The highly anticipated release of The Evil Within, a new hardcore survival horror game from Shinji Mikami, and a pioneer of all-time great survival horror games, will be released next month. In recent weeks, other major survival horror-themed game titles have been announced. It seems like a collective push toward survival horror. As a fan of classic survivor horror titles, the notion is exciting.
First, there was the surprise with the Silent Hills announcement. This dropped quietly with the Playable Teaser demo, a stroke of genius. Then, if played the right way, the Playable Teaser reveals a teaser trailer for Silent Hills, which features some big names attached: Hideo Kojima, and master of horror Guillermo del Toro. The involvement of Kojima and Del Toro with such a franchise is huge news. My hope is that Silent Hills will capture the terror and fear the Playable Teaser was able to induce.
Capcom announced an HD release of the 2002 Resident Evil remake for current and new-gen consoles. Considering Resident Evil’s damaged reputation after Resident Evil 6, this was a good move to bring back an updated version of the franchise’s classic original installment. Capcom piggybacked off that announcement with the reveal of Resident Evil: Revelations 2. A new concept teaser trailer dropped with the release. The creepy video features a live-action clip of a young girl, running in slow motion, through what looks like a lively party lounge. As she continues to move through the lounge, the people around her gradually turn into the living dead before the girl slows to a stop and points to the horrific “live” creatures in front of her. Of course, it is only a concept teaser. However, I hope this is indicative of the tone and style that we can expect from Revelations 2.
I was a bit surprised to learn that the game will be released in early 2015, since that is just a short time away. I hope this means a considerable amount of work and development has been already completed. I enjoyed Resident Evil: Revelations because it played a bit more like a throwback of the original 1996. Playing as Jill, investigating the empty ship, was reminiscent of the mansion setting of the original. I am hoping Revelations 2 will go in a similar direction as Capcom hashes out the contents of Resident Evil 7.
Finally, Atari and Pure FPS dropped the first teaser trailer for Alone in the Dark: Illumination, a survival horror series that goes all the way back to 1992–and even survived the machinations of a movie adapted by Uwe Boll. The new teaser was short, with a dark mood. The problem with this title: Despite a cool teaser trailer that promises a survival horror experience, a report by JoyStiq makes the game sound more like the Lef4Dead-lite action-based game. I hope the new game does not completely abandon its survival horror roots.
With all these new classic survival horror franchise revamps and sequels on the horizon, I hope that The Evil Within is the start of a new avalanche for classic, survival horror games. The Evil Within appears to be the most terrifying game of the bunch.
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