Outlast - Full Review (PC, Xbox One and PS4 game)

I don’t often play horror games, especially not ones of such excruciatingly high visual quality, so perhaps I was ill prepared for the nightmare that followed upon deciding that I’d give Outlast a try. 

Developer: Red Barrels
Genre: Survival Horror 
Release date: May 6th, 2014 (PC and PS4), June 18th 2014 (Xbox one) 
Platforms: PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4.
ESRB: M - Mature

I’d found the game listed on Steam with plenty of people saying it was scarier than Amnesia; Amnesia, or what I’d managed of it, had disturbed me beyond measure so I quit playing halfway through. If you’ve heard of Amnesia I’m sure you’re aware of the gruesome reputation that closely follows behind it, Outlast is worse than that. Outlast is another survival horror game that seems to be becoming a more popular choice of game in recent years and this one doesn’t let the genre down. Outlast is set in a psychiatric hospital that is, for the most part, abandoned. You play a freelance journalist called Miles Upshur who is investigating ‘Mount Massive Asylum’ after receiving an anonymous tip-off about some troubling goings on in the asylum. Armed with nothing but a notepad, pen and video camera your job is to escort Miles into the building to expose some kind of conspiracy. Since this is a survival horror game we all know it’s going to be nothing pleasant, and my god, it is not pleasant.

Here's the trailer for your enjoyment.

Gameplay

The gameplay is predominately investigation and survival and you’re restricted to a permanently first person point of view. You’re completely unable to fight or defend yourself apart from in scripted cutscenes and you’re not going to be able to pick up a great deal of items aside from batteries and documents. The fear factor starts here; you’re completely helpless and there are plenty of things to be afraid of in Mount Massive Asylum. You’ll often find yourself running through corridors, vaulting over desks and scrambling under beds or into lockers to hide from the creatures that are hunting you. It’s only until they’ve meandered off are you able to exit and resume traversing through the hospital. The game leads you on with objectives but no map or means of finding out where you’re supposed to be going but the areas are fairly linear, not completely so, and it’s always quite apparent where you’re supposed to be going. There are a few puzzles, dotted here and there, but for the most part the game is dedicated to the horrifying storyline and desperate struggle that comes with it. The puzzles that do exist tend to be very similar to nature to one another so it’s probably a good thing that they’re few and far between.

 This is nothing; just wait until he turns around.  

The game utilizes an interesting mechanism which incorporates the journalism background that Miles’ character comes with; you need to keep your camera turned on. Simply having the camera out doesn’t use up any battery but does allow Miles to record events and for him to write in his journal. Without the camera on you miss out on Miles personal take on what’s happening around him which would be a shame as it really adds to the immersion of the game. The video camera is also your primary means of not tripping over furniture as, for the most part, the asylum is incredibly dark. It’s that type of pressing darkness that keeps you on edge; unable to take another step forward because you just don’t know what’s going to happen. At the beginning of the game I went so far as to lock myself in a pitch black bathroom, the battery low on my camera, where I physically couldn’t bring myself to move for a good two minutes out of pure dread. You quickly realize that by using the night-vision option on your camera you’ll be powering through Poundland’s own brand batteries at a tremendous rate that leaves you, quite literally, powerless. If you’re not constantly searching for batteries you’re going to find yourself unable to continue; locked in some dingy bathroom and hoping that the game enforces some kind of engine that allows your eyes to adjust to the pitch blackness. They don’t. On the plus side, if there is a plus side, this encourages exploration which yields a host of different types of document. These documents all contain the kind of information Miles is looking for for his article, provided he gets out alive that is, and they also usefully fill in all the gaps on what happened in the asylum so you’re not left confused. When you’re all stocked up on battery power you’ll find that the video camera’s night vision casts everything in a pallid, green tinge which makes everything, and everyone, startlingly apparent in the otherwise dim hospital. Those who have seen the gory horror [REC] or Blair Witch Project are no doubt familiar with the subtle but eerie terror that comes with viewing the world through night vision; seeing just enough to navigate but not enough to know the full horrors that lie within a darkened room.

Graphics and environment

The graphics are extremely good, plain and simple. I first noticed it when walking up to the front door of the asylum where I was struck with the sudden clearness and detail that the game boasted. The lighting was fantastic, the breeze through the trees was unnerving and the darkness was pressing in all around me. Further into the game it became obvious that the blood smears, flayed corpses and tortured inmates were all horrifyingly vivid which further added to the grotesque ambiance.

Usually, nobody in their right mind would break into this place.

The colour palette itself is all fairly neutral and mostly shaded in greys, browns and blacks. Rather than bringing the game down this actually elevates it as we are, afterall, in a fairly typical environment. Offices, wards, padded cells and corridors aren’t the most exciting of arenas but they’re all done very well with plenty of little embellishments and details so the areas don’t feel too bare. The normality of the environment is chilling; there are no spooky haunted castles or out of this world space stations to contend with here and I maintain that the best horror games are the ones that could be set within your own town.

At least somebody in this place is sane, I'm with this guy.

