So I completed The Evil Within not long ago, and oh boy. I know that not many people probably care about my opinion concerning a Japanese horror game, but oh well. I thought it was pretty good actually, especially in the first couple of chapters. Unfortunately my roommate and I called the WHOLE PLOT from chapter two, which is generally fine, but honestly it would've been better if said plot hadn't stretched out across FIFTEEN chapters. So here goes (WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW):

A) The plot. I saw somewhere that Bethesda's ONLY writer for this game, who isn't credited with anything else, was inspired by the film Inception. NO SHIT SHERLOCK. Unfortunately, he seemed to only be inspired by the first twenty minutes of Inception, because that's when the foundation is laid out. See, in Inception, we learn about the world we have to take as given:  Leo and JGL have a device/way to enter into the dreams of a host. That's the first twenty minutes. Then, given that information, we set up the story, and there's a specific reason we have to travel through Cillian's dreams. Unfortunately The Evil Within stopped at the whole travelling-through-peoples'-minds deal. That was the plot. The only other plot they COULD HAVE brought to the table, they fed us through poorly-written collectibles and didn't follow through. I hear they'll be trying to close up those ties with Kidman's DLC, but that's still a little uncool because it makes you buy the DLC which is just supposed to be extras, not REQUIRED for experiencing the game's story. It felt a lot like we were given information on the story in the first few chapters, then had a good five chapters of gameplay, and then when we expected to get more story information, we were just given an enhanced version of what we already figured out in the beginning. Don't get me wrong, I think the whole deal with STEM and the game's plot is GREAT. I loved it. I just think it could've been executed much, much better, and that's why it should be a movie. Once again, I liked the gameplay, and the horror aspect had me hiding under the covers a couple of times. It just felt a little choppy.

B) The writing. Did anyone else just want to vomit whenever they read Castellanos' journal entries? Just looking at it at the surface, it's our only way of learning about his character. I mean I understand wanting to keep the player character as open as possible to feel a tad more RPG-like, but this game takes place IN HIS HEAD (or at least in a world that deals with his inner thoughts and consciousness). Why didn't we see his alcoholism? Why didn't we see his dead daughter, or his kidnapped wife? Why did we see nothing about his character, save for a few journal entries seemingly written BEFORE the events of the game? And shittily-written at that. Seriously, what alcoholic says something like, "I know I shouldn't, but it's so easy to turn to whiskey"? No alcoholic says that. And no detective partner (Joseph) would mention his alcoholism so heavily-handed, considering it's not something Castellanos' is doing anything about. And on top of that, the writing just didn't feel like Castellanos' voice. I felt like his character would've been a little less willing to write in a journal anyway. I dunno, it's all a little weird to me. Also, any game that gives character/story development through a post-game model viewer is not doing a good job. And when you have to use phrase SOMEHOW these monsters are this way, you're REALLY not doing a good job.

I've been working on a fanfiction that serves a bit as a novelization of the game. It'll definitely be a bit more condensed. But the reason I'm saying all this is because I want to talk to people about it, see what others think. My roommate's opinions are so set-in-stone that it's hard to have a discussion about this with him sometimes. 

All of that being said, next topic!

If you haven't heard that Netflix is working with Nintendo to create a live-action Legend of Zelda series, go type that into Google and read the plethora of articles already written on it. It's one of the silliest things I think I've ever gone for, but I need to be a part of this. I need to at least be an assistant to a writer for this show. I mean, major dream of mine, actually BE a writer for this show. They're still looking for writers. What do you think would happen if I sent my fanfic to them LULZ /dies

I guess this is a ridiculous request, but if anyone knows any connections to either Nintendo or Netflix, PLEASE let me know if you're willing to give up that information. I don't care if I just talk to someone and they say sorry, no can do. I just need to try or I'll hate myself forever. 

TL;DR, any thoughts on The Evil Within, comment below! I'd love to talk to you about them. And the Legend of Zelda Netflix series better be a good one; if you have any connections to Netflix or Nintendo, please send me a note or email. (: sashagreendyk@gmail.com

---

February Features