I didn't expect to like The Evil Within 2, but since finishing it nearly two years after it was released, it's become one of my favorite horror games of all time. Yes, even in the year of the Resident Evil 2 remake, The Evil Within 2's schlock and gore and nonsensical plot far outshine Mr. X's big boots, much as I love 'em.

The Evil Within 2 is a modern cult classic, an erratic and strange horror game that deserved far more praise than it received back in 2017. And I will explain why by making fun of it's incredibly stupid premise and an even stupider boss fight. 

Spoiler warning: I'll be openly describing the penultimate chapter of The Evil Within 2, even though I still don't understand it. 

Some context, and if you feel lost just know I'm right there with you: You're in the evil Matrix where everything is made of digi-milk. The lead character's wife is made of milk too, and she can wield the digi-milk like a milk sorcerer, a milkromancer, if you will. At one point you must fight the milk-wife, and it's one of the most ridiculous scenes in a videogame ever contrived. It's dumb and it rules, but we'll get to that. 

Getting around in The Evil Within 2 requires navigating a series of tunnels that are really just computer networks. Recalling how Steve of the popular children's show Blues Clues would leap into a painting, you get sucked into computers (while already in the Dairy Matrix) as a means of transit. There are monsters there and the hero's daughter, Lily, is the child core that powers the cream realm, or something, I think. 

It doesn't make any sense, and I revel in that brand of unrestrained camp. The Evil Within 2 operates on laughable dream logic that Sebastian, the dour protagonist, and everyone within wholeheartedly accept with little more than a huh, or, what's going on?

Like Resident Evil's Umbrella, an evil corporate entity wants to use this particular toddler to make bad guy weapons or something for some reason. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that the evil guys are all men in suits that cackle and smirk and say stupid shit like this:

Many bad psychological metaphors stand between Sebastian and his daughter, including his strained relationship with his wife, Myra, who wants to keep their daughter tucked away in the frothy void. Myra can control the milk, you see, and she's built a milk house on a milk hill in a milk desert to protect Lily. That isn't gonna fly with Sebastian.

After taking out a fiery cult leader producing magma men inside the milk dimension as a means of ruling it (don't worry about it), Sebastian finally reaches the milk house and begs Myra to pack Lily's things and leave with them. 

She doesn't abide and threatens Sebastian, clearly conflicted over whether to kill him or not, flickering between a sinewy armored version of herself and her 'authentic' self, dressed in the latest from Nordstrom's Rack. 

VIDEO: The milk-wife monster in all her glory. 

So Myra charges and Sebastian shoots her in the head, which cracks like an egg and exposes a bundle of orange eyeballs just kinda rolling around in that carapace. Naturally, she becomes milk, bubbles up, and emerges as a large, fleshy torso monster. 

At this point, I'm laughing so hard I can barely breathe. There are long stretches of The Evil Within 2 that are as tense and terrifying as any great survival horror game, but I live for the whiplash that good camp provides. 

The two go at it in boss fight format, Sebastian with his guns and Myra with her massive blistered limbs and spider babies. You see, the milky white substance making up 'reality' is a metaphor for the deep state and corporate control over culture. Myra only wants to protect her daughter because she, wielder of metaphor milk, has been indoctrinated by the milk. Sebastian wants to break free, so he shoots the milk to make it go away. 

And when he shoots the milk enough to bust a big arm off, the arm, of its own will, scuttles toward Sebastian and picks him up. So stupid. So good. This continues until the milk-wife is little more than a spine sticking out of the ground. But she melts back down and the two reconcile their differences like it's a daytime soap. 

The themes are all tangled up, but so earnest and transparent that I can't stuff down my affection. It's this spilling over of emotion and grotesque aesthetic and subtext that makes up the best campy horror, and The Evil Within 2 never holds back.  

The tone swings between horror and humor like a jackhammer in The Evil Within 2, between the moments where you're sneaking by a monster you can hear but can't see and those where you're shooting your wife's towering, blistered Milk Matrix torso in the weak spot as you scream at one another about what's best for your daughter. These blinding contrasts sharpen the intended pathos, whether the desired result is a chuckle or scream. 

