Evil Dead The Game: The Honeymoon is Over! Suggestions to Improve Game Health and Balance from a Demon Main’s Perspective

I absolutely love Evil Dead The Game, from its design to the gameplay and mechanics. It’s a fun, albeit frustrating at times, asymmetrical horror game based on the Evil Dead franchise, which I’m also a fan of (I’ve only watched the movies).

HOWEVER….

After playing demon for about 2-3 weeks straight at night, and thus becoming a “demon main”, the honeymoon is over as they say. There are some issues that have come to light which can sometimes make the demon player experience quite miserable and frustrating at times.

Below are some suggestions that I think might go a long way to improving the Player vs Demon game itself, but more importantly: creating a more enjoyable, less frustrating, yet balanced experience for Demon players. These suggestions are not to make it any easier for demons to win, but rather to create more balance and address some mechanics that can be abused by survivors, thus basically turning them into “exploits” which often times give survivors a clear advantage over demon.

I’ve also sent this list to Saber Interactive’s support website. In no particular order of importance:

Vehicles Need a Complete Overhaul

Let me preface by saying that I like that the fact that there are vehicles in the game. It adds something extra to the game. But there are several issues with how they can be abused by survivors to make matches very unfair and frustrating for demons. After all, abusing a mechanic which clearly gives an unfair advantage to one side is pretty much an exploit. And one of these mechanics is survivors exploiting the myriad problems with vehicles:

  • Vehicles automatically killing demon’s spawned A.I. Basics & Elites. I have no problem with vehicles “one-shotting” enemy AI units scattered across the map when the match starts. Well, maybe they shouldn’t be one-shotted so easily, but I digress. The major problem here is when a demon player spawns basic and elite units with a portal: they are too easily killed with a vehicle. Basic & Elite portal-spawned A.I. units should be almost as difficult to kill as if they were possessed. So for example: an Elite portal-spawned unit controlled by A.I. would be much more difficult and take longer to kill with a vehicle compared to a Basic unit. Both portal-spawned units should be more difficult to kill than the rest of the units spawned around the map when the match starts. The reason for this is because it takes time, energy and resources for the demon player to be able to spawn their units in the first place. It’s not very fun and quite unfair to see a player jump in a car and one-shot your spawned units, especially at an objective. And trying to kill portal-spawned A.I. units with a vehicle should cause just as much damage to the vehicle as if it was ramming a possessed unit, maybe a little less.
  • Vehicles being used to block the Necronomicon book. I have not witnessed this personally, so I am writing on behalf of other demon players. Perhaps the solution is to implement some kind of invisible barrier that prevents vehicles from being driven to within a certain range of the book.
  • Too many vehicles on the map. Survivors can make it very difficult for demons to gain levels and have a fair shot at winning when there are so many cars to move quickly about the map or to get into in order to avoid taking damage. Sometimes when a demon possesses a vehicle to drive it away in order to slow survivors down, there’s another vehicle nearby making it a moot point. All the demon can do at that point is watch as the survivors drive away untouched. Maybe an option is reducing the number of vehicles down significantly to just 3 or 4. The game should be challenging for survivors, not a cakewalk.
  • Vehicles should have health and provide XP/levels to demon when disabled/destroyed. Currently, unoccupied vehicles cannot be destroyed by demon units, or it takes a very long time. All I know is that it seemed to take forever for my Basic skeleton to attempt to destroy a car and so I gave up testing it. If Saber will not consider reducing the number of vehicles on the map, that’s fine. Perhaps the compromise is this: vehicles having health and giving XP when disabled/destroyed and unable to be driven. Demon players could then decide to spend time destroying every vehicle around the map. It shouldn’t be easy though. All the cars on the map shouldn’t be able to be destroyed by a demon within the first minute of the match. Perhaps unoccupied cars take as much damage as when they are occupied. It should be a risk vs reward scenario, just like at the beginning of the match when the demon has to decide to search for survivors or place traps around objectives. It can also decide if it wants to go around destroying cars, which obviously would cost the demon infernal energy by having to spawn or possess a nearby unit.
  • Demons Should Be Able To Trap Vehicles. Why not? They can trap just about everything else! Like with chests, they could swap between trapping the vehicle to cause damage to the survivors, or trapping the vehicle to explode, damaging the vehicle itself, but not rendering it useless. Or just 1 trap on the vehicle that damages both it and any survivors in it and around it.
  • Vehicles should have a limited amount of gas determined by RNG. Vehicles should not be able to be driven very long distances. Maybe this is a happy compromise to not removing the current number of vehicles that spawn on the map. This way vehicles can only be driven a short amount of time, and not all the way across the map.
  • Vehicles should do more damage to players when possessed by a demon. These are multi-ton vehicles after all. All vehicles should do the same damage to players, as players can do to portal-spawned units. Trucks should do more damage but drive slower, cars should do less damage but drive faster.
  • Demon is too easily knocked out of vehicles after being possessed. Vehicles should have a certain defense/health when possessed by a demon like when demon possess a unit.
  • Possessing a vehicle drains too much energy from a demon when the car doesn’t even do much to begin with. Either significantly reduce the amount of energy it takes to possess a vehicle, or increase the defense and damage of the vehicle when it is possessed by a demon. There should be a healthy, happy balance here somewhere.
  • Vehicles provide too easy of a safety net to survivors trying to avoid taking damage. Especially when they are one hit away from being downed. I don’t know how this should be addressed. Perhaps vehicles need a cooldown. I just don’t think it’s very balanced for survivor players to drive a vehicle to an objective and then be able to get in it when they are almost dead to avoid taking damage. Demon players spend a lot of time and energy trying to down a survivor only for the survivor to get in the car and drive away. Meanwhile, when demon units are almost dead, they have no safety net like this. A demon player can’t put its boss into a car to save its health or wait until its cooldowns reset. Demons are in a constant state of entropy when it comes to energy, possession and unit health.

