Outlast | a Review
originally posted on 17/08