TEST Evil Dead: The Game, waking the dead is never a good idea

The franchise evil Dead is cult among horror movie loverswith in 1981 a first low-budget film directed by Sam Raimi, who did it again with a remake/reboot six years later, in a much more comical and even more gory tone. Two cult films that were treated to a very nice sequel, Evil Dead: Army of Darknesshas a reboot in 2013 (without Sam Raimi) and even a TV series on Starz in 2015, Ash vs. evil Dead. As much to say thatthere were many fans waiting for Evil Dead: The Gamebut Boss Team Games and Saber Interactive fail to pay tribute to the license by offering a good gameplay…

The Survivor gameplay struggles to be fun.

Evil Dead: The Game is a multiplayer game gameplay asymmetric, in line with Dead by Daylight Where Friday the 13th^th: The Game. Four players embody survivorsopposed to a fifth player controlling the Kandar Demon and his minions. As explained in a long and comprehensive tutorial, the first must find the pages of the Necromoniconseize a dagger and missing pages, banish creatures and finally protect the Book of the Deadwhile the Demon must kill the survivors or destroy the Necronomicon at the end of the game. Two opposing objectives, for one gameplay very different each time.

The games take place on a single map, which at least has the merit of being large, with areas inspired by the franchise (except the reboot, excluded from the game). A vast open area that must be explored as a team, on foot and even by car, to complete the objectives as Survivor and above all to unearth loot, the characters starting the game with nothing in their pockets. And it’s a bit of a race to find the best melee and ranged weapons at the start of the match, the resources are not many and it is also necessary to manage the ammunition, the cans of soda which give PV, the matches to create zones of light and the amulets which offer a small shield. Rare chests are also present, allowing to have loot more or less rare and especially vials to improve the statistics of his character during the game, which quickly becomes necessary to survive against the minions of the Kandar Demon. If you’re lucky to find players who listened during the tutorial, the game goes relatively well, but if the team disperses, it is certain deathespecially as a gauge of fear is present, climbing at full speed when a character is alone or activates traps, blessed bread for the Kandar Demon who just has to pick the survivors one by one.

Generally, the gameplay of Survivor struggles to be fun, blamed on a certain rigidity in the controls, bugs that cause items to jump around in chests (preventing them from being grabbed or seeing their stats), and a truly awful camera in interiors. There remain the really enjoyable fights, especially in hand-to-hand combat, with bloody executions in the pure spirit of the franchise, even if the whole thing is often quite messy, making the action unreadable. Team play is important, with character classes oriented towards melee action, ranged fire or support, not to mention the presence of a special ability linked to the character class. Although it is essential to play with friends in survivors to Evil Dead: The Gamewell, small differences between classes fail to vary the gameplay, the characters find the same weapons and have the same attacks. Another point that does not help to make the action readable and the parts varied is the recycling of the characters. Yes, the franchise has featured the same heroes and heroines for years, but ending up with four Ash different in a house, with his emblematic blue shirt and brown pants more or less modified, good luck figuring out who is who and who does what.

On the side of Kandar Demon, it’s a different story. The player embodying the creature escaped from the Necronomicon chooses at the beginning of the game a class between the Necromancerthe Puppeteer and the War chiefeach time with different attributes and monsters, even if in absolute terms, not much changes, except the summoning of the boss, obviously from the movies.

A beautiful tribute to the license, the references are numerous and significant.

Here the player needs to collect energy orbs from the map to grow their power, level up and unlock abilities like owning a minion, car or Survivor frightened, open portals to summon creatures, set traps or embody a boss. In addition to possessions, the action takes place here in the first person, with a fast camera at ground level, a hallmark of Sam Raimi. It’s quite fun at first, the wink is fun, but the camera quickly becomes capricious, with quick movements that require you to take twice to position yourself correctly in front of a trap to activate it. And indoors (because yes, the Kandar Demon doesn’t stop on the landing), it’s even worse, difficult to move around the houses without tension, it’s better to open a gate at the entrance and let the henchmen do their thing. Here again, despite three different character classes, the gameplay overall remains the sameand if it is fun to chase the survivorsattack them by opening portals under their noses, trap chests with the Hand or some Ash minis or even terrify other players by running into them (triggering a screamer on their screens), after a few games, the feeling of having already played the game is present…

However, Evil Dead: The Game tries things to vary the pleasures, with in particular a skill tree specific to each character, survivors Where demons. At the end of each game, experience is unlocked, raising the level of the character and therefore offering the possibility of improving passive skills to be more resistant or powerful, and some active powers are obtained even after a packet of levels gained. Unfortunately, this still does not vary the gameplay, lacks depth to character abilities to make them more unique as levels go by. We also find solo missions, inspired by scenes from the movies and the series, very short, very flat and with a high difficulty, which is annoying, especially without the presence of checkpoints. A beautiful tribute to the license, the references are numerous and appreciable, but it’s pure filler without real interest. And let’s not forget the various technical issues either… We had already talked about objects that jump in place, but we also have to count on games in progress being canceled due to server problems, the impossibility of reassigning certain keys of the keyboard (forcing us to play with the controller) or the need to be connected even to play solo missions or against the AI: not very practical when the game says that you have no Internet connection, forcing you to leave it and then restart until the problem disappears without explanation. Fortunately there is cross play integral to find games online quickly.

Finally, let’s talk a bit about graphics and sound. Evil Dead: The Game is quite nice, for a multiplayer game. We are far from the graphic slap, the modeling of the characters is correct, with care given to very recognizable faces all the same. Note also the generally beautiful textures, with pretty light and shadow effects, which greatly contributes to the horrific atmosphere of the game, which can sometimes be really stressful at times. On the audio side, we find the music of the films, which remain discreet, but it is to better hear the voices of the characters, and there, the developers had the good idea to call on the actors and actresses of the films and the series, including Bruce Campbell embodying the different versions ofAsh Williamswhich is to say that you will hear it very often in the game, but on this point, no one will complain.

Evil Dead: The Game will have disappointed us, as much as it will have frustrated us. It’s clear that Boss Team Games had ideas for his multiplayer game at gameplay asymmetrical, which is inspired more by Friday the 13th^th: The Game that of Dead by Daylight. But here it is, even if the references to the franchise created by Sam Raimi are numerous and rather well integrated (with the emphasis on horror rather than humor), the gameplay is messy and too quickly repetitive, quickly giving the impression of going around in circles and doing the same things over and over again with each game. The different classes of characters fail to vary the pleasures, the action is as chaotic as it is enjoyable, and it is absolutely necessary to play with friends as Survivor. stay the Kandar Demonwhich leaves a slightly more positive feelingbut Evil Dead: The Game is typically the kind of game that can be played for a short evening, once a month, between friends and girlfriends, before being put aside, and which is very likely to end up on the shelves of “chez Prixbas, where prices are low.

You can find Evil Dead: The Game at €39.99 at Fnacat the house of Micromania, Culture Or on Amazon.

Clint008 Writer – Tester