Demon Units That Can Heal

Demons do not have any way to heal, except for Evil Ash, and it’s not exactly able to regain full health like a survivor drinking a shemps. Perhaps something needs to be introduced on the demon side to counterbalance this? Perhaps not, it’s just a thought. Maybe a new demon unit that can heal other units around it in a certain area.

New Demon Units That Can Do Ranged Damage / Use Survivor Weapons & Ammo!

How about a new demon type that can use whatever weapons and ammo are laying around just like survivors! Hahaha. How great would that be! It would just mix things up instead of the demon always possessing survivors, the demon can use this one type to pickup loot just like survivors.

Or what about ranged demon units that can shoot guns, like a military-based demon? The General, The Sergeant, and the Cadet. Cadets are Basics that can shoot guns but are weak to melee perhaps. The Sergeant is a melee fighter. And the General.. I have no idea what it would do. Maybe a medic too! 3 units in addition to the boss!

Splitting Dagger & Pages Objectives and the Survivors’ Free Reset

A good and quick survivor team can do a “split push” and attempt to complete both objectives, most often successfully completing at least 1. The demon cannot be at both locations at the same time. That’s fine! But the problem here is that if the demon downs & kills players at one objective (dagger), when the players complete the other objective (pages), the killed players at the first objective are resurrected. This gives the survivors a free reset. That is very unfair and imbalanced. Demon has nothing like this in the game that it can take advantage of and exploit.

Here are 2 viable solutions:

  • Only make 1 objective available at a time, for example: the dagger. Once the dagger is complete, the pages then spawn somewhere on the map at least 200yds away, but not 600 yards or more across the other side of the map. That would be unfair. Definitely not within 100 yds or right next to the dagger either.
  • Or, if we want to keep both objectives available, that’s fine. Then do not allow survivors to be resurrected after completing ANY objectives. That is only fair. If the survivors want to risk splitting up to attempt to complete both objectives, and if survivors get downed and killed at one of the objectives, then they have to wait to be resurrected just like at any other point during the match. Currently, if survivors are killed at one objective, and survivors complete the other, the killed survivors are resurrected and it basically gives the survivors a free reset.

RNG of Objectives

Objectives should never spawn close to each other. This includes the dark ones / book. Everything should spawn like a minimum of 200yards, if not 300. Just not 600 across the map. Survivors should be made to work the entire map. The game is supposed to be challenging for both sides and not a cakewalk for either survivors or demons.

RNG of Map Pieces

I know I’m not the only demon player to experience the survivors finding the first piece of the map within the first 30 seconds of the game, or survivors finding all pieces while the demon has only 3 levels. I don’t know the solution, but it does need to be addressed. Easy solution is not to spawn map pieces near survivors and they should always be at random locations at least 100 yds away or so. Definitely not in any location/building where survivors spawn.

More RNG Spawn & Map Variation for EVERYTHING! (Survivors, Objectives, Buildings, Chests, etc.)

There are some places on these maps that rarely get seen or used, where it seems like Survivors or Objectives never spawn at these locations. I think there’s a corner of one of the maps that I don’t think I’ve ever seen survivors or objectives spawn at. Basically, unused real estate. It’s nice to see dagger/pages spawn at places like inside the tunnel on the airplane map for example. That’s all I’m asking for here: more variation. And maybe even mix up the placement of buildings. Why have buildings at the same location every time?

Why not mix it all up! So that it can be an almost completely random experience every time a map is loaded. Instead of the plane always up in the top right corner, why not sometimes in the middle of the map switched with Knowby’s cabin? Stuff like that.

And when it comes to chests, it seems like they are not subject to RNG. I could be wrong. But I think chests should spawn at various locations, and never at the same location every time.

Survivors Being Able to Vault Windows Indefinitely

Vaulting windows should either significantly decrease stamina, be on a cooldown, or give the demon units the ability to vault windows easily too, in order to keep pace with survivors. As it is right now, some players are abusing this mechanic and turning it into an exploit.

AI Units Scattered About the Map Need Improvement.

Currently the AI units do not attack frequently enough and are not much of a threat to survivors. They shouldn’t be as powerful as possessed units, but they shouldn’t be cannon fodder either.

Units Spawned by Portals Need Improvement

Demon units do not swarm players nearly as much like players can swarm a demon unit and stagger it indefinitely until it’s destroyed. I don’t have a solution for this other than modifying AI code.

Survivors Having Almost-Infinite Dodge Ability

I have no problem with a survivor being able to dodge 2, maybe 3 times in a row. But that’s it. It shouldn’t be able to regain it’s stamina fast enough to continue doing that. Some survivors can dodge 5 or 7 times in a row. I think we can agree that’s a bit ridiculous. Demons can dodge but it’s not as effective, besides, the more time a demon spends dodging, the more energy is drained. I don’t want survivors not being able to dodge to avoid being hit, but it shouldn’t be like it exists currently.

One Final Suggestion – A New Mechanic for Demons

Demon can only possess 1 unit at a time.

Well, what if you gave demons the ability to control multiple units at the same time?

Meaning this: clicking a button/key and then highlighting a certain number of demons and have them do the same attack at the same time. Or, I can have them go to one particular location by highlighting them and then targeting the area on the ground. Almost like a turn-based strategy game. Like X-Com. Something along these lines to perhaps expand upon and maybe improve the demon experience when it comes to controlling its minions, but without being too overpowered of course.

That’s all I have for now. If I getting any more ideas I’ll make a note at the top of this post and add them down here.

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