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Early PS4 classic The Evil Within will be free on the Epic Games Store next week
2014 horror classic will be one of the free titles on the Epic Games Store from October 19 to 26.
Evil Within studio debuts supernatural action adventure, 'Ghostwire Tokyo'
The studio behind horror series The Evil Within is building an action-adventure game set in a city of supernatural evil, called Ghostwire Tokyo. Tango Gameworks founder Shinji Mikami and the title's creative director, Ikumi Nakamura, debuted the new game during Bethesda's E3 press conference, showing a glimpse of the story and world, but skimping on details like platforms or release date.
Countdown to 2015 Xbox sale starts: Dark Souls 2, Resident Evil, more
Microsoft kicked off its "Countdown to 2015" sale today on the Xbox Store, discounting a myriad of games with bigger price cuts for Xbox Live Gold members. This week's deals are good until December 22 and feature Lords of the Fallen at 40 percent off, Thief at 67 percent off, Wolfenstein: The New Order for half-price and The Evil Within at half-off as well for Xbox One, among a slew of other games. Microsoft also discounted The Crew/Assassin's Creed: Unity as well as The Crew/Far Cry 4 bundles by 25 percent for the week. Two Xbox One games are also on sale for today only: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its season pass are each 33 percent off and Lego: The Hobbit is 50 percent off. Among the many Xbox 360 games on sale this week, Dark Souls 2 is half-off, Tomb Raider is 67 percent off, Halo: Spartan Assault and Dance Central 3 are each 67 percent off and BioShock Infinite's price is slashed by 85 percent. A handful of games in the Resident Evil series are discounted this week as well, such as Resident Evil 5, Revelations and Code Veronica X by 67 percent each, Raccoon City by 75 percent and Resident Evil 6 by 50 percent. Lego: The Hobbit is also discounted by 67 percent on Xbox 360 for today only, and Lego Lord of the Rings is 75 percent off. The full list of this week's deals can be found after the break.
First Evil Within DLC 'The Assignment' due in early 2015
The Evil Within's first piece of downloadable content will launch early next year, Bethesda announced. Named "The Assignment," the add-on is one of two pieces of content that follows Juli Kidman, the partner of Detective Castellanos, the game's main protagonist. The DLC will be available individually at an as-yet-unannounced price, and as part of the survival horror game's $20 three-pack season pass. The Assignment's follow-up is The Consequence, which sticks by Kidman's side before the third DLC, The Keeper, arrives. The Evil Within launched in October and was met with mixed reviews, including our own that noted the game "requires so much repetition that it can't possibly maintain any sense of tension or unease, and its story is told so aimlessly that you'll likely forget the plot between scenes." The game recently received a 1 GB update to fix various bugs and improve its performance. [Image: Bethesda]
Evil Within gets 1GB update to fix bugs, improve performance
If you were looking to experience a nightmare before Christmas, perhaps you looked to your Xbox One or PS4 and a copy of Bethesda's The Evil Within. If you bumped into not just hordes of monstrous killers but also gameplay-impacting bugs and glitches, good news: the game has received a 1GB patch to address those problems, though a posting on the Bethesda blog fails to detail exactly what has been fixed. "The ... update covers minor bug fixes and optimizations," a post reads. When asked exactly what that meant in the comments, Bethesda reiterated that these were "general technical improvements and bug fixing." Well, that certainly clears things up. Near the end of October, The Evil Within received another, larger patch that significantly improved technical performance. Whether this patch changes the experience as much, we'll leave for you to decide. [Image: Bethesda]
Walmart discounts Halo: The Master Chief Collection bundle for Black Friday
U.S. retailer Walmart has revealed its Black Friday sales lineup, giving holiday shoppers time to prepare for a series of deep discounts later this month. Starting on November 26 at 6 p.m., customers can pick up an Xbox One hardware bundle that includes a copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection and a $30 Walmart gift card for $329. The Xbox One Assassin's Creed Unity Bundle is also up for grabs at $329, matching a deal Target announced earlier this week. Walmart additionally offers Mario Kart 8, The Evil Within, and Destiny for $35 each, along with a $149.99 Nintendo 3DS XL bundle that includes a free copy of New Super Mario Bros. 2. Cheap Ass Gamer has a full breakdown of Walmart's featured gaming deals. [Image: Microsoft]
