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Editor’s Note: In the interest of bringing you more information, instead of just a bit of a rant, I’ve decided to update the article with more information from the interview. Enjoy!
In a recent interview with the German division of PC Gamers, Shinji Mikami let in a bit of disheartening news, well, depending on how you look at it.
Mikami stated that Sebastian Castellanos, the lead character in The Evil Within (or more awesomely titled Psycho Break) and his partner Julie would be strong characters. That is, they wouldn’t become traumatized or suffer psychological damage. That’s just a little bit of a let down, as we’re going to be seeing another game where the character won’t show psychological scars or react like they’re actually afraid of what’s going on around them, which is unusual, seeing as how one of the game’s titles is called Psycho Break. The name would imply that…something like that would actually take place in the game…right?
So, why aren’t Sebastian and Julie as mentally vulnerable? Simply, because Mikami feels that there are far too many characters like this out there already. Furthermore, Mikami revealed that when he sees these types of characters, he shakes his head (probably) and mutters, “Just die already.”
So, what will Sebastian do when enemies are nearby? Mikami revealed that Sebastian will go into an alerted state and go down into a crouched position. However, when the enemy leaves, he will return to his normal state.
The interviewer also brought up lighting and the lantern shown in previous promotional images. The lighting in the game is obviously a crucial element, as it is in any horror game. Mikami said that he didn’t want to reveal any information about that yet, but when asked if the lantern will go out at an inconvenient time, he laughed and nodded.
It’s not unusual for games to turn out the lights on characters when the going gets rough. Games like Alan Wake, Silent Hill 2, they all feature a light that, when it goes out, makes you start to panic. It’s just too bad that we won’t actually see them panic. To clarify, I’m not exactly looking for characters to collapse to the floor in a puddle of urine and sweat, just to acknowledge that they are, in fact, frightened. Claire, in The Darkside Chronicles, saying “No way, that’s not going to happen to me!” was pretty effective.
However, The Evil Within still sounds promising, even without character fear effects. For instance, the game will have a very limited HUD, with word-labels for objects that fade in or out depending on your proximity. For instance, walk up to some handgun bullets, and the word “AMMO” might appear above it. With game screens becoming more and more cluttered these days, it’s nice to open things up for a much more immersive and cinematic experience.
Certain enemies will be invisible, but you’ll have to rely on sound to determine their location, and music can get in the way of that, making things complicated. To solve this, The Evil Within will feature a very limited soundtrack and sound effects.
Inventory will be managed through a circular menu, with certain items being selected from the D-pad. It’s unclear how effective this is going to be, because…it’s a menu, and you really don’t know how well it works for you until you’ve seen it or tried it.
In a separate interview with 4Gamer, (via Siliconera)Mikami explained that The Evil Within was not originally intended to be a survival horror title at all.
Actually, the game wasn’t survival horror to begin with, but due to circumstances, it changed entirely after going through various planning phases. Ever since becoming a part of ZeniMax, we’ve had several meetings with staff members where the [phrase] “I want to make a survival horror game” were repeatedly heard. I believe that the enthusiasm by the staff is one of the main reasons we’ve decided to go with the genre.
They get to work with fucking Shinji Mikami on a survival horror title? Who, honestly, would not be enthused as hell about that?
Survival horror games as of late consist of many action-focused games. I’d like to make a game that can bring the focus back to the horror aspect of the genre. With those feelings in mind, we were able to shape up what we have today.
Oh, and about the title? Mikami says it’s pretty simple.
The game is about surviving in a world full of psychos and the goal is to break through such a world. Thus the name Psycho Break. The word Psycho is relative to horror, and Break to survival.
So, why not keep the titles the same?! Why?!
