Outlast Review

You're in a pitch-black corridor, with only the night vision mode of your camera to help you see, but suddenly you realize your power supply is running low. You search the surrounding area desperately seeking batteries so you can continue the game with a clear view of what's in front of you when without even a hint of warning, a madman bursts through the door armed with a club.

You attempt to outrun him and hide in a nearby locker, but soon after, he comes by and starts looking for you. Immediately, you hear the doors of the lockers next to yours being flung open, and suddenly - BOOM - camera batteries run out, and now you're alone in the darkness, defenseless against a mental patient, knowing full well that death is inevitable. Situations like these come up frequently in Outlast, and it's both incredibly bone-chilling and all-around awesome!

The plot of Outlast isn't particularly groundbreaking for the horror genre. You're placed in the shoes of Miles Upshur, a freelanced journalist who gets a tip-off about trouble brewing at the local insane asylum. Naturally, Miles breaks in to check it all out, and, as you can imagine, things quickly spiral out of control. While the game isn't by any means groundbreaking storytelling (and the ending leaves a bit to be desired), it does deliver on containing some incredibly creepy characters and you soon find yourself not trusting a single character - walking around the various mental patients may be the slowest I've ever walked in a video game due to the anticipation of being attacked at any moment.

Meanwhile, the game looks grim. Character models are fairly terrifying; there are blood and body parts in nearly every room, the coloring is incredibly gloomy... and that all adds to the atmosphere. Graphics can be used against this game for a variety of reasons, namely the character designs, but they help bring an added depth of despair and gloominess to an already creepy game.

One thing it manages to do incredibly well is to use sound (or lack thereof) to creep the player out. The number of times I walked down the corridor with no music - just my character's breath and footsteps to keep me company - made me incredibly tense. Building anticipation is something developer Red Barrells has clearly mastered, and boy, was it intense.

All in all, Outlast is a fantastic game that really is one of the highlights of the horror game genre, creating a tense, chilling atmosphere while giving you lots of great memories(or not-so-great ones, depending on how you look at it). the game is sure to make you tense and is free for Playstation Plus members. That's a steal! Everyone who thinks they can cope with this kind of game should definitely check it out. It's one of the genre's greats.