Hail to the king, baby!  

In a bloody, macabre, cursed universe full of the living dead, only one person is capable of putting an end to all this evil: 

Ash Williams, the chosen one. 

Evil Dead: The Game is an action and survival game that puts us in the arms of one of the greatest horror-comedy franchises that has ever existed, to experience it alongside Ash and his friends. Collect the pages of the Necronomicon, find the Kandarian dagger, and put an end once and for all (or not) to evil and its demons. 

Developed by Saber Entertainment and distributed by Saber, in partnership with Boss Team Games and LCC, Evil Dead: the game was officially released on May 13, 2022, for all major platforms. 

In the Game of the Year edition, released on April 26, 2023, Evil Dead: the game brings us new survivors such as Mia, the Blacksmith, Brock, and Ruby, Baal as a new demon, as well as several skins for the survivors and the demons.



Bring me the Book of the Dead.

If there's one thing Ash doesn't like, it's small talk. After facing the army of the dead in medieval times, seeing his cursed girlfriend die, and interrupting his retirement to face the damned deadites, all he wanted was a little peace on some deserted beach, sipping his Shemp cola next to his boomstick. 

But noooo, someone had to invent a game for him to continue killing zombies and demons out there. Well, if that is what he was called to do, that is what he is going to do. Get ready, because in Evil Dead: The Game, Ash comes with all his strength as a reformed hero to fight once again against the forces of evil.

In a game where the story is in charge of classic references from the movies and the Evil Dead series, we have a narrative construction that takes care of presenting all the most iconic characters of the franchise, whether they are protagonists, sidekicks, or villains. For fans of the franchise, playing with these characters takes us on a journey through time, recreating a unique and very fun experience. I confess that it is impossible not to want to start the gameplay playing with Ash, but how can you not play with Pablo, from the more recent Ash vs the Evil Dead series, or Henry the Red, from Army of Darkness, from the 90s?



I loved the references present in the game, such as the names of the healing and character development items (Shemp's Cola and Pink F). I also really liked the theming that was built for the entire game, such as the movement of the demons, which is a reference to their movement in the series, and the progression menu of our characters, which is a clear reference to the Necronomicon, with Kandarian writing and everything else. 

In addition, the game has several cosmetic options that always make reference to specific moments of the characters in the Ash Williams saga. Without a doubt, this is a game lovingly made for fans of the franchise.

Another very fun point is the usual chatter of the characters and their catchphrases. It won't be uncommon to find yourself laughing your head off (and dying in the game) because, at some point in intense combat, your character says something funny that makes perfect sense at the time. All you will be able to do is laugh as you watch your character succumb to disgrace. 



Anyway... After contextualizing you in the atmosphere of the game, we needed to talk about what matters:

Bloody gameplay. With lots of blood. Blood everywhere!

If you have ever watched any work in the Evil Dead series, you have noticed, even without wanting to, that blood is an abundant and unobtrusive element. To be a little more poetic, the blood in the series is like the air we breathe, only taken from the lungs of some diabolical creature. 

Pardon the metaphor. 

About the series: Evil Dead presents itself as a horror comedy show because it abuses the elements to the point that they become caricatured. And we can see this in the game. In a combat that involves the collection of weapons and artifacts in the scenario, the rain of blood is constant when fighting demons. It is so much to the point that sometimes we can't see anything else because the screen is completely covered in blood, especially if you play with melee characters. 

Yes, in Evil Dead we have a variety of character types, each with special roles and abilities. Our survivors can be Leaders, Warriors, Hunters, and Support, with each survivor belonging to a class that matches their role in the Evil Dead universe. For example, as a leader we have Lord Arthur, as a Warrior we have Scotty, and as a support, Cheryl. And since Ashy is good at everything he does, anywhere and at any time, he will be present in all classes, with characters more or less suited to his trajectory in the movies and series.



