Evil Dead: The Game

There is another thread somewhere, but it's only got about 3 replies, so no big deal.

I play this most nights. I don't really play survivor all that much as random queue folks are a *very* mixed bag - it just takes one teammate to make too much noise or not manage their fear in the early game and it hands the demon player a massive advantage. Still not impossible, but keeping the team together and *not* fighting everything the demon throws at you is key to winning.

As demon, I'm currently winning ~4/5 of my games as survivors have a tendency to split up, or spend way too much time looting before getting the objectives done, or just trying to fight absolutely everything instead of finding a car when they're found and getting the fuck away asap.

It's a great game though and definitely one of my favourites of this year. Certainly the best online game I've played in ages. Would definitely be fun to get a group going as organised teams who know what they're doing are almost impossible to beat.

It's got crossplay too, so PS, XB and PC folks can play together!

Sure thing! Bit short of time atm, but I'll post this as a placeholder for a tips post that I'll edit later on

Bumping this just to see if I could tempt anyone else to climb on board. Then I'll shut up. It really is bloody (literally) good fun though and there's lots to enjoy here if you're an Evil Dead fan.

I'm getting okay at it now. I've ditched the 4 humans vs human demon mode and instead plumped for 4 humans vs ai demon mode. Never need to wait long for a game and more often than not we win. Means I get the XP and the practice, as well as learning the maps a bit better. Once I feel more confident I'll get back to the human demon, but I was initially getting destroyed in there. Getting better at keeping track of the objectives, not bringing too much attention to me, staying with survivors or - if I split up - making sure I get to light regularly.

It's very addictive. I'm enjoying going Mia as her fear level ends up being an asset and because she's a warrior, can deal a fair bit of damage.

harrypalmer

I'm hesitant to recommend it for a purchase unless you're really into Evil Dead as it's got a pretty steep curve and it's really only my stupid love for the franchise that got me through. If you dig ED though and are prepared to get fucked over a few times early on, then I genuinely think it's got a lot to offer. Games last a max of 30 mins (I think, it may be 20!) and if you're dead, with no-one reviving you, then be prepared to sit the rest of the game out or lose your XP, which is a bit shit, but that's only happened to me once. Generally once characters start dying, it's over pretty quick. You can get revived before you bleed out, or if you die, your spirit can be taken to an altar and you're back in the game.

There's no shortage of game modes (single player missions [no XP, but you unlock stuff], free exploration [take your time and explore what map you like but there are deadites around, no XP] 4 humans vs human demon, 4 humans vs ai demon, you and 3 ai vs ai demon [no XP]), however the crux of the game is the same on all the competitive modes (find three map pages, find Kandarian Dagger and Necronomicon pages, Kill dark ones, defend necronomicon, done).

The longer the game goes on for, the stronger the demon and his minions become, and the greater your fear rises. Yet you don't want to rush things too quick as you want to explore a little between each objective to stock up on skill points, healing, weapons etc. There's a cool balance of exploring and trying to reamin undetected, yet sticking together with the others, yet also not taking too long. So there's constant tension, and when it all kicks off, it's glorius. Deadites appearing from everywhere, limbs flying about, people / cars / trees becoming possessed by the demon. It's nuts.

Anyway. I like it. As you can tell. Draws characters, locations, deadites etc fromthe three Raimi Evil Dead films, the reboot, and also the fucking immense Ash vs Evil Dead.

Awesome man thank you. That's very helpful.

I should probably play as a demon a few times to get an understanding of how it works. See if I get "found" and there are deadites spawning around me. I take it the demon knows where I am, so he will proetty much be on me from then on? If a few show up, my fear meter is quite low and I leg it, will he just lose sight of me and not know where I've ran off to?

Hang on a minute, this sounds ace - what's going on? Is it like a small team based co-op then, with skills and classes like an MMO?

I know absolutely zero about this

That's exactly what it is, yes 15 Characters over 4 classes all taken from the franchise, with the Blacksmith from Army of Darkness being added at the end of the month. Survivors max out at level 25 with a talent point for each level to invest in their tree as you see fit, which means that there's numerous way to build each character, depending on how you want to play them.

