The Evil Within
Games review
As of Aug 12, 2026, The Evil Within is rated 75/100 on Metacritic (65 critic reviews), and 85% positive on Steam (33,410 reviews). Each source is shown in its own units, never blended into one score.
Opens The Evil Within's own site, not a review site.
Is The Evil Within worth it in 2026?
The Evil Within earns its 85% Steam approval as a survival horror worth playing, Shinji Mikami's RE4 DNA is unmistakable in the level design and moment-to-moment tension, and the atmospheric horror holds up remarkably well a decade later, which explains why fans still replay it while critics docked it to 75 on Metacritic for its lack of polish and narrative coherence. The serious catch is the PC version's technical state: a broken frame limiter, resolution scaling failures, and crashes that for some players persist through reinstalls and prevent the game from loading at all, these are not minor inconveniences requiring a quick tweak, they are potentially showstopping problems that demand active troubleshooting before the game is playable as intended. Worse, camera bob that causes motion sickness has no in-game toggle, no console command, and no reliable fix, if it affects you, you cannot play this game, full stop.
Survival horror fans, especially RE4 enthusiasts, who are comfortable applying community fixes and config file edits to get a technically troubled but atmospherically strong game running properly, and who know they are not susceptible to camera motion sickness.
The PC version has a broken frame limiter, resolution scaling failures, and crashes severe enough that some players cannot get past the menu even after multiple reinstalls.
ReviewPond's conclusion, drawn only from the verified scores and review themes below. Not a paid or editorial opinion.
Different sources measure different things, so each is shown in its own units and never merged into one number.
Pros
- atmospheric horror design6
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- even though this game can feel pretty convoluted at times, i mostly enjoyed it. it has good scary moments, the atmosphere is very well done and the overall gameplay is fun.
- **The Evil Within somehow manages to be both a masterpiece and a terrible game at the same time!** First of all, the prologue of the game is beyond amazing. It throws you straig...
- This was a very interesting experience Where this game shines is the horror aspect of it. It isn't jumpscare intensive, it definitely focuses alot more on environment. They combin...
- strong level design5
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- Underrated piece of work, like actually. This game was made by the same guy behind the og RE, RE2 and RE4 and it shows. You'll quickly realize that this game is meaner than the ot...
- I tried playing this game on Xbox a couple times and it just didn't click for me at the time; saw the game on sale on steam and decided to give it another go, and im so glad I did....
- This is one of the most underrated games ever. The gameplay is the Resident Evil 4 formula tuned to perfection. The story, music, and level design are all amazing. The 2nd game d...
- resident evil 4 formula4
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- This game is a must play. It is like resident evil and silent hill had a baby. truly a 10/10 even after 12 years or so. Make sure to buy the bundle pack because now I have to spend...
- Underrated piece of work, like actually. This game was made by the same guy behind the og RE, RE2 and RE4 and it shows. You'll quickly realize that this game is meaner than the ot...
- This is one of the most underrated games ever. The gameplay is the Resident Evil 4 formula tuned to perfection. The story, music, and level design are all amazing. The 2nd game d...
- engaging story and characters4
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- Must play for Resident Evil fans. Game is solid and good. Gameplay is satisfying Story is interesting
- 1. The sections were diverse, with unique gimmicks. The gameplay never felt repetitive. Same goes for the boss fights- pure gimmicks, which makes it more immersive and plot relevan...
- 10/10 idk what to say... Best horror game i ever played 100%. Story and atmosphere of the game is unbelivable especially chapter 9. And Sebastian is arguably the best protagonist i...
- challenging gameplay3
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- I replayed the evll within 1 and 2 so many times on Xbox 360 to PS3/4 and now on pc I cannot describe my love for this game 10 out of 10 even in 2026 still holds better than most g...
- I tried playing this game on Xbox a couple times and it just didn't click for me at the time; saw the game on sale on steam and decided to give it another go, and im so glad I did....
- I've been playing The Evil Within since it first came out in 2014, and it will always be a true classic to me. Everything about the game has stuck with me over the years. From the...
- underrated game3
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- Underrated piece of work, like actually. This game was made by the same guy behind the og RE, RE2 and RE4 and it shows. You'll quickly realize that this game is meaner than the ot...
- This is one of the most underrated games ever. The gameplay is the Resident Evil 4 formula tuned to perfection. The story, music, and level design are all amazing. The 2nd game d...
- very fun and underrated game but i had to play it somewhere else because the steam one has some kind of fps problem
Cons
- frame rate issues5
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- First of all, this game has issues on modern hardware. It has a broken frame limiter which reduces the framerate regardless of hardware. To fix it you have to add this "+r_swapinte...
- Yeah I will not be finishing this game. TEW is like resident evil or silent hill, only its considerably more difficult and not scary at all. What is advertised as a horror game...
- They're going to release this game around the same time as Fallout 4 and not allow you to unlock your frame rate? I bought this game because I thought it'd be pretty smooth on mode...
- modern hardware compatibility5
see reviews +-
- First of all, this game has issues on modern hardware. It has a broken frame limiter which reduces the framerate regardless of hardware. To fix it you have to add this "+r_swapinte...
- This version has issues with modern hardware, however, after a quick google search asking about exactly what was happening to the resolution (image was SO enlarged, i couldn't see...
- dont bother the game does not work on new operating systems
- camera motion sickness3
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- "Motion sickness ? Never met the guy!" - some developer Seriously, tons of comments about the fact that there is no way to stop the camera bob and it makes people puke in the fir...
- If you even remotely like any of the Resident Evil games and/or are starving for the next game in the franchise just play this instead while you're waiting, the game is really good...
- Screenshake is too much for me. Also there is bad screentearing even though I have vsync on and the performance is very questionable for this rather old game. Add to that the fact...
- crashes and bugs3
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- My favorite game, but Do not buy game, Crashes when loading to menu. Uninstalling and redownloading game multiples times, still crashes.
- Yeah I will not be finishing this game. TEW is like resident evil or silent hill, only its considerably more difficult and not scary at all. What is advertised as a horror game...
- Screenshake is too much for me. Also there is bad screentearing even though I have vsync on and the performance is very questionable for this rather old game. Add to that the fact...
- resolution scaling problems3
see reviews +-
- This version has issues with modern hardware, however, after a quick google search asking about exactly what was happening to the resolution (image was SO enlarged, i couldn't see...
- This is one of the most underrated games ever. The gameplay is the Resident Evil 4 formula tuned to perfection. The story, music, and level design are all amazing. The 2nd game d...
- I loved this gamer when it first came out. I am now playing it on PC. The PC version has issues with resolution changes. They have yet to fix this issue which is crazy!!! I am wish...
Themes and quotes are drawn from 32 sampled reviews with text; the scores above reflect all 33.5K ratings. Counts are how many of the sampled reviews mention each point.