The test
A cult horror film, Evil Dead was directed in 1981 by Sam Raimi, who will also take care of the sequels released in 1987 and 1992. Since then, the trilogy has become a real franchise since a cinematic reboot is released in 2013, a second reboot is planned for this year, and the television series Ash vs. Evil Dead had three seasons between 2015 and 2018. But on the video game side, we haven’t had much to eat since Evil Dead: Regeneration, released in 2005. Fortunately, Evil Dead: The Game comes fill this gap today.
Evil Dead: The Game may be an essentially multiplayer game, and therefore devoid of a real scenario, it absolutely does not usurp its affiliation with the famous cinematographic saga. The fan service (in the good sense of the word) works at full speed, whether in terms of staging, menus, places, situations, objects, weapons or even music. To be convinced of this definitively, just take a look at the list of playable characters. Cinephiles will thus have the pleasure of finding and embodying, among other examples, Annie Knowby, Cheryl Williams, Ed Getley and Scotty. Without forgetting of course the essential Ash Williams, who is even available in four different versions (corresponding to the versions from Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Evil Dead 3 and Ash vs Evil Dead). In total, there are twenty-two heroes (and anti-heroes as far as demons are concerned) that it is possible to embody. Each of them has a special skill as well as a large tree of unlockable upgrades, and belongs to a class offering a specific gameplay variation. Leader, Warrior, Hunter and Support on the human side, Warchief, Puppeteer and Necromancer on the demon side of Kandar. All this promises long hours of play for those who would like to evolve all the characters, even if most players will certainly content themselves with maxing out their two or three favorites. For this, it is naturally necessary to amass as many experience points as possible by winning as many games as possible, which are played asymmetrically but take place according to an immutable principle.
WHEN WE ARRIVE EVIL…
On the side of the four survivors, embodied by four players, it is a question of finding three pieces of map scattered on a large open map and infested with “corpses”. This then allows access to the location of the Necronomicon pages, as well as that of Kander’s dagger. Once these two points have been defended and captured, it becomes possible to banish evil creatures located at a specific point and to reveal the Necronomicon, which must then be defended from a final enemy attack. Kandar’s demons must do everything to prevent the cursed book from being reconstituted, but play out differently. There is only one player in control on this side, and he initially controls a demon in spirit form. Invisible to the opposing camp and endowed with a very high speed of movement, this spirit must collect orbs of infernal energy scattered over the map, which allows it to prepare traps, make creatures appear through portals, and even to take possession of a corpse (to directly attack the survivors), of a vehicle (to run over them) or even of a tree (to deal a good blow of branch to the first one who will pass by there). It is also possible to trap supply crates, in order to scare, damage or rob those who open them. Eventually, the demon can actually take physical form and participate directly in combat. Added to these main principles is a fear management system for each survivor. It increases in particular when the character finds himself isolated or in the dark, which allows the demon to locate him more easily on the map and to possess him.
ARMY OF DARKNESS
Interesting on paper, this concept keeps its promises in reality. This is largely due to the gameplay of the clashes, which does not have to be ashamed of the competition. Simple and effective, close combat combines fast attack, powerful attack and dodge, while ranged weapons offer pleasant aiming and good sensations. Weapons of different levels (common, rare, epic and legendary) are there to motivate the hunt for chests, while collecting bottles of “pink hover” allows you to improve the character’s statistics during the game. As a survivor, the game achieves the feat of making us feel both powerful (against basic cadavers) and vulnerable (against elites, excess cadavers, traps or demons). Additionally, thrill-seekers and gore-seekers can rely on Finishers to trigger various particularly bloody animations when an enemy’s life is nearing its end. This ultimate blow to be placed at the right time makes the player invincible during the animation, increases the chances that the victim will drop an object on the ground, and gratifies us with various visual festivities, such as a chainsaw in the belly or an ax in the head. Between the bloodshed and the vomit spatters, the game is quite filthy at times, as it should be in order to respect the license.
The horror film atmosphere is also very successful, due to disturbing environments and a sound coating with small onions. One of the powers of the demons is even to make a very “jumpscare” visual appear on the screen of other players. As for the graphics, if they are not necessarily at the top of the top of the technique of 2022, they remain very correct and always pleasing to the eye. Only the management of collisions seems to us to be imperfect. Certain decorative elements block us when we think we can pass over them, the groupings of several players around the same victim seem a bit messy, and moving around in certain cramped interiors is not always easy. Nothing really bad, and the overall finish remains good since we haven’t encountered any major bugs. Even matchmaking, which has the good taste of being cross-platform, finds companions in the fight quickly! Finally, note that the game also offers five missions to go solo. Well made and of relatively high difficulty, these missions independent of each other will be considered by some as a nice bonus always good to take, and by others as a stopgap that struggles to hide the absence of a true single-player campaign.
