The Evil Within 2

The Good
Ironically enough, the survival/horror genre's longevity seems to be drawing to a close, a reality difficult to portray through an optimist's lens as single-player campaigns suffer in quantity due to developers relocating interests outside of niche experiences in favor of more profitable ventures. So, even with its shortcomings, an experience like The Evil Within 2 is appreciated for its preserving the artistic vision of a genre. The follow-up to Shinji Mikami's original, sans his presence as director, relocates Sebastian Castellanos into suburbia with the Gothic themes of the previous entry occasionally resurfacing in its world design and art direction.

The Bad
And across the 14+ hours of Campaign, the love of the genre is saturated across each iota of Video Game, with continuous motifs borrowed and references to other games (Resident Evil 2 + 4, Dead Space 1 + 2, Silent Hill 2). But elements of other genres leak into the solution, muddling the experience. For example, there is a great emphasis placed on combat which contrasts the genre into an ugly light -- removing the tension of resource management and forcing the player into the occasionally clunky gun-play for most of the play-period. The game also, unfortunately, suffers from writing capable of rivaling The CW in awkwardness and emotional dissonance between actor and player.

The Bottom Line
PROS: - Fantastic Voice Acting, Great Art Direction.

CONS: - Bad Writing/Characters, Padded Campaign.

4/10.