. Oct 28, 2014
    5
    The Evil Within disappoints on PC with a cheap console port feel to it. I found the camera to be very annoying, the controls and movement awkward, and the game play on the verge of just boring. The game is riddled with identical game play to Resident Evil so if you liked Resident Evil then you may find some similar game components to enjoy but if you were looking for some super scary,The Evil Within disappoints on PC with a cheap console port feel to it. I found the camera to be very annoying, the controls and movement awkward, and the game play on the verge of just boring. The game is riddled with identical game play to Resident Evil so if you liked Resident Evil then you may find some similar game components to enjoy but if you were looking for some super scary, intense, and well developed horror game, look elsewhere. This game severely disappoints. Expand
  26. Nov 14, 2014
    3
    After the patch when you could put 60fps from options and really play fullscreen i decided to give this game second chance. I really tried but just couldn't really enjoy playing this, it wasn't fun. When you play good game, you don't want it to end, but must say that after 6th chapter i already was waiting this game to end.

    Plot is very confusing and not entertaining. Bossfights were
    After the patch when you could put 60fps from options and really play fullscreen i decided to give this game second chance. I really tried but just couldn't really enjoy playing this, it wasn't fun. When you play good game, you don't want it to end, but must say that after 6th chapter i already was waiting this game to end.

    Plot is very confusing and not entertaining.
    Bossfights were boring.
    It's not fun to break every single barrel or vase and watch if you get more bullets or keys.
    And extra minus from Spider-Lady boss. Probably the most hated and the most frustrating boss in this century. Some people likes it, but i couldn't stand it.
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  27. Nov 5, 2014
    7
    the game does nothing very good and it sure wont give you something innovative and new but what it does it does pretty good, the atmosphere is well done creepy dark forests and villages are well done... yes yes it could have been more but i take this over any of the recent Resident Evil titles any day...
  28. Nov 14, 2014
    9
    I do not understand how anyone can give this game a zero. I personally love this game. To me a game is great when I cannot wait to come home and play it. I love the survival horror games and this game keeps me on the edge of my seat at all times. It is much easier to play with a mouse and keyboard as aiming is much better. I tried playing it with a controller and it was veryI do not understand how anyone can give this game a zero. I personally love this game. To me a game is great when I cannot wait to come home and play it. I love the survival horror games and this game keeps me on the edge of my seat at all times. It is much easier to play with a mouse and keyboard as aiming is much better. I tried playing it with a controller and it was very difficult. Also play it on the easier setting. The easy setting is still very difficult but at least you get a little more ammunition. The game looks great and the voice acting is very good. If you are not a resident evil fan this probably will not be for you but if you like resident evil then this is a must buy. The metacritic user score is brought down by these ridiculous zero ratings. If you take away all of the 0 scores this game would have a very good rating. Expand
  29. Dec 5, 2014
    0
    I played this on a friend's computer after he told me how terrible it was...I can't believe Bethesda's name is on this game...they've really gone downhill. It's amazing what kind of garbage they release...broken games. I didn't even get past the first bit of gameplay because there is no clear instruction on how to do anything...totally ridiculous.
  30. Nov 2, 2014
    7
    After being disappointed by several releases this year I purchased this game with some reservation, having spent some time playing the game and taking the time to learn how it operates however I was pleasantly surprised. I find it to be an enjoyable experience with some shortcomings unlike many recent releases however the positives seem to outweigh the negatives.

    What the game does
    After being disappointed by several releases this year I purchased this game with some reservation, having spent some time playing the game and taking the time to learn how it operates however I was pleasantly surprised. I find it to be an enjoyable experience with some shortcomings unlike many recent releases however the positives seem to outweigh the negatives.

    What the game does well is convey a sense of urgency in an environment where you absolutely must take your time, which successfully gives the impression of tension and adds to the atmosphere. Anyone failing to take their time with this will be brutally slaughtered, full stop. Enemy kills are visually impressive and gory and often leave you feeling humiliated. The tension is topped off by a morbid brooding atmosphere and you spend a lot of time as a prisoner of your own paranoia, peeking around corners, watching your back. and all with good reason.

    No major scares with this one but there are surprises and they provide a few WTF moments. Sophisticated traps which you can use against enemies, grenades, even matches can become weapons and a crossbow with an assortment of bolts, each with it's own purpose and the ability to craft them as you please. Combine these weapons with an excellent and versatile levelling system that encourages you to keep looking for ways to further upgrade your character and what you have is an impressive set up.

    Unfortunately this game can be very frustrating especially if you've been getting hacked to death in the same place for half an hour. The camera angles may have you squinting at some points and unless you have a desire to go blind, I'd recommend ignoring the instructions given to you about brightness levels and just turn it UP.

    The games clunky mechanics need to be mastered and you don't actually realise how open the environments are sometimes and there's a lot to be missed.

    The graphics are great and the enemies are well designed and intelligent, the gameplay successfully merges with the atmosphere and giving zombies weapons makes for an interesting change. But you may find it's all just too much to handle, it's frustrating, it's time consuming and it's difficult to progress through but rewarding when you do. If you're into survival horror you will like this but it isn't exactly for everyone.

    7/10
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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 18
  2. Negative: 1 out of 18
  1. CD-Action
    Jan 9, 2015
    50
    It seems the developers were not entirely sure what they wanted to achieve and got caught between traditional and innovative approach, properly employing neither. [13/2014, p.56]
  2. PC PowerPlay
    Nov 30, 2014
    70
    Borrowing heavily from past survival horror games, The Evil Within still manages to create fear in its players despite some clunkiness. [Dec 2014, p.58]
  3. Pelit (Finland)
    Nov 15, 2014
    82
    As the Japanese survival horror genre goes, The Evil Within feels a bit old fashion but in a good way. It certainly has the potential of becoming a cult classic. [Nov 2014]