Klaatu, Barada… Neck tie? Nickel? Nipple…? Evil Dead the game was released on Friday 13th and, to be honest, as a long time fan of Sam Raimi and the Evil Dead franchise I was a little apprehensive to open this potential book of the dead. Too many video games based on movies have fallen short of the mark for me, however just like with the “Predator: Hunting Grounds” video game I decided to take a leap of faith! I’m glad to say I was as happy as an S-Mart customer during a blue light special!!!
For fans of the Evil Dead franchise, there’s a little bit of something in it for everybody whether it be Sam Raimi‘s early attempt at the Evil Dead movies, his “Army of Darkness” sequel, or the recent Starz TV show: “Ash vs.The Evil Dead”, which explores Ash in his later twilight years, a washed up unknown savior of the world still battling “Deadites” after he accidentally read from the book to impress a barfly he brought back to his trailer. Such an Ash!
What’s the Gameplay like in Evil Dead The Game?
The game play is like an digital version of hide and seek. There are two sides, The Kandarian Demons or The Survivors.
The Survivors
The Survivors are a four player team that is broken up into 4 different classes: leader, hunter, assault, or support. each of these roles comes with unique benefits like the Leader being able to boost their teammates stats during battle, or the support player who can lay down healing beacons for the team. The Hunter is a melee damage dealer while the Assault class specializes in ranged combat.
The Survivors are tasked with finding pieces of a lost map which will lead to a dagger and the lost pages from the book of the Necronomicon, which if found, can banish evil from the earth. The Survivors can choose to stick together as a team or break a part to try to find the pieces of the map. Voice chat can be really helpful during gameplay but the game does have built-in communication to share points of interest with your team if you don’t like to chat.
There are currently two gameplay maps in the game with another one scheduled to be released sometime this summer in an upcoming DLC.
There are lots of abandoned houses to search on the map which also hold a lot of pick ups like health, amulets which give the player a temporary magical shield from damage, as well as weapon upgrades. Weapon classes can be visually identified by their color with gold being rare and purple being legendary.
Survivors have to watch their fear levels and can reduce their fear by standing in well lit areas. There are lanterns scattered throughout the map that the player can light with matchsticks that can also be found scattered around as pickups.
The Kandarian Demon
On The other side of the fence the player has the option the choose the Kandarian Demon, the evil spirit that is conjured from the book of the dead, in this case it also goes by the name “Linda.”
As the demon, the player can pick from three different classes: The Warlord, the Puppeteer, or the Necromancer, each has their own unique army and powers. The Puppeteer can possess Survivors quickly, where the Warlord can spawn and buff waves of the living dead. The Necromancer can summon a Skelton army and a flautist that keeps his troops buffed! Yes, a flute playing skeleton!
As the demon, the player has no physical form so the camera floats in a first person point of view and can quickly move over most of the terrain. The evil spirit can interact with trees, signs, mailboxes, and other items like fences that will fall over, and if near one of the survivors, will induce a little bit of fear in them. In order to scare the survivors the Demon has to set “scare traps”.
The Demon can also induce a great amount of fear at once by causing a “scare”. This is a periodic skill that darts the demon towards nearby survivors. If the demon passes through the Survivor it causes a 3 second graphic to appear on their screen, which honestly, scares the bajezuz out of me whenever it happens. The player never sees it coming and there’s nothing to stop it! This will cause a great amount of fear in the Survivor and can make them easier to posses.
Traps will spawn different units whenever a survivor gets too close. The demon can set traps in supply crates, as well, and has the choice of Ash’s evil hand or to have mini-Ash’s spring out of the box and attack the Survivor. I love watching this happen. It’s hilarious and satisfying!
In order to set traps and take possession of Survivors The Demon needs to collect spirit energy balls that are scattered throughout the map, the red bar at the bottom of the screen shows the amount of evil energy the demon has collected. As the evil energy is absorbed the spirit is given points to allocate towards their skills to help make life miserable for the Survivors, like mobile demon spawn traps as well as the Boss demon, which does massive damage and has a variety of Special attacks.
What skills do the Demon really need first in Evil Dead the Game?
The first skill I recommend allocating points to in game is the first option, which allows the absorbing of more soul energy from the spirit balls. The next one gives longer possession over players and evil NPC‘s. The player will not be able to allocate points to certain tiers until prerequisite points are allocated first. This helps maintain some balance in the gameplay. All of the skills when used together can create an offensive that can overwhelm the survivors if used properly and with a little strategy. The skill I have had the less use for and usually allocate points to last is the Demon vision skill. I would save that one for last.
The longer the survivors take to find the pieces of the map, the stronger the demon becomes and the fear level rises. The higher the fear level of the demon the quicker the survivors fright rises. When a survivor is completely “frightened” they become visible to the demon. the demon can also take over their body and attack other survivors at this time.
The survivors can be tracked on a mini compass on the top left corner of the screen that shows the players location whenever they make noise or they are filled with fear or they are driving a vehicle. There is a larger gameplay map that is available as well.
Once the Survivors piece together the map It will show them the location of the dagger as well as the lost pages. Once the players arrive at the location and they collect one of the items a timer starts. Once the timer fills up they collect that item and exorcise the demon from the area.
Survivors can decide to split up into two different groups to attack each target individually or at the same time. It’s up to the players to coordinate and strategize, however there is strength in numbers and a high level demon can destroy a two player team fairly easily.
As players are injured and take damage they are incapacitated or they start to bleed out. During this time players who are survivors have the opportunity to heal them and get them back into the battle. If a player dies however, they’re not totally dead..only mostly dead, their spirit can be collected and carried to an altar and brought back into the game.
How do you win at Evil Dead: The Game?
If the evil spirit defeats all the survivors before they are able to gather the necronomicon and banish the soul from the earth, than evil wins. If the survivors are able to protect the book of the dead long enough, the survivors win. If the survivors are incapacitated or killed before they’re able to complete the final objective then evil wins.
At the end of every round a summary is given on all the players and their contribution in the game. Bonus experience is rewarded for completing the mission objectives as well as finishing the round. Special spirit points are also awarded every round.
Spirit points can be spent on different characters to help speed up the leveling process. When leveling any of the characters a special skill tree is utilized to give players a choice in crafting a unique load out. Once unlocked, these abilities make the player more effective in battle. The demon level cap is 45 while the survivor level cap is 25. The player will have to decide what points to put where and experiment with different loadouts. Players can redistribute their skill points whenever they like.
Is there a Single player Evil Dead: The Game?
There are 8 individual single player missions that revolve around the storylines of the movies and television show. If the player completes these missions they are awarded special skins, playable Survivors, as well as a little bit more lore into evil dead storyline. Time travel does have consequences.
Graphically there is a lot of blood and gore as you would expect from an Evil Dead movie video game. As a Survivor hacks up demons and cuts off limbs, their body becomes covered in blood, so this game is definitely not for the squeamish. There are several jump scares and intense scary situations, so I would also say it’s not for the faint of heart, either. I really enjoy the one-liners and dialogue that the characters randomly spew during battle or when they’re frightened. The character design is spot on and very well done. There are a few small glitches when it comes to placing traps or navigating the terrain as a demon but nothing that is game breaking or tragic.
Overall I highly recommend evil dead the game to any fans of the horror video game genre, the evil dead franchise, or Sam Raimi, you won’t be disappointed! “
Remember Shop smart, shop S-Mart, heh..
To watch one of our favorite Evil Dead streamers, check out our feature on PhilsGoneWild.
