2015’s Evolve may have died a tragic death, largely at the hands of publisher 2K, but its spirit lives on. So it turns out that the asymmetrical multiplayer structure is a perfect fit for movie licensing – especially ones with villains known for their brute force. Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead Trilogy is the latest franchise to be slotted into the 4v1 multiplayer mould, though there are shades of wave-based action too. Indeed, the structure has evolved a bit since 2015.
Setup is simple. Playing as a party of survivors – including four iterations of Ash Williams, allowing for multiverse potential – it’s your job to collect a handful of randomly placed items in a large, dimly lit open-world forest before a final showdown with The Dark Ones. All the while, one of three evil forces (Warlords, Puppeteers and the Deadites) tries to thwart your attempts by spawning enemies, setting traps – including jump scares – summoning bosses and possessing items such as trees and vehicles.
Matches can be played entirely with humans – four survivors and one player controlling the chosen evil faction – or with AI-controlled survivors, lurking evil, or both. Alternatively, you can play solo. Playing as an evil force is surprisingly fun – they roam the land at high speed and have plenty of time to place traps in key areas. While some of the skill cooldowns are dragging – there will be times when you feel unable to intervene – it is however possible to possess players, temporarily taking control until someone takes you down. gives a collage.
Smart design choices are prevalent everywhere. Survivors start out unarmed, which means there’s always a mad rush to find something to protect themselves with. By searching nearby huts and houses along the way, more powerful weapons can be found – and if you use a torch inside, “hidden” bonus items can be discovered. Survivors also have a fear gauge, encouraging players to stick together. The gauge can be depleted by lighting a fire – requiring single-use matches – and if it gets too high Survivors begin to lose their temper and become more susceptible to being possessed.
The first three salvageable items (parts of a torn map) appear randomly one by one. This means that the team largely stays together at the start of a match, except perhaps to seek out health pickups (Shep’s Cola!) and more powerful weapons. Players can place waypoints, which makes communication easier. Items can also be highlighted, alerting others to what they may have missed. Once the map is completed, two unique items will appear. Again, a smart design choice, as it gives the option to split the team or stay together. Unskilled players may find themselves outnumbered if they split up, but since the forces of evil grow stronger over time, the split can speed up game progress.
There’s a good mix of melee and ranged combat, in the sense that you can’t rely on just one. The gun assortment is mostly comprised of shotguns and carbines – with Ash’s easily found Boomstick – all of which have slow reload times and can only hold two shots. This means you have to mix things up with melee combat – with weapons such as axes, hammers, a makeshift spear and Ash’s famous chainsaw. Hand-to-hand combat is brash and brutal; swinging Ash’s chainsaw around me made me wish it was more of a straight hack and slasher. Survivors wield their weapons with great ferocity, resulting in heavy blows, fountains of blood, and rapid takedown animations. Backed by excellent character likenesses, Evil Dead often impresses visually.
With only one match type, you might wonder where the variation comes from. This is where Evil Dead – for all its glorious ultra-violence and fan service – begins to stumble. The variety mainly comes from the three enemy factions. You will not always face the same enemies and they will all behave a little differently. Puppeteers can be troublesome, therefore difficult to defeat, as they explode on death. Deadlites have tank units that require multiple shots, while Skeleton Warlords attack in larger numbers. There are also a few variants of the forest, including a snowy variant and a chance to play at sunrise.
Then there’s the single player mode – ten objective-based missions, involving major plot points from the movies and featuring new artwork. These missions have static item slots – giving the ability to discover and memorize where certain weapons/resources are – and the health/damage system has been changed so that Ash is more vulnerable. These missions are surprisingly difficult, almost to the point of being unforgiving – enemies spawn faster than you can find ammo, and there are no checkpoints. The possibility of replaying scenes from the film is finally interesting, even if it reinforces my conviction that a hack ‘n slash adventure would have been more appropriate for the license.
The character progression system also feels archaic; like something from a generation or two ago. Each Survivor is assigned their own progression tree, progressing slowly through the use and unlocking of skills such as faster dodge and the ability to recover more health after drinking cola. However, these skills aren’t particularly noticeable during gameplay. They’re certainly not a game-changer, and due to the slow unlock rate, you’re likely to pick a single character and invest time in them alone. There is no incentive to experiment with all the characters available, despite having roles.
Evil Dead: The Game excels in many areas, down to notable license compliance. The combat feels meaty and satisfying, and the atmosphere can be tense. However, that shine quickly fades, and you’ll eventually realize that the team’s efforts have gone into just one type of match. The result is a set that looks a bit uneven. It’s the gambling equivalent of buying a movie on Blu-Ray and finding that it has no added bonus. A thunderous presentation without reminder.
Evil Dead: The Game is available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and PC. The Switch version is coming soon.