How do you rate the scare-o-meter when watching a horror movie? Is it how many times you have to turn away from the screen? How many times you jump out of your seat and yell? A good horror film and a good horror-themed video game are similar when it comes to gauging the fear factor: Either the furniture in a darkened room suddenly looks like the boogeyman waiting to get you, or it doesn’t. After playing The Evil Within, you’re going to want to spend a lot less time in darkened rooms.

The survival horror genre has had slim pickings in recent years, and, presumably sensing this drought, was Shinji Mikami, the “father” of the genre who created the original masterpiece and benchmark, Resident Evil. Mikami is back as director with The Evil Within, a nerve-shattering game that includes all of the elements that made survival horror scary in the first place.

Playing as Detective Sebastian Castellanos, you are called to the scene of a grisly mass murder inside an insane asylum. When you get there, things go from bad to worse when you are knocked unconscious and awaken inside a Leatherface-type, do-it-yourself butchery, where a maniac ~ with, yes, a chainsaw ~ chases you through halls full of traps that would make Jigsaw blush. After that extremely gory horror/action sequence, The Evil Within slows the pace, delivering some big psychological twists and turns that create a surreal and nightmarish world full of deadly surprises. That’s why The Evil Within is a game that survival horror enthusiasts will love. It will get inside your head and make you think. Nothing is what it seems to be as you make strange leaps in location and time. There’s a story to be unraveled, and the more you think you know, the more dangerous things become.

That danger makes The Evil Within a difficult game, to say the least. Just when you think you’re safe, some monstrosity will come at you from behind and it’s light out, or you’ll walk into a booby trap that you don’t see until the last second. You need to be aware of every step and noise you make. It can be frustrating at times, but the stealth and sneaking around ~ key elements of survival horror ~ make the surprises more effective and exciting. The booklet packaged with the game acknowledges, “Death will come often and when you least expect it.”

Will The Evil Within jumpstart the survival horror genre and breathe new life into what has become forgotten allure? It has certainly brought attention back to the slow, mind-bending burn of genre classics. If how many times you yell in fear while playing The Evil Within is any indication, you’ll be seeing a lot more smart and calculated horror games in the future.

For more information, visit theevilwithin.com.

Holiday Buyer’s Guide
These are the top games this holiday season.

1. Destiny: The most anticipated and polarizing release of the year, Destiny is the future of gaming.
2. Call of Duty ~ Advanced Warfare: Set in the battlegrounds of the future, Advanced Warfare is non-stop action on a technological scale.
3. WWE 2K15: Who said wrestling is fake? With WWE 2K15, “wrasslin’” never felt so real.
4. Sunset Overdrive: This highly stylized and imaginative release is an XBOX One exclusive.
5. Mario Kart 8: The popular racing franchise rolls on for a new generation with pristine graphics and gameplay.

By Jason Savio