The Evil Within 2 is packed with milk-wife moments: the fight with a goth Dragon Ball Z-looking guy in a gallery suspended beneath the gargantuan tentacled eye of a camera, or when Sebastian shoots a bed-ridden clone of himself to escape a nightmare in a nightmare. The Evil Within 2 is consistently buckwild. Milk-wife simply sealed the deal.

The Resident Evil 2 remake and Resident Evil 7 are largely credited with reviving the beloved puzzles and intricate level design of survival horror classics, but The Evil Within 2 is a celebration of that old low-poly, otherworldly spirit. It's a convoluted mess with terrible writing, but it's more spirited, surprising, and self-aware than any horror game I've played. Don't miss it.

Excellent survival horror sequel The Evil Within 2 has added a new nightmarish difficulty mode and enabled cheats—but only if you have a Bethesda.net account.

Anyone that signs up for an account, or links to an existing one, will get the Akumu difficulty level as well as access to cheats such as invincibility, one-shot kills and infinite stamina. 

I'm glad developer Tango Gameworks has added options to both ends of the spectrum. I'm sure there are players that wanted more of a challenge, but I struggled with parts of the game even on the regular difficulty. I like the idea of enabling cheats to make the combat easy so that I can dive deep into its twisted, psychological story.

And it's definitely a story worth experiencing—if you've never played before but you're a survival horror fan, take a peek at Joe's review to find out if it's your speed.

I'd wait for a sale, though, because it's currently $60 on Steam. In both June and August it had 60%-off sales, so I'd expect another one soon. 

As explained here, Bethesda's legal firm, Vorys, recently sent a letter to one Ryan Hupp, telling him that his listing of a sealed copy of The Evil Within 2 on the Amazon Marketplace was "unlawful" and he would have to remove it or face legal action.

Following up on this, Eurogamer approached Pete Hines, Bethesda's senior vice president of global marketing and communications and marketing, at QuakeCon for more information. 

Hines explained that the issue was not that Hupp was selling their game second-hand, but specifically that he listed it as 'new'. "All we're saying is if it's a previously owned product, you have to sell it as a previously owned product", he told Eurogamer.

"You could have opened it up," he went on to explain, "played it for five hours, taken whatever inserts or stuff was in there, put it back in shrink wrap and said, 'Hey this is new.' It's not new - you owned it, you bought it, so just list it as a used title. That's it, that's the end of the argument."

Hines was at pains to explain that they're not seeking to block sales of used games, so long as they're described as 'used' in the listing. "If you want to sell your copy of the game, it's 'pre-owned'. You can't say that it's new because I have no way to verify that, and ultimately that person is our customer we have to deal with and if there's stuff missing or things that have happened we're the ones that are going to have to make it right."

Thanks, Eurogamer.

Bethesda has reportedly blocked the sale of a second-hand, still-sealed copy of The Evil Within 2 on the Amazon Marketplace, in a move that could have wide-ranging implications for the sale of used Bethesda games.

The seller, Ryan Hupp, received a letter from Bethesda's legal firm, Vorys, warning that he must remove the listing or face legal action. In the letter, which Hupp forwarded to Polygon, Vorys said the sale was "unlawful" because it was not by an "authorized reseller". Hupp's use of the word "new" in the listing also constituted "false advertising", Vorys claimed.

Hupp originally bought a PS4 copy of the game in anticipation of buying a console, but spent the money upgrading his PC instead. He complied with the takedown request but, in a response to Vorys, pointed out that used game sales are protected in U.S. law by the 'First Sale Doctrine'. The doctrine allows a buyer of goods to sell on a product so long as it is not "materially different" from the original, genuine article.

However, Vorys claimed that the copy of The Evil Within 2 was not covered by the First Sale Doctrine because it did not include a warranty. That made it "materially different from genuine products", the firm claimed.

