I was somewhat conflicted with the main game when I played it on launch. I thought the way they approached shooting in the game was awkward in how it gave the vibe of being a shooter like RE4/RE5, and yet it was far more about conserving ammo. I tried to conserve ammo, but there were a few sections that felt I should have been getting more ammo than I had (even one boss where I had no ammo and a friendly A.I. had to kill it or something as I ran around hoping not to die). Throughout, it was about getting the exact amount of ammo you need for the moment and no more. From what I understand that last patch that also fixed the aspect ratio, also allowed for more ammo to be found. I had no issue with it being about conserving ammo, just the way it was designed with the layout of stages, the music that played in those sections, and how many enemies are thrown at you.

It just felt like it was trying to be two things at once from what I remember. The horror aspect of being in confined areas with unkillable, often times hideous looking creatures was tense and effective. I'm thinking about replaying the game to see if I can appreciate the game any more than I had in the past because the sequel is coming out this year which I have a bit of interest in as it looks like a more personal story. I just hope they can pull it off. How was the DLC, and would you recommend it, especially considering the sequel is coming? I'd probably go through the main game again first to refresh my memory. From what I understand, the DLC isn't much (or at all?) about the shooting. Lastly, on somewhat of an off topic note, I'd like to ask who else here is interested in the sequel? And, did you like the first game?

I never got around to the story DLC, but I did play the Executioner one, and I recommend it if it's cheap enough. It's pretty short and completely different from the main game (a first person melee brawler closer to Condemned than anything), but it's a fun diversion with some really interesting ideas and a bit of replayability.

As for the sequel, I'm cautiously optimistic. I liked the first game far more than the general consensus, but it did have severe issues, and it didn't use its plot to be as creative as it should have been. I was really hoping for more surreal environments/enemies, and we didn't get much of that at all. If the sequel has more fun with the concept and fixes the gameplay issues, I'm 100% in.

Yes. But they're not as well designed as the main game.

The sequel is my most anticipated game.

@yummylee Seemed to like them more than the main game.

@shagge: I think the story was trying to serve as a way to use multiple styles of horror, rather than trying to be bizarre. It may be an issue to you (and I'm not saying you're wrong to feel that way), but I believe it was an intentional thing they did.

The first two DLCs are less gun heavy so ammo isnt really a factor, I thought they were cool though. There was some nice cat and mouse sections and it delves deeper into Mobius and how they operate. I'm looking forward to the sequel quite a bit. In my opinion the first game struck the right balance between horror and action. I recently replayed RE4 and that game ditches horror about a third of the way through. TEW is much more consistant and I hope the sequel follows suit.

EDIT: I'd say my major gripe with TEW was the performance and general lack of polish, hopefully they clear that up for the sequel.

You're right, and I wouldn't say it was an issue so much as just a bit of a letdown. Given the "RE4 meets Silent Hill" influences, I came in expecting a bit more variety than what we got. And almost every time things do get weird, you're back to making the schüt at zambies in real-world looking locales within a few minutes.

Ah well, like I said, not a huge deal.

@ntm: Oh, so they patched in more ammo and an aspect ratio fix? I had no idea. Makes me more interested in picking it up when it's on sale. Still probably won't, but eh.

Truthfully, survival horror isn't necessarily my thing. I enjoyed Dead Space and Resident Evil IV, but those were more action games with survival horror elements. When some of the mid-development press began complaining that The Evil Within was too generous with upgrade points and ammunition for its multitude of monster foes, I was actually encouraged. "Oh good," I thought, "they're going a more Resident Evil IV route with bizarre Escher-inspired nightmare realms. I might have to pick this up."

Then the developers listened to their critics and seemingly removed half the ammunition pick-ups while leaving the monster count and placement unchanged... and I passed. I'm glad the critics and purists were happy, but I have no interest in stretching four bullets across twelve mutants. If The Evil Within 2 follows the same ethos as its predecessor, I'll pass on that too. *shrug* Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

I'm replaying the game right now. I don't know if I'll finish it right away (I plan on getting Sundered), but I plan to. I am enjoying it fine right now. It seems I didn't erase my saves from when I played it on release, so I have many things upgraded and am playing on new game plus. The game is much easier in terms of taking enemies down. The guy with the chainsaw in the town area that's chained up originally took some time to kill, where I had to actually run around the setting and then find the best place to take him out. This time I stood above where he's chained up, he ascended the ladder and I shot him with my pistol; he fell off the ladder and died with about seven shots. It surprised me.

