Chapter 1: An Oath begins with detective Juli Kidman slowly crawling from a wreck into a wooded area. Initially she notices a figure in the distance, but following an explosion and a second glance, this person is no longer there.
At this point, you take control of the character. Make your way through the woods, doing your best to follow the path. You’re going the right way if there’s a birdhouse on Juli’s left.
Eventually you’ll notice a flaming lamp swinging back and forth in front of a creepy looking tree. Yes, you need to head inside. Walk a few steps to trigger a cut scene. We won’t spoil the fun.
When Juli regains consciousness inside the cave, follow the path and duck/vault when necessary. Creepiness ensues. Do not adjust your television.
When you reach the opening with the wooden planks, give them a good kick to smash these boards to pieces and continue exploring. There’s a small slit in the cave that appears to lead outside, but don’t worry because Juli can get through it when you press the A or X button, depending on the system of choice.
Exit the cave and watch the cut scene that offers some backstory about another character named Leslie Withers, who seems to be inside Beacon Mental Hospital. Watch the cut scene and then save your game. You should be roughly seven or eight minutes into Chapter 1 at this point.
After saving, you regain control of Juli Kidman inside Mobius headquarters. There’s a desk directly in front of you, but you need to turn around and exit this room.
Pan the camera to examine the facility and then head right. Make note of the door with the green light next to it and go inside. There’s so much greenery in here!
Walk down the hallway. When you reach the giant plant enclosed in glass, immediately go left and travel down another hallway. You’ll approach a locked door with a handprint scanner. Press A or X when prompted and Juli will place her hand on the scanner to open the door.
With the door now open, walk forward and follow the man up the escalator. When you reach the top, continue following the man down the long hallway and into a giant laboratory. He instructs Juli to sit down and she obliges. Although you can skip the cut scene, the cinematic sets up the story.
Juli passes out and then wakes up still inside the lab, and this place does not look pretty. When she gets up, a mysterious figure quickly vanishes off screen. Go left towards the noise. There’s a door, and when you’re in range a light suddenly goes out.
There’s a flashlight wedged in the door. Press A or X to remove the flashlight and the door is now open. Thankfully the flashlight works and is now in your possession. Click the left analog stick to turn it on and off, then hold the left trigger to focus the beam.
Go through the door and make note of the bloodstains on the floor. Push open the next door and slowly make your way into the storage area. Wander around until you see stairs. Go up these stairs and press A or X to open the door with the big lock.
Now you’re in a cleaner-looking hallway. Walk a couple of steps and then hold A or X to look into one of the rooms at the terrified man. Unfortunately you can’t get into this room through the door.
Directly opposite the door is a grate, and you can open it by rapidly tapping A or X. When it’s open, crawl into the air duct and use the flashlight to see. The game prompts you to press A or X at times to peak through some grates.
At the end of the duct is the entrance into the room with the man, or what’s left of him. Go in there and have a look around. Now exit the room and turn left. Double doors that were previously locked are now open.
When you enter this room you’ll see a body on the ground and a collectible item. Surprise! This guy’s still alive and grabs onto Juli’s leg. Quickly tilt the left analog stick back and forth to stomp on his head. Now you can safely pick up Entry #231.
There’s a divider close by. Press B or Circle to crouch, prompting the game to teach you how to lure enemies, which you can do by pressing X or Square. Doing this instructs Juli to speak, thus drawing monsters in her direction. This is merely instructional. You don’t need to lure anything yet.
When you pop out of hiding the game will inform you how to use cover, using the left stick to move and peak around corners.
Make a right and use the dividers to creep along, moving between cover points until you see a creature. Lure the monster, make note of its movements and travel in the opposite direction crouched the whole time. Make it to the door and quickly tap A or X to open it.
Once inside this new room, The Evil Within teaches you about Health Recover. When Juli takes damage, stand still to recover health, or hide in cover to regain it even quicker.
Look to the right and approach the grimy machine with the numerical keys. The combination is 9-2-4-5. When the panel opens, remove Letter Scrap 1.
You’re able to hide inside lockers, but don’t bother doing this now. Instead, approach the dumpster blocking the door from the right and use the left stick when prompted to push it aside.
Open the door, crouch behind the divider and pick up the bottle on the floor. You’re able to aim with the left trigger and then throw the bottle with the right trigger to distract enemies.
A monster approaches from the left, and you should throw the bottle (while crouched) straight ahead into the open doorway. When the creature goes inside the room, quickly make a left from where the enemy appeared, then tap the A button to open the grate on the right wall. Time to explore another air duct.
Exit the duct (a monster will run past) and go right to a locked door. Approach the keypad on the left, press the button when prompted and Juli will input the code. Still locked!
Turn around and go back to the grate. On the opposite wall is a door that Juli can open. Go into the room, turn around and press the button to close and lock the door. Now go to the cubicle and pick up the phone receiver. The phone dials another phone in the next room, which alerts the monster.
