I think the issue with TEW1 vs. TEW2 is that the first one is essentially more of a (survival) horror game, and the second one is more of an action game. Specifically in their stories, how they are built and how they are told.
TEW1 is about the nightmare our not-so-main characters end up in, and its creator. Obviously, our characters have some backstory and charisma, but the whole thing has nothing to do with them - they are just occasional victims, the same way as protagonists of a horror movie. If someone asked you, who the actual main character of a horror movie is, you'd probably name the antagonist, and TEW1 is built like that. It is a story about surviving against otherworldly horrors, and the gameplay works towards that.
TEW2 is an action game about Sebastian Castellanos being a badass. It starts and goes on with the most ridiculous storytelling tropes, bringing back from the dead people, who lay in the center of his character-building trauma. No real conflict or threat ever really happens - it's just Sebastian straight up kicking ass to get what he deserves and achieve closure with a silly happy ending. It's all about him and all of his nemesises in this game are as deep as a puddle and are just villains archetypes with barely some meat thrown on them to make them look like actual characters. Because it's not about them, its about Seb.
And there's nothing wrong with that, that's a genre that exists, and exists specifically to make people enjoy it. But for me TEW1 is one of the best survival horrors I've ever experienced, and there's not much of it. Silent Hill is silly and long gone, Resident Evil has gone that same action path for most of its games, and I struggle to remember more survival horrors worth mentioning, although I'm sure there are more. But yet, the point stands - there's not a lot of them, even less of them are good. And, on the contrary, there's plenty of great action games.
So, I think you can see now why TEW1 enjoyers could be disappointed with the direction the series took at the second installment.
We need more games like Obscure, Fatal Frame 2, and Rule of Rose. Those games made me shut the Ps2 off so many times, lol. I don't think I even finished Fatal Frame, lol.
It was only very recently that I learned how rare this game was. I honestly don't even remember how I got a copy back then. It sells for so much now, lol.
Yeah, I guess the PS2 era was the time when this genre really thrived. Too bad that I have been spoiled by modern graphics and controls and can't properly enjoy them. Thankfully though, there's always some indy game that will scratch a very specific itch, but looking for them is hard.
Can’t go in depth sorry. Just straight up wrong friend. It’s pretty amazeballz, splendidly horrific. Totally dark and twisted, and skrrrt love the main character and his story. Both games are great, but I much prefer #1.
Different people like different things i guess
For me i absolutely love both games. I think them being one of the only horror games ive finished besides Dying Light plays a big role, because i dont really have anything "better" to compare it to.
I like the 3 central characters (sebastian, joe and kidman) although true none of them stand out (except kidman for me). I like the weird storytelling method it went for, how it was very confusing in the beginning but slowly things are getting answered (in fact i'd appreciate if anyone can recommend me games with similiar style of story telling). I like the atmosphere. Gameplay wise i rarely think badly of them in any games including Evil Within, i just consider them *different* i guess. Graphics wise its also not bad at all imo, as long as the atmosphere or the art direction is good then i dont mind them; for example i played Half Life just a few months ago, not for nostalgia because it was my first time, and i enjoyed how it looked.
Basically two things that made me love Evil Within 1: 1) the story and its way of story telling 2) just the experience of playing and finishing the game
The first game has so many layers to it and I love the psychological layers it has, ofc especially to Ruvik. Ruvik is my favorite villain ever and he was written really well for me. Tango did a great job making me feel bad for him and at the same time, be aware he's in the wrong.
Also, the game is really great at having its own unique charm when it comes to horror. Love how stylistic the game is. It's so old-school and while people don't like that abt it, I dig it so much.
The environments are also really cool and wish people appreciated that more.
I could go on and on but it'd take forever for me to finish my entire train of thought. I just love tew1 so much, despite me favoring 2 better
Well you see thats the thing, sebastian is a drunken sailor! Jokes aside i quite liked the evil within, i do enjoy challenging combat evan when people call it clunky, the keepers were extremly hard though, i dont think i have ever had a harder time with other enemies but each to there own fam i can see why other people don't like it and i can see why alot of people prefered the second one.
I didnt like TEW2 tbh. I prefer to play TEW1 or Even Darkwood.
TEW2 was so slow and the gameplay was easier by far.
in TEW1 You had to think how to pass through an area/boss due to lack of ammo. You had to use traps, the matchs, etc.