I enjoy the shooting more too, and the way enemies' heads can have a hole in it and still walk toward you is unique. You literally can take a chunk out of an enemies head and they'll still come after you. My biggest issue with the game is that the animations are stiff, the resolution isn't 1080p on the One version so it's a bit blurry, and antialiasing is lacking. Something I just noticed earlier, and I'm not sure if I read it the first time or if I just forgot about it, but there are journal entries by Sebastian, and it basically tells the story of what's happening in two. How he met his wife, his daughters birth, and death, and him becoming depressed and a drunk as his wife was taken.

Maybe I'll play the DLC after, though I am not sure how it can/will fit into the sequel.

I might just read about the DLC instead of buying it, but yesterday I finished the main game again, and I enjoyed it more than I had the first time. The game seemed shorter, at least by a couple of hours. Also, the shooting and lack of ammo weren't an issue anymore. I was also playing on new game plus, so my weapons were powerful, and getting more so along the way so the tough enemies from before died hilariously fast when I would have otherwise tensed up in those moments as I scrambled to find ammo as they hunted me. The story made more sense to me. The game was still tense in spots, but not as much as it was the first time. The expectation of feeling the same as I did the first time made it more intense than the actual moments that I felt were effective the first time through.

There's a moment when the four armed woman (what the bad guy conjures up of his dead sister, which it only fully explains on a submenu on the main menu) is chasing you and that part had me giggling as I walked around her in circles in the final part. She was being kind of dumb in that part (maybe she was hurt, I thought I saw her limping, but I don't know), but I knew she could kill me instantly if she caught me. I totally forgot the order of things in the game because I thought places you went came before and/or after others. My biggest issue with the game ended up just being visual. The resolution on the One version and lack of good anti-aliasing as well some of the stiff animations. The PC version could fix some of that I suppose. So yeah, it has me more excited about two! And now back to Sundered.

Edit - For anyone interested in the story, there's this you can read which tells how one connects to two. That's one other thing, I didn't fully understand what the hell was going on in the story the first time, and there's more to it than what's shown through cutscenes. When I got to the ending, I just thought 'okay, so they were all dreaming this whole time and this was someone or something's mind creating a nightmare', but it is a little deeper than that. I mean, the collectibles you pick of are things you should read and listen to. Now, I'm contemplating whether I should play the DLC or not because it actually seems pivotal in the large scheme of things. I read about it earlier, and if I hadn't read it and played two, I would have felt lost even more so than before. I want to play the DLC now kind of just to experience it. I swear, this year is the year I'm replaying a handful of old titles that I didn't much care for, and yet found a new appreciation for.

@ntm: so would you say the game is best enjoyed by pumping up your stats using some gameshark type solution? I started this game and got about 5 hours in then dropped off. Been meaning to get back into it for a while but I remember the combat got a little grueling at times in that certain enemies wouldn't die from direct shotgun blasts which seemed ridiculous in a game that gave out ammo so sparingly.

@humanity: Yes, to an extent. While some of the enemies become somewhat pushovers, those same enemies in a few instances (there's an enemy that has a safe box for a head if you know what I'm talking about) will come back within a few seconds, so it's still about doing things in good timing as you'll have to pull levers by tapping A, or 'cross' on the PS4 really fast for instance. The bosses however and chainsaw dudes are extremely easy and there was never a moment in this playthrough that I lacked ammo for those things. I actually wanted more of a challenge from them once I killed them just in terms of hitting a weak point or something, where I said 'wait, that was all?' Still, I took pleasure in knowing I could just walk up to those hideous creatures and blast them several times until they were dead. In almost all cases, it took me by surprise that I killed all the enemies and bosses so easily.

