The player isn’t pulled out of the experience by The Executioner due to some need to have them go into a monologue at odd moments. Everything is provided through imagery and documentation, allowing the player to truly experience everything firsthand rather than have some disjointed voice explaining everything to you. It’s a method that works surprisingly well, and further proof that the developers sure know how to deliver a solid story, even with self-imposed limitations.
Even with the well-delivered story, there is one element that is missing from this expansion that cannot be ignored: fear. The Executioner is not a scary expansion, especially when compared to the main title and its two previous DLCs. There is no dread lurking in the dark, and the power granted to the player removes all sense of panic from encounters. The world is still dark and gloomy, and there are a few moments that will shock you (such as The Keeper removing his head to teleport past obstacles), but it has all lost that telltale coat of horror that permeated every little detail of The Evil Within.
It’s great that The Executioner introduces characters that you will care about, but the new gameplay focus comes at the cost of the overall survival horror experience. The fact that the mechanics in this final story expansion actually work well is a blessing. The frustrating camera, and lack of worthwhile action in Juli Kidman’s story are things of the past and we can all appreciate that. Yet, attempting to reinvent the wheel was the downfall of those expansions, and that holds true for this one as well.
The Executioner is fun. That is something that it definitely holds over the previous expansions, and the minimalistic approach to the story helps to keep players in the experience. But the lack of everything that made The Evil Within special cannot be overlooked. The urgency of The Keeper’s task is drowned out by the ease of the experience and utter lack of horror. Though the first-person action works well, it is once again too far of a departure from what fans fell in love with in the first place. That leaves The Executioner feeling more like a tacked on add-on than a true expansion. Fun, but better off as something separate from The Evil Within.
