*Sigh*...This was one hell of a hype. The continuation to the conveluted and horrifying game that was The Evil Within. The presentation was terrific, the trailers promising and the reviews assuring. Yet what I saw was just not what I, and maybe some more people, did not expect. It's disapointing.

Let's start with the good things: The game looks good. The facial animations, lighting and sound are well made and fit. The overall visuals do look fine as well. An additional plus is the removal of the cinematic bars, which allows the player to utilize their 30 inch monitors to the fullest. The shooting felt a bit too easy and the guns all lacked any sort of punch they had in the previous game.

There is not much to say about the gameplay. The game holds your hand most of the time, always making sure you see enemies coming in, making sure to show you what they can do and all of that is happening in a locked camera mode. Only after numerous cinematics, displays and alike, you get your controlls back. I played this game on Survival and it was not the Survival I was prepared for since the last game.

And now for the main course: The story. Now, I am not sure what went wrong here, but in comparison to the previous installment, this game threw all mysteries, enigmas, questions and subtlety out the window. The enemies were just dudes that scream a lot, dudes that burn, dudes use flamethrowers...Where are all the monstrosities ? Where are the enemies that overpower you with their sheer size ? Where are the enemies, that you have to analyze yourself and find their weakness (speaking of the Amalgam from the previous game) ? There is no threat in this game; no real danger that makes you carefully examine your surroundings to deal with them (speaking of the fight with Laura in the previous game). This game just puts you into a horror movie for 12 year olds. It features some gore; tries to fit in some spooky stuff like jumpscares and alike. But it all gets ruined by the orchestra that begins to play if you get spotted or have to fight a boss.

I have been waiting for this game almost as bad as for Fallout 4, but this game was dumbed down and ruined by too many bells and whistles. And by bells and whistles I mean church bells and 20 dog whistles happening at any moment of confrontation in-game. Now, I am not sure if I am the only who has noticed the more than obvious Resident Evil 6 vibe at the end (Kidman was turned into Ada Wong, for example), but it sure did not help save the story.

It truly confuses me when I hear known cirtics saying that the game has been improved since it's last game but -honestly- I do not see any sort of true improvement. It was all made easy; everythign made not as challenging as the previous installment was. And that is truly a shame.

Some may say that I am comparing the game too much to the predecessor. And those are right, becasue I expected the mystery to continue, the challenges to remain or get improved and the grotesqueness to be more...grotesque. But int he end it all led to a non-scary, cliché-filled wannabe horror that does not deserve anything higher than a 6/10.

I only recomend this game for those who truly want to find out the stroy and maybe, just MAYBE, you won't be as disapointed as I got to be. Tread with caution, fellow fans. This is just another case of a bad sequel like Condemned 2 or Resident Evil 6.