The Guardian is an enemy encountered in The Evil Within 2.
Description[]
The Guardian is a towering abomination that stands at least twice the height of Sebastian Castellanos, and is comprised of the mutilated remains of various women murdered by Stefano Valentini, mostly their heads, each one wearing a different expression, with the central one facing forward and sporting a wide, maniacal grin. Its body is almost tree-like, with a large top half connected to its pelvis via a large spine, though how the creature maintains balance when it runs is not explained. The Guardian's right arm is equipped with a large buzzsaw blade which it uses to great effect against its victims.
The Guardian constantly emits hysterical giggles which changes to a very deep, throaty insane cackle when it spots a potential victim.
Along with Obscura, the Guardian acts as one of Stefano's servants and is summoned by him at least twice to eliminate Sebastian. Despite its name suggesting it is a singular entity, Sebastian encounters at least 5 Guardians over the course of the game, and more than one can be encountered at a given time, being found throughout Union.
Symbolism[]
The Guardian is a manifestation of Stefano's insanity and his twisted obsession with art. Its horrific appearance represents the many women who were murdered to create his art pieces.
The Evil Within 2[]
Chapter 2: Something Not Quite Right[]
The Guardian first appears in the basement of the mansion, where it ambushes Sebastian from behind a mirror. Unable to fight back, he is forced to flee the monster but manages to temporarily evade it by hiding in a vent. As he attempts to escape down a long corridor, it smashes through the wall behind him and resumes it pursuit. Just as Sebastian approaches the exit, Stefano appears and throws a knife into his shoulder, crippling him with the intention of letting the Guardian finish him off. However, he is able to pull the knife out and slashes the monster's face, injuring it enough for him to escape into Union.
Chapter 5: Lying in Wait[]
Upon Sebastian arriving at the Union City Hall, The Guardian suddenly forms out of the pile of corpses around the building's fountain, having been summoned by Stefano's Aperture. The beast can either be slain or avoided, which will award the player with one achievement each.
Chapter 7: Lust for Art[]
Multiple Guardians can be encountered in the Business District. Two Guardians initially patrol the streets whilst two more will spawn if Sebastian investigates the Residual Memories in the area. One of these memories involves a MOBIUS soldier attempting to incinerate a pile of corpses in the street, only for said corpses to merge into a Guardian that brutally kills him. Said Guardian will then jump down from a nearby roof to ambush Sebastian. The other Guardian will attack if Sebastian investigates the Residual Memory near the APC.
Strategy[]
- The Warden Crossbow's Shock Bolts are effective at stunning the Guardian, as it can be shocked for extended periods of time compared to most enemies. If fully-upgraded, Explosive Bolts could also work, as the Guardian has multiple body parts for the shrapnel to embed into and deal extra damage.
- One of the best tactics used to successfully kill the Guardian outside City Hall is to lure it into the oil barrel traps and the camera stasis traps. This slows the creature and leaves it vulnerable for headshots.
- The Sawed-Off Shotgun and the Sniper Rifle are also good choices against the Guardian as they can dispatch the heads very quickly, though both are risky due to the former's closed-ranged requirement, and the latter's slowness.
- If one is not ready to deal with most of the Guardians at the Business District, do not activate the two resonances that spawn the Guardians, having 4 Guardians in the Business District is a very deadly situation as it makes sneaking around them very difficult, and the Lost will make avoiding the 4 of them even harder.
Death Animations[]
- If Sebastian fails to outrun the Guardian during the chase at the end of Chapter 2, the creature will slice off his left leg with its buzzsaw, then cleave him in half along the waist as he writhes around on the floor in pain.
- If the player fails the quicktime event where they first acquire the Knife to wound the Guardian, the creature will saw Sebastian in half.
Achievements.[]
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Sometimes Fighting Isn't The Answer 10  -  Avoided unnecessary bloodshed outside City Hall. |
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Not Running This Time 15 - Defeated the Guardian outside City Hall. This is a secret achievement |
Trivia[]
- The Guardian may be a manifestation of Stefano's artwork called "Rebirth". The artwork depicts beheaded bodies coming together to form an impressive being with multiple limbs upon its back. In a similar fashion, Guardian is formed through the combination of a mass of Union citizen corpses. Furthermore, the creature was first introduced in the events directly after the artwork was seen.
- The large piles of corpses just outside of the Union church and on the ramp leading to The Pit Stop could have been early attempts at creating a Guardian, though none will ever come to being from them no matter how much time has passed.
- It is possible that one of the guardian's heads is that of Emily Lewis, a model who was beheaded by Stefano.
- The Guardian is one among a very tiny handful of enemies to not have any weakpoint that can be exploited for extra damage. While her clusters of heads do pop once the boss has taken enough damage, this is a purely visual effect, and can be observed with a memory editor.
- It would seem that in early stages of development, through experimenting with design ideas for Guardian, distinct aspects of the designs for both Obscura and Aperture were realized, and would later be incorporated into their own creatures.
Gallery[]
Concept Art[]
Screenshots[]
| Characters and Creatures of The Evil Within 2 | ||||||||||||
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| Gameplay • Chapters • Characters & Creatures • Weapons & Equipment | ||||||||||||
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