The classes are:

Leader - a buffing class that don't excel at any one thing on their own but if used properly can make a team nigh on unstoppable. All 3 characters have different abilities and provide different buffs.

Warrior - Melee DPS class. 4 characters to choose from that all play differently. Scotty and Mia are more high DPS focussed, while Henry the Red and AoD Ash are more tanky and are the first choice for getting in harms way and keeping the supports from getting ganked.

Hunter - Ranged DPS class. 4 characters. All provide different (and valuable) secondary utilities to the team, while melting bosses with headshots.

Support - Healer/Buffing class. 4 Characters. Again, all play differently (eg ED1 Ash can reduce party fear and passively heals whilst attacking; Cheryl is a more conventional AoE healer; Pablo focusses on providing the group with shields and David's heal provides a 30% damage reduction as well as an AoE that causes the demon's energy to drain faster)

It's got a decent amount of complexity to it and the matches are short but fun. I bought it on sale in June on a whim as I'm huge Evil Dead fan, not expecting much from it - and have been playing regularly ever since!

Right, I'm fucking having some of this. PS4/5?

Awesome. Hoped as much, as I'm currently downloading it for ps5 as we speak

So, this role based thing then. I assume it's a good idea to have a balanced party? So what's a standard loadout?

Leader + dps + dps + healer?

Or?

For the record, I am quite happy in these games playing the support/utility/healer class, in case you shotgun toting maniacs want to go mad

Ok cool. I'm happy going support. I perversely like it.

It's nearly downloaded so I might have a chance later to fire it up and work out what the fuck is going on.

Heard single player is shit, but I'll start there just to get the gist

So like single player left for dead with ai doing everything else? If so, that will give me a good idea.

Aye, let me click with it and then let's sort it

Know Your Enemy: A Brief Survivor's Guide to fighting Kandarian Demons

Initial note - there are three types of damage: standard damage, balance bar damage and dismemberment damage.

Standard damage is your run-of-the-mill DPS. The higher the number, the more damage you do, the faster whatever it is you're hitting dies.

Balance bar damage depletes an enemies' balance bar (the white bar below their health bar). Once depleted, the enemy will be stunned for a short period of time and can do absolutely nothing to fight back. This is particularly great for bosses, as they can't fight back while you absolutely whale on them. Good stuff. Blunt weapons inflict a portion of their damage as balance bar damage.

Dismemberment damage is inflicted by sharp, generally choppy weapons, but Hunters can also spec their build so that their gunshots can dismember. Does exactly what it says: removes limbs from deadites, reducing their damage and often removing any weapons they may be carrying as a bonus.


A note on demons: Demon players fly around the map looking for the survivors, collecting orbs that fill up their infernal energy bar. Infernal energy is the currency with which demons lay traps for the survivors to walk into, spawn mobs, possess mobs, players, trees and cars. Demons start a game at infernal level 1, at which they can only spend energy to populate traps. They gain levels by laying traps, possessing, scaring, fighting and downing survivors. As a demon gains levels they spend points to strengthen and increase their powers. A good result for the demon is to hit at least level 10 by the time the team has started the pages/dagger as this is the lowest level at which the boss can be summoned. A demon player above infernal level 20 is a force to be reckoned with.

A good demon player will harass a team's healer as much as possible to deplete their stock of Shemps. A team low on healing items is a team that's going to get hit hard from attrition towards the end of the match. Don't rush the next objective if you've not got the supplies for it. Try and make a stop off en-route for a quick loot and top-up.



There are currently 4 demons in-game:

The Warlord - Home to your common or garden deadite variety. Has an ability that buffs all mobs for 30 seconds, giving them more health, damage and making them immune to balance bar damage.

The basic mobs are reasonably fast, reasonably strong and reasonably tough. Do not underestimate their attacks or their 'puke' ability, which renders you unable to attack or dodge for a few seconds.

The elites are larger, tougher and hit much, much harder. Fortunately, they're pretty slow and you can dodge their attacks pretty easily with practice. Just watch out for their leaping smash attack.

