The Evil Within's First-Person Mode Is Locked Behind A Bethesda.Net Login

After Microsoft finalized its acquisition of Bethesda earlier this month, a whole lot of the publisher's games went live on Game Pass, including The Evil Within. Players have since found that the Game Pass version of The Evil Within has quite a few improvements--including a first-person version of the game that bafflingly requires players to have a Bethesda.Net account.

The changes were initially picked up by YouTuber Jigzaw_Killer, who called the Game Pass version of the game "basically a remaster." A Eurogamer article later pointed out that the game's new modes required a Bethesda.Net account to access. A shot of the game's menu shows extra features such as first-person mode and infinite ammo mode greyed out with a prompt asking the player to log in to Bethesda.Net for access.

A Bethesda spokesperson confirmed to GameSpot that this would be the case for all players, though didn't specify why the Bethesda.Net login was needed. The spokesperson also clarified that the improved version of the game on Game Pass was originally made for a Deluxe edition of The Evil Within that didn't end up getting released.

"In 2018 we added First Person Mode, 'AKUMU' (super hardcore) Mode, and additional bonuses to a planned multi-platform version of The Evil Within Digital Deluxe," the spokesperson said. "Due to unforeseen issues, it was not possible to release this update as originally intended. For the recent addition to Xbox Game Pass for PC, rather than remove the bonus content, we opted to offer the enhanced BNET version of the game, so new players can enjoy those bonuses. While a BNET login is required to access these additions, no linking is required to enjoy The Evil Within as it was originally released."

The Eurogamer article on the changes reported that the new modes were worthwhile and that the first-person viewpoint made the game scarier, though its implementation is a little janky due to cutscenes remaining in third-person.