Evil Dead: The Game should be immediately familiar to anyone that’s played the likes of Dead by Daylight or the now-defunct Friday the 13th game, tasking four players on the good-guy side - all armed with chainsaws and other assorted melee and ranged weapons - with defeating the powerful Kandarian Demon (under the control of a fifth player), by finding the pages of the Necronomicon, Raymond Knowby’s tapes, and other artefacts. Previous showings have made all this look perhaps a little too familiar - the usual asymmetrical horror set-up with little more than an appealing Evil Dead face lift as a differentiator. Saber’s latest gameplay trailer, though, suggests the developer has found some fun ways to spin the 4v1 chase formula by leaning heavily into the beloved franchise’s innate silliness, particularly where the Kandarian Demon is concerned. As player number five attempts to thwart the human team’s plans, they’ve a number of handy demonic abilities up their sleeves: they can command Deadites around the map, possess other players to “puppet” them for a time, and even set traps by haunting elements of the environment. This latter aspect leads to some particularly fun moments in the trailer, including one survivor’s brush with a very angry tree, a particularly insistent dismembered hand, and even a chest full of pouncing Mini-Ashes that should please Army of Darkness fans. Saber previously confirmed Evil Dead: The Game would also support solo play, if you were wondering; those wishing to go it alone will be able to tackle the multiplayer experience using bots, or engage in a “a couple of side missions” specifically designed for solo players. We’ll know if Evil Dead: The Game has what it takes to stand out from its peers when it launches for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC on Friday, 13th May.
