The Evil Within: The Consequence Review

Juli Kidman brings an end to her nightmare.

The Evil Within: The Consequence is a continuation of Juli Kidman’s narrative in The Assignment. She’s begun to unravel the truth behind STEM and the players behind it. In The Consequence things come full circle as closure is brought to the nightmarish campaigns of Juli Kidman and Sebastian Castellanos.

The Evil Within's story can be hard to follow with all its moving parts and multi-dimensional layers. But there are a lot of fans out there, including myself, who find it fascinating. If you're one of these people, The Consequence is a must-play as it addresses questions left unanswered at the end of the the main story by allowing you to see what happens from Juli Kidman's perspective. Things are not as they seem.

During The Consequence’s roughly three-hour length you spend the majority of your time revisiting the stealth-oriented design of The Assignment, something The Evil Within isn’t so great at. You crouch around sneaking past different enemy types and even once again confront the terrifying Light Boss. Mechanics are as simple as sneaking around, throwing bottles to distract enemies, and occasionally sneaking up behind them for swift assassination provided you have an axe at your disposal.

There is one new item in The Consequence: glow sticks. During the early part of the experience you use them to light pitch-black halls so that you can see where you're going. While their green glow makes for a yet another great demonstration of The Evil Within's fantastic lighting system, their design is less than desirable. You're equipped with an unlimited supply of them, and with no cost associated with using them, they seem trivial and unnecessary.

While the bulk of The Consequence is formulated on stealth sections, there are some action sequences that help tremendously in breaking the pattern up. For one, there are a couple sections where you get to equip yourself with a gun and unload on enemies who would like nothing more than to tear you to shreds. These sections are the highlight of the journey as they take advantage of what the original campaign was best at, but with new twists.

After a couple hours of moseying around, everything comes together in spectacular fashion. Not only does the story arrive at its intriguing climax, but it's supported by a couple of fantastic boss encounters. Unlike a significant portion of both DLC packages, these encounters are based in entirely original areas that are a true spectacle.

The Consequence isn't as balanced a DLC package as one would hope for, but it serves its role as a piece that ties loosely-wound narrative pieces together. Armed with a few great gameplay sections, it is a welcome, even if not remarkable, addition to The Evil Within's offerings.

Copy provided by publisher. Review based on PC version. Also available on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, and PS3.