"Unless you remove all Bethesda products, from your storefront, stop selling any and all Bethesda products immediately and identify all sources of Bethesda products you are selling, we intend to file a lawsuit against you,” the law firm said. The lawsuit would seek "disgorgement of profits, compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees and investigative and other costs".

The initial letter Hupp received listed a phone number for sellers of Bethesda’s games to call, which could suggest that this is not the only such letter the publisher has sent out. If lack of a warranty does indeed make a used game "materially different" from the original, then it could have a big impact on the sale of used games—not just for Bethesda games, but for any other publisher that chooses to go down this route.

It should be noted, however, that multiple used copies of the game, and of other Bethesda games, are still available on the Amazon Marketplace.

When contacted by Polygon, Bethesda declined to comment, while both Amazon and Vorys did not respond. 

Read the original story here.

Flowers? Check. Chocolates? Check. Ex-war photographer-turned-twisted homicidal maniac who murders people and turns them into horrifying art displays? … Check?

Bethesda and Tango Gameworks' The Evil Within 2 has now added a first-person mode to its otherwise third-person survival horror 'em up. Who says Valentine's Day romance is dead? Stefano Valentini. Quite literally. 

Look, see:

I really enjoyed my first run through of The Evil Within 2's throwback to traditional survival horror, but I now fancy giving it a bash through the eyes of protagonist Sebastian Castellanos. I didn't get round to tinkering with its like-minded console commands last year, but following Resi 7, TEW's The Executioner DLC, and even P.T., the thought of tackling some of this game's horrors in first-person mode sounds (and, quite clearly, looks) terrifying.

*Spoiler incoming*  

Pegging it from Anima or the multi-limbed Laura looks scary enough in the trailer above, but the flashback scene—that returns players to the first game's run-in with The Keeper—in first-person? Bloody hell, that's heart attack material. This Valentine's Day may well be my last.  

"A lot of players like playing horror games in first-person, so for those who want to see some of the game’s situations through Sebastian’s eyes, it’s a really neat experience," says Tango Gameworks producer, Shinsaku Ohara in a statement. "I think exploring Union in first-person makes the scale feel even bigger than it does when you’re in third-person. Also, being able to see our environments and enemies up close allows players to get an even better look at how much effort went into their designs."

The Evil Within 2's first-person update is free-of-charge and can be toggled on and off at will. "Changing to first-person is as simple as flipping a switch in the menu," informs Bethesda. If I'm not on news duty tomorrow, please send help.

Every year we round up our favorite screenshots, with preference to those taken at ultra-high resolutions with custom camera controls for beautiful HUD-free compositions. Previously, we've mainly included shots of our own, but this year I asked the community to submit their own. Special thanks to Larah Johnson (aka HodgeDogs) and Andy Cull who've lent us their collections for the year, as well as Cinematic Captures and The Gamers Zone for their great Battlefront 2 shots.

For the sake of space, we haven't included every screenshot submitted, but do check out these comments for more, and leave your best in the comments here.

Star Wars Battlefront 2

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Assassin's Creed Origins

More on the next page!

Ghost Recon Wildlands

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Destiny 2

Nier: Automata

More on the next page!

theHunter: Call of the Wild

Prey

The Evil Within 2

What Remains of Edith Finch

Night in the Woods

The Evil Within 2 is a very solid psychological survival-horror game, with one scene that was "so horrifically graphic," Joe wrote in his review," I worry recounting it will cause me to bring up my lunch." That's all I need to hear to know that this is a game I should be playing, but if you require a little extra convincing, the newly-released trial version on Steam should help.

The demo will cover the "opening chapters" of the game, including "tight, nightmare-riddled, linear experiences, as well as the more open streets of Union." Sebastian's customization options are also included, so you've got a little bit of everything to play with—and as usual, any progress you make in the demo will carry over to the full game. 

Speaking of which, The Evil Within 2 is currently on sale for half-price—that's $30/£20/€30—in the "Save Player 1" sale Bethesda kicked off last night during The Game Awards. The sale also includes: 

• Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus - $30/£20/€30 
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition - $20/£15/€20
• Prey - $20/£15/€20
• Doom - $15/£10/€15
• Dishonored 2 - $20/£15/€20

It's a short one, though: All the sale prices come to an end at 1 pm ET on December 9. 

