Outlast 2

[DisturbedSwan]

Started this earlier with a 4 hour session.

 

Didn't really know what to expect really, I liked the original game but thought it ran out of steam within the first 2-3 hours really, with the sequel being set in a completely different locale, with large parts of it outdoors this always seemed like it would be a very different beast.

 

In some regards it's largely the same premise, you get a video recorder very early on, look for collectibles and film key moments to keep a record of your adventures whilst running away and hiding from monstrous looking people.

 

It definitely feels much more polished though, the camcorder itself now has a microphone so you can hear where enemies are at all times and the game has now adopted a Far Cry-esque bandage mechanic which allows you to heal a certain number of times after getting hit by an enemy.

 

The flow of the game is completely different, yes you're still largely running away and hiding from people but parts of the game now have an almost Uncharted-esque/Tomb Raider 2013 feel to it where you'll transition directly into a set-piece, a whole village will be chasing you, you'll be forced to find a path under a house, crawl through blood/guts etc. whilst the townsfolk are poking holes into the floor to try to stab you, you see torches light up in the distance of folks looking for you and if you look behind during one of these sequences you'll see guys chasing you, you then have to make your way up some kind of lift or through some kind of hatch usually to escape them.

 

When these set-pieces work they're so incredibly exhilarating, they get the heart pumping and the adrenaline pumping like not many other games can, certainly no other horror games I've played and they're truly a joy to play through. But the problem with them is is that some of the time they're just a massive exercise in frustration, not finding a small hole in a fence, a place to crawl under a building or a mechanism to move forward in time will end up with you getting killed over and over and over again, and it, unfortunately becomes incredibly frustrating, boring and not scary in the slightest. You kind of have to luck out with the set-pieces, find the path the game wants you to find on your first attempt and then they're incredible, but if you have to repeat the same section ad nauseam the fun and excitement wares off somewhat. I even had to resort to looking at a guide to help me progress in some instances as I was just so lost at where the game wanted me to go.

 

My other slight disappointment is it's just not that scary really, the sound design is excellent and some of the sounds you hear whilst walking about are truly horrifying and make you wonder how the hell the design team came out with them but apart from that I just haven't been that scared by it. There's some flashback sections which take place in a School which have a creepier vibe to them and caused me to get some chills down the back of my neck, but the Ranch parts of the game aren't really that scary, I don't find the monsters scary at all, just ugly as hell to look at in that mangled-mutated The Hills have Eyes kind of way.

 

The vibe of the game is very much The Hills have Eyes mixed in with Resident Evil 4's Los Ganados and Tomb Raider (2013)'s Solarri cult, you creep through corn fields, tons of rickety looking wooden huts, Ponds/Lakes, mines and lots of religious sites like Church's, chapels etc. Lots of horrible religious imagery as expected, TONS of gore, mutilated bodies, children's corpses etc. which is all pretty dark, most of the notes you pick up and read on your travels are rather grim too, especially the stuff about pregnancy.

 

The production values are WAY higher than the original game, and almost on-par with Resident Evil 7 I'd say, I cannot believe an Indie studio managed to make a game that looks this incredible, you really wouldn't know this was worked on by a very small team at all, the scope of the game is huge too, the original Outlast took me about 4-6 hours to finish (maybe a little longer) but I'm just out of Chapter 1 and have 4 hours clocked so far.

 

So yeah, despite its flaws it's one of the most compelling horror games I've ever played, I really hope it doesn't suffer by being too long but at the moment it's just enraptured me like not many other horror games this year have, at this early stage I'd even put it on par with Resident Evil 7, a completely absorbing, tense thrill-ride so far, lost all track of time and space whilst playing it, really hope it continues.

 

A few pictures too:

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Finished it today, took me more or less exactly 8 hours, thought it might've been longer than that after yesterday but very pleased it didn't outstay its welcome.

 

This game has really surprised me with just how amazing it is, I've had only 1 small instance of the frustration I encountered yesterday and the hide-and-seek was mostly put to the wayside to make way for seemingly endless chase-sequence set pieces where you're on your toes at all times, adrenaline pumping and heart pounding away, for horror game aficionado's that have always wanted to feel what it's like to be in a horror film, THIS IS that game, it's just an absolutely phenomenal achievement in horror game design.

 

The latter half just felt like a descent into hell, the scenery gets more and more grim, the enemies chasing you more and more oppressive and darker in tone, all very Silent Hill. The game really manages to ware you down psychologically and mentally and some of the school sequences near the end really did scare the shit out of me. The music and sound design is absolutely incredible, it always makes you feel like there's someone around where there isn't and is filled with eerie inhuman animalistic sounding horrific noises, the music really helps compliment this too, especially in the chase sequences, a booming drum-track will come on that'll really help get your heart rate up and fully immersed into the chase sequence you're currently involved in.

 

I know I tend to exaggerate a bit, but this is a true masterpiece of horror game design, if Naughty Dog made a psychological Horror game this would be it, and I don't think they could've probably done it better than Red Barrels have managed here, it is one of the best horror games I've ever played, I'd rate it far higher than Resident Evil 7 (something I honestly never dreamt I'd say) and almost all horror games in recent memory. It borrows a few ideas from Uncharted, Silent Hill, Tomb Raider 2013, Resident Evil and lots of 'found footage' films like REC and The Blair Witch Project but it definitely feels a much more finished, polished game this time around to the hide-and-seek shallow nature of the original.

 

It really is a masterpiece and there's not much I'd change about it, the frustrating sections I found in the first half of the game largely dissipated (with the exception of one mildly annoying power outlets in water puzzle/chase) and it was just like being in a constant heart-in-mouth chase sequence for the second half of the game, an incredible oppressive thrill-ride into the darkest places of the human condition.

 

If you're a horror game fan, I really cannot recommend it enough, the trial and error frustration of the early game will put some off and I can't blame you but I urge you to give it a go regardless, it really must be played.

 

More pics below: