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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_evil_within_2_guardian_battle_0.jpg]]
2 [[caption-width-right:350: [[SarcasmMode She's the kind of girl you'd take home to your mom.]]]]
3!!Game-Based Frights:
4* This game hits you with nightmare fuel ''right out of the gate''; as soon as you start a new game, you play through a short sequence with Sebastian rushing to save his daughter Lily as his house burns down around him. He makes it to her room, and she's safe. [[CallingTheOldManOut But she blames him for not saving her]] and grabs hold of him as she bursts into flames, both of them engulfed in a vortex of fire as their faces graphically burn off... [[CatapultNightmare Before Sebastian wakes up in a bar.]] Yeah. They're not pulling ''any'' punches this time around.
5* The good news is that Ruvik does not appear in person this time around. The bad news is, Laura does return, having been spawned by Father Theodore from Sebastian's memories... and she brought the Sadist and the Keeper along for the ride.
6* Actually, let's mention Ruvik again, especially as players may remember this one from the first playthrough. Those who did play the first game will remember how Ruvik was made into the Core of the first game's STEM...because one part has Ruvik describe how Mobius basically ''ripped his flesh away until he was nothing but a brain to stick in a jar and connected that into STEM''. Thankfully, that isn't the case here with Lilly, but anyone who remembers that point may wonder with a feeling of horror if they did the same thing to the poor girl up until the final cutscenes...
7* After he gets surprised by Valentini early on, Sebastian looks into a mirror and sees a woman in a red dress behind him. He turns around... [[NothingIsScarier but there's nobody there.]] Turning back around, Sebastian's greeted by the severed heads of ''several women'', one of which is [[SlasherSmile flashing him a demonic smile]], before a horrific abomination of [[BodyOfBodies female bodies fused together]], with a HUGE buzzsaw for one hand, crashes through the mirror and starts to chase him, screaming and laughing the whole time. Say hello to the Guardian. [[SarcasmMode The best part?]] There's more than one.
8** The slow burn leading up to this first encounter is a prime example of NothingIsScarier, as you cautiously trek through what appears to be a fancy hotel where Stefano showcased his disturbing works. The place is just old and decrepit enough to make it extremely unsettling, and that's before you come upon Stefano's gory "Rebirth" sculpture and the numerous sheet-covered bodies hanging from the ceiling in a pitch-black room.
9** Checking a locked door atop one stairwell treats you to the sight of a terrified victim appearing on the other side of the glass and begging Sebastian for help, before she is grabbed by an unseen entity and quickly pulled back into the darkness.
10* There's another female creature called Anima stalking Sebastian throughout Union that isn't quite as viscerally horrifying as The Guardian, but is a tall, ghostly woman that sings creepily while searching for Sebastian, and rushes at him very, ''[[JumpScare very]]'' quickly if he's spotted. And it can ''walk through walls'', meaning not only will usual evasive tactics not work but you never know apart from the singing if she is headed right for you...
11** Let the Anima grab you, either because you couldn’t get away from her or she surprises you, and you get a horrifying first hand look at Sebastian being forcibly turned into a Lost.
12** After her first encounter, Anima can randomly appear out on the streets in Union, outside of scripted events. This is pretty jarring the first time it happens since it isn't immediately obvious how to deal with her, though it gets easier once you figure out [[spoiler: you can evade her easily by running opposite of her path and despawn her by getting far enough away]].
13** Before her first encounter, assuming you do enough exploring and finding the various journal entries around Union, there's plenty of build-up to Anima's presence, and it sets the stage for what she's like. The worst of this is likely the Mobius security guard who barricaded himself in the garage by the safe-house but was ambushed by her since barriers don't hinder her in any way. The resonance echo ends with her frightening howl and the man screaming, leaving the player dreading encountering such a creature...
14** All three side-quests with her are increasingly more frightening than the last. The first is as the player is new to the scenario, but can easily handle her should they keep their wits about them. However, each encounter afterward has a different mechanic that must be learned on the fly and will demand Sebastian leave cover in order to escape, and there's no telling if she'll look your way just as you do...
15** And to top it all off, Anima is [[TheCorruption supposedly the cause of people changing into the Lost]], as journal entries detailing a sighting of her are right beside Lost, and Sebastian is forcibly turned into one if he is caught, as mentioned above. As mentioned on the wiki, Anima appears when a person's will is worn down by STEM's domination process, and Sebastian encounters her due to the psychological scars imprinted upon him from [[VideoGame/TheEvilWithin Ruvik's STEM at Beacon]]. Think about this for a moment. This means that no matter what, eventually, ''Anima will be coming for you''....it's just a matter of time...
16---> '''Sebastian''': It's coming for me...I've got to get out of here.
17* Imagine being one of the volunteers for Mobius' [[LotusEaterMachine Union project]]. You get sent to a seemingly utopian EverytownAmerica where you lead a perfectly happy life inside STEM... When suddenly the environment begins cracking apart and most of the people there begin turning into hideous abominations out for your blood, with no possibility of escaping to the real world. And that's without mentioning the couple of psychopaths running around whose mental problems give them godlike RealityWarper powers within STEM. You'd be very fucked indeed.
18** In fact, there's a semi-hidden moment in Chapter 3 where you can encounter a single surviving resident to get her perspective on what's happened. The frightened young woman can only recollect signing up for a sleep study because she needed money, and then found herself in Union with an identity she didn't recognize, and a man she didn't know who said he was her husband. Then she saw him transform into one of the Lost and try to attack her. Sebastian can save her from immediate harm, but there's nothing else he can do to help the poor girl, meaning she'll spend the last hours of her existence hiding in that house while "reality" crumbles around her, waiting for a rescue that will never come.
19* Your first encounter with the Lost, where Sebastian comes upon a woman repeating "Skin and bones, gotta eat" in a deranged singsong while ForceFeeding her still-human teenage son from a pile of disgusting, rotted offal. Then she starts to slam the poor kid's head into the table, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath bloodily smashing in his face over and over until she literally beats his brains out]].
20-->''[[PunctuatedPounding "I. SAID. EAT!"]]''
21* The Obscura creature looks to have stepped out of a Silent Hill game, as it appears as a twisted fusion of a human woman and a tripod, complete with a vintage camera for a head. If it manages to see it's prey, it will use it's camera flash to freeze them into place and sprout tentacles to impale the unfortunate victim, all while making unpleasantly ecstatic, borderline-orgasmic noises.
22** Even worse, Obscura is a flesh construct Stefano made from the bodies of some unfortunate victims. At one point, Stefano taunts Sebastian by letting him hear the creation process of the monster, namely, torturing and cutting a screaming woman into pieces. If you check the paintings lining the corridor during this, you can also see the process reenacted in them. At one point, he even ''cuts her tongue out'' since he can't focus on his work over his helpless victim's sobbing and wailing. '''''Jesus'''''.
23---> '''Stefano:''' "Shh... Don't cry. You're becoming art. You shall be part of my Obscura. Ah, flesh... Less malleable than clay. Softer than marble. It really is the perfect medium. Agh! I can't concentrate like this! A sculpture doesn't need a tongue..."
24--->''*screaming abruptly stops with a gurgle*''
25* The sheer amount of Hell that Myra goes through. In her quest to find her daughter, she gets screwed over threefold: she's betrayed by Valentini, then Theodore does the same, and ''then'' her own psyche gets corrupted by STEM, turning her into a monster who's sole focus is Lily's safety, everything and everyone else (including Sebastian) be damned.
26** In fact, she's the very last opponent Sebastian has to face before he can take Lily out of STEM, turning into a [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever horrific, rotting giant]] half-submerged in a [[LightIsNotGood lake of white liquid.]] While she does roar at you, the worst part of it all is that Myra still speaks to him, viciously blaming Sebastian for not being there for her and Lily. [[ApologeticAttacker And all the while, Sebastian keeps saying he doesn't want to do this]] [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight and telling her to snap out of it.]]
27--> '''Myra:''' '''''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis YOU... CAN... NOT... HAVE... HER!]]'''''
