For as many horror franchise games that exist, the Evil Dead franchise has never gotten a fair shake. A movie series that originated with director Sam Raimi teaming up with Bruce Campbell, the lack of proper and solid video games to stem from the three original movies has always been baffling. Saber Interactive, who also developed World War Z, are going in the direction of other recent horror movie games with introducing a 4v1 online multiplayer game. While the long-term success has been mixed with those, Saber Interactive is hoping the direction that it takes with Evil Dead: The Game will separate itself from the others while pleasing fans of a franchise that has been begging for a proper game.
While the game is prominently a 4v1 online horror game with survival elements, there are a few side missions that take place across the scope of the movies. These missions generally involve just you replaying a summarized premise of specific movies, but these are difficult. The mode plots you down in specific open area maps that are related to the movies. These missions involve a lot of trial and error to process while you explore the areas to scavenge for ammo and health. This will provide an idea, on top of the included tutorial, on how the game generally works. The results will differ when going online with players, but these missions will provide a good experience for fans of the franchise.
The meat and potatoes of Evil Dead: The Game involves four survivors taking on the Kandarian Demon that takes the form of a set of three different sets of enemies from the movies along with Ash vs Evil Dead. The Warlords, which are basically Deadites, focus on pure physical combat while the Puppeteer from Ash vs Evil Dead focuses on possession of evil units. The last available demon-type comes from Army of Darkness with the Necromancer that can summon skeletons. There’s a bit more for each demon set that can be done such as possessing players, setting traps and unleashing a boss for each set.
Strategy plays a big part as the game doesn’t provide much direction on what needs to be done early on. Playing the Kandarian Demon has the player going through the woods much like the running cuts in the movie. Players need to collect orbs, set traps and try and find the survivors before finding pieces to the Necronomicon, the Kandarian Dagger, and then culminating with defeating the Dark Ones and destroying the Book of the Dead. Along with other enemies spread throughout the map and the ability to drive cars, there is quite a bit of variation here. It’s almost like a board game map with interactive pieces and traps and it’s a great premise. The question remains, however, of the longevity of this game with this being the main way to play. Yes, you’re able to team up and play with or against the AI with a couple of variations, but this remains the main design.
There are thirteen survivors to choose from with four being unlockable and these survivors are drawn through the main catalog of the movies and series. There are multiple variations of Ash, however, but they’re offered across four different classes. Each survivor has an active and passive ability and you’ll need to upgrade your skill set during the game. The same also needs to be done when playing as the Kandarian Demon, but the rewards and sense of variety tends to favor playing as the Demon. There’s long-term grinding to keep the player base engaged as base upgrades to characters can be unlocked as you level up. The skill points that can be unlocked are not tied specifically to a character of Demon, but rather pooled as one to put where you desire. That makes it feel more drawn out and, unfortunately, that means there are going to be players that play the game consistently having a major advantage over the rest. For the survivors, you can choose Leader, Hunter, Warrior and Support with varying traits. Each character is locked into that specific type, so you won’t choose a character then choose the class.
Evil Dead: The Game does feature crossplay and this should help with the overall player base in the future. Rather than just being locked into one console family, all players will be pooled together and this has allowed for quick matchmaking. Even when choosing the Kandarian Demon, I did have to wait five minutes one time, but it’s rather quick and the connectivity was consistent throughout the playthrough. The game is online only even though the single player missions exist. Also, no one likes to really use mics in a game that really requires communication.
As for the actual gameplay, it is fast and fluid on PlayStation 5. Players will need to not only account for health and stamina. but also fear. Fires will need to be lit by collecting matches or light from a lamp needs to be found to help lower the Fear Meter. Having too high Fear makes the survivor more prone to possession. Music will go into a panic and the feeling gets frantic. Combat includes melee with a Finisher or combat with either a shotgun, pistol or crossbow. Ammo is scarce, so managing all this and working as a team is important. The camera view feels very Resident Evil-esque with the behind the shoulder and a bit of tanky controls.
On PlayStation 5, the visuals are impressive for what’s being offered. Player models look solid and reflections and lighting of the environments tend to stand out the best. There are areas where it rains or the area will use pure moonlight to light the areas. It would be nice to have the faces feature emotions because otherwise the characters just blindly stare. The animations during combat are fluid and it feels like good contact is being made. There’s the occasional hiccup on hit detection depending on certain special moves, but everything most part looks and feels good. It runs consistently at 60 FPS. There isn’t much variety in the Deadites or the Skeletons, so more detail should have gone into the Deadites' faces. The gore is appreciated and looks good as well.
The audio is a mixed bag. The first couple times you hear Bruce Campbell’s quips, it helps fit the mood and fans will appreciate it. You will continue to hear the same tropes though across the board from everyone. The skeletons have funny dialogue, but it all eventually gets old. The music is excellent and changes throughout the varying situations. The music more than fits the mood of Evil Dead and does a great job of setting the atmosphere. The voice acting is good across the board, but it just gets redundant.
Closing Comments:
Evil Dead: The Game is undoubtedly the best Evil Dead game yet. There’s a lot here that fans of the franchise will appreciate with Easter Eggs and the overall atmosphere. The game is a lot of fun to play thanks to the strategy, upgrades and combat, but playing as the Kandarian Demon offers a deeper experience and removes the need to worry about communicating with teammates. While there’s DLC coming if you go with the Deluxe Edition, there really is only this mode and while upgrading the different units adds longevity, it’s a bit of a cop out going this direction with adding length to the game. It also only costs $39.99 on all platforms for the standard version, and the price is well worth the fun. If the player base stays with combining platforms, this should help out with the experience down the road.
