Evil Dead: the Game Review

Our Evil Dead The Game review discusses how it’s one of the best surprises of 2022 so far with its surprisingly polished multiplayer gameplay and gorgeous visuals.

In the build-up to its release, most people naturally compared it to other asymmetrical horror games like Dead By Daylight and Friday the 13th. Comparisons are appropriate, but Saber Interactive has managed to create a unique experience rather than a lacklustre copy of BeHaviour’s empire.

It’s a loving tribute to the Sam Raimi movies and Ash Vs. Evil Dead television series and it has hugely surpassed my expectations.

“Gimme some sugar, baby”  

One of the most surprising aspects of Evil Dead The Game is its stunning graphics. Every character model of Ash looks incredible from the action hero in Army of Darkness to the knucklehead with a dad bod from the television show.

All the other survivors and demons look immaculate, too. Kelly Maxwell’s sassy hot chick persona is perfectly recreated, whereas Henrietta is wonderfully hideous with her decaying rolls of fat and grotesque nudity. As for the environments, the cabin and woods are fittingly creepy and hellish, as are the hidden caves and basements decorated in blood, rusty chains, and symbols of witchcraft.  

Each of the survivors come with voices and lines befitting their character. Bruce Campbell reprises his most iconic role as Ash Williams, but unfortunately, there’s not enough of his famous zingers. Instead of “hail to the king, baby” and “hey sheb**ch, come get some,” he mostly always repeats the same quip about light and primitive minds.

The Ghost Beaters

Evil Dead The Game is similar to Dead By Daylight and Friday the 13th in how four players take the role of survivors while one plays the big baddie. There are 13 survivors to choose from and they each have different classes: Support, Leader, Hunter,  and Warrior. It’s a good idea to master one character in each class type, but we’d recommend the Support above all else so you can heal teammates when in trouble and overwhelmed.

You need to complete five objectives to win as the survivor. The first is finding three pieces of paper scattered around the map, then you need to collect the Kandarian Dagger and Necronomicon pages. This leads you to defeat the Dark Ones and then protect the book of the dead from swarms of deadites until time runs out.

Whether you win or not is dependent on your fellow Ghost Beaters. Teamwork is crucial and you’re pretty much doomed from the start if your comrades are goofballs who chase combat and victory on their own. It’s imperative that you all stick together because the fighting becomes more challenging and survivors get scared on their own and thus become susceptible to possession.

“Every character model of Ash looks incredible from the action hero in Army of Darkness to the knucklehead with a dad bod from the television series”

Playing as the survivors is a thrilling experience.  There are gory death animations for hand-to-hand combat with spears, axes, knives, hammers, and bats, and each of the available guns feels different. The only problem with the guns and crossbows is that it takes forever to reload and the aiming is a bit stiff. This is why you will find yourself mostly pushing enemies away with a bat rather than blowing them to kingdom come with the boomstick.

A big issue with playing as the survivors is that the game opts for the same field of view as other third-person titles like God of War. You’re always piggybacking your hero while looking over their shoulder, and this makes it impossible to see deadites when they strike from left, right, or behind. A smaller issue is that dodging rarely ever works and a jump button would’ve been appreciated. Ash and pals can vault over fences, but the ability to jump anywhere would help when stuck between rocks or when running across land that isn’t entirely flat.

However, instead of always running across acres of land like a fellowship of headless chickens, you can instead drive vehicles such as the iconic delta. The problem is that cars are ridiculously weak as one or two scratches from deadites results in them completely breaking down. Vehicles are also really slow which is why shortcuts are always recommended even if they are bumpy rides.

“Teamwork is crucial and you’re pretty much doomed if your comrades are goofballs who chase victory on their own”

The game also comes with a levelling system. You can permanently level up your favourite characters to increase aspects such as their resistance to fear, but there are also temporary upgrades during matches. These temporary upgrades come from finding loot boxes full of pink soda. Temporarily boosting your fear and health is recommended along with stamina. There are melee and ranged options too, but damage from guns or bats mostly depends on your weapon’s statistics.