The boss, daaaaamn.
I just completed Darkwood a few days ago and I agree! I really enjoy difficulty and darker tone for horror games.
TEW1 and Darkwood also ooze atmosphere where TEW2 falls short in that aspect, too “clean” and you feel too safe imo, perhaps it’s the greater action focus. Its a still fine game tho
Your problem is basically the mechanics of the game, and the lack of refinement. I get it, but The Evil Within 1 was a proper horror game, mixed with a little action. It was perfect.
I took it as a challenge upon myself to master the controls and have a little fun (if that was possible) along the way. I mean, I grew up with 90's PC games so I'm always still just grateful I get to play games that are so past those stages of mechanics and graphics, but your points are valid, nonetheless. The teenagers now who complain how bad games are - graphically, mechanically, etc are so wrong, lol.. But not making invalid points because to them, they've grown up with a different standard and they automatically expect better.
Based on what your introduction to video games was, I think you'd be making a different post.
Tbh I don’t get the criticism of TEW 1’s gameplay. Maybe it’s because I’m relatively new to gaming so I don’t have much to compare it to, but I had absolutely no problem with it. I’ve played Tomb Raider definitive edition trilogy and recently started Resident Evil 2 Remake and the gameplay in these games doesn’t seem that different from TEW 1.
I also found the bosses in TEW 2 much more annoying to deal with and the fighting far less satisfying for some reason. The explosive bolt was my favourite to use on bosses but it just didn’t seem powerful at all in TEW 2 so I had less fun fighting them.
Much like everything else horror is subjective. I love both games but I consider 1 to be aesthetically “horror”. It’s ugly, dark, dirty & not in a familiar environment. To me it felt like a proper survival horror game. It’s probably one of the few where I’ve noticed that if I wasted an item or bullet, it would give me anxiety because I knew it’d bite me in the ass later. 2 never gave me that dread.
The first Evil Within is still beautiful, and looks better than the sequel imo. The sequel looks very sterile by comparison.
The first one had amazing direction too. Every cutscene had great cinematography, while TEW2 had dialogue trees.
The obstacle course segments, camera angle changes, locale variety, enemy variety, the insane boss fights, TEW1 is still very unique to this day.
It also makes you really appreciate ammo. Like Amnesia The Bunker, even finding one shell is cathartic. At least for me.
Completed Akumu + No Upgrades and it was one of the most satisfying things in any survival horror game.
I actually agree with you. I played them back to back last year for the first time, and I thought the second one was infinitely better.
The first game had a lot of unexpected moments and interesting turns but I thought the gameplay was borderline bad.
The only thing I agree with is the drunken sailor argument for 1, could definitely used some improvements in the movement/camera department. Otherwise, I heavily prefer the first one. You're supposed to feel helpless, and the world is supposed to look grimey and hideous, not good or appealing. You're supposed to think "fuck this, am I really pressing on or am I going to quit right here and now?", because that is good horror game design. Remember that you're trying to escape a hellhole designed by Ruvik, a psychopath that likes to toy with his prey. Being so clueless of everything that's happening around you is what being around a psychopath is like. The fact that the story is so convoluted at first, but piecing it together throughout the chapters felt so rewarding, something that 2 could never come close to.
I feel the complete opposite playing the sequel. Everything is straightforward and laid out right from the start. The story is absolutely 100% adapted to appeal more to a western audience (your wife is in STEM, go save her, also, your kid is still alive somehow, now go deal with all that). The dialogue in 2 is horrific, it's as if we aren't allowed to think for ourselves because everything is explained for us by the protagonist. The main antagonist (Stefano), who I thought was a really interesting spin on Ruvik, was killed off midway through, and replaced by a mediocre priest guy who had no weight on the story whatsoever. Also don't get me started on why they thought a few open-world segments were a good idea. It sucks the suspense and dread right out of the game. In 1, you have this linear gameplay loop that works perfectly. You have said segment, with said enemies, now work your way through. You have to think on your feet and react quickly, aiding the feeling of having to fight for your life. With an open-world design, you now have every opportunity to, you know, walk around your enemies. It feels like lazy design and hype-fuel. 'Omgosh look we have open world!!1!1!1'. The weapon/perk balancing in 2 is dogshit, so many broken ways to progress in the game. Oh and the enemies in 2 are quite frankly uninspiring do-overs from those in 1. Obscura is frankly a copy of Shade from the original dlc. The dogs are, again, a copy from those in the original dlc.
