Evil Dead: The Game - Deluxe Edition [Xbox]

Developed by Saber Interactive, Evil Dead: The Game is a survival horror game that heavily focuses on the multiplayer aspect, with a side of solo story missions that work their way through different parts of the Evil Dead timeline. The online mode follows the fairly common format of 4 vs 1 multiplayer, with four players taking on the roles of Survivors (ranging from the different iterations of Ash, to Pablo, Kelly and more), and one player taking on the side of evil. The whole premise is that you need to collect map pieces in order to locate lost pages from the Necronomicon, which will then lead you to the Kandarian Dagger. With the dagger in hand, you will then be able to banish the Dark Ones. Aaand then it repeats. Sadly, this is the extent of the multiplayer - which can make it feel somewhat lacking, as you’re doing the same thing in every online game, with the only difference being whether you’re finding everything - or trying to prevent the survivors from doing so.

As well as the main Survivor vs. Demon mode, which can be played online with/against other players or against AI enemies, with other players or an AI-controlled team; there’s also the ability to set up Private matches too, which is good as random match-ups can be very hit or miss in terms of getting a team that sticks together and focuses on the objectives versus not. Another game mode that is available is Missions, which has six separate VHS-styled ‘episodes’ to complete, whether that be you retrieving the decapitated head of your first love, Linda; or gathering enough brewskis to lure away some hooligans from the Oldsmobile. These can be really frustrating due to a lack of checkpoints, meaning that as soon as you fail, it’s right back to the start - and some of these consist of multiple different tasks, so a checkpoint or two could easily have been implemented. Completing these Missions will nab you new characters to play as, as well as new skins and recordings to listen to. I wish that instead of these standalone missions that there was more of an actual Story, as these can feel a little shallow, particularly with the bland still-images to progress the ‘story’ breaking up the fetch-quest style gameplay

The controls left a few things to be desired, with reloading and igniting fires taking an unbelievably frustrating amount of time, and these actions are easily interrupted by enemies, starting the whole process over (and making it really difficult to deal with the Elite enemies as guns seem to be the best option for those, but will take more than one round of bullets). You’ll also find a lot of areas throughout the maps where there’s a slight bump in the ground, such as rocky terrain, where you can’t manage a simple jump to get over it - despite being able to vault over fences elsewhere. The combat however does feel decent - though we wish there had been a lock-on ability as sometimes getting an enemy in your sight is a little bit awkward. Making good use of your dodges, and getting good attacks in to enemies is enjoyable, especially once you get into the swing of things.

With plenty of blood, Ash and the gang get doused with each enemy they defeat; there will be blood over walls and floors, and enemy models deteriorate with the damage they take, leaving the gaping meat-bags with protruding skulls and bullet wounds. Utilising special finishers feels satisfying, and seeing the wide variety at your disposal across different weapons is a lot of fun - and having Ash’s sassy remarks to go with these really adds to it. There aren’t a great deal of locations within the game, but in the available maps you’ll be able to see the iconic Cabin (complete with chained up basement hatch rattling away), as well as other familiar spots. You can even drive the Oldsmobile at times, in order to get from one area of the map to another at speed, and this feels decent - though can be a little janky every now and then. Playing as a Demon gives a whole new perspective - with the floating camera perfectly encapsulating the creepy camera shots from The Evil Dead, as it weaves through the trees. There are different Demons available, from Henrietta and her Deadite pals to Evil Ash and his skeletal army, and each of these play out with slight differences - you can possess Deadites, Survivors (once their Fear meter is high enough) and even vehicles, and circling the map to set up traps and give players a good scare is a lot of fun - providing you can find them. The soundtrack oozes Evil Dead vibes, and is consistently eerie as you explore the world, getting louder, more intense and often quite disorienting as your fear increases and more Deadites appear. Voice acting is fantastic - and it was really great to hear Bruce Campbell delivering iconic Ash lines, as well as a lot of cheeky humour, though this can at times become a bit repetitive too.

Whichever way you play, it actually puts up a surprising amount of challenge, with you having to monitor your health - and make sure you keep an ample supply of Shemp Colas to replenish it - as well as keeping track of ammo and picking up decent weapons whenever you get the chance. Another mechanic that the game utilises is Fear, with a meter that goes up the longer you spend alone in the darkness, and as enemies as well as possessed Evil trees, and various traps spring up to give you a fright. Lingering around nearby light sources will calm you down (though this is faster if you ignite one yourself) and some characters give off a calming aura if you stay near to them. You’ve got various Skill upgrades that can be applied as you progress both in matches, and as permanent upgrades through the character select, improving your characters in different ways and giving you access to new abilities and better stats the more you level up. Playing as a Demon requires a good bit of planning, as you’ll need to not only locate the players, but you’ll need to set traps to scare them and release your Demon minions to attack. Whilst we do like online multiplayer games, we wish there was more of an offline/campaign side to this, as the asymmetrical Survivors vs. Demon mode does begin to feel repetitive after a few matches - and there’s just not enough content within the Missions currently to keep you going.

The Deluxe Edition comes in at £49.99 on Xbox, which is definitely pretty pricey - especially given the content as it stands, but this includes the base game (standalone price £33.49) as well as Season Pass 1 (which is priced at £24.99 on its own) - which unlocks four DLC packs, of which only the first has been released so far, giving you access to various different costumes for your Survivors and Demons. Evil Dead is such a fantastic franchise to base a game around, and whilst we have really enjoyed our time with it so far, we just wish it lived up to the hopes we had for it; so we’ve got our fingers crossed that some great additional content will be added over time.

In the end, we decided to give Evil Dead: The Game the Collecting Asylum rating of 8/10.

Are you interested in Evil Dead: The Game? What do you think of it?
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- V x

Thank you to Honest PR for the Evil Dead: The Game - Deluxe Edition Xbox review code!