Besides the survivors, we can play with demons and deadites. The demons also have their classes, ranging from Necromancers to Warlords. Among the most famous demons are Baal and Henrietta. 

The gameplay, then, consists of cooperative matches, where the survivors need to accomplish some objectives to put an end to the demon, while the demon will try to destroy each of the survivors. 

To survive, players will collect resources such as healing items, defense-boosting items, and various weapons scattered throughout the scenario. It is nice to say that we will find some legendary weapons throughout the scenario, such as the Boomstick, Ash's famous shotgun, and Excalibur, from the legendary King Arthur. 

Well-equipped and ready for combat, it is time for the survivors to go in search of the Necronomicon pages and the Kandarian dagger. It is these items that give access to the ritual that summons the powerful demon of our match. We will need to interrupt the ritual and thus send the imp to the fifth hell. 

But if you decide to play as the Old Nick, then things change. 

As the devil, your duty is to make every survivor regret ever getting out of bed to face you. You must set traps, possess frightened enemies, unleash hordes of demons, and, of course, kill mercilessly.

Oh, and let's not forget that you can even possess some evil trees to scare up a survivor who is trying to light a fire or collect some items. As wise Jack used to say, "I never trust trees. 

The matches last around 30 minutes. And that is when the problems start to show...

The gameplay of Evil Dead is quite fun, with well-done executions and well-polished combat, but it is not very clear in the matches. In the tutorial, we understand what the central objective is and what we need to do to solve it, but everything gets more complicated when we are playing in a real match. The scenarios are large, with long and unintuitive matches, which leaves us a bit lost. It's almost as if they mixed Fortnite's exploration with Dead by Daylight's ambiance, but without making it clear what the point of that is. 



At certain points, I just wanted to collect items and survive, because I didn't quite understand where I was supposed to go to find the pages of the book. Was it just exploring? Is there a specific place? It wasn't clear to me.

I realized that not only me, but the other players in the game also went through this because it was not uncommon to see people wandering around the world not really knowing what to do. Every now and then we managed to collect the pages and get to the final goal, but it was pretty random. 

Another negative point is that the character progression seemed very slow and not very rewarding. After several matches, I was not able to evolve my characters or understand well how to improve their skills. Not that I didn't understand that I should distribute points there in that area that looked like the Necronomicon book, but because the game didn't direct me to that space at any time. 

Some important things, like character progression, need to be clear from the beginning because they will dictate the way the player will decide to play. I think the menus and options in Evil Dead need to be a little clearer so that the player doesn't feel lost while exploring the game. 

But overall, Evil Dead delivers very satisfying gameplay, with engaging combat and highly memorable characters for fans of the series. The fact that they have integrated platforms such as PC, Xbox, and PlayStation also helped in finding players for matches, both for matches against players and matches against AI. 



I am a bastard, but an honest bastard

And this is exactly what defines the graphics in Evil Dead. An incredible visual experience, with endless references and blood everywhere. In this work, the devs have managed to recreate a universe with fidelity, but with details that reflect their own authorship and personality. Allied to this originality, you will notice elements that recall games of the genre, such as the aforementioned Dead by Daylight, but also The Dark Pictures Anthology, Resident Evil, and even Dead Space. 

This union of references, inspirations, and authorship generated a game that manages to leave a mark, especially in the visual aspect. However, some performance problems, especially in textures and motion blur, end up impacting the gameplay. However, for me, a big fan of the franchise, this hardly affected my gameplay, since I was very immersed in chopping heads off with Henry. However, for players less familiar with the franchise, it certainly will not go unnoticed.

Regarding the soundtrack, Evil Dead recreates classic tracks and effects present in the franchise, which for me makes all the difference when it comes to immersion. The creature noises and dubbing of the characters are also faithful to the classic voices we know. In the end, the soundtrack can add a lot to the gameplay as a whole. 

For this review, Evil Dead: The Game of the Year was played on the PC via Steam.

We are very grateful to Saber Entertainment for providing us with the game key that made this content possible.