‘Evil Dead: The Game’ Review (Xbox Series X/S)
When Evil Dead: The Game was first revealed, the marketing was perfect. Put Bruce Campbell in the trailers, show characters from not only the movies but the TV show and you have fan’s attention from the start. The question is does the game live up to the hype created around it?
The answer to this simply is yes. Evil Dead: The Game is a fun dive into the world of the heroes and villains of the Evil Dead world. Want to be Ash and kick some butt? You have the chance. Want to play Evil Ash and raise his skeleton army? You got it. Hell, you can even be Henrietta with her army of Deadites if you truly have that need.
The basic structure of the game feels very much like Friday 13th: The Game. What Evil Dead: The Game brings are bigger environments, more structure as to how to progress, and most importantly missions.
As the demonic force of course, the mission is fairly simple. Build up your demonic power and use this to raise the forces of evil against the heroes. Traps can be laid, deadites can be spawned in, and heroes can be possessed (as well as their cars).
The heroes’ side of things is a little bit more complicated. The first thing they have to do is put together a map that will show where the Kandarian dagger is, and the lost pages of the Necronomicon. Once these have been found then they can be used to fight the forces of evil to get to the Necronomicon and rid the world of the deadite scourge once and for all (or until the next game begins).
With a good progression system that allows the player to strengthen their players with the XP they have collected, there is plenty to do with Evil Dead: The Game and I’m sure people will be playing this one for a while. With added missions that unlock certain characters too and promises of more to come, there is plenty of longevity in the game.
What is important for the game is that it has the full support of the owners of the rights of Evil Dead, so there should be plenty of things that can be added in the future. Friday 13th: The Game was really hit bad with the legal mess that surrounds Friday the 13th, and it’s a shame as it still has a strong fan base who enjoy playing it. Thankfully it seems Evil Dead: The Game will not any of those problems.
There are a few things in the game that do need some improvements, one of the most important things is to add a push-to-talk to the voice chat system. This is something that should really be default in multiplayer games these days, especially when streamers are playing. I’m sure that can be fixed in a future update (fingers crossed).
If you are looking for a good Friday 13th: The Game crossed with Dead by Daylight, then Evil Dead: The Game fits that bill. Not as complicated as Dead by Daylight but more engaging than Friday 13th: The Game, Evil Dead: The Game is fun and promises plenty of updates in the future that will just further extend the fun to be had. Horror gaming fans have never had it so good, especially if they are fans of the Evil Dead, and to be fair who isn’t?
Evil Dead: The Game is available on PC, Playstation 4 & 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S now; with a Switch version coming in the future.
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