Digital Foundry looks into Evil Within pre-patch problems
Our review of The Evil Within wasn't too keen on Shinji Mikami's latest survival horror epic, but according to the techies at Digital Foundry, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game are worse off if you play offline and forego the day-one patch. As you'll see in the performance comparison video beyond the break, the un-patched game runs 30 to 40 percent slower than its updated counterpart. The slowdown is so bad at times that when creating the video, Digital Foundry couldn't even properly record its findings and "needed to modify the values of our frame-time graph when creating the performance video, in order to accommodate gameplay pauses of up to 100ms." Additionally, while the patched game runs at a resolution of 1920x768, the unpatched game can only manage 1600x900 awkwardly crammed into a 1920x768 window. "What's baffling, though, is that even with a lower resolution, the performance is so much lower all around than the patched product," Digital Foundry adds. While the development team's impressive work on the game's 1.01 patch can only truly be appreciated when witnessing the technical troubles of its original incarnation, it does drive home the worrying nature of our new "always online" hobby. [Image: Bethesda Softworks]
Living without a head in The Evil Within
Having a head is so last season. All the stylish kids get through the trial and error of The Evil Within without a head.
Fifa fo fum, who smells the blood of an English man?
Chart-Track's post-FIFA portion of the year rolls along on the UK charts, with the footie franchise holding the top spot now for four straight weeks. Hunting the perennial performer was The Evil Within and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in second and third, respectively. Although Chart-Track doesn't share unit sales, it should be noted Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's third place showing is impressive given that it's only available for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC (nor does this count digital distribution). Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is fighting death in fourth place despite a 51 percent drop from last week. Alien: Isolation is holding on tight in sixth before it gets sucked out the airlock. Run past the break for the UK top ten.
Joystiq Weekly: Mordor's photo mode, The Evil Within review, Devolver's appeal and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. As the Smash Bros. and Halo series have taught us, stopping the action to play around with in-game cameras can be oddly compelling (and gleefully annoying to rivals/co-op partners). If The Last Of Us: Remastered and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's inclusion of similar features are the start of a trend, we'd welcome it with open shutter arms. Repositioning the camera for the perfect shot of an epic summon in Final Fantasy 15? Showcasing the full scope of a crazy moment in the time-defying Quantum Break? Yes please! There was plenty more to this week than snapping photos of an orc squadron's downfall though – Halo: The Master Chief Collection is expected to have a ~20GB day one patch, there were reviews for The Evil Within, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Bayonetta 2, and we got a full-frame perspective of publisher Devolver Digital. Check all that out and more after the break!
Metareview: The Evil Within
Reviews for The Evil Within are flowing like a slit throat, with scores splattered all over the walls. Our review of the survival horror/action game faulted it as a frustrating experience that "ignored its own rules." Others were similarly disappointed, but plenty of folks seem to be content with getting something new within the genre to play.
Walk through walls, get infinite ammo in The Evil Within on PC
Bethesda doesn't support players using debug console commands to cheat their way through The Evil Within, but the publisher sure is making it easy to do so. In a post on the Evil Within forums, Bethesda outlines how to access the game's debug console via Steam and enable cheats such as god mode, infinite ammo, walking through walls, and a handy FPS lock. Perhaps these cheats will make The Evil Within more fun, or at least not as supremely disappointing. Curious gore lovers, see Bethesda's instructions below.
