The Horror Hype Train – Alien Isolation Vs The Evil Within
With Alien Isolation and The Evil Within set for release at the back end of the year it looks like the survival horror genre may be set to make an unsurprising comeback. Here we take a look at how these two horror heavyweights are stacking up on the old hype train.
With both games set to creep into the ring in the Fright Fest of October it’s anyone’s best guess who will come out on top. Both Sega and Bethesda have their heads on the line, and plenty to lose should either title fail to live up to the lofty expectations set.
Redemption?
Sega will obviously be out to prove a point after the horrendous Aliens: Colonial Marines and by the looks of it, they’re pulling out all of the stops on this one. It cannot be stressed enough how important this title is to the languishing publisher. They can’t afford to have another flop under their belt sporting the prestigious Aliens name. While the brand may still be relatively strong, another high budget failure will likely damage the franchise under Sega’s tutorage irreparably. It’s pretty much all or nothing with Isolation. Fortunately with the ever reliable Creative Assembly at the helm and favourable previews (where have we heard that before) it’s hard to doubt the game’s quality thus far.
Spiritual Legacy
With the grandfather of survival horror Shinji Mikami in full control it’s difficult to see how The Evil Within can possibly go wrong. Given creative freedom from the very beginning, Mikami has finally had the tools and budget available to create a true spiritual successor to the Resident Evil series. Mikami has proven time and again he understands and appreciates the mechanics of fear and with his guidance, it’s unlikely the game will flatter to deceive. This is after all a genre he helped to create and mould. As his swansong in the director’s chair Mikami will want to go out with a bang and The Evil Within offers a great opportunity to sign off in style. The greatest concern so far must be the rather mixed response from some corners of the press, whether this is a sign of pre-game jitters or something inherently problematic, we will have to wait and see.
The Stats
Using data taken from Google Trends (analyses and tracks searches made via Google search engines) we can clearly see The Evil Within has so far kicked up a much more significant buzz over a consistent period of time.With that being said, at the release of the introductory trailer, Alien Isolation managed to kick up more of a fuss than The Evil Within has managed to create at any single point thus far. As we get closer to launch it will be interesting to see how the patterns change as the marketing machines kick into gear and hype ramps up.
Perspective
Finally to offer perspective in comparison to the rest of the industry, search data from Sunset Overdrive and Dragon Age Inquisition has been thrown into the mix. As you can see Dragon Age easily usurps both horror titles but with such a large budget, and the development chops of Bioware behind it, its easy to see why. Sunset Overdrive on the other hand appears to be tracking slightly above Alien Isolation and below The Evil Within, sandwiched between the two.
In October we’ll take one final look at how each of the games are stacking up before release and discover whether Shinji Mikami can fight off the mighty power of the Aliens brand.
- Interest in Nintendo is now at an all time low, should they be worried? - January 12, 2015
- The Horror Hype Train Terminates – The Evil Within Vs Alien Isolation – The Final Face-Off - December 19, 2014
- The Horror Hype Train Returns – Alien Isolation Vs The Evil Within - October 9, 2014