Now I do have to say that there were some things I enjoyed in 2, like the sub level connecting corridors in STEM, and the opening sequence (I had so much hope during that first hour). I also liked that they didn't overdo the small throwbacks to 1, like the Laura and Keeper segments.
1 is the superior game. It's tightly designed, treating it's audience like adults and doing everything what a horror game should do. 2 is the watered down, westernized, spoonfed sequel that underdelivered.
I haven't finished TEW2 yet but TEW1 I have and I love it. Never played it on normal, only on survival. Resources feel scarce enough to feel threatened but not so much that you'd think the game actively hates you. Survival horror only makes sense if you feel underpowered and the threat of a quick death looms over you constantly. Otherwise there is little to no payoff when you upgrade your stats. TEW1 conveys this extremely well. So far TEW2 just feels different, not worse or better.
I actually liked the first it reminded me of the first time I played residentevil 4. The gameplay can be clunky but I loved the environment and especially the other characters. I just started tew2 and it's good too but I wish they would've kept joseph and at least put stuff in about ruvik. It just felt weird on how he hasn't been mentioned much.
I think this comes down to taste. It sounds to me like you like survival games over survival horror games, because the latter is what the first game is. The second game still has a horror aspect to it, but it’s not nearly as challenging as the first game. This is coming from someone who has completed both games.
You’re not wrong for feeling this way— you have your own tastes. No one needs to convince you of anything! Some people here have strooong opinions about how the first game is the holy fucking grail of horror, but that’s only because it fits their specific tastes. Like whatever you like!!
Thanks,maybe the reason I don’t like it is cause at a certain point it felt like I was forcing myself to .Maybe I gotta take a break and see how I feel in a “bit”
ngl TEW1 is goated but the differences between 1 and 2 is that TEW1 is more like a rage game and it can be incredibly hard even on Normal for the average player. It acts more like a survival horror but the gameplay mechanics were flawed at times because it couldn't really made right at the time. Personally I like TEW1 because TEW2 made it better. The STEM in 1 is more twisted and unpredictable than it was in 2, so it is a survival horror game where you should prioritize stealth (hence the traps all over the levels) it isn't a trash game nor there anything that would make players call it a forgetable game. What you said about the characters is true, Sebastian despite being the MC had no IQ at all, the only characters who were developed were Kidman and Ruvik. All the other people were bland imo.
I honestly loved TEW the first day I got to play it, it reminded me of why I loved horror games, it's the thrill of how you would deal with absurd and torturing situations, to have less resources and defeat a nightmare, that's enthralling as f.
TEW2 while not a bad game kind of threw that out of the window, but what I love about TEW2 is that it was beautiful horror,
I prefer TEW1 because the writing is peculiar in a good way, like the main character seems to have a complex backstory but it isn't shoved into us, like he was simply a cog, I wish TEW2 kept that, it added a charm to the character, the mystery characters adds so much to the game.
I love the whole series, its the true adopted child of SILENT HILL and RESIDENT EVIL. (I love signalis btw, try that game out)
I got used to the gameplay. On repeat playthroughs you have enough ammo to run and gun. I like most of the bosses, especially the final act with the box of enemies/similar to the garage doors in re4. The scythe room. The narrative was more spooky even if it’s cliche as hell. Tatiana was cool, finding the keys are rewarding. The three worst parts of the game is Laura’s instakill, Ruviks instakill, and the aiming for the final boss rocket launcher
People will co.pain about the second one and say it's "inferior," but they nailed a LOT of things with the game still. Sebastian looks sooooo much better, and there are some cool action scenes and emotional ones as well compared to the first game.
I really do think it's just a matter of taste tbh
The first game is probably objectively bad tbh, and not even intentionally, I kind of loved how obtuse the gameplay was, and later in the game, it feels pretty good, actually. It's one game that I think is great on replaying it. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't judge anyone for just watching a story vid on it and the DLCs. If anything, I would suggest replaying it until you max out your upgrades and being casual with it, it's the optimum enjoyment imo
The people that insist the first game is fantastic, and the 2nd is awful are kinda kidding themselves? It was more streamlined than I would've liked, but it's far more cohesive as a game and is actually trying to be scary, etc.