Joystiq Streams: Discovering The Evil Within
The Evil Within, much as it is in the human psyche, has proven mercurial and divisive. Is The Evil Within born evil? Or was it just raised that way? The only way to find out is to make more and more people confront The Evil Within on its own terms, much like we're going to force horror gaming fanatic Richard Mitchell (@TheRichardM) to do on today's stream. Some of Richard's favorite games include Amnesia, Resident Evil, and even deep cuts like Fatal Frame 4 and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. His history with the genre is vast and he'll be playing The Evil Within completely blind for the very first time on Joystiq.com/Twitch at 4PM EST. Joystiq.com/Twitch broadcasts live action every Tuesday and Thursday at 4PM EST, but we're going to be streaming horror games almost every day over the next two weeks so make sure to follow us on Twitch to know when we go live. [Images: Bethesda]
The Evil Within review: Keep out
Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, PC Misplaced expectations can destroy your enjoyment of a game before you ever pick up the controller. Thinking of The Evil Within as a horror game, then, would be a misstep, because while it's certainly awash in grotesque imagery, it places far more emphasis on combat and stealth than it does creating an atmosphere of dread. Sadly, thinking of it as an action title won't really improve your chances of enjoying it, as the sloppy controls and hackneyed design ensure that it's a nonstop exercise in aggravating tedium, but at least your disappointment will be more accurate.
Tour the eerie world of The Evil Within in its new trailer
In this nearly three-and-a-half minute trailer, publisher Bethesda Softworks introduces players to the dark world of Shinji Mikami's The Evil Within, complete with bloody corpses, improvised weaponry and enemies that would be right at home in your most horrific nightmares. [Image: Bethesda Softworks]
Fight for your life in The Evil Within's latest trailer
When you encounter a large man ripping out a corpse's innards, "Hey! What are you doing?" maybe isn't the best response. Bethesda's latest The Evil Within trailer showcases The Haunted, the single-minded horde that stalks hero Sebastian Castellanos throughout his gory quest. The trailer also gives a glimpse at the deadly traps that will crush, ensnare, or puncture players at every turn when The Evil Within launches next week for consoles and PC platforms. [Video: Bethesda]
PSA: The Evil Within Xbox One digital pre-load goes live
Here's a heads up for those who want to get the earliest possible scare from Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami's latest project. The Xbox One version of Tango Gameworks' The Evil Within is now up for pre-order on Xbox Live, granting immediate pre-loading access to early adopters. The Evil Within's installation weighs in at around 40 GB, making it a good idea to start your downloads early. Publisher Bethesda notes that digital pre-loading will be available for the PlayStation 4 and Steam editions as The Evil Within approaches its launch on October 14. [Image: Bethesda]
Japan's The Evil Within PS4s are subtle, not scary
Japan is getting special, The Evil Within-branded PS4 consoles exclusive to the Japanese Sony Store with pre-orders starting in October, Siliconera reports. The PS4s come in both white and black, and they feature silhouetted images of an imposing asylum across the shiny portion of the console. In Japan, the game is titled "Psycho Break," and the name is included in the design. There's no word on pricing in Japan or whether these consoles will make their way westward. The Evil Within is due out on October 14 in North America and Europe, for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. [Image: Sony]
The Evil Within not without TGS trailer
The Evil Within, from Resident Evil maestro Shinji Mikami, is heading to this week's Tokyo Game Show with a new gameplay trailer. The game already features a cast who know grisly, but the game's environments don't seem to be holding back either. There's plenty of gore, blood and terror to go around in this trailer, but the room with spinning blades is a nightmare room. No wait, the one with the stamping spikes is a nightmare room. Wait, the barbed wire fishtank of drowning is. It's all a nightmare room!
Australia gets The Evil Within maze-style haunted house
In an effort to scare the ever-living-shit out of its fans, Bethesda announced a partnership with Warner Bros. Movie World to craft a real-life maze based on its horror game, The Evil Within. Located on the Gold Coast in Australia, the maze will feature characters from the game portrayed by actors as well as lots of fake blood. The Evil Within maze will be part of Warner Bros. Movie World's "Fright Nights" event held throughout the month of October. Those that can't make the trip will have the chance to experience a "teaser version" of the maze at the EB Expo in Sydney from October 3 to 5 at Bethesda's booth. The Evil Within launches October 14 for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. [Image: Bethesda]
