Basic Maneuvers

Moving

Movement in The Evil Within 2 is very straightforward and easy to master with just a few minutes of practice:

• Your walking, sprinting and camera controls are standard. With consoles, the left stick controls the movement, and the right stick swivels the camera.

• To climb up or down anything climbable—staircase, ladder, crate, low barrier, etc—just approach it and use the controls that appear onscreen.

• To move with stealth, push your Sneak button in order to crouch-walk. Crouched movement conceals the noise of footsteps that enemies can hear. Enemies are particularly drawn to sound.

When in doubt about movement controls, just open the Pause Menu, select Options, open the Controls tab, and then select Button Assignment to see your current controller button layout.

Hiding

Hiding is not cowardly. As they say, discretion is the better part of valor, and concealment is always advised when approaching a dangerous situation for assessment. It can make your traversal of Union much, much easier.

Foliage

Union’s lovely Residential District features plenty of vegetation. Sebastian can move through foliage easily, and when his body is grayed out onscreen, it means he is fully concealed. Sometimes the growth blocks your view, but often you can tilt the camera view up or sideways to get a glimpse of what’s around you.

Cover

The game’s cover mechanics are simple. When you approach something that can function as cover, a small indicator arrow appears on it. Move toward it and hold/press the Cover button; Sebastian ducks behind the cover object and hugs it tight.

Depending on your controller scheme, the Cover button can be set for hold or toggle. If set for hold, just release the Cover button to return to regular movement status; if set for toggle, tap the Cover button a second time to exit cover mode.

When in cover, you can hold your Aim control to target enemies, then just release to automatically duck back into the cover. Note that simply crouching behind stuff provides “cover” in that you can’t be seen, but you can’t use the neat Aim-and-return-to-cover move that Cover mode allows.

Fighting

Monsters tend to hate people, and in Union, they really hate Sebastian. So, fights are inevitable. But aside from a few foes that you absolutely must fight in order to proceed, generally you can fight as much or as little as you want. It’s entirely possible to move stealthily through Union, sneaking past most enemies or eliminating them silently with Sneak Kills.

Melee Attacks

Survival Knife

Very early in the game, you acquire the Survival Knife. In face to face combat, this weapon inflicts very low damage on enemies, so use it only as a last resort when you’re out of ammo, or if you’re pinned against a wall and can’t aim your gun. Knife strikes can also break chain locks, breakable crates, and Locker Key statues.

Hand Axe

Considerably more lethal is the Hand Axe. An axe strike on a low or mid-level foe is almost always a one-hit kill. The hit breaks the axe, unfortunately, so you can use it only once. You can find a few Hand Axes stuck in trees, boxes or even corpses. But most axes in Union are carried by the town’s Lost citizens; to acquire them you’ll have to dispatch their owners.

Sneak Kills

Your Survival Knife gets conspicuously more lethal if you can unleash it on unsuspecting enemies from behind. Crouch to muffle your footsteps then creep up behind the victim and tap your Sneak Kill button when you see its icon pop up onscreen.

Most low to mid-level enemies go down with a single strike. However, some monsters like the Hysteric and Lament will survive a Sneak Kill, so be ready to sprint away after your first stealth attack on one of these tougher foes. (Note that a second Sneak Kill will usually finish the job, if you have the patience to set it up.)

You can upgrade your Stealth skills to acquire the Ambush ability, which lets you perform a Sneak Kill on an enemy positioned around the corner from you, as long as you’re in Cover mode at the corner. Note that the enemy must be centered in your screen for the Sneak Kill icon to appear.

Firearms

Yes, you have guns too—good, basic guns. Over time you can acquire an Semi-Automatic Handgun for medium range work; a Sawed-Off Shotgun for big punch in tight spaces; a Sniper Rifle for long distance sharpshooting; and later in the game, an awesome Assault Rifle. If you look in the right places, you can also find Laser-Sighted and Silenced Handguns; and Full-Barreled and Double-Barreled Shotguns. Last but not least, you can pick up the ultimate “firearm”: the blistering Flamethrower.

Warden Crossbow

This extra-special weapon is found early in the game, just after you first arrive in Union at the beginning of Chapter 3. The crossbow can fire a variety of bolts that shock, freeze, harpoon, smoke out or just blow up your targets. Even more fun, you can use the crossbow to set tripwire traps, attaching the bolt to one surface with its wire stretched to another surface; the bolt detonates when the wire is tripped.

Using Spills

Fuel Spills

Some overturned vehicles in Union are leaking fuel onto the ground. These fuel spills are highly flammable. Lure foes into the spill; its distinctive rainbow luminescence makes it easy to spot. Then fire your handgun into the fuel to ignite it. Note that you can create fuel spills yourself by kicking over red oil drums.

Water Spills

Red fire hydrants can be electrifying fun. Open or shoot a hydrant so that water gushes out, spreading into a large puddle. Load a Shock Bolt into your crossbow, go find a pack of enemies, and then lure them back to the hydrant. When they’re standing in the spill, fire the Shock Bolt into the water. Electrocution immobilizes the creatures, and most of them collapse for a few seconds. When the electrocuted foes are writhing on the ground, kill them with quick Stomp attacks—again, you save ammo.

Using Bottles

Many discarded bottles are scattered throughout Union and its connecting passages of The Marrow. These innocuous-seeming pickups actually prove to be very valuable—and in not just one, but two ways.

As Distraction

First, bottles can be tossed to distract enemies. The breaking glass attracts the attention of nearby foes, who stagger over to investigate. This tactic can lure threats away from your desired route, letting you sneak past dangerous foes. Or a bottle toss can trick a lone enemy into turning its back so you can creep in behind it for a Sneak Kill that saves ammo.

To Break a Grab Attack

Second, after you purchase the Bottle Break upgrade (or if you started the game on Casual difficulty), you can use bottles to break free from the Grab attacks of most lower and mid-level enemies. This happens automatically; when grabbed, Sebastian slams a bottle (taken directly from your Inventory—you don’t need to equip it) into the head of the attacker, breaking its grip. Note that the bottle shatters, so it is expended. You’ll have to pick up another bottle to replace it.

Smashing Stuff

A lot of good pickup items are stashed inside breakable crates. To get the item, just make a melee swing with your knife or axe at the crate. Breakable crates are always a lighter tan color of wood than unbreakable crates.

Using the Flashlight

Sebastian’s flashlight is an indispensable tool. Union’s slow collapse has created a perpetual state of twilight in the town; many of the game’s interiors are darkened too.