When the monster goes inside this other room, exit the one Juli is in, run down the hallway and hit the lock on the door to trap the enemy inside. Turn around and go down the hallway, then press A or X to lift the grate.
Take the air duct into another room and pick up the blood-covered Office Keycard (Facility Key Card 102-A) from the table. Now immediately slip inside a locker before the monster breaks into the room. Enjoy the grisly cut scene!
Exit the locker and leave the room through the open door. Go left, then when you approach the room with the trapped monster inside, turn right. Now you can use the Office Keycard to open the locked door. Make sure you turn on the flashlight because it’s dark in here!
As you travel down this new path two double doors will open on their own. Go inside the room and use the handprint scanner on the next door. Uh-oh! Authorization invalid!
Turn around and hop on the active computer terminal. The lights go out and you should instantly duck into cover behind the desk. Stay behind cover (DO NOT MOVE) while the monster walks around.
See how it used its light to reveal a hidden door? You can do the same thing with Juli’s flashlight by pressing the left trigger to focus the beam.
Exit cover and walk towards the wall with the three red stars, the one the monster exited through. Focus the beam to see the hidden door. Push the door open and approach the cage.
Now you’re back in the hallway with all the plants. Proceed forward around the plant inside the glass, towards the door with the green light. Go inside and make note of Leslie’s location on the lower level. Go left and through the next door with the green light, into what seems like a waiting area. Sit on the couch to save your game and then walk up the stairs into the dark hallway.
Proceed forward and pry apart the doors. You’ll see a set of stars leading down, but there’s an enemy at the bottom. Go down the stairs anyway in a crouched position and pick up the bottle on the floor. The monster seems to have disappeared, or has it?
Open the double doors (remain crouched) and hide behind the first piece of cover. There are two enemies in this room! Move to the next cover point on the left and then throw the bottle to the far left corner to distract them both. Now run over to the cubicle on the far right and grab the Research Room Keycard (Facility Keycard 102-A).
Go around the same cubicle to the right and angle the camera. Both monsters should be in the left corner of the room. Wait for the best opportunity and approach the next-door, then use the keycard to open it. Keep in mind there’s a good chance both monsters will see Juli and give chase.
There’s a door at the end of the hallway but don’t bother opening it because this door is a dead end. Instead, open the grate and go inside the air duct; the monsters will not follow.
Take a moment to regain lost health and now head towards the long staircase. Go down these stairs and make note of the three black stars on the wall. There are two sculptures to the left and right. The one on the left contains all three red stars, while the one on the right is simply a red bar. You need to stand in front of this bar, use the camera to line it up with the black stars on the wall (so the bar is to the right of the stars) and focus the flashlight beam. Do this to reveal a hidden door.
Go through the door into a medical room. Do some exploring and you’ll see the same red stars on a wall. Focus the flashlight beam and a desk will appear. Pick up Entry #16 and listen (or not) to the recording. Afterwards a cut scene will play, but you still have control over Juli.
Walk into the open doorway and go down the stairs to the lab. You’ll see an open doorway, and you’ll want to go inside. There’s a filing cabinet with that same red star symbol. Once again, focus the flashlight beam on this and an old video projector will appear. This continues the cut scene that furthers the story.
When the cut scene ends, turn around and exit this room, back into the one Juli came from. Follow the ghostly figures through the double doors and go through the curtains on the left. Walk up to the chalkboard and focus the flashlight beam on those red stars to reveal a diagram.
From there, proceed forward until you find another chalkboard with red stars on it, and use the flashlight to discover yet another diagram.
At the end of this room is a locked door. Turn around and follow the static noise to another chalkboard. By now, you know what to do, and the cut scene continues.
When the cut scene ends, walk towards that locked door and wait until you hear banging sounds. Then quickly duck behind cover until the monster walks past. When the coast is clear, exit cover and head through the now open door. Go inside and make note of the doors that keep opening and shutting, but don’t worry about that. You want to open the door immediately to the left.
Once inside, walk down the escalator to the lower Administration level and eavesdrop on the conversation. There’s a door with a handprint scanner but you don’t have access. Instead, go through the entryway to Biometrics. This will lead you to a leather couch to save your progress.
Once you finish doing that, open the elevator, step inside and press the button to launch another cut scene.
When the elevator doors open, Juli mentions that finding Leslie and bringing him back is top priority. Sounds like a plan!
Walk into the waiting area and approach the computer terminal straight ahead. Access it to receive a printout that Juli pockets. From there, go into the next room and interact with the terminal, watching as Juli inserts the printout into a reader of some sort. A machine buzzes to life and its camera takes her picture. This allows the computer system to construct a facial profile, granting access to the next area.
Walk into this section and a corpse will latch onto Juli’s leg. Tilt the left stick back and forth and she’ll stomp its head to pieces.
