Evil Dead: The Game – Groovy, But Flawed
I love the Evil Dead franchise. Ever since I was thirteen and my father showed me the inimitable horror-comedy that is Army of Darkness, I’ve been hooked on the gory, harrowing and sometimes hilarious adventures of Ash Williams. I watched the STARZ-based sequel series, Ash VS. Evil Dead, and even had the great pleasure of meeting and speaking with two of the main stars of that series. Ever since the abrupt finale of Ash VS. Evil Dead, I’ve longed for something, anything to continue and finally conclude Ash Williams’ battle against the forces of evil and the Necronomicon. So, you can imagine my excitement when a video game based on the franchise was announced, and that the original stars of the series were returning to lend their voices and likenesses to the experience.
Evil Dead as a series has been adapted to video game format several times before, to varying degrees of success, but there hasn’t been a game out since the days of PlayStation 2. So, to see Ash and the rest of the cast on modern consoles was exciting. Admittedly, my enthusiasm for Evil Dead: The Game (EDTG) was dampened upon the announcement of the core gameplay experience – a 4 versus, 1 player co-op game, where one person plays as the Kandarian Demon, and the other four are humans looking to dispel and defeat them. As I said before, I was hoping for a more story-focused affair to finish the lingering story threads left by Ash VS. Evil Dead, so a pure gameplay-focused experience was less alluring for me. However, Saber Interactive later announced there would be single-player content, so I decided to get the game.
EDTG takes a lot from its contemporary counterparts like Dead by Daylight, in that the Survivors must complete a laundry list of objectives in order to defeat and dispel the enemy, while all the demon has to do is kill the players. It’s a simple, yet highly engaging gameplay loop that I find myself coming back to again and again. The environments are lovingly, recreated, shot-for-shot replicas of iconic locations from Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Ash VS. Evil Dead. The original actors bring a wonderful sense of authenticity to the experience, and every playable character feels distinct, with their own individual abilities and skills that bring unique strengths and weaknesses to each round, including the four different playable variations of Ash Williams himself.
While EDTG does take, it does a lot to differentiate itself from the acclaimed horror series as well, especially for those playing as the Survivors. The four humans you play as are far more proactive and capable than any of the Survivors in Dead by Daylight. In EDTG, the human team can pick up weapons, upgrades, and vehicles all to dispatch the enemy. Playing as the Kandarian Demon, on the other hand, feels far more indirect. You are the formless Demon, floating around, breaking through fences and causing mayhem, either by setting traps or spawning in other demons to attack and frighten the opposing team. “Fear” is a quantifiable metric in Evil Dead: The Game, one that the enemy can and will exploit if you are not careful in managing it. A human player at full fear will take more damage and is susceptible to being possessed by the Demon and used against their fellow teammates. It makes for a challenging, if sometimes frustrating dynamic, as fear will often rise even if all the parameters for keeping it at bay are met. EDTG provides the survivors plenty of chances to succeed. For example, in addition to being in a downed state where an ally can revive you, once a player dies, their spirit lingers and can be picked up by an ally to resurrect you at a special altar. If you are working together, there should be no way the Demon can win. When you have a team that synergizes well, the game really comes into its own as an excellent third person shooter horror experience. EDTG offers full cross-platform play, meaning you can play with anyone, no matter if they’re on PC, Xbox, or Playstation 5. This is a feature all multiplayer games should have and it is a blessing here. The single-player content is atmospheric and enriches the gameplay with very well drawn story images. The five currently, available, missions act as a more in-depth tutorial for the Survivor mode gameplay, and one that feels especially rewarding since characters and their costumes are unlocked by completing them.
Gameplay of the Kandarian Demon by Game Informer.
EDTG is, however, not without its issues, and there is a frustratingly high amount of them. The highest offense this game commits is demanding your console always be online to play the game. For most modes, this makes sense, as it is an online multiplayer title. However, gating off the single-player content behind the console being online is simply unreasonable. The single-player content being gated behind a network connection was disgusting when Mortal Kombat 11 did it, and it’s even more unacceptable two+ years later. Additionally, like many multiplayer-focused games, EDTG is rather barren in terms of modes and variety of gameplay. Previously stated, there are only five single-player missions, so that’s all you can do if you don’t feel like playing with someone else, and after the initial clearance to unlock characters, you probably won’t want to repeat them.
Online matches can be hit and miss, especially if you’re playing with friends, as you’ll be able to strategize and work together. However, playing with random people can be a nightmare, especially since player microphones are enabled by default. Ordinarily this would make communication easier, but more often than not this just ends up having a bunch of background noise blaring in your ears and ruining your experience.
Traveling can also be an issue. You are occasionally given the option to vault over obstacles, but other times, slight inclines or slightly higher fences will prove impassable, and you’ll have to walk all the way around these seemingly easily jumpable areas to find the right path forward. Driving vehicles in this game can be pretty unpleasant as well. They handle very awkwardly and only certain things in the environment can be run over by them. The things cars can’t run over will often times cripple you when you slam into them, like a higher-than-average rock or a slightly thicker tree. Physics in general is an issue, as I, on occasion, found myself stuck in a wall with no way to get out. Even after dying, my spirit was stuck inside the wall, and could not be retrieved by my allies. There were several incidents in which I willfully filled the meter to interact with an object, but the animation refused to play, and thus, nothing happened: a fire refused to light or my character couldn’t use a healing item. These issues are fatal mistakes in the heat of any gameplay.
Footage of the EVIL DEAD: The Game - From Game Informer
You’ll notice, I’ve spent little time talking about playing as the Kandarian Demon, and there’s a reason for that. From my experience, playing as the Kandarian Demon is far less fun than playing as one of the Survivors. For one thing, there are only three playable Demons to the Survivors’ thirteen, so there is far less variety in gameplay there. Additionally, the maps in EDTG are so big, that on more than one occasion I found myself as the Demon spending the majority of the match running around looking to find where the other players were. The game has a tutorial for both the Survivors and the Demon, but neither are fleshed out enough to prepare you for the experience of using and earning those abilities in a real match. The difference here is that the Survivors have the single-player missions, while the Demon simply gets thrown into the deep end. Overall, the game is heavily stacked against you if you play the “Demon Side Of Life”.
Finally, and this is more of a nitpick on my part, not every actor returned to play all the characters present in the game. Richard Grove and Marcus Gilbert, who played Henry the Red and Lord Arthur in Army of Darkness, have been replaced. Additionally, Jared Turner and Jill Marie Jones, who played Eligos and Amanda Fisher in Ash VS. Evil Dead, have also been replaced. All four characters are voiced by sound-alikes that do a good enough job, but it remains a distraction for me personally.
With all that said, I don’t hate the game. Clearly, a lot of love and passion went into crafting everything seen here, it’s just unfortunate how rough around the edges everything is. Developers, Boss Team Games and Saber Interactive promised more content in future updates and with the Season Pass, which hopefully includes patches to deal with the more glaringly broken aspects of the game. I really do enjoy the moment-to-moment gameplay as a Survivor, and if I can get a full squad together, I know it’d be an absolute blast. So, until those updates come, let’s just hope there’s enough gas in the Delta to get this game to where it needs to go.
