The Evil Within is free on the Epic Games Store for spooky season

Consider these Halloween ideas The Evil WithinThis is the first horror-action video game created by Resident Evil’s co-creator Shinji Mihama and also the debut of Tango Gameworks. This flawed but frightening horror game is currently free to download (and keep) on the Epic Games Store — and is available through both an Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Extra subscription on consoles.

The Evil WithinWith its blend of scares that are surreal, survival horror, and stealth, resides in the gap between Resident Evil, and Silent Hill. The gore is abundant. Sebastian Castellanos is forced to wade in pools of blood in the opening hours of the game, as well as dig through an rotting corpse in search of keys. There are SeeYou can also find out more about the following: HostelThe film is filled with gore, gristle and jump-scares. It also features chase scenes featuring chainsaw-wielding killers. The Evil WithinThis is definitely not for those who are squeamish.

But as survival horror games go, it has glimpses of greatness — that would shine much stronger in its 2018 sequel, The Evil Within 2.. After a tough few hours The Evil Within starts to hit its stride; it’s worth seeing it through for the full 10- to 12-hour playtime.

As noted in Polygon’s original review of the game, “The Evil WithinIt has moments when the combination of excellent combat with creepy environment design is perfect. But those moments are fleeting, inevitably sapped of their delightful terror by design choices that feel trapped in the glory days of a decade ago.”

Image: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks

It has improved over time, however, with developer Tango addressing some of the game’s original quirks, like the fact that The Evil WithinOnce, players were forced to view games in letterboxed format. Tango secretly added several new features for Xbox Game Pass in 2021. The Evil WithinThe game includes a new first-person view, field of view options and an adjustment to stamina. Sebastian now has the option to sprint for five full seconds as opposed to three with default stamina.

Tango added unlimited ammo as an additional option for the game to be easier.

There’s a catch on some of those new options, though. You can use the new options, but there’s a catch. The Evil Within’s first-person mode (which is a You can also find out more about the little ones.Logging in is required to access your Bethesda.net Account. This is, of course, a completely unnecessary and annoying barrier that Bethesda maintains in the PC version available for free through the Epic Games Store — particularly since the publisher retired its in-house launcher in 2022. You can still play if your Bethesda email account is linked to the previous time you played. Fallout 76This might not be an obstacle.

The Evil Within is more than nine years old now, and it has its share of quirks and shortcomings, but it’s still a pretty good survival horror experience. You can’t beat the price of free right now, and maybe it’ll convince you to give the more experimental The Evil Within 2. a chance.

Give if you don’t want to The Evil WithinYou have until October 26th to claim it for free.