Growing up, I accumulated a love for horror films at a very young age. One such staple of being up there with my all-time favorites was, of course, from The Evil Dead franchise. This isn’t the first ever Evil Dead game to ever be released, but it certainly is the first to have shown a serious attempt at making something good with sense of quality to it. I’ve said this before, but it’s always amazing to see in a video game when you can tell the developers are passionate about what they’re doing and, in this case, they’re absolutely big fans of Ash and the world of Evil Dead.
This multiplayer only title is published and developed by Saber interactive and apparently MGM Games, Lionsgate Games and about several other companies (the intro cinematic with all their logos when you launch is laughably long). When it was announced that Evil Dead: The Game would be a 4v1 online multiplayer game I had immense concerns of the longevity of life this game will have. The first 4v1 game that comes to mind is Turtle Rock’s “Evolve,” which came out back in 2015, and even though I paid full price for it I can never play it again. I love this franchise and I really hope many others will rally and support it, because with games only having online multiplayer it adds an inevitable expiration date. There is a solo mode where everyone you play with is an AI bot, but hopefully if things turn for the worse that’s not all we are stuck with.
Now, onto the actual game! With no real story, you have the option to be part of a team of four, all recognizable characters from the movies and show, or you can choose to play the demon. The task of the four survivors is to find the last demonic portal and close it, but to do so you will have to jump through several hoops to get there. If you decide to play the loner route as the demon your task is to prevent the portal from closing by killing and even tormenting all the survivors. What Evil Dead: The Game does very well is not make such a repetitive and monotonous game loop be boring even after hours of playtime. With the survivors, they range from different classes like Leader, Support, Warrior, and Hunter. Each character has their distinct jobs and super abilities. All of which are equally fun and the more you play each character the more talent points you get to unlock things in their skill tree. Playing the demon also gives you some variety, you can play as a necromancer that can summon small armies of the dead, there is also Warlord which is more upfront and brutal. Lastly there’s The Puppeteer, where you can possess the survivors if you weaken their minds by scaring them, they each have their own horror meter that needs to be filled.
Depending on your play style, playing as the demon is very interesting, since you’re pretty much this floating entity collecting red orbs to build up mana so you can strategically attack or mess with the survivors. The stronger you get the cooler things you can create, like a boss from one of the movies. When you’re playing in a group as the survivors, teamwork really is key and branching off on your own will easily make you an open target for the demon to pick you off. Scavenging is the name of the game here, you will need to be vigilante to find weapons and supplies, even ammo is very scarce and I only used my guns to fight off stronger enemies. But the main objective also requires scavenging because you are tasked to finding three pieces of a map, when complete you’ll be directed to get a dagger and then you will have to assemble one more map for the location of the portal that needs to be closed. If you don’t keep your eye on the prize, you’re giving your enemy time to get stronger, find you, and make things more difficult for you to complete your overall objective.
There’re these very throwaway “story” missions sprinkled in such as rescuing your girlfriend (like in the movie) that weren’t really done super well, almost feels like an afterthought, but to unlock more playable characters this is how you do it. A real gripe I have is there are pretty much only two maps that look very identical to each other, both being in the woods. I was hoping for more maps, perhaps one set in the dark ages, or one in a local town with an S mart you can rummage around in. There is a season pass they are selling, so more content is promised, hopefully there will be more serious goods to keep players to stick around (Here’s hoping for a single player campaign!). With how quickly gamers gravitate from one new game to another I do have concerns that Evil Dead: The Game is destined to not be around for very long. I hope I’m wrong and this becomes another multiplayer sensation similar to its current direct competitor “Dead By Daylight.” Overall, the game loop we get here is quite fun, especially when playing with friends. I was fortunate to be able to play this game with two fellow Gaming Cypher writers, Greg Vander Velde and Steven Reyes. Here are some brief comments of what each of them had to say about their experience:
Greg: “Greetings Ghastly Gamers it’s Greg here from Gaming Cypher for a mid-review interlude to conjure some necronomic nostalgia for the big bad book itself and the Evil Dead it exhumes from the earth. Evil Dead: The Game is by far the best evil dead game that has been made! This is a pretty niche movie, to begin with so the fact that it has had a few games always makes me so happy. So, for my favorite S-Mart employee to grace the controller again not to mention multiple versions of him makes me plenty happy alone. So pure joy of the game existing aside does this game have what we all want? To some degree it does. It’s multiplayer only though so that does put a little hitch in my step because if you are not fortunate enough to have a group of deadites at your fingertips you’ll be waiting to play with strangers, but who knows could build some good digital friends that way. That’s really my only complaint since I do still enjoy its left 4 dead multiplayer style. I also do like the PvPE gameplay as playing one of the deadites adds some extra replayability. It is hard for me to stay objective about this franchise, though, as I have so much love for it I’ve been watching at least one of the movies every Halloween for decades. I suppose it’s maybe time for me to turn it over to someone more subjective. Because for me this game had a 100/10 just from the announcement trailer.”
Steven: “Evil Dead: The Game is Gloriously gruesome and graphic. The Visuals are beautiful and the artwork sends you back in time to your first experience with the Evil Dead movies. The side missions are fantastically fun and a great throwback to the old VHS days I love the fact that it has survivor mode and the ability to play as the demon. The multiple player options has everything, play solo against AI, play against friends or other players online. This is the game I’ve been waiting for ever since the Saga Dreamcast days. The only desire I have is for them to make a full single player game where you get to play a campaign and relive all the evil day glory.”
So yeah, clearly, we all enjoyed ourselves. Luckily this game is available on other platforms and it’s cross-play, so finding people to play with shouldn’t be difficult, but if you can, get your friends involved and be sure to work as a team!
8.5/10
For more information, visit www.EvilDeadtheGame.com, and follow the action on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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