Those centuries-old urns have a pretty high chance of containing ammo, syringes or the jars of green goo that Sebastian uses to upgrade his skills. Another Resident Evil rule that has carried over: smash everything. When it comes to the lower-ranked goons (a collection of forgettable zombies with bits of metal shoved in their bodies), their heads explode in a familiar and satisfying way, and old tactics like running around to gather together a zombie fan club before whirling around and knocking them all down with a single shotgun blast will work wonders. The combat will be familiar for anyone who has dabbled in the Resident Evil franchise. While being chased through the decrepit halls of an insane asylum by a horrific, shrieking, teleporting spider boss monster that leaves bloody handprints in its wake after bursting out of walls and floors, Sebastian grumbles exasperatedly, 'What is it with you?' - as though the bloodthirsty spider monster is a nagging girlfriend who has just told him off for putting his beer down without a coaster.

Sebastian plays a crucial role in sapping the scariness out of The Evil Within, for the simple reason that he doesn't ever seem to get scared. Sebastian's contributions to the game's atmosphere largely consist of exclamations like 'S**t!' and 'What the f**k?' As riveting as it is to hear a bored voice actor recite curse words, his dialogue will soon make you wish that Sebastian could be a silent protagonist. Detective Sebastian Castellanos is a gruff-voiced, craggy-faced, thirty-something brunette white dude with stubble and a tragic backstory. The Evil Within's story stumbles at the first hurdle by handcuffing the player to a dull and painfully generic protagonist. It feels like a game that's more concerned with trying to polish the old than it is with trying to introduce something new, but no amount of shine can disguise the age of the furniture. It's also reminiscent of Alan Wake, Outlast, Dead Space and several other horror titles from the past decade. The Evil Within certainly is reminiscent of Silent Hill and Resident Evil ( Resident Evil 4, to be exact).

The survival horror genre has been to a lot of interesting places of late - particularly in the indie scene with games like Slender and Five Nights at Freddy's - but the trailers for Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami's new title The Evil Within promised nostalgic long-time gamers a return to the feel of classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill entries.

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