"Someone's in my fruit cellar!" The boss is probably the most recognisable deadite of all: Henrietta from Evil Dead 2. Hits like a truck, has a nasty grab that needs interrupting by other players ASAP, a ground slam AoE attack and a 'fart' that trails a cloud of green gas behind her for a short while which causes damage over time to anyone stood inside the cloud. She seems pretty slow, but do not underestimate her - especially on the phase where you have to defend the book. If your team's damage is low, she'll absolutely destroy the book before you can kill her. Keep dodging and if she comes for you, then get ready to run.


The Plaguebringer - Army of Darkness themed. Certain attacks apply stacks of blight that reduce your attack damage and cause damage over time. Can drop a cauldron down that buffs all nearby units. The cauldron *can* be destroyed, but diverting time to attack it over fighting mobs can be a risky business.

The basics are sword wielding skeletons. Quite weak and easy enough to kill, but have a nasty spin attack that applies multiple stacks of blight on surrounding survivors. The blight stacks are more of a danger than the skeletons themselves.

The elites are the 'pit deadite' from AoD. Slow, but hit hard and have a high resistance to melee attacks. Does a nasty AoE stomp that inflicts blight. A real pain in the arse to Warrior heavy teams, but Hunters make short work of them.

The boss is the witch from the throne room scene of AoD. Very mobile. Flies around using ranged attacks. Throws potions down to apply blight/buff mobs, has a grab as well as a scream attack that hits pretty hard in a cone in front of her. Best dealt with at range, as she'll kite warriors around doing a lot of damage before they bring her down. Also gets back up when she dies for a limited while. Pain in the arse, but more of an harassment unit/distraction than other bosses.


The Puppeteer - Ash Vs. Evil Dead themed. Generally weak mobs, but the demon has the 'power possess' ability which gives its minion possession a massive buff. Puppeteer players are extremely strong in the early game and will be actively searching for the players almost immediately. When you're found, don't try killing the power possessed mob unless you have no other choice; run, find a car, loop it round a building, do *anything you can* to survive, as these fuckers hit HARD against early game survivors.

The basics are fairly weak. Most notably they explode on death, so be sure to dodge back just before they pop. Their main strength comes from being being possessed by the demon, at which point they become lethal.

The elites are fragile, but hit harder than the basics and are impervious to ranged attacks. Can summon lightning that can hurt if you don't dodge in time. Watch for electricity crackling beneath your feet and MOVE. They can also duplicate themselves if left alone long enough, so don't give them the chance.

The boss is Eligos from AvsED season 1. Fairly fragile but goes invisible when moving which makes it almost impossible to hurt until it attacks someone. Has a nasty electrical AoE attack that stuns everyone in a wide area, as well as a grab and an easily dodged rock throw. Don't underestimate this one as it can make very short work of uncoordinated teams. If you get caught out in the open by Eligos, just do your best to find a car and GTFO.


The Necromancer - Army of Darkness themed. Lots and lots of skeletons. Drops a Skeletal Flutist that buffs all mobs within range. You'll know the flutist has been dropped because you'll hear it playing a tune and the mobs will have a red glow about them. The flutist cannot move, so find it and kill it ASAP (shooting it will do) as the buff it provides takes the fairly weak mobs and makes them *nasty*. (Necro has gone from one of the strongest demons to arguably the weakest since the last balance update, but that's not to say it's still not good in the right hands)

The basics are skeletons with shields and spears. Have a good range to their attack and can do a small AoE that makes survivors stumble. Not dangerous on their own, but they're never on their own. Towards the end of a match there'll be a bloody shit-tonne of these guys running about. If they get buffed you're in the shite.

The elites are tougher skeletons. Surprise! Slow though. Very slow. They do, however, hit ridiculously hard! Have an AoE slam and a trident throw. Dodge those swings and focus them down or they'll cause trouble.

The boss is Evil Ash, which automatically makes him the coolest. Hits hard, can summon more skeletons and also resurrect any that have died nearby recently which can quickly overwhelm a team holding an objective. Has a grab that heals him (not by much though) and is often specced in a way that prevents survivors from healing or being healed for 4 seconds after he's hit them - be wary of this! But despite all of this, he has one massive weakness: a team with blunt weapons can smash through his balance bar and lock him down in a stun that seems to last ages, which makes him next to useless against Warrior heavy teams with the right weapons. Shame.