Critical Theory in a Digital Age, CCU, ENGL 483 2017

A Synopsis for:

DISCLAIMER: GRAPHIC/MATURE CONTENT IN CHAPTER.


 


"You'll...protect me?" ―Leslie Withers

 

The Evil Within is a survival horror that has many complex layers and subtle elements that can be analyzed to determine the use of uncanniness as well as its effectiveness. The Evil Within is based in a reality that is constantly shifting between true reality and what seems as nightmarish delusions. The cause of this reality shifting throughout the game is due to the STEM Project. STEM is a machine that has the capability to fuse individuals minds into one, with a single brain at the center of an individual. Each time the machine is used a loud high pitched noise is emitted. When the Mobius Corporation finds out that one of their employees is no longer loyal they send an undercover agent to persuade the employee to not break his loyalty.

When this former employee attempts to use the machine without the Mobius Corp. permission the reality shift occurs and the characters are thrown into a nightmare world being separated from each other. The player follows the character Sebastian Castellanos who awakens being hunted by a monstrously dysmorphic human-like creature with a chainsaw and lethal intentions. Once the player escapes this monster and is reunited with the group they leave the hospital and realize the physical world around them is being altered as well. As the city morphs from a massive earthquake the group crashes the ambulance they’re in and once again each character is isolated.

"What do you fear, little one?" -Ruvick

After the characters are reunited the same high pitched noise signifying the machine has been used occurs and the characters are once again separated. The player learns of a character known as Ruvik who was the original creator of the STEM project who has been trailing the characters since the machines initial use. The player learns that Ruvik created the machine in an attempt to warp reality back in time, so he could relive his time with his sister who was murdered in a fire devised as a revenge plan against his family. Ruvik had watched his sister die while receiving severe burns himself. The trauma from the event followed by the years of abuse and neglect from his parents drove him to become psychologically unstable. Unfortunately Ruvik’s brain is the one powering the STEM machine thus causing the reality shift into such a nightmarish realm, and since the machine bends reality to the will of the mind powering it, the reality the characters are in is truly dangerous.

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