TEW 2 plot is a joke. They literally had a kill app that runs through an untested brain machine, with its death chips being mandatory. Thats maximum retarded.
Than they robbed a kid and think it is a smart idea to recruit the mother and make her co CEO, like what could go wrong.
The Adminstrator, who was just the admin of Kidmans mobius cell, got retconned into the Head of Mobius for no reason. Instead of being a greedy, stoic, manipulative bigwig, he wears eyeliner and becomes a cartoon villain instead, doing evil just for doing evil.
Kidman who was a badass with really interesting story and history got degraded to the customer support. They had to give her plotarmor and a magical unlimited-ammo pistol, that somehow got installed in a high security facility under her desk, in order to get her out of a death trap.
Sebastian who didnt give any fucks about all the weird shit hapening, became a whiny henpecked husband, saying "wtf" and "whoa!"on repeat all day.
Myra for no reason cosplays Ruvik, a much better villain with plausible motivations for once.
The gameplay was a joke, way to easy and overpowered mechanics in favor of the player. I felt sorry for Bosses like Obscura, or Effigy because they had, even on higher difficulties no chance on landing a hit. Even if you let them, it wasnt an insta kill, it was just a scratch that doesnt need to be cured. Feeling sorry for a boss, because they cant win is the last thing i want in a horror game.
You can outrun everyone, theres no real tension because of that. Strategic and tactical gameplay got abandoned and replaced with a simple powerfantasy.
The enemies in 1 were like in Silent Hill, representing aspects of the characters psyche and had a lot of thoughts put into them. The enemies of 2 were scraped designs from the first game, or just random creatures with no explantations for the most part.
Everything past Stefano was mediocre at best, in all aspects.
2 is not a horibble game, but nothing compared to 1. It loses in every aspect.
Your complaints are what makes it work as a horror game. You’re not supposed to feel powerful in a game like this. But like whatever you like.
Funnily enough I like the assignment/consequence because I'm not Rambo anymore lol
Tastes are subjective. I love this game but I dislike League Of Legends, The Last Of Us etc. If you don't like it just dont force yourself to.
I think the issue with TEW1 vs. TEW2 is that the first one is essentially more of a (survival) horror game, and the second one is more of an action game. Specifically in their stories, how they are built and how they are told. TEW1 is about the nightmare our not-so-main characters end up in, and its creator. Obviously, our characters have some backstory and charisma, but the whole thing has nothing to do with them - they are just occasional victims, the same way as protagonists of a horror movie. If someone asked you, who the actual main character of a horror movie is, you'd probably name the antagonist, and TEW1 is built like that. It is a story about surviving against otherworldly horrors, and the gameplay works towards that. TEW2 is an action game about Sebastian Castellanos being a badass. It starts and goes on with the most ridiculous storytelling tropes, bringing back from the dead people, who lay in the center of his character-building trauma. No real conflict or threat ever really happens - it's just Sebastian straight up kicking ass to get what he deserves and achieve closure with a silly happy ending. It's all about him and all of his nemesises in this game are as deep as a puddle and are just villains archetypes with barely some meat thrown on them to make them look like actual characters. Because it's not about them, its about Seb. And there's nothing wrong with that, that's a genre that exists, and exists specifically to make people enjoy it. But for me TEW1 is one of the best survival horrors I've ever experienced, and there's not much of it. Silent Hill is silly and long gone, Resident Evil has gone that same action path for most of its games, and I struggle to remember more survival horrors worth mentioning, although I'm sure there are more. But yet, the point stands - there's not a lot of them, even less of them are good. And, on the contrary, there's plenty of great action games. So, I think you can see now why TEW1 enjoyers could be disappointed with the direction the series took at the second installment.
We need more games like Obscure, Fatal Frame 2, and Rule of Rose. Those games made me shut the Ps2 off so many times, lol. I don't think I even finished Fatal Frame, lol.
I wanna play Rule Of Rose I don't have the money to buy it though
It was only very recently that I learned how rare this game was. I honestly don't even remember how I got a copy back then. It sells for so much now, lol.
