The 2017 first-person thriller Get Even might be the closest thing to a Condemned 3, but its shortcomings highlight just how uniquely visceral and haunting the original Condemned games were. More than 15 years ago Condemned: Criminal Origins was released for Xbox 360 and PC (and is still available on Steam), and the game has maintained a well-deserved cult following since that time. Condemned combined forensic investigation sequences with brutal first-person combat, most of which involved improvised weapons. The Condemned story initially followed FBI agent Ethan Thomas in his pursuit of serial killers. The game’s focus was split between advancing the investigation and engaging in gruesome brawls with destitute men who were driven berserk by the influence of an entity called The Hate. The brutal violence of Resident Evil Village tested Ethan Winter, just as Condemned and Condemned 2 broke the spirit of Ethan Thomas. Get Even still seems closer to a Condemned successor than the first-person Resident Evil games, but it lacks the immersive dread that made Condemned a classic.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Condemned, Condemned 2, and Get Even.]The aesthetics of Get Even draw immediate comparisons to Condemned. Both feature first-person exploration of dilapidated buildings covered in graffiti. Crazed homeless men driven berserk by an otherworldly influence hounded Ethan throughout Condemned, while Get Even featured similar encounters with asylum inmates who rush protagonist Cole Black. Get Even is a science fiction horror story, where Black is subjected to a VR recreation of his own memories in order to reconstruct the truth behind a girl’s kidnapping and botched rescue attempt. Black transitions from an asylum, where he undergoes the experimental therapy supposedly of his own volition, to reliving the memories that led up to the kidnapping. Some twists are divisive in games, like Twelve MinutesOldboy-inspired ending. Get Even featured a fairly satisfying twist, as it revealed the girl’s father has been subjecting Black to the VR experience as a form of interrogation, not therapy.

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To unravel his fractured or blocked memories, Black often scans pieces of evidence using a smartphone app in Get Even, recalling the forensic investigation scenes of Condemned. Both games cleverly juxtaposed their investigation elements with the ever-present threat of sudden assault, alongside surreal visions that call the protagonist’s sanity into question. The combination remains satisfying in Get Even, but where Condemned evoked genuine dread with nearly every battle, Get Even’s combat is more sterile. With its focus on melee combat using improvised weapons, Condemned brought a feeling of desperation to every fight. Get Even is primarily a shooter, and enemies in the recreated memory sequences explode into a series of fractal patterns when slain. Though Condemned lacked the overt gore of recent games like Elden Ring, its atmosphere and realism made its violence more gripping than games in a fantasy or science fiction setting. Get Even plays up realism in its environments and its scenario, but its fights are far less brutal.

Get Even Is Like Condemned, But More Clinical And Detached

Get Even is similar to Condemned, but far less visceral.

Players looking for a game to remind them of Condemned will likely still enjoy Get Even. It shares Condemned’s introspection, as both titles explore the minds of broken men, and some of its asylum sequences do produce some quality scares. Sudden shifts in the scenery when the character turns around play up the feeling of unease, as Black might examine a locked door in the asylum and turn to find himself in a hospital or a corporate facility. Get Even features imagery of disturbingly posed mannequins appearing from nowhere, and it makes excellent use of sound, as inmates chant “puppet master” from all angles. The genre is as popular as ever in games, and horror fans await news of Hideo Kojima’s Overdose project. Condemned fans are unlikely to ever see a true third game in that franchise, but despite its science fiction and shooting emphasis, Get Even still comes closer than most.

Condemned 2 peeled back some of the original's mystery, revealing that the frenzies Ethan dealt with the in the first game were caused by a secret society called the Oro. Though it left room for more stories in its world, the sequel sold poorly, making a Condemned 3 extremely unlikely at this point. Get Even shows there is still room for games inspired by the Condemned template, as it combines first-person action, investigation, and horror, to good effect. The bleak twists of Get Even feel in line with the style of Condemned, but its sanitized combat falls short. Condemned caused its players to feel Ethan Thomas’ fear and adrenaline every time a berserker assaulted him from the shadows, where Get Evens simulation narrative provides a Condemned-like experience through a more clinical lens.