The Evil Within drafts Hollywood talent...
It seems that scary games are the fashion of late. As well as the terrifying Alien: Isolation- which I've just previewed for Game Console, at this year's E3 Expo I also had a go on Bethesda Softworks' survival horror game, The Evil Within.
In pitch black demo booth I was confronted by grotesque creatures, hallucinations and lakes of blood. It was a wholly unnerving experience, with new-gen graphics adding a sense of realism that survival horror games have never been quite able to capture in the past.
With a muted colour palette and stylistic film grain, The Evil Within seems to finally bring cinematic horror to the video game console.
Bethesda have just announced a rather stellar voiceover cast for The Evil Within.
The actors lending their vocal talent to the game are Academy Award nominee Jackie Earle Haley ("Lincoln," "Watchmen," "A Nightmare on Elm Street"), Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Jennifer Carpenter ("Dexter," "Quarantine," "The Exorcism of Emily Rose"), and film and television star Anson Mount ("Hell on Wheels," "Safe").
Academy Award nominee Jackie Earle Haley, who is no stranger to horror, having recently played Freddy Krueger in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, lends his voice to The Evil Within's main antagonist, Ruvik.
Making his video game debut, Anson Mount, best known for his role as Cullen Bohannon in AMC's Hell on Wheels, assumes the role of lead protagonist Sebastian Castellanos. Players assume the role of Sebastian, a veteran police detective, throughout the game in their terrifying struggle for survival.
Rounding off the cast is Jennifer Carpenter, well-known for her role as Debra Morgan in the hit Showtime series Dexter, who plays Juli Kidman, Sebastian's Junior Detective partner. As part of the game's Season Pass plans, players will be able to assume the role of Juli Kidman in post-launch content to experience The Evil Within from an entirely new perspective.
"One of the most crucial elements to any successful survival horror game is the setting and sound, which includes the depth and authenticity of the voice acting," said Shinji Mikami, studio head at developers Tango Gameworks. "We brought together a great cast of experienced actors to help ensure that players really believe our characters' emotions and the tension they feel in every scene."
In The Evil Within, Detective Sebastian Castellanos and his partners are called in to investigate a gruesome mass murder. After seeing the slaughter of fellow officers, Sebastian is ambushed and knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself in a deranged world where hideous creatures wander among the dead. Facing unimaginable terror, and fighting for survival, Sebastian embarks on a frightening journey to unravel what's behind this evil force.
The Evil Within, out is out in New Zealand on 16th October for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC.
