Show, don’t tell. How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?
Evil Dead: The Game is launching very soon, May 13. In a recent gameplay trailer that shows off the powers of the Kandarian Demon, it boasts of having a "massive game world." However, as we've seen with the marketing for Dying Light 2 and Horizon Forbidden West, setting up these expectations isn't always a good thing.
Featuring characters and actors from the film and TV series, Evil Dead: The Game will feature four-person co-op gameplay as well as a PvP element, where one player can take control of the evil Kandarian Demon. Ash and his crew will have to gather pages of the Necronomicon in an attempt to send the demon back to Hell, all while it scares them shitless – literally, as some of the trailers suggest.
Dying Light 2's marketing expressed with delight how the game was hundreds of hours long and had more lines of dialogue than a lot of classic books. But, a lot of people, especially those that like to play a lot of games, were not pleased.
As gaming technology has gotten more advanced, game worlds have gotten bigger, but we don't necessarily have more time to play. With a co-op game like Evil Dead that you'll presumably be expected to play fairly regularly, a big map should help keep everything feeling fresh if implemented correctly. We've seen drivable cars in the trailers, so it should be possible to traverse large distances easily.
Obviously, a marketing team's job is to market a game and grab everyone's attention, but sometimes it's better to let people discover some things for themselves.
In the case of open worlds, Elden Ring has shown us all exactly how valuable it can be to leave a large world a surprise. The game is long and the map is vast, but rather than banging on about it, it was left for everyone to realise on their own. With open world fatigue a very real thing, "massive worlds" can easily backfire. Hopefully, killing Deadites and running around with your friends is enough to keep Evil Dead's world interesting.
Issy is an avid film lover, writer, and game-player based in the UK. He combines his love of film and games in his writing, trying to find as many connections between the two mediums as possible. When he’s not writing, playing, or watching, Issy loves to DJ and look after his growing collection of houseplants, as they make him feel more adult.