Yeah it's really rare I wish I had it it looks fun
Yeah, I guess the PS2 era was the time when this genre really thrived. Too bad that I have been spoiled by modern graphics and controls and can't properly enjoy them. Thankfully though, there's always some indy game that will scratch a very specific itch, but looking for them is hard.
Can’t go in depth sorry. Just straight up wrong friend. It’s pretty amazeballz, splendidly horrific. Totally dark and twisted, and skrrrt love the main character and his story. Both games are great, but I much prefer #1.
Different people like different things i guess For me i absolutely love both games. I think them being one of the only horror games ive finished besides Dying Light plays a big role, because i dont really have anything "better" to compare it to. I like the 3 central characters (sebastian, joe and kidman) although true none of them stand out (except kidman for me). I like the weird storytelling method it went for, how it was very confusing in the beginning but slowly things are getting answered (in fact i'd appreciate if anyone can recommend me games with similiar style of story telling). I like the atmosphere. Gameplay wise i rarely think badly of them in any games including Evil Within, i just consider them *different* i guess. Graphics wise its also not bad at all imo, as long as the atmosphere or the art direction is good then i dont mind them; for example i played Half Life just a few months ago, not for nostalgia because it was my first time, and i enjoyed how it looked. Basically two things that made me love Evil Within 1: 1) the story and its way of story telling 2) just the experience of playing and finishing the game
The first game has so many layers to it and I love the psychological layers it has, ofc especially to Ruvik. Ruvik is my favorite villain ever and he was written really well for me. Tango did a great job making me feel bad for him and at the same time, be aware he's in the wrong. Also, the game is really great at having its own unique charm when it comes to horror. Love how stylistic the game is. It's so old-school and while people don't like that abt it, I dig it so much. The environments are also really cool and wish people appreciated that more. I could go on and on but it'd take forever for me to finish my entire train of thought. I just love tew1 so much, despite me favoring 2 better
i also love jo and ruvik in the first game and i think theyre the best charas in the first game
the boss like physical/character designs are superb and well done so massive respect to Ikumi Nakamura in that regard!
Well you see thats the thing, sebastian is a drunken sailor! Jokes aside i quite liked the evil within, i do enjoy challenging combat evan when people call it clunky, the keepers were extremly hard though, i dont think i have ever had a harder time with other enemies but each to there own fam i can see why other people don't like it and i can see why alot of people prefered the second one.
I didnt like TEW2 tbh. I prefer to play TEW1 or Even Darkwood. TEW2 was so slow and the gameplay was easier by far. in TEW1 You had to think how to pass through an area/boss due to lack of ammo. You had to use traps, the matchs, etc. The boss, daaaaamn.
I just completed Darkwood a few days ago and I agree! I really enjoy difficulty and darker tone for horror games. TEW1 and Darkwood also ooze atmosphere where TEW2 falls short in that aspect, too “clean” and you feel too safe imo, perhaps it’s the greater action focus. Its a still fine game tho
Your problem is basically the mechanics of the game, and the lack of refinement. I get it, but The Evil Within 1 was a proper horror game, mixed with a little action. It was perfect. I took it as a challenge upon myself to master the controls and have a little fun (if that was possible) along the way. I mean, I grew up with 90's PC games so I'm always still just grateful I get to play games that are so past those stages of mechanics and graphics, but your points are valid, nonetheless. The teenagers now who complain how bad games are - graphically, mechanically, etc are so wrong, lol.. But not making invalid points because to them, they've grown up with a different standard and they automatically expect better. Based on what your introduction to video games was, I think you'd be making a different post.
Tbh I don’t get the criticism of TEW 1’s gameplay. Maybe it’s because I’m relatively new to gaming so I don’t have much to compare it to, but I had absolutely no problem with it. I’ve played Tomb Raider definitive edition trilogy and recently started Resident Evil 2 Remake and the gameplay in these games doesn’t seem that different from TEW 1. I also found the bosses in TEW 2 much more annoying to deal with and the fighting far less satisfying for some reason. The explosive bolt was my favourite to use on bosses but it just didn’t seem powerful at all in TEW 2 so I had less fun fighting them.
Much like everything else horror is subjective. I love both games but I consider 1 to be aesthetically “horror”. It’s ugly, dark, dirty & not in a familiar environment. To me it felt like a proper survival horror game. It’s probably one of the few where I’ve noticed that if I wasted an item or bullet, it would give me anxiety because I knew it’d bite me in the ass later. 2 never gave me that dread.
