Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 300 sampled Steam reviews (241 positive / 59 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing29% mention it
- World & exploration15% mention it
- Visuals & art13% mention it
- Combat10% mention it
- Controls & UI7% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Story & writing31% mention it
- Bugs & crashes24% mention it
- Controls & UI22% mention it
- Performance17% mention it
- Visuals & art14% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
60%
75 reviews
5-15h
83%
76 reviews
15-40h
87%
110 reviews
40-100h
94%
33 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 73 | 29 |
| Creator reviews (2 tracked) | – | 80 | 1 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 85% | 79 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 80 | 61 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 88% | 82 | 105 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 300 reviews sampled · 260 total reviews in window · weighted 194.6 up / 26.5 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (124)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 40
“There's little of that symbiosis here, as The Evil Within's more serious tone and greater reliance on non-interactive cutscenes leaves the player disengaged from the rollercoaster of action.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Even after all these years, The Evil Within remains one of the most striking horror titles of its era. It offers exactly the kind of uncompromising survival horror that was sorely lacking at the time of its release. It doesn’t try to coddle you, it doesn’t hold your hand, and it doesn’t forgive mistakes. On the contrary, it throws you into a hostile world where every decision can mean the difference between survival and death.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“For every great aspect to The Evil Within, there seem to be two or three things that hamper the experience as a whole. The Evil Within simply fails on too many fronts by trying to do a little of everything and the whole game feels unbalanced and quickly turns into a chore to get through. It has it's high points but there's little reason why this game shouldn't be much better.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“With The Evil Within, Shinji Mikami hits the spot once more. It rises as the best option in both next and past generation horror games. It fulfills the expectation that had been building up, with no fear of looking back to retrieve that successful formula that gave birth to genre classics like Resident Evil or Silent Hill.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“The Evil Within eventually gives Seb a reason to soldier on, far too late into the story. At that point, he's the only one it helps.”
read full review ↗ - 50
“Evil Within just plain doesn't give you a fair chance to succeed. It doesn't provide enough information for you to make good decisions and it handicaps your ability to fight well. It requires so much repetition that it can't possibly maintain any sense of tension or unease, and its story is told so aimlessly that you'll likely forget the plot between scenes. ”
read full review ↗ - 40
“Over the course of the lengthy, ill-paced campaign, one thing really stuck out for The Evil Within. It's not really a horror game. Yes, there are areas where you are often subjected to intense imagery and situations but they are more shocking than anything else. To put it simply, the game is more like the Saw film franchise than what we have come to expect from a good survival horror game.”
read full review ↗ - 62
“The Evil Within's biggest sin is that it just isn't particularly scary.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“This game is not what was originally promised, but that's not a bad thing. While many were hoping for the next Silent Hill 2, it became the next Resident Evil 4, instead. With The Evil Within, Mikami has taken the highlights of a number of his other games and combined them into one terrifying amalgamation of gore, horror and action. The Evil Within is a great game. Survival horror fans will find it a great addition to their collection, and even for those with little experience of the genre it's well worth a play.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“It may not be for the faint of heart, but if you're looking for a hardcore and pure survival horror experience then look no further than The Evil Within.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“At its controller clutching best, The Evil Within evokes memories of Silent Hill's high points, but it's the Resident Evil comparisons that are most consistent throughout. Unfair difficulty spikes swap out the title's pervading sense of fear for outright frustration at times, while technical issues undo the developer's outstanding art direction. Thankfully, legendary director Shinji Mikami doesn't disappoint in the gameplay department, forcing you to get creative with your plentiful combat options due to an unending absence of resources. It's here that developer Tango Gameworks finds the breathless brilliance within.”
read full review ↗ - 78
“The Evil Within is, deep down, the work of an old industry master who has achieved a high skill in his art, but who cannot surprise us and catch us like his previous works. It's a cleanly executed game that will certainly give nightmare moments to those who aren't used to the countless series of stereotypes that make up it, but that doesn't bring something really new or memorable to survival horror veterans.”
read full review ↗
Slant Magazine
Gaming Professors
FourFaceButtons
The A.V. Club
Total Gaming Network
VGChartz
Cubed3
Pure Xbox
Push Square
LevelUp…and 112 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- The Evil Within 1.03 Update ReleasedDec 10, 2014
- The Evil Within 1.03 Update ReleasedDec 10, 2014
- Steam Update: The Evil WithinOct 29, 2014
- Steam Update: The Evil WithinOct 29, 2014