Fear-filled confinement
Untold terrors await survival horror fans behind Mount Massive Asylum's crumbling facade. An anonymous tip has led investigative reporter Miles Upshur to the dilapidated psychiatric hospital, where he soon scores a horrific scoop. Unchecked experiments have left the asylum's patients hollow shells of their former selves, twisting their minds and mutilating their flesh. Depraved lunatics, freed from their blood-stained padded cells, now stalk the facility's corpse-littered halls. And in hushed tones, broken men whisper of The Walrider, an otherworldly entity at the heart of the inhumane research inflicted on the patients. Uncovering the asylum's secrets (and living to tell them) drives progression in Outlast, the debut horror romp from developer Red Barrels.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent put indie survival horror on the map when it released to wide-spread critical and consumer praise in 2009. Comparing Outlast to Frictional Game's standout title comes easy, as the game pays homage to the horrifying classic at almost every turn of its dimly lit corridors. Fans of modern PC horror games will find its first-person exploration-driven gameplay instinctively familiar. Placed in the shoes of a defenseless main character, players must find their way through the game's unkempt prison ward environments.
Horror fans who prefer subtlety will find very little of it in Outlast. Instead, it features its own unique blend of in-your-face frights. While much of Amnesia: The Dark Descent's unsettling atmosphere came from never knowing what unknown terrors lay ahead, Outlast derives its main scares from what players can see. Gruesome sights drench the environments with buckets of gore and players frequently end up in close proximity with the deformed madmen roaming the asylum. Detection leads to heart-pounding chases and brutal deaths if cornered. Focusing on adrenaline-rush encounters thankfully doesn't make the game any less terrifying. It might, however, not fit every horror enthusiast's tastes.
Timid players will take a slower-paced approach to progressing through Mount Massive Asylum, leaning around corners and ducking into lockers to avoid malevolent lunatics. Pitch-dark environments make stealth-based playthroughs manageable. Enemies won't notice you if you crouch in the shadows and keep a reasonable distance. Though the darkness hinders your own senses, the handy night vision on your video camera provides the upper hand as long as you conserve its battery power. When attempts at stealth fail, you can rely on speed and reflexes to outrun pursuers, hurdling over obstacles and slamming doors behind you before diving into a hiding spot. Your character's athleticism also comes in handy when squeezing through tight spaces, jumping across ledges and sidling along narrow ledges.
Outlast delivers bursts of terror-fueled adrenaline regardless of your preferred way of tackling the game. One heart-pounding sequence had me escape the clutches of a sadistic skeleton-thin doctor, shuffling from under one bed to another through a hospital ward filled with his mangled torture victims. Eventually, I needed to switch to evasive tactics when I came up against a door blocked by a cabinet. I frantically pushed it slowly to the side as the doctor bee-lined straight for me, readying his scissor-like blades.
Standard video game obstacles frequently block progression, including mundane tasks like turning valves to lower water levels or collecting fuses for a busted control panel. Accomplishing these tasks always requires avoiding one of the asylum's aggressive residents. Memorizing their patrol patterns, however, becomes easy after careful observation. Although the batteries powering your camera's night vision drain at a fast clip, replacements are relatively plentiful in the levels, and represent the game's only resource management. These simplistic gameplay elements, however, don't hinder enjoyment, and allow players to focus fully on immersion in the tense atmosphere.
The only real disappointment in Outlast comes from its hackneyed storytelling. Overused clichés, like evil corporations and supernatural experiments gone wrong, prevented me from taking the plot seriously. Although cryptic documents scattered around the environment try to build suspense and mystique, I never particularly cared about solving the game's mysteries. With that said, the creepy asylum setting (though overused across horror books, films and games) kept me engrossed despite a lack of originality.
Though flawed, Outlast succeeds at its main objective: delivering a terrifying experience. I could only play the game in brief chunks, and needed long breaks between play sessions to mantle my courage for continuing. I breathed a sigh of relief after every save point, and felt an immense sense of accomplishment surviving each tract of gameplay. You're rarely allowed to feel safe in Outlast, and that in itself is an accomplishment. Red Barrels has made an admirable contribution to horror gaming that is well worth a look.
8 PC - PS4 Style: 1-Player Survival Horror Publisher: Red Barrels Developer: Read Barrels Release: September 4, 2013 Rating: M
| Concept | Trapped inside an asylum overrun with mutated lunatics, you must rely on stealth and speed to survive the night. |
| Graphics | Good-looking visuals enhance the horrifying atmosphere, but a thin layer of grain coats the game’s textures, giving it a fuzzy look close-up. The effect is sort of justified, as you spend most of the game looking through the lens of a video camera. |
| Sound | Ambient sounds kick in at the right moments, heightening tensions and building up a constant sense of unease. |
| Playability | Ditches clunky controls typical of its genre for nimble character movement. |
| Entertainment | If fear-based games are your thing, this one will provide some solid scares and grisly spectacles. |
| Replay Value | Moderate |