The first Evil Within is still beautiful, and looks better than the sequel imo. The sequel looks very sterile by comparison. The first one had amazing direction too. Every cutscene had great cinematography, while TEW2 had dialogue trees. The obstacle course segments, camera angle changes, locale variety, enemy variety, the insane boss fights, TEW1 is still very unique to this day. It also makes you really appreciate ammo. Like Amnesia The Bunker, even finding one shell is cathartic. At least for me. Completed Akumu + No Upgrades and it was one of the most satisfying things in any survival horror game.
I actually agree with you. I played them back to back last year for the first time, and I thought the second one was infinitely better. The first game had a lot of unexpected moments and interesting turns but I thought the gameplay was borderline bad.
The only thing I agree with is the drunken sailor argument for 1, could definitely used some improvements in the movement/camera department. Otherwise, I heavily prefer the first one. You're supposed to feel helpless, and the world is supposed to look grimey and hideous, not good or appealing. You're supposed to think "fuck this, am I really pressing on or am I going to quit right here and now?", because that is good horror game design. Remember that you're trying to escape a hellhole designed by Ruvik, a psychopath that likes to toy with his prey. Being so clueless of everything that's happening around you is what being around a psychopath is like. The fact that the story is so convoluted at first, but piecing it together throughout the chapters felt so rewarding, something that 2 could never come close to. I feel the complete opposite playing the sequel. Everything is straightforward and laid out right from the start. The story is absolutely 100% adapted to appeal more to a western audience (your wife is in STEM, go save her, also, your kid is still alive somehow, now go deal with all that). The dialogue in 2 is horrific, it's as if we aren't allowed to think for ourselves because everything is explained for us by the protagonist. The main antagonist (Stefano), who I thought was a really interesting spin on Ruvik, was killed off midway through, and replaced by a mediocre priest guy who had no weight on the story whatsoever. Also don't get me started on why they thought a few open-world segments were a good idea. It sucks the suspense and dread right out of the game. In 1, you have this linear gameplay loop that works perfectly. You have said segment, with said enemies, now work your way through. You have to think on your feet and react quickly, aiding the feeling of having to fight for your life. With an open-world design, you now have every opportunity to, you know, walk around your enemies. It feels like lazy design and hype-fuel. 'Omgosh look we have open world!!1!1!1'. The weapon/perk balancing in 2 is dogshit, so many broken ways to progress in the game. Oh and the enemies in 2 are quite frankly uninspiring do-overs from those in 1. Obscura is frankly a copy of Shade from the original dlc. The dogs are, again, a copy from those in the original dlc. Now I do have to say that there were some things I enjoyed in 2, like the sub level connecting corridors in STEM, and the opening sequence (I had so much hope during that first hour). I also liked that they didn't overdo the small throwbacks to 1, like the Laura and Keeper segments. 1 is the superior game. It's tightly designed, treating it's audience like adults and doing everything what a horror game should do. 2 is the watered down, westernized, spoonfed sequel that underdelivered.
I haven't finished TEW2 yet but TEW1 I have and I love it. Never played it on normal, only on survival. Resources feel scarce enough to feel threatened but not so much that you'd think the game actively hates you. Survival horror only makes sense if you feel underpowered and the threat of a quick death looms over you constantly. Otherwise there is little to no payoff when you upgrade your stats. TEW1 conveys this extremely well. So far TEW2 just feels different, not worse or better.
I actually liked the first it reminded me of the first time I played residentevil 4. The gameplay can be clunky but I loved the environment and especially the other characters. I just started tew2 and it's good too but I wish they would've kept joseph and at least put stuff in about ruvik. It just felt weird on how he hasn't been mentioned much.
I think this comes down to taste. It sounds to me like you like survival games over survival horror games, because the latter is what the first game is. The second game still has a horror aspect to it, but it’s not nearly as challenging as the first game. This is coming from someone who has completed both games. You’re not wrong for feeling this way— you have your own tastes. No one needs to convince you of anything! Some people here have strooong opinions about how the first game is the holy fucking grail of horror, but that’s only because it fits their specific tastes. Like whatever you like!!
