Outlast (horror game)

[Professor Paul1290]

Has anyone else here played this?

 

I just finished this game and while short (though I guess that's sort of expected for a horror game) it was pretty fun. It sort of played like a bit of Amnesia meets Clock Tower/Haunting Ground meets Uncharted with some Stealth elements.

The enemies aren't quite as creepy nor do they kill you as quickly on contact as in Amneisa: The Dark Descent, but they do tend to hang around longer and require you to deliberately sneak past them in order to proceed more often. It has Clock Tower / Haunting Ground -ish under the bed and in the locker hiding places, but the game also has shadow stealth with crouch and lean that works as you would expect.

 

It also did have a couple features I thought were convenient.

 

Outlast has "grab-corner-with-hand" contextual lean but it's implemented as an additional feature on top of a normal "lean anytime" lean. You can lean anytime you want with Q and E as expected, but if you are at a corner while leaning it will bring the hand up to grab the corner, then you'll pivot around the corner as you turn to peek.

It's not quite as dynamic as I would like and it's a bit picky with what corners it does this with, but normal lean is still there so it doesn't take much away from you.

 

Also, if you are running/sprinting the Q and E lean is disabled and instead they turn into head pivot keys that you can use to look behind you over your shoulder while running. The assumption there seems to be that if you're running you're unlikely to be peeking around obstacles and more likely to be running away from something or someone chasing you, which is a pretty good assumption in this case!

Edited October 27, 2013 by Professor Paul1290

[7upMan]

I just watched a couple of eps of a Let's Play on YT, and that already convinced me that this is decidedly not my kind of game. Just watching it almost gave several heart attacks... ^^

[PsymH]

Same here. Another thing was the funny commentator of the let's play videos

[Loa4ever]

I also watched a let's play. I like the concept of a character being vulnerable, in a place full of mad people :3. I like asylum themes, psychological horror. What I didn't liked in the game was the gore. Will I have the game? No idea... XD.

[brethren]

I'm playing though this now too, and enjoying it. It's very thiefy to me, and kind of stealth in the extreme as you have no weapons/tools and must sneak past everything. Some of the game mechanics are interesting, like the ones mentioned above, and they give you a small taste of what Thief 4 may look like. Some of the lighting is cool too, there's an outside part where you need to find a location and it's so dark you can only see your path when lightning strikes (or if you use your camcorder). Somewhat spooky.

[SeriousToni]

I stopped playing it since of the repetive gameplay and it was not scary but dark only.

[Bridge]

I thought it was a fine game. The story is utter garbage and it is highly linear with very little to do apart from the occasional "puzzle" but it didn't really annoy me because it only took me around 4 and a half hours to beat. The lighting is excellent (especially with the camera on + night vision - very moody) and I found the music to be decent (played by real musicians + conducted by the composer). Also, despite what some people say (most people, unfortunately) I thought it was really scary. There is an abundance of weak jumpscares that often failed to even elicit a reaction from me but the game is filled with slow and agonizingly tense stealth sections as well as bombastic chase scenes that I found to be effective. Less so towards the end, but there is one section in the game that I found to be brilliantly orchestrated in every way. I think if you've played the game you know to what I'm referring, but I think all of the flaws (and it has plenty) are offset by wonderful moments like this and a consistent aesthetic design that is very much lacking in most games. It's certainly got nothing on games like Penumbra and Amnesia but it is well worth the playthrough.