The Evil Within 2 trailer reveals the deranged artist named Stefano

Stefano Valentini is a very bad artist. Which is not to say that his work, which you can get a taste of here, is bad—although that, along with other, sharper things is very much in the eye of the beholder. But what he does to create his masterpieces in the twisted realm of The Evil Within 2 is very bad indeed. 

Stefano was a reasonably straight-ahead guy at one point, but his hold on reality was broken when he was injured during a stint as a war photographer. He lost an eye, but gained a "vision" that left him obsessed with the moment of death—"that split second in time when people are, in his opinion, at their most open and most beautiful." Trouble is, he's not very patient about waiting for it to happen. 

It's not easy being a serial killer in the real world, but in STEM, he can do as he pleases. And for whatever reason, he sees Lily as "the key to unlocking the potential of this world." That's probably not going to sit super-well with Sebastian, Lily's father and the game's lead character, who's ventured back into STEM to rescue her. Luckily for Stefano, he's got backup. 

"Born from an untethered and immoral imagination and sculpted from blood and bone and flesh, Obscura is one of Stefano’s greatest masterpieces," Bethesda said. "Somewhere inside of Obscura is a story from another life, long before Stefano ever even learned of the existence of STEM—a story you’ll have to uncover for yourself as you explore Union and discover more about the twisted artist behind some of the horrors hunting you." 

The Evil Within 2 comes out on October 13, which is a Friday. Perfect. 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.