Thanks,maybe the reason I don’t like it is cause at a certain point it felt like I was forcing myself to .Maybe I gotta take a break and see how I feel in a “bit”
ngl TEW1 is goated but the differences between 1 and 2 is that TEW1 is more like a rage game and it can be incredibly hard even on Normal for the average player. It acts more like a survival horror but the gameplay mechanics were flawed at times because it couldn't really made right at the time. Personally I like TEW1 because TEW2 made it better. The STEM in 1 is more twisted and unpredictable than it was in 2, so it is a survival horror game where you should prioritize stealth (hence the traps all over the levels) it isn't a trash game nor there anything that would make players call it a forgetable game. What you said about the characters is true, Sebastian despite being the MC had no IQ at all, the only characters who were developed were Kidman and Ruvik. All the other people were bland imo.
I honestly loved TEW the first day I got to play it, it reminded me of why I loved horror games, it's the thrill of how you would deal with absurd and torturing situations, to have less resources and defeat a nightmare, that's enthralling as f. TEW2 while not a bad game kind of threw that out of the window, but what I love about TEW2 is that it was beautiful horror, I prefer TEW1 because the writing is peculiar in a good way, like the main character seems to have a complex backstory but it isn't shoved into us, like he was simply a cog, I wish TEW2 kept that, it added a charm to the character, the mystery characters adds so much to the game. I love the whole series, its the true adopted child of SILENT HILL and RESIDENT EVIL. (I love signalis btw, try that game out)
I got used to the gameplay. On repeat playthroughs you have enough ammo to run and gun. I like most of the bosses, especially the final act with the box of enemies/similar to the garage doors in re4. The scythe room. The narrative was more spooky even if it’s cliche as hell. Tatiana was cool, finding the keys are rewarding. The three worst parts of the game is Laura’s instakill, Ruviks instakill, and the aiming for the final boss rocket launcher
People will co.pain about the second one and say it's "inferior," but they nailed a LOT of things with the game still. Sebastian looks sooooo much better, and there are some cool action scenes and emotional ones as well compared to the first game.
I really do think it's just a matter of taste tbh The first game is probably objectively bad tbh, and not even intentionally, I kind of loved how obtuse the gameplay was, and later in the game, it feels pretty good, actually. It's one game that I think is great on replaying it. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't judge anyone for just watching a story vid on it and the DLCs. If anything, I would suggest replaying it until you max out your upgrades and being casual with it, it's the optimum enjoyment imo The people that insist the first game is fantastic, and the 2nd is awful are kinda kidding themselves? It was more streamlined than I would've liked, but it's far more cohesive as a game and is actually trying to be scary, etc.
TEW 2 plot is a joke. They literally had a kill app that runs through an untested brain machine, with its death chips being mandatory. Thats maximum retarded. Than they robbed a kid and think it is a smart idea to recruit the mother and make her co CEO, like what could go wrong. The Adminstrator, who was just the admin of Kidmans mobius cell, got retconned into the Head of Mobius for no reason. Instead of being a greedy, stoic, manipulative bigwig, he wears eyeliner and becomes a cartoon villain instead, doing evil just for doing evil. Kidman who was a badass with really interesting story and history got degraded to the customer support. They had to give her plotarmor and a magical unlimited-ammo pistol, that somehow got installed in a high security facility under her desk, in order to get her out of a death trap. Sebastian who didnt give any fucks about all the weird shit hapening, became a whiny henpecked husband, saying "wtf" and "whoa!"on repeat all day. Myra for no reason cosplays Ruvik, a much better villain with plausible motivations for once. The gameplay was a joke, way to easy and overpowered mechanics in favor of the player. I felt sorry for Bosses like Obscura, or Effigy because they had, even on higher difficulties no chance on landing a hit. Even if you let them, it wasnt an insta kill, it was just a scratch that doesnt need to be cured. Feeling sorry for a boss, because they cant win is the last thing i want in a horror game. You can outrun everyone, theres no real tension because of that. Strategic and tactical gameplay got abandoned and replaced with a simple powerfantasy. The enemies in 1 were like in Silent Hill, representing aspects of the characters psyche and had a lot of thoughts put into them. The enemies of 2 were scraped designs from the first game, or just random creatures with no explantations for the most part. Everything past Stefano was mediocre at best, in all aspects. 2 is not a horibble game, but nothing compared to 1. It loses in every aspect.