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For Bethesda’s sake, everybody act surprised! Survival horror sequel The Evil Within 2 has been officially revealed during Bethesda’s E3 2017 presentation, in line with our predictions for its two unannounced games (opens in new tab) lined up for the show (the other being Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus) and a leaked ad from earlier in the day (opens in new tab). But enough patting ourselves on the back – let’s analyze what unspeakable terrors await our hardened detective lead Sebastian Castellanos in this follow-up to the flawed but frightening original.
The reveal trailer is extra trippy, because it’s all taking place in the abstract thoughts of a disturbed mind. Sebastian is once again diving back into the STEM system, the Matrix-like machine that lets you poke around in other people’s brains while your real-world body is submersed in a pool of milky liquid. The woman narrating the lead-in to the trailer shown during the press conference is Juli Kidman, your partner in the original game who was revealed to be a mole for the evil MOBIUS organization in The Assignment DLC. The Evil Within 2’s story takes place three years after the events of the first game, following up on an all-but-untouched plot thread: the death of Sebastian’s five-year-old daughter Lily in a house fire. So far, it seems like The Evil Within (opens in new tab)’s still-at-large villain Ruvik and his host body Leslie don’t factor into this sequel’s plot.
It’s hard to parse all the creepy symbolic imagery that flashes by in the trailer: a painting smeared with “Appreciate the art” written in blood, a supernatural killer who uses flash photography to freeze his victims in time, crows that are either drowning in the STEM goo or flocking overhead in a manner most menacing. It looks like our main antagonist this time around will be a scarred priest leading a hellish sermon during which he sets Lily aflame right in front of Sebastian’s eyes. Interestingly, it looks like The Keeper (better known as ‘Boxhead’) from the first game won’t be returning – in his Pyramid Head-evoking place is a similarly bulky, intimidating goon wearing an elongated gas mask and swinging a flamethrower around. Expect The Evil Within 2 to have the same mix of suspenseful exploration, reality-bending jumpscares, and tense shootouts with precious little ammo. The Evil Within 2 is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 13, 2017 – that’s Friday the 13th, naturally.
