History VideoGame / TheEvilWithin

''The Evil Within'' (''Psycho Break'' in Japan) is a 2014 game developed by Tango Gameworks, directed by Creator/ShinjiMikami, and published by Bethesda. The game is said to be an attempt to return to SurvivalHorror.

''The Evil Within'' is a 2014 game developed by Tango Gameworks, directed by Creator/ShinjiMikami, and published by Bethesda. The game is said to be an attempt to return to SurvivalHorror.

* NamesTheSame: Amalgam Alpha, the BodyOfBodies monster Sebastian first encounters in an alternate version of the Asylum in Ruvik's mind, and Amalgam, the {{Kaiju}}-sized mental creation Ruvik pilots during the final battle.

** Finding Joseph in the lower levels of Beacon leads to Sebastian having to escort him through several areas crawling with The Haunted. Luckily he has decent health, will actively try to avoid getting hit, and usually packs a [[PunchPackingPistol custom .45 caliber [=M1911A1=]]] [[InfiniteAmmo with infinite ammo]], meaning that for many of the fights you can just draw enemies away from him while he blasts them to pieces. Later segments have him either wielding [[AnAxeToGrind a long-handle axe]] or a SniperRifle from a safe area. Plus, you can infinitely heal him, so even if he gets hit, you can usually get him back up, if you're fast enough.

** Shade (aka Spotlight) has a [[ShesGotLegs nice pair of legs]]. She also has a huge, [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily sharp-toothed maw]] [[BodyHorror inside her torso]], is covered in blood, and, well, has a spotlight for a head.

**
The very end of Chapter 12 has you take control of Kidman to drive the school bus she, Sebastian, and Joseph are in while plowing through a horde of Haunted. This doesn't last too long though. See ShoutOut above.

** After he escapes from the asylum at the start of the game, Sebastian jumps into an ambulance with his partners and they take off as the road starts falling apart behind them and buildings start collapsing, much like the first driving sequence in ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDark2008''. Except here, it's only a cutscene and it's turned UpToEleven when it looks like an entire city block is ''rotating.''

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: The final DLC, ''The Executioner'', is a first person BeatEmUp in the perspective of the Keeper.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The very end of Chapter 12 has you take control of Kidman to drive the school bus she, Sebastian, and Joseph are in while plowing through a horde of Haunted. This doesn't last too long though. See ShoutOut above.

* AdultFear: It's revealed in notebooks you find lying around that Sebastian and Myra [[spoiler: lost their five-year-old child in a house fire. In the same vein, young Ruben and Laura are trapped in a barn that's set on fire by begrudged townsfolk; Laura dies, while Ruben is left very badly scarred (both physically and [[StartOfDarkness mentally.]])]]

** The earliest obvious example occurs at the beginning of Chapter 2, when you run into a recently-undead Connelly, he slowly turns his head to the camera as he's feeding on a fresh corpse, acting as an almost shot-for-shot reenactment of the first zombie encounter in [[Franchise/ResidentEvil Resident Evil]].

* SurrealSymbolicHeads: The Keeper, which has a safe covered in barbed wire in place of a human head. [[spoiler: It represents Ruvik's anger at Jimenez breaking into his safe to steal research.]]
** Shade has a spotlight in place of a head. [[spoiler:It appears to represent several things: Ruvik's search for a new body, Juli's search for Leslie, possibly Juli's desire to search out the truth behind MOBIUS, Juli's childhood (given that the spotlight looks exactly the same as the one in the village she grew up in), and the eponymous fixture above Beacon Mental Hospital.]]

* TakeYourTime: In chapter 5 you and Joseph are tasked with fending off a few waves of monsters while Kidman is trapped in a Plexiglas box[[note]]It can't be normal glass, since you can't break it with the various weapons you have on hand.[[/note]] that's slowly filling with what we'll assume is just dirty water. No matter how long it takes to kill them, thoroughly loot the surrounding area, and finally get around to talking to Joseph, she'll just keep treading water inside the tank, which by this time is guaranteed to be full up to the top. At this point, [[TimedMission you suddenly have a limited time]] to trace the water to its source and turn it off (which only has any useful effect because it's yet another thing in the game that runs on dream logic), which requires going through a door that was just locked a moment ago. The meter in the corner of your screen depicts a tank slowly filling with water. Despite, again, the tank being already full when it starts.

* GuideDangIt: Most of the keys for the morgue lockers are in locations you would ''never'' know to look unless you use a walkthrough, which can lead to a little frustration if you're trying to get them all in a single playthrough.

Three {{DLC}}s have been released after the original game: ''The Assignment'', ''The Consequence'', and ''The Executioner''. The final DLC is considered non-canon, but the first two are a genuine expansion on the story. A sequel, ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin2'', was released on October 13th, 2017.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler: If the implication that Ruvik managed to successfully possess Leslie's body is true, then things aren't quite over. Also, we still know very little about the Organization Kidman works for, as well as the sideplot concerning the death of Sebastian's daughter and the disappearance of his wife and the fact that [[NeverFoundTheBody Joseph's body is missing at the end]]. The {{DLC}}s imply that Joseph might have been abducted by Mobius for whatever reason and thus still be alive, possibly giving additional motivation of Sebastian to continue.]]

*** [[spoiler:{{Jossed}} in the sequel, in which The Administrator is shown to be as real as anyone else in MOBIUS.]]

** BiggerBad: [[spoiler:Mobius, which seems to be a cross between [[Franchise/ResidentEvil the Umbrella Corporation]] and TheIlluminati, is shown to be this to Ruvik and the [=STEM=] Project in ''The Assignment''.]]

* ActionizedSequel: Inverted with ''The Assignment'' and ''The Consequence'', which has relatively little combat and a much larger focus on stealth and interactive story sequences. Instead, she gets far less weapons, an EnemyDetectingRadar, and a TakeCover mechanic.

* NoSell: Kidman would seem to be this, as she appears to shrug off the sonic headaches that plague Sebastian and Joseph throughout the adventure.

* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: Besides setting them on fire, the only ways to permanently kill common Haunted are by blowing their heads off or killing them with stealth attacks.

* FinalDungeonPreview: In the very first chapter, Sebastian explores a sewer underneath Beacon Memorial Hospital and some of its basement level while trying to escape the Sadist, totally unarmed and severely wounded to the point he can only limp around. Later on, in the final chapter of the game, you [[WhereItAllBegan return to the hospital]] and even some of the same rooms, significantly better equipped for the challenges ahead. It's no easier than the first time even WITH guns, unfortunately.

''The Evil Within'' is an 2014 game developed by Tango Gameworks, directed by Creator/ShinjiMikami, and published by Bethesda. The game is said to be an attempt to return to SurvivalHorror.

* ManInWhite: Ruvik wears a white robe as part of his outfit. This serves to make him seem even more wraithlike, standing out amidst his dark surroundings.

** Further still, at the end of The Consequence, [[spoiler:Kidman ends up with a strange mark on her arm (which Ruvik may have put there) and no memory of how she got outside of the STEM. We hear The Director's voice over her's one final time, implying she might not have escaped after all. Also, Kidman saves Sebastian by declaring him dead, but we can see the organisation carrying away Joseph in the background. He's thus probably alive, but now at the mercy of Mobius.]]