Activate The Evil Within 2's first-person mode with a console command

Here’s a neat trick for anyone that’s completed (or currently playing) third-person survival horror game The Evil Within 2: you can turn it into a first-person survival horror game with a simple console command.

There are one or two first-person sections in the base game (which is presumably why the option is there), but the command puts you into the skull of Sebastian Castellanos for the entire 15 hours, save for a few animations that switch the camera to third-person temporarily. It looks relatively polished, right down to head bobbing when you run, and I imagine it's scarier playing in first-person too.

To use the command, you'll first have to activate the console. So, right click on the game in your Steam library and select 'properties'. Then, hit 'set launch options' and type in '+com_allowconsole 1' (without the quote marks). Once you've done that, hitting Insert in the game will bring up the console.

The command to activate first-person is 'pl_FPS 1' (again, without quotes), and that should do it. If that doesn't work, some players are inputting the 'toggle' command first, or 'idStudio', which activates cheat mode. So if the first command doesn't work, whack either of those in and try again.

I just finished the Evil Within 2 and, like Joe, thoroughly enjoyed it. Enough that I might well go back and try it all over again in first person. Below is some first-person gameplay courtesy of Reddit user SkacikPL, who shared the footage on a thread discussing the change of view. There are a few hiccups at around 5:10, although I can't say if that's because of the change of perspective or not. 

Samuel Horti

Samuel Horti is a long-time freelance writer for PC Gamer based in the UK, who loves RPGs and making long lists of games he'll never have time to play. 

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