Review: Outlast

     Let me start off by saying that I am very new to the survival horror genre. I started by playing Slender the Arrival only a couple months ago, but there was nothing that occurred in Slender that would prepare me for what I experienced in Outlast. With the bulk of the game in total darkness, I became terrified in ways that I couldn't previously imagine. This game is not for the faint of heart and even those with strong minds will have trouble sleeping after this one.

     Created by Red Barrels Games, Outlast puts you in the shoes of Miles Upshur, a brave journalist trying to discover what occurred at the broken down Mount Massive Asylum. Upon further investigation Miles finds that the asylum is by no means abandoned. Armed with your trusty camcorder, you have no chance of defending yourself, meaning you have three options: run, hide, or die. If anything, hiding is your weapon and I did A LOT of it while running away from the numerous creepers lurking around the mysterious asylum. 
Another aspect of the game is scavenging. To capture everything for your article on film (or to be able to find everything that you need in the dark) you must search batteries throughout the entire environment, which can make for some pretty stressful situations as I would find myself hurrying to find a battery as my last one was about to run out. 
The game is about 3 and a half to 4 hours long and I spent the entire time trying not to pee my pants. There are jump scares galore in this game, but somehow tastefully done rather than cheap overused tricks. 

     The game also looks gorgeous! The filter used with the camera creates a very realistic effect as if the player was actually experiencing the game through the eye of a camcorder making the experience 10 times more horrific. Really my only quip with the game is that in between all the intense scenes of running away from some of the creepiest enemies I've ever encountered, there are very tedious objective missions that seem to slow the pace of the game down. I felt as if the game could have been more about critical thinking instead of the monotonous "activate this switch" kind of objectives.

     Although this game made me crazier than I already was, I absolutely loved it. The story was intriguing, the dialogue was disturbing and gave me goosebumps, and at the end of it all I wanted it to keep going. Having never been one to play many indie games, I was extremely impressed by the work done by Red Barrels Games. They are a top notch crew and definitely a gaming team that I will keep my eye on. 



I give Outlast 8 used batteries out of 10.

- Eric

Should the horrors of Mount Massive Asylum be too much for you, here is a link to my streaming of the game: Outlast Playlist

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