Evil Dead: The Game review – groovy multiplayer

metro.co.uk:

80s shlock horror is reinterpreted as a 4 vs. 1 multiplayer, where you get to play as Ash or the Deadites – but which is more fun?

There was a moment, around seven years ago, when asymmetric multiplayer looked like it was going to be the next big thing. It wasn’t, but whether that was because the concept was intrinsically flawed or it just didn’t have a catchy enough name was difficult to say at first. Exemplified by the ill-fated Evolve, the idea was that four people play a relatively normal co-op game while a fifth joins in as the enemy force, usually involving a central boss type character plus lesser minions and traps.

When none of the initial games became hits, it seemed like it was going to become the shortest-lived genre ever, until developers discovered the necessary secret sauce: horror. Dead By Daylight paved the way, before several others began to use old 80s horror movies as their setting, starting with Friday The 13th and now including Predator and the upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre (technically a 70s film) and Ghostbusters games.

Now the same formula is being applied to the king of 80s schlock horror, in Evil Dead. Although the immediate problem is that not only do the films not have a central villain, but hero Ash spends most of the movies entirely on his own. Despite that dichotomy though this is easily the most authentic Evil Dead adaptation so far, so much so that you can feel the love for the series from the moment you switch the game on.

Although there is an attempt to offer a proper single-player experience, with a number of missions that recreate specific moments from each of the films, it’s worth emphasising straight away that this is not a game for anyone that’s only going to play on their own – not