Last Friday, May 13, came Evil Dead: The Game, a 4 vs 1 asymmetrical multiplayer style survival title based on The Evil Dead universe movies and series. Evil Dead: The Game was developed by Boss Team Games and published by Saber Interactive on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
Movie-to-video game adaptations have a reputation for offering experiences that range from bad to mediocre, so since its announcement the expectation for Evil Dead: The Game has been moderate. Similarly, asymmetric multiplayer games don’t always end up hitting the mark (remember Evolve?), but luckily Evil Dead: The Game manages to be not only a great tribute to the source materialalso a very good survival game.
Evil Dead: The Game has a main game mode 4vs1, in which four players take the role of humans and one more the role of the Kandarian demon; the humans must complete the objectives to survive, while the demon has to kill them all. Additionally, the game features single-player missions inspired by key moments in the franchise and bonus material for fans.
Everything is a reference:
There is no moment in Evil Dead: The Game in which you are not seeing a reference to some production of the franchise, since each character, enemy, weapon, objects and locations were taken from the Sam Raimi film trilogy or the series of Ash vs Evil Dead. Even so, it is not necessary to have seen any of this to enjoy the game, as it has very solid mechanics that make it a very enjoyable asymmetric multiplayer.
The map that the game takes place on is huge and has over a dozen iconic locations, including the iconic Knowby cabin that was recreated just as it appeared in the movies. The amulet that Ash gives Linda is used to obtain a little shield and the healing object is a can of Shemps, the beer that Ash drinks in the series of Ash vs. Evil Dead.
After playing Evil Dead: The Game I can’t imagine a better way to adapt a horror movie, especially thanks to the gameplay mechanics. In the movies, when we see a character walk away from the group, we know that the chances of something terrible happening to them increase considerably, and the same thing happens in Evil Dead: The Game.
One of the main mechanics of the game is the fear meter, which makes players visible to demons and makes them vulnerable to being possessed. As a demon, one of your tasks is to scare the survivors to increase their fear level, while as a human you have to find a way to stay calm.
Would you survive in a horror movie?
Evil Dead: The Game features 13 surviving characters, four of which are unlocked by completing single player missions. Survivors are divided into four classes: Leaders, with abilities to help the team; Warriors, experts in close combat; Hunters, who spend more years at a distance; Support, which has abilities to reduce negative effects.
There are at least three characters from each franchise production, as there are Ash Williams, Cheryl Williams and Scotty from The Evil Dead; Ash Williams, Ed Getley and Annie Knowby from Evil Dead II; Ash Williams, Lord Henry and Lord Arthur from Army of Darkness; and Ash Williams, Kelly Maxwell, Amanda Fisher and Pablo Simón Bolivar from Ash vs. Evil Dead.
In addition, all the weapons we find come from the Evil Dead universe, such as the famous chainsaw (which only certain versions of Ash can use), the “boomstick” and Lord Arthur’s sword from Army of Darkness.
It’s best to form a group with survivors with abilities that complement each other, and once the match has started, they should stick together at all times while exploring and collecting items. If someone separates from the world or explores the map carelessly, they risk falling into the traps and ambushes of the Kandarian demon.
Or would the demon kill them all?
The player taking on the role of the Kandarian demon uses evil energy to possess players and objects, set fear traps, and create portals to summon Deadites, all in order to assassinate all 4 players. When you move around the map as the demon it feels like The Evil Dead shots from the demon’s point of view, going through the woods to find his prey in the cabin.
The ways to scare the survivors are inspired by the scares of The Evil Dead movies, because we can possess a tree to attack with the branches, plant mini Ash traps that attack the players, we can make the cursed hand of Ash protect the treasures, possess the vehicles and most of all, the scared survivors.
You can choose from 3 types of demons: Puppeteer, who specializes in possessing Deadites to scare players, as well as summoning Henrietta from Evil Dead II; Warlords, who directly attack players by summoning Ash’s demon Eligos vs. Evil Dead; and Necromancer, who has the power to summon skeletons and the Evil Ash from Army of Darkness.
When you play as the Kandarian demon you must collect evil energy scattered around the map to set traps and summon demons. Each action gives you experience and by leveling up you can unlock new skills or improve your stats. Because of this, it is essential that you are doing something all the time to level up quickly and be able to assassinate humans without problems.
A package full of content:
Evil Dead: The Game features five single player missions inspired by different moments in the franchise. These missions are for learning the various mechanics of the game and can serve as a tutorial to master the control before facing other players online, but be warned that some are not easy at all.
Some missions teach you how to loot, others you have to use a vehicle to get around, another lets you test firearms and there is one with a stealth section. In addition to teaching the mechanics in a controlled environment, completing the missions unlocks the four extra survivors for more online options.
Take your time looking at the character descriptions and their skill trees, as they gain significant advantages as they level up and you should not waste your experience. At the end of a game the character you used receives experience, but you also get another independent amount that you can assign to your favorite players.
If you just want to practice it’s possible to play games against the AI, and it’s even possible to play with a mix of friends and CPUs. Although there are currently no problems finding games, if there were to be problems eventually we could continue playing thanks to the offline modes.
Evil Dead: The Game is a game with more content than we could expect from a movie-to-videogame adaptation, as well as solid gameplay that makes it a great experience even if you don’t know the source material. For this reason, I can safely say that this is a worthwhile game for all fans of the survival genre.
It is known that there is DLC on the way for Evil Dead: The Game, because in addition to the five available missions there is a sixth blocked with the legend “Coming soon”. It is expected that this year the next film in the franchise will be released with Evil Dead Rise, so the DLC could be thematic of this production and arrive together with its premiere.
Verdict: Well worth it, whether you’re an Evil Dead fan or not.
Overall, Evil Dead: The Game is a great package offering a very good multiplayer survival experience and is the best love letter Evil Dead fans could ask for in a video game. The game mechanics pay tribute to horror movies in a very natural way, which together with its setting and sound can cause several scares during a game.
Whether you like the franchise or are drawn to it for being a survival game, Evil Dead: The Game is an asymmetrical multiplayer recommended for everyone and best of all, it has crossplay on all platforms, so you can get together with your friends no matter where they play.
Evil Dead: The Game is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PlayStation 5 and PC, but the version I played for this review is the Xbox One X version. At no time did I have any performance issues and graphically it looks as good as we could expect from a game of last generation.
The good:
- A true adaptation of Evil Dead to video games
- Game mechanics inspired by horror movies
- Very good control, combat and survival mechanics
- Everything is a reference without ceasing to contribute to the gameplay
- Crossplay with all platforms
The bad:
- There is no tutorial to play as a demon