Evil Dead: The Game creates an experience as close to a Sam Raimi movie as a game can get. From the gameplay to the tone and presentation, Saber Interactive's new multiplayer title perfectly captures the vibe of Raimi's horror franchise. Moreover, considering that most actors from the Evil Dead films have returned for the game - including Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams himself - Evil Dead: The Game is one of those rare licensed titles that exudes authenticity.

Developed by Saber Interactive, Evil Dead: The Game is a crossplay-enabled multiplayer game set within the Evil Dead franchise. The game casts a team of four heavily armed human players in distinct roles as they attempt to stop a single player-controlled demon armed with supernatural abilities, from minion summoning and traps to even possessing other players. The goal of the human team is to exorcise the demon player from the area by retrieving lost pages of the Necronomicon and then the Kandarian dagger. Evil Dead: The Game's Kandarian Demon players, conversely, are tasked with eliminating the entire human team or destroying the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis or The Book of the Dead towards the end of the match, solidifying their foothold in the human realm.

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The gameplay behind Evil Dead is compelling, boasting a nice mix of Left 4 Dead and Dead by Daylight-style systems and mechanics, but arguably where it excels best is presentation. Evil Dead: The Game easily integrates Raimi's first-person POV camera style from the 1981 cult classic, The Evil Dead, through Demon gameplay, with the camera zooming around the map at an extremely fast speed. Moreover, the violence and tone are also lifted straight from the 1987 Evil Dead II and 1992 Army of Darkness. The end result is a great blend of mayhem, humor, and violence, and one that makes Evil Dead: The Game perfect for friends seeking movie-night-style fun.

Evil Dead's Demon Gameplay Turns Players Into Directors

Demon view from Evil Dead: The Game.

One of the most iconic camera styles that Sam Raimi uses throughout the Evil Dead films is the first-person POV. Utilizing a homemade Steadicam during the production of The Evil Dead, Raimi places the viewer in the perspective of the unseen monster, aka the Kandarian Demon, as it hunts down Ash and his friends. When the player takes control as one of three Demon classes - Warlord, Necromancer, or Puppeteer - in Evil Dead: The Game they navigate the world in first-person. It's a perspective that mirrors the same style of the movies, from the speed to the tight curves when turning. This essentially turns Evil Dead: The Game's demon players into directors too, as they orchestrate carnage from behind the scenes.

Evil Dead: The Game Embraces Slapstick Humor And Violence

Annie and Henry from Evil Dead: The Game.

To follow up The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi ratcheted up the violence in the sequel and married it with a more overt blend of humor. This ensured that Evil Dead 2 stood apart from the other movies of the same genre. By combining slapstick style humor and over-the-top violence, Raimi explored new avenues in horror, creating a type of dark humor that made the film a cult classic success. This style is a big part of Evil Dead: The Game, summoning the same feel of the movies.

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As the four human players navigate the massive map in Evil Dead: The Game, they naturally come across the various forces of the player-controlled Demon. However, rather than mindlessly mowing down the somewhat endless hordes like in any other game, Evil Dead: The Game recreates the violence and humor that feel inspired by the movies. From a Deadite sprinting to the player despite its intestines hanging out to fighting a grotesque floating boss unit that sprouts nursery rhymes while vomiting on the player, the mix of humor and violence from the movies is alive and well in Saber Interactive's title.

Evil Dead: The Game Mirrors The Movies' Use Of Familiar Bad Guys

Evil Dead The Game The Best Warlord Skills to Get First Warlord Units

Cinematography and tone aside, a reoccurring theme in the Evil Dead movies is how Sam Raimi builds his characters. Most, if not all, are usually connected to Ash Williams, the franchise's main protagonist, in one way or another. For example, the main antagonist of the third movie, Army of Darkness, is a mirror version of Ash, eloquently dubbed Evil Ash and one of the multiple versions of Ash in Evil Dead: The Game. By connecting the antagonist with the protagonist, sometimes literally, Sam Raimi can make a more intimate narrative building an internal and external conflict within the main character as they face a possible version of themselves. The movie's same theme carries into Evil Dead: The Game and is the foundation of the narrative and gameplay loop.

Evil Dead: The Game adds a layer of narrative familiarity for fans by having them face Ash Williams' most iconic enemies from across the Evil Dead franchise, from Henrietta Knowsby from Evil Dead II to Eligos from the television show Ash vs. Evil Dead. Moreover, Evil Dead: The Game connects the human players and the player-controlled Demon through the competitive gameplay elements. Like how the movie's narrative is good versus evil, Ash versus the bad guys, the game has player versus player along with PVE in Evil Dead: The Game's single-player mode. As a result, there's a connection between the human and demon players through the competitive spirit of multiplayer. This connection then fuels the gameplay loop of Evil Dead: The Game, with both teams vying for control during the match, making the horror experience as competitive as it is cooperative.

Evil Dead: The Game creates a familiar asymmetrical horror multiplayer experience firmly rooted within Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies. By mirroring the feel and tone of the Evil Dead franchise, from Raimi's signature style to the narrative themes of the films themselves, the game feels like an interactive Evil Dead movie. Moreover, considering that Evil Dead: The Game adds a single-player mode that expands on the lore and characters, it makes it a must-play for new and old fans. Like the movies, Evil Dead: The Game approaches the horror genre in relatively new and innovative ways, creating one of the most nuanced gaming experiences that respects and builds upon its source material.

Next: All Evil Dead: The Game DLC Coming After Release