On April 19, Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami announced a brand new survival horror game called The Evil Within. The announcement came bundled with a sufficiently disturbing live-action trailer, but it left many asking, "What does the game actually look like?"
Well, now we have some sort of idea. The game's publisher, Bethesda, has officially released the first batch of screenshots for The Evil Within, and the live-action trailer's creepy vibe seems to have been translated perfectly to the digital world.
The Evil Within is currently being developed for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, along with next-generation versions for the PS4 and, presumably, the Xbox 720. You can find the screenshots here, in all their gory detail.
As for the game itself, players will take the role of Sebastian, a detective who's called into a homicide scene at an asylum. Events unfold from there (read IGN's preview for more info if you like), but Mikami's main goal in returning to horror is to revitalize a genre he feels has become boring.
"Obviously I like horror," he said to IGN. "But survival horror has been drifting away from what makes it survival horror. And so I want to bring it back. Bring back survival horror to where it was.
"For me, personally, why I came back to survival horror is that survival horror as a genre is becoming all action now. There aren't any real survival horror games in the world right now. That is the biggest motivation for me."
Speaking about The Evil Within specifically, he said one goal was to ensure the environment is wrapped in layers of mystery.
"Thematically, it's less about having twists and turns and more about maintaining an air of mystery," Mikami said. "So through the story you learn a little bit more, and then a little bit more, but the more you learn, you also realize there's far more mystery out there to unfold.
"Having the player pick up the controller and being genuinely able to say 'Wow, I haven't played a game this scary in ages!,' that is what we are after. That is the main thing we are focused on."
The game will be released in 2014.
