| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 4 | 7.80 |
| Overall | 7.80 |
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You slowly walk your way down the dimly lit blood stained hallway. Guts are scattered all over, you shiver at what kind of monster could have done this to another human. You reach the door you were searching for and slowly open it. A grunt is heard from the pitch black room within, what is it? You use the night vision on your camera to see into the void, only objects a few feet in front of you are visible. With only one way forward you step into the unknown knowing you are not alone. Where is he? where is the killer? You hear footsteps to your right, you don't see anything. Your heart rate gets faster and faster, someone is getting closer, where?! You turn and an insane inmate is starring you right in the face! You run as fast as you can, over a table, into another room, under a bed. Did he see you enter, please don't look under the bed. You see feet in front of the bed, they stop; seconds feel like hours... he bends down and finds you. Next thing you see is a knife entering your torso. That is one of the more tame scenarios found throughout Outlast, a first person true horror game where the player has no offensive capabilities. Outlast was made with one thing in mind, to capture the feeling of being hunted, of being in constant fear for your life. Our protagonist, Miles, is a journalist looking for a story at an insane asylum. Armed with only his video camera he enters the asylum and of course gets trapped inside. Oh and all the guards have been brutally murdered and their blood fills all corridors which are now teaming with insane killers. Have fun! Outlast is all about atmosphere and a sense of dread that around any corner something can jump out. I have not jumped out of my chair in terror like I did with this game since the old dog jumping through the window Resident Evil days. The reason this game so effective at being scary, besides being defenseless, is how it uses darkness. A good half of the game takes place in complete darkness where one must use the camera's night vision to see. Anyone who has seen this technique used in horror movies knows how creepy it can be, that effect is augmented when it is you in complete control of the camera and having to explore the darkness while something wants to kill you. Using night vision drains battery, meaning you either need to be quick to get out of the darkness or spend time exploring to find more batteries. Exploring in a beautiful sunlit fantasy world is a blast. Exploring in a dark bloody asylum where any wrong turn can kill you is horrifying. What I am trying to stress here is that this game is seriously scary, it is not uncommon for some to start the game and immediately quit after a few minutes. The way Outlast is structured is like a haunted house. It cleverly blocks off certain paths and leads you into a mostly linear "ride" deep into the horrors of the asylum. Exploration consists of exploring an optional room or hallway, while limited in scope there are plenty of cool things besides the much needed batteries that you may find, mainly most of the optional storytelling notes. Most of the time though will be spent moving forward toward your next goal. Sometimes this maybe a lonely stroll through a gut filled hallway, other times you may be chased by a giant man who wants to rip your head off. That's where the limited escape options come in, running feels almost Mirror's Edge like but far more limited. Miles can leap over small objects, jump over gaps or quickly climb up objects to reach higher ground. Running works great at times (sometimes its a scripted moment which is exciting but lacks the tension of the rest of the game) but if you really want to survive you need to learn to hide. At it's core Outlast is basically a stealth game where you have no offense, its all about avoiding detection and escaping. Many times in your journey you will reach a large area of interconnected rooms and halls with a sort of objective like turn three valves. In that area is one or more killers who react to any sound you make and of course will see you if you are strutting around. Hiding in shadows, slowly crouching or hiding are all great strategies to use as you navigate these areas. The problem is most of the time you can't see anything, which means you must rely on sound and let me tell you when you hear someone getting close but you cant really tell where they are you will be a nervous wreck. Outlast is a simple game, what I described above is for the most part as deep as the game gets. It has a simple premise and executes it extremely well. The game is rather short, 6 or so hours but it feels just right never overstaying it's welcome. Outlast is a fantastic first time experience. Here is the problem, after the first go around and even during certain segments you start to see through the illusion and begin to notice how the game works. For starters there is almost no penalty for death, if you die you simply start right at beginning of whatever segment you were at with all the batteries you had before you entered. A player can sort of groundhog day their way through any one area. The first time you try to complete a stealth section it may take you 15 minutes just to find two valves for instance, you have almost no batteries left and then you make a mistake costing your life. Well the second time through the area it takes 5 minutes meaning you have way more batteries and now know where the bad guy will be coming from. As you play you will notice some strange AI tendencies as well. For instance you can run under the same bed like 3 times and the killer will walk into the room (the only place you can be in) stop and walk out. He never learns. Of course in multiple playthroughs knowing where all the jump scares will be completely ruins the entire experience, just like going through a haunted house twice. If this game had dynamic AI where each time you played enemy placement would be different it would be a masterful game, as it stands it is a great one time experience. Outlast looks great running at a mostly solid 60FPS and in 1080p resolution. The look of the asylum and the art direction in general is fantastic. The only complaint is that there maybe too much gore everywhere lessening the impact of seeing dead bodies. The musical score is understandably subtle and does a great job scaring the crap out of you just by playing something that sounds like danger is around the corner. The story is one of the weakest aspects of the game, it's mostly told through notes and involves some cliche nazi experiment plot. No characters stand out and the ending is probably the weakest part of the game. What I can say about Outlast is that it achieves it's main goal which is to provide around six hours of solid horror gameplay where its about hiding not fighting. I believe it is absolutely worth experiencing it if you enjoy horror games but anyone looking for a deep gameplay experience will need to look elsewhere. I commend the developers Red Barrels for making a true to the genre horror experience but I wish the game could have been more than just a one time thrill ride. |
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Posted by Dvader Wed, 12 Feb 2014 02:25:11
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 05:56:20
This game tickles my fancy.
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Dvader (7m)