The long awaited DLC for The Evil Within has finally arrived, giving us more twisted and sinister antics to embark upon. The Evil Within was met with polarising views that split gamers right down the middle. While many enjoyed its strong and intense survival game-play, others where dissatisfied by its bizarre narrative, clunky controls and weak use of stealth. The new DLC, The Assignment, from Tango game-works offers a completely different experience compared to the original game, and focuses more on a high tension experience with a strong emphasis on stealth. But does it work?
The Assignment sees players take the role of Julie Kidman, the mysterious character who accompanies both Joseph and Sebastian throughout their horrifying journey. We learn more about Kidman’s motives and the reason for her presence in the game. It seems that Kidman has been given an “assignment” to infiltrate STEM and rescue Leslie, the troubled young man who everyone wanted a piece of in the main game. Kidman begins her journey in an noire inspired office with a faceless man and a cat on her lap. The cat allows players to save the game, which is awesome. Kidman is plugged into STEM and soon she encounters a bleak and terrifying nightmare she is not ready for.
The nightmare is placed within an impressive and stunning game world, exploring the noire inspired offices of Mobius, to the decaying ruins of the real world. Everything looks wonderfully detailed, and is given a highly organic nature with some excellent dynamic lighting. These graphical factors set the tone perfectly, and even the darkness that engulfs Kidman at most times works well to create tension, but not become an annoyance. Its strange that this DLC takes a less heavy handed method of survival, removing guns and a majority of resources, while focusing more on stealth to survival. Armed with only a flashlight that aids in sight, and unlocking hidden doors, Kidman must rely more on her wits and quick thinking to get through the nightmare.
Being able to lure and quietly kill those in her way with disposable weapons makes for an intense experience. There is no use of guns through 99% of the game, except for a nifty little set piece. I’d say if you dislike stealth, then you are advised to stay far away from The Assignment. It’s a new and refreshing approach, and works well at creating some great set pieces that are more energetic and nerve-racking than most of The Evil Within itself. However, the clunky controls and wide screen effect do make the game rather difficult to navigate through, causing more discomfort when engaging in stealth.
The first half of the game is the strongest, a new setting and terrifying new enemies are the high points here. Towards the end, the game sadly falls on a flat note, with some rehashed levels from the original game and some brain dead puzzles that are uninspiring. However, there are some moments in the sewer level that impress, such as the only time you will use your gun to fight off hoards of enemies, with the cliffhanger ending things on a breathless note. I enjoyed the absence of firearms, but would of preferred if Kidman had other skills to make up for it. Like how Amanda from Alien Isolation was very good at inventing items that would benefit her survival against the alien. The game makes Kidman to be near powerless and at times can be annoying, as she lacks different skills other than just hiding.
The Assignment is an intense and thrilling survival horror experience, specially for those who love stealth based gameplay. There are some cleaver little moments that relate to the golden age of survival horror. Such as using a cat to save the game in a safe area, bringing a moment of comfort that was seen in the older Resident Evil games and their “save rooms”. The bold set pieces that take place in the game are engaging, and at times brutally exhilarating. Thouggh, the stealth gameplay could have been more developed to introduce new skills for Kidman other than hiding. The controls don’t help towards comfortable play, and at many times becomes a slight annoyance while trying being stealthy. I would of appreciated more means of taking out different enemies, or at least introduce the possibility of melee combat in more of a dynamic way to break up the intensive stealth segments.
For replay value, there are some great little secrets in the game, with various hidden items lurking in the game world, along with a few of the Keeper’s safes needing to be cracked open by solving the riddles they present to you. Each unlocks a letter fragment that reveals some hidden truths, a reason to replay and discover what more The Assignment is hiding.
I highly enjoyed the Evil Within and appreciated the choice of either using stealth or action to progress. The Assignment does well in its set pieces, atmosphere and extra content to unlock, but falls short on its clunky controls, annoying wide screen view and lacking any dynamic or original stealth gameplay. This is definitely worth checking out if you enjoyed the Evil Within, but only for those who are ready to take on a game with mostly stealth based gameplay.