There's one part of the initial playthrough that seemed almost kind of cheap which is at the end where they throw waves of enemies at you. Like many other instances earlier in the game, though the sense was heightened here as it was a lot of running around, trying to find ammo and making shots count, this time it was a breeze and almost all that feeling of intensity was absent. I died a few times from what I remember, thinking 'how am I supposed to beat this?', and on this playthrough, the thought of dying wasn't even a thing. You'll still run around, but it's simply to get into the best position to kill them or to evade them from getting close to you. Picking ammo up is just extra. The number of enemies in that part seemed like less than the original time too, but it wasn't. There's a crossbow in the game that you can just keep refilling the ammo on the spot as long as you have the tools for it, which you pick up from dismantling traps through the game. That's what I used in this instance and it's the reason why it seemed shorter as enemies bunch together, and you kill them all at once. I'm wondering if I could have just done that the first time...

With the shotgun, normal dudes can take up to two hits even with it maxed out if you don't hit them in the right spot, so it's best to get real close to them, like one and a half arm lengths away, then shoot them in the chest/face area. Weirdly, there are dudes that wear masks, so shooting them in the face isn't advised, but I shot them in the groin area with the pistol and it killed them in one hit sometimes. It's also preferable sometimes to either kick them when they're down or just use a match. There are some enemies that will wildly sway their weapon around if you get close and they're still alive. Using a match is not necessary though. I'd say yes to your question, but it might also eliminate some of the challenges. I think it's more realized as the game I wanted to play though.

The game didn't feel as jarring on the second go and felt a lot more like the shooter it could be, with different horror elements in there that were good on variety. It's kind of disappointing, but it really seems the game benefits with a second playthrough. Honestly, though, the game could have been more intense if they made the weapons weaker, but gave you twice as much ammo since you'd have to evade enemies more. Like I said, there was a sheer lack of challenge in moments that could be identifiable as 'hard' parts in the game, and those things should be experienced to some extent because it could otherwise become forgettable. If the game was played on the initial playthrough like I just did with this one, I might be disappointed in another way, but it was certainly more enjoyable and less frustrating than the previous time.

It's not a weapon I used too much unless it was on tough guys that took some hits to kill and could kill you quickly, enemies bunched up, or one time a door opening and closing with dudes in it that shot out, but upgrade the crossbow weapons explosive ammo type. By the end of the game, the only gun I didn't have fully maxed out but nearly did was the revolver. I didn't use it once. It's weird, because killing guys gains a lot more green gel to upgrade, and yet initially killing everyone could be a waste of ammo making it seem like upgrading is way too slow. I'm wondering if the point of the game is to upgrade and then play it again. Okay, sorry for the long response!

I just wanted to update and say that I got the season pass. I played through the first Kidman story DLC, The Assignment and I liked it a lot. I'm pretty tired now, otherwise, I'd go straight onto the next, but I'll do it later today. Honestly, it's kind of unfortunate this wasn't a free thing or something, as it is pivotal to understanding in detail what's going on in the overall story from the original, and what will continue onto the next, so if you played the main game but not the DLC, you might be confused when going onto two. That's what it seems like to me anyway since they explain more about how the characters' fit into it, as well as bring a new character in. It also delves deeper into the true antagonist when it was only vaguely hinted at in the main game.

I'd say it's very much worth it if you hadn't played it, but want to play the second. While the overall story (evil corporation wants something to control the world) can be seen as pretty unoriginal, I still think it has a fine enough twist to it and is well designed. I'm really disappointed I didn't garner more excitement over the main game and its DLC initially because now it's a game that's pervading my mind and I can't wait to play the sequel, putting it alongside other highly anticipated games from later this year for me. I'm putting off Sundered to go back to play this, though that game is going to get an update soon so I thought it was a good time to jump back to this for some time.

Edit - Instead of posting a new post and bumping the thread again. I just wanted to say that I'm playing the second one now, and maybe almost done? I'm not sure, but I'm at the part where Kidman is now heading the Beacon hospital in the city. I like this DLC a lot too, and to reiterate again for those that are interested in two, play this DLC.