28* Close to his boss battle, Valentini shows Sebastian his greatest "masterpiece" yet: strapping dozens of victims into their chairs in the theatre and detonating their explosive leashes, then freezing the ensuing carnage in time with his powers. It doesn't help that, judging by the expression he makes afterwards, he seems to get ''aroused by it''.
29* The giant flying camera eye that Valentini controls. It's huge, can summon enemies, and can squash you into a red smear on the ground with a single swat of its giant tentacles.
30* The Harbingers are the {{Elite Mook}}s who represent Theodore's most devout cultists. They're mad fanatics carrying [[PlayingWithFire flamethrowers]] and distinguished by a bandage-wrapped breathing apparatus that makes it look like their face has been ''[[FacialHorror melted and molded into the semblance of a gas-mask]]''. Oh, and for icing on the cake, you'll have to face [[FaceHeelTurn O'Neal]] as a boss-battle after Theodore corrupts him and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy converts him into one.]].
31* Theodore's personal sections of the STEM are quite horrifying, being a flame-enveloped mash-up of a medieval torture dungeon, a Gothic church, and an industrial factory, none of which would be out of place in a ''Franchise/SilentHill'' game.
32** The torture cellar and dungeon in Chapter 9 contains plenty of evidence that it's ''been used'', and used a lot, with burned-up human husks littering the floors and strapped into devices, while anguished howls and screams can be heard echoing throughout the halls. Anyone thinking that Theodore is some kind of WellIntentionedExtremist who deserves any measure of sympathy needs only listen to the residual memory in one prison cell of an innocent woman waking up inside, panicking to find herself alone, and weeping in terror as she realizes that she's going to die in there... [[FridgeHorror and then consider how many more people must have met with similarly horrible fates because of Theodore's whim.]]
33--->"LET ME OUT! [=LetmeoutLetmeoutLetmeoutLETMEOUT!!=]"
34** Also, you get to see how Union shaped to Theodore's taste looks like. Picture [=STEM's=] usual EldritchLocation shenanigans and add a touch of HellOnEarth to the mix.
35* The Lost may not be as as physically mangled as the Haunted were in the previous game, but they're still deformed and distorted enough to send chills down your spine. Especially the ones you face in the final segment of the game, which seem to be made of multiple porcelain body-parts all fused together into a roughly humanoid shape.
36* Before your second confrontation with Theodore, there's an extended sequence where you have to wade through a thigh-high lake of blood, evading the other Lost that are wandering around with you, in a dark void so full of shadows and drifting particles of gore that even with your flashlight on, you can hardly see anything. It's a subdued, eerie place, and very easy to get lost in.
37* Version 1.04 has added in an optional first-person view mode. Thought some of these moments were terrifying before? Now try them when you can't see what's coming behind you, and the various horrors are just as much in ''your'' face as they are in Sebastian's.
38* While the premise already contains craploads of it, it grows steadily worse in your encounters with Stefano and Theodore (and Mobius themselves) when you realize neither of them see Lilly as a child. She's just an object, a thing to increase their powers, and Sebastian is, to them, a clueless idiot who has no reason to be near her and will do anything to stop him. It's a truly frightening concept to think of, that your own child, who you'd give even your life for, suddenly becomes a ''thing'' to other people and said people think they deserve "it" more than you do.
39
40!!Horrifying Trailers:
41* Horror fans got quite a surprise at E3 2017 with an extended trailer for the sequel. From all appearances, we're in for an even more terrifying and heart-wrenching experience, as Sebastian's own personal demons look to be brought to the forefront and explored this time around. You may never think of Music/DuranDuran [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3G2NLkrclg the same way again...]]
42* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDuwGiyiFvM second trailer]] lives up to the first by introducing a new hostile; a MadArtist named Stefano Valentini, who went mad after an incident where a photo he took cost him his eye and became a SerialKiller so he could take pictures of his maimed, mutilated and butchered victims. How bad is he? He's entered the STEM world ''on purpose'', because it gives him a world that he can reshape to his every whim. Oh, and he's after Sebastian's daughter, too, for even greater control...

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