Bethesda launched a new, and entirely light-hearted, campaign at The Game Awards tonight aimed at saving single-player games—and to help get the job done it's running a sale. 

"While Bethesda and its family of studios produce and publish a wide array of games (including some of the pioneering games in the multiplayer and esports space), single-player games are a big part of the Company’s DNA and will continue to be as they work to develop and publish narrative-driven single-player games in the future," the studio said. 

"To celebrate the single-player gamer, Bethesda is running a sale this weekend across its current catalog of single-player games with prices up to 50% off digitally, as well as at select retailers. "

Here's what they've got on Steam:

• Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus - $30
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition - $20
• Prey - $20
• Doom - $15
• The Evil Within 2 - $30
• Dishonored 2 - $20

Bethesda also announced that it will donate $100,000 to the ESA Foundation to help fund scholarships for future developers, "who might one day make an amazing single-player game that you'll love." You can learn more about the program at esafoundationscholars.org.

Bethesda and Tango Gamesworks' The Evil Within 2 has been with us for almost a month. I liked it, and while its Steam review score at the time of writing sits at 'Very Positive', there does exist some complaints about key bindings and crashes tied to Intel Core 2 processors and AMD GPUs, among other things. 

The game's latest update v1.03 targets a number of fixes—a few number of which are exclusive to PC. First, here's those:

• Life gauge is now fully visible in all resolutions when aiming Sniper Rifle.
• Corrected tutorials for Predator and Ambush skills to show correct key if Action key has been reassigned.
• Num Lock key can now be used to bind to an action.
• Sebastian can now correctly use upgrade chair if Q key has been reassigned.
• Fixed control issue that could prevent Sebastian from standing up from the slide projector if Q key had been reassigned.
• Sadist battle now displays and uses player’s reassigned action key instead of default setting of E.
• Reversed direction of movement through weapon options with mouse wheel to feel more intuitive.
• Fix a crash that could occur when using Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when quitting the game while using an AMD Phenom II X4 945.
• Fixed performance drop when using "Display Based" or "Display Based (Half)" VSync setting with a 144Hz monitor.

Patch 1.03 also hits a number of issues across all platforms, such as problems with UI, disappearing NPCs and unsuccessful sneak kills. 

The sum of the update's nips and tucks can be found over here—the most noteworthy of which, I reckon, apply to the game's Harbinger battle. If you were faced with any of these you have my sympathies. That bastard killed me more times than I care to admit and I was lucky enough to sidestep any additional problems, besides some bad shooting and bullet sponge-induced rage. 

The Evil Within 2's update v1.03 is live now. 

In my opinion – and in the opinion of our reviewer Joe – The Evil Within 2 is a damn fine horror game. But overall, survival horror isn't particularly huge on the blockbuster games scene anymore. Sure, it's better than it was five years ago, with games like Alien: Isolation, Resident Evil 7 and the original Evil Within releasing to positive reviews, but they're not as common as they were in the early 2000s.

Why's that? Game Watcher asked The Evil Within 2 game director John Johanas recently, and his answer was quite illuminating. The general message is that survival horror games, and especially big budgets ones, are too big a risk for most publishers to take on.

"It’s certainly tricky to make a big horror," Johanas said. "You realize when you make a AAA horror game that’s big on graphics, you don’t see it come together until the final moments. It’s tricky to calculate things in an effective way, and more so with horror because it’s so built on creating an experience that doesn’t have gaps. The risk is higher. We have the experience so we can mitigate those risks a little, but it’s a daunting task for anyone not familiar with the genre to create a AAA horror game."

Johanas credits indie studios for carrying the torch, and there's no doubting that Outlast, Observer, Amnesia and many more are exceptional(ly horrifying). But those are unlikely to set the mass market on fire, mostly due to their lack of action elements. 

You can read the full interview over here.