The last edit - Finished the second DLC. It was also good. I'm really glad I played the main game again, and happy I picked up the DLC before two. I'm really excited for the sequel now. The DLC takes six to seven hours which is a good amount of time. You might say it's half as long as the main game. To say for one final time on here, I'm really disappointed in myself for not taking the time to play it again and give it another chance.

@ntm: I've gone back and started playing again. It certainly didn't help that my last save was at the tail end of Chapter 5 and started with a boss fight, which was ehh, kinda not that hot. Getting back the feel for the controls and fighting the "Shrieking lady" was definitely not the best way to ease back into a game like this but I did it. Dunno if you're just supposed to get a certain number of fire hits or if those pits are necessary but it was sorta more clunky than cool. That said I still love the presentation and all the crazy psychodelic stuff going on. The way the game world can transition between varying states of horror and insanity is really effective. Shortly after that boss fight is that tub room where you have to yank out the cables from the guys inside them and that whole bit was real nice.

Evil Within is one of those titles that has a really awesome game in there but sometimes it's obfuscated by a lot of clunkiness. If it played more like Dead Space while retaining it's signature style I think it would be awesome. I never understood the necessity for survival-horror to make the gameplay part feel like you're constantly wading through waist high mud. You can still get atmosphere and conservation of resources with tight controls.

@humanity: Perhaps you're not the new game plus type, especially for a game you don't fully enjoy the first time, but really understanding the game helped me, and it also delivered more ammo so the overall feel was a bit different due to that as well. If I were you, I would have just started over, but I understand not wanting to. The game isn't too clunky in terms of control to me, but the moving/animations are a bit stiff which might make it feel as such. Something I also realized is that the close-up FOV isn't as much an issue. If I could change it, I probably would, but it's also something that factors into making it scarier since you can't see what's behind you. Yes, the lever to the chambers/pits was almost necessary to kill her as you have to time it correctly by having her be down there.

It is actually a relatively easy and quick part if you can lure her into the pit right off the bat, and you won't waste ammo on anything. Honestly, I typed up a whole thing about something else since I thought you were referring to another area in the game but had to erase it because I don't want to spoil anything. So, you're still kind of early in the game then. As for the 'shrieking lady', you learn more about her later, though for me, I didn't even know how she related to another character until I read about it on the main menu's submenu, or I simply forgot. That said, the game still seems to only hint at larger things, and it leaves it up to the player to read and listen to the collectibles, which I am not sure I did. I just want to say, if you're curious about whether to do fight or flight, there are a few scenarios in the game that want you to mainly do flight as you're being chased, and you need to either shoot things to get through somewhere or turn wheels by tapping A fast.

You should just know that before wasting ammo, but I won't go into full detail so I don't spoil it. On a new game plus, one of those scenarios is actually good to get a bunch of green gel. I should also mention that I played it on casual difficulty as I do with the majority of games the first time through, and you can't change difficulty on new game plus, unfortunately, which I would have done, going onto the hardest difficulty. I only mention this because like I said earlier, they patched the game so casual difficulty specifically allows more ammo to be dropped. It's not excessive, but it seems like a better amount than I remember. There are a handful of moments in the game that guys will one hit kill you if they catch you, so I died about ten times even on casual difficulty new game plus in the 13.5 hours it took to complete it. Normal dudes aren't worrisome though.

There are just too many moments in the main game that have a bunch of dudes, or a boss that require ammo, then on top of that conserving ammo in the game would really limit upgrading. I didn't like that aspect the first time through; it was balanced badly. I know I sound like a broken record here, but playing on a new game plus is just a much better experience and makes the game better realized as to what I thought it would/could be. I'm also really liking the DLC, and would fully recommend it for anyone wanting to learn more about the overall story as well as anyone that is interested in the sequel. I'm going to start playing the second part of the DLC now. Control wise, if you mean how the character moves as well as animates, I agree that it's not as good as it could be, but there's no real issue in terms of button layout.

Oh, one more thing about DLC, it's all stealth pretty much, so you're not dealing with upgrading or guns and ammo.