Bethesda: Rage and Evil Within Sold Well Enough to Get Sequels
The likelihood of seeing sequels for either Rage or The Evil Within is unknown but in a recent interview with Australian website Finder, Bethesda’s Pete Hines readily stated that they did well enough for it to be considered. Not wanting to be taken out of context he was very clear on saying that neither one is… or isn’t… in development.
“I can’t talk about the unannounced stuff and what we may or may not do. I get myself in trouble whenever I do that. If I come out and say, ‘I just don’t think that is going to happen,’ then people freak out. So I won’t confirm or deny stuff we may or may not do, as people jump to the wrong conclusions. Personally, I loved Rage and had a tonne of fun playing it, but we have a lot of stuff in the pipeline right now so you will have to wait and see.”
For its time, Rage was one of the best looking first person shooters on the market and averaged a Metacritic score of 80 across all three platforms. Expectations were high when it released, and perhaps it didn’t quite meet them but it was still a pretty great game nonetheless. Right here on COG we gave it an 87 saying;
Rage is a game that once again shows that the programmers at id are truly technical magicians. The visuals and sound are such that they alone make this game worth looking at. In regards to the gameplay, Rage’s overall mechanics are solid, from the control of your character to the driving segments.
The Evil Within might be a bit more of a surprise but it still came in around the mid to high 70s overall so clearly it wasn’t that bad of a game. Our review came in a bit lower at 67 with Executive Editor Trevor Houston saying;
The Evil Within should have been the best next generation horror game we have seen to date. Shinji Mikami has the pedigree, credentials, and budget to make it happen. Unfortunately “The Evil Within” falls short and doesn’t come close to living up to its billing. Granted, it creates a nightmarish atmosphere and will whet anyone’s appetite for an excessive amount of blood and guts. I experienced many scares and might have even pooped my pants a bit. Yet, in the end, a lacklustre storyline, uninteresting characters, clunky combat and far too many frustrating sequences hold “The Evil Within” back from being considered one of the greats.
With a 100% non-committal statement from Hines, it’s impossible to speculate whether or not either one of these sequels is in production but we can always hope. Considering how good Rage looked in 2011 we’d be very interested to see how a sequel for that one could turn out!