The Evil Within Hands-On Xbox One Preview
In the next level, set later in the game, a familiar scene appears. Sebastian fears eerie voices and then finds a path to a remote, ominous mansion. It’s very nostalgic of the original Resident Evil. Sebastian vaguely remembers previously being at the mansion. Sebastian enters the mansion, and there is a strange elaborate door in the foyer. This begins an extended puzzle-solving sequence; you must basically fill the elaborate system in the door with blood in order to open it. Throughout the mansion, Sebastian must find several rooms with a dissected, reanimated human head. These heads are a part of Ruvik’s experiments. His audio logs are vague, but Ruvik speaks of discovering a portal to a new world, and the human mind is the key. So, in order to get the door open, you have to run a drill through the re-animated brain specimens in a mini-game. This is also part of the way the game builds terror and anxiety, as Ruvik is trying to tap into specific fears and emotions of the human mind.
The mini-game components in this game are far from forgiving. If you do pick the wrong spot on the brain, it damages your character and takes away some of your life. Similarly, the proximity bomb traps. You can defuse the bombs in another mini-game; but if you fail, the bomb blows up and you will be severely damaged. Health pick-ups in this game are few and far between, so you must tread carefully. Once you successfully solve each brain puzzle, fluid fills up in the door. However, phantoms and spirits wander throughout the mansion. Some include Ruvik and the doctor arguing about Ruvik’s insane, arcane experiments. In some of these ghost-like flashbacks, Ruvik appears to be the spitting image of Leslie from the earlier demo level. This does not appear to be a coincidence. Additionally, a phantom of Ruvik pursues you throughout this stage. The screen will flash blue; and when that happens, you have to run like hell, or the Ruvik phantom will slash you nearly to death. The Haunted are wandering around the mansion as well, but luckily they are killable. Once the door is filled with all the necessary fluid, you can enter. However, it seems Sebastian only finds himself in another nightmarish dimension. HP Lovecraft would be right at home in this mansion.