A minor complaint of mine is that several areas in the game are completely barred off and it becomes a familiar occurrence to be constantly running into locked doors. I passed this off as very tight hospital security when the place was up and running but in terms of gameplay experience it could have been better. The paths are very linear as I said mostly due to this feature; if it’s an unlocked door then that’s where you’re supposed to go, or failing that, that’s where a battery will be. A little more openness to the facility with maybe a few more random features such as random enemy encounters would have been well placed to add to the fear factor. Some areas are fairly open, one place was particularly maze like, and the increasing desperation to find your way is an emotion the developers could have utilized more.

Characters

The rather unhinged ensemble of characters in Outlast is a large factor in what makes the game so creepy. Jump scares, dark environments and helplessness are all well and good but when you’re faced with those who are truly disturbed you do start to become aware of just how much danger you’re in. With a psychiatric ward as their playground the developers have gone full throttle with dark and disturbing personality quirks and more often than not it’s the non-aggressive ward residents who are most likely to unnerve you. Like you, a lot of these residents are confused, afraid, and just trying to stay alive though several are just trying to make the best of things. Whether it’s a man doing unmentionable things to a headless corpse or a curious, deformed pianist, the characters of Outlast burn themselves into your memory with a lasting residue of unease and nervous laughter. All in all the characters are unique and interesting and I like how it’s not just restricted to the same few who are the main antagonists of the game. Rather, there are characters who will help you; though some in less standard ways than others.

What a gregarious young man.

As an added bonus those documents and hospital files that are littered throughout the game also give you additional detail on who these people were when they were ‘official’ patients of the asylum. One of my only criticisms of the game is the predictable AI that inhibits the enemies. You’ll spend a good portion of the game having to get to certain places or away from certain situations with somebody pursuing you. Provided you’re not seen entering a hiding place like a locker or beneath a bed you’ll never be caught, and that can be pretty frustrating. Even as the enemy bursts into the room they’ll always search one locker that’s not the one you’re hiding in and then give up and go back to patrolling. This rinse and repeat scenario of running, hiding, waiting and going back to whatever it was you were doing can be unfortunately boring. Without a way to distract or lure enemies away from certain areas your other alternative is to just run through and barge your way past the hulking menaces, experiencing the game primarily at a sprinting pace.

That said, it would make the game impossible if you were found every time as once they get their hands on you you’re pretty much screwed. Rather, there should have been some degree of random searching involved where sometimes they check everything, and sometimes they don’t, it would have most certainly made the game tenser due to the unpredictable nature of your pursuers. The combination of clunky AI and sluggish enemies makes the chase scenes a little lacklustre, though not exactly boring. I’ll make a special exception that a certain medical man is a bit more unpredictable due to the looping nature of the area, meaning he could be around any and every corner.

Music and audio

There’s not a great deal of music in the game as the atmosphere is mostly derived from the sensation of being completely alone and helpless. That said, there are sometimes a few high pitched chords shot out at you at roughly the same time a corpse or something worse does. The sudden, loud music does mean that you’ll have to take some additional time to unstick yourself from the ceiling and waste more time lingering in dangerous areas. As if that’s not bad enough you’ll notice that whenever you’re in the proximity of an enemy, whether you see him or not, Miles begins to freak out. His broken, frightened breathing as he tries to remain calm is enough to put even the most hardened gamer on edge, especially if you yourself haven’t yet identified the cause of his fear. The game is generally littered with lovely bits of audio like creaking gates, leaves rustling in the wind and hollowed footfalls on wooden flooring. Quite often I found myself stopping still to listen, trying to figure out if the noises I could hear were being made by Miles or something else, and it’s certainly a suspense builder. Each time you shut a door behind you you’ll be cursing Miles for his blasé attitude to your plight as, for some unknown reason, it is impossible to gently close a door. Instead, Miles feels it necessary to SLAM a door as though he was making a dramatic exit to an argument, how the creatures don’t pick up on this but notice a few little splashes is beyond me.

Overall

As games go Outlast is certainly a memorable experience and by the time you’ve completed it you’ll either feel richly rewarded or deeply distressed. Despite a few of my teething concerns I’d score this game very highly as not only is it a very entertaining game but it’s also produced by a small, lesser known company who are trying to tackle a difficult genre of games. Arguably, it’s too scary for a lot of people to play but since fear is such a subjective thing it’s not really something you can hold against it, besides, it’s a horror game. If you can stomach it then I recommend a play through or, failing that, watch somebody else play it on YouTube as either way you’re not going to want to miss out on the fairly unique experience that Outlast burns into your soul. 

Don't expect any central heating. Seriously.

The Good:

• The documents and notes you find are actually an interesting read
• Love the inclusion of the camera and filming your own footage
• Vibrant and memorable characters
• Very disturbing moments, which is great
• Nice length, lots of hours play and some great locations
• Fantastic ambiance, almost constant feeling of danger
• It's terrifying, if you're not a hardened skeptic.

The Bad:

• Enemies AI could be improved when searching for you
• Protagonist is a bit of a dick.
• The puzzles that are in the same are basically identical
• Miles always SLAMS the doors shut when you're trying to be quiet.

The Score: 9/10 

Last thoughts: That was the best, and worst, time of my life. I want more, so much more, and I want everybody I know to play this so I can watch them freak out. 

The DLC for this game, Whistleblower, is now out and you can read my review of it here.