Following that encounter, walk down the steps and through pneumatic doors with two connected rooms. In the second room is another computer terminal, and once activated the machine will begin scanning Juli’s arm.
As soon as the computer begins to do its thing, two monsters will burst through grates on different walls. At first this appears to be a life or death situation, but the first creature walks right by Juli into the next room to join its buddy.
Make note of the large boils on their backs. When Juli gets close these turn red and the monster explodes. Obviously you don’t want to be anywhere near the blast radius, and can trick the monster into detonating and quickly run away.
While Juli’s arm was trapped, you saw where the second monster appeared. Crouch and go into the duct to pick up the music track, which you can listen to using the Soundtrack Player from The Assignment Title Menu.
Leave this air duct and then go into the duct the first creature appeared from. There’s a monster in here, and you’ll need to wait until it travels down another path to proceed. You’ll exit into what seems like a cage, but there’s an opening to drop down.
When you drop down, head towards the ladder and use it to access the lower floor, with more of those enemies to deal with. Go left and crouch to pass beneath the floor above. Although there are monsters in the way, they won’t attack if you slowly walk past while crouched. You don’t need to lure them.
Explore a bit and you’ll see another ladder. Climb this ladder and approach the shelf, where a puzzle awaits. It’s a box comprised of 16 squares, some of which are lit. You need to light all of them up, and some quick trial and error is all it takes to achieve this. The door will then swing open and you’re free to take Letter Scrap 3.
Look to the left and take the bottle off the shelf. Go down the ladder and crouch to go under the flooring. As you did before, carefully walk past the monsters and look for the one snacking on a corpse near a yellow and black-marked entryway. Throw the bottle away from this location to draw the enemy’s attention, then walk over and stop beneath this area until you can stand up in a small room with a large switch. Flip the switch and the bars will move until you’re able to slip into the next area that also contains a switch. Flip it and quickly duck through the opening to proceed; these walls continuously move back and forth.
There’s a monster to the right. Stay to the left and pass through the opening on the left when you have the chance. There are two of the same enemies ahead and they move in very deliberate patterns. Study their movements. When the first monster passes Juli, go left and duck into the “safe” area. Directly ahead is another moving wall with an opening to pass through. Get the timing just right and make a break for it.
There’s another bottle here, so pick it up. There’s also a dumpster on the right with a monster on the opposite side. Push the dumpster and the monster explodes, splattering Juli with gore.
Exit this small area back the way you came (with the two monsters traveling in those predictable patterns). Use the bottle to distract Juli’s enemies and go to the moving wall with the dumpster you just pushed on the other side. Get the timing down and enter this area to find another bottle.
Get on top of the dumpster and climb the ladder. Now go through the pneumatic doors to the right and activate the machine, which completes Juli’s Neural profile.
Leave this room and activate the hand scanner. This causes a platform to lower. Walk across this platform and into the waiting area; familiar territory at this point. Open the elevator and a monster pops out. Regardless of whether it grabs Juli or not, find a way to get into the elevator. The doors will close automatically.
When the elevator reopens, have a seat on the leather couch and save.
Now that you’re back in control of Juli, walk up the stairs towards Administration. When you reach the top of the stairs go towards the hand scanner on the left and use it to open the doors.
You’re in the Administration lobby. Walk up stairs, cross over and then go down a flight of stairs into a big open area. A glass elevator will suddenly activate and you’ll see two people inside.
When the elevator reaches the top floor, move to the right and down the stairs. You’ll hear something bad happen, but you’re able to reach the bottom unscathed. You’ll also be able to pick up Entry #229.
When you’re done listening to it, walk through the doors into the next area, making note of the bodies on the floor. One will definitely grab onto Julie, so be ready for that.
With the monster disposed of, round the corner and pry open the next set of doors to enter a computer room. Walk directly ahead and use the hand scanner to call for the elevator.
When said elevator reaches the ground floor, the power goes out and a monster (the one who used its light to reveal the door) makes a surprise entrance. You need to wait until the system restores power, and use the mainframes as cover to avoid the creature. Get caught and it’s a one-hit kill, so be careful. In addition, something goes haywire with these computers and electricity cuts off a pathway, forcing you around the perimeter. All told, this sequence takes roughly a minute and a half.
With power finally restored, make a beeline for the elevator. The creature will attempt to break through the glass, but fail.
Step out of the elevator and go left towards the door with the green light. Walk through this door and into the hallway; you’ll hear voices and see two detectives (Sebastian and Joseph) running around. Follow them and watch the ensuing cut scene that finishes the chapter.
Now it’s time to start The Evil Within: The Assignment Chapter 2: Crossing Paths.
If you need help beating the game, read Prima’s free The Evil Within Guide and Walkthrough.
Published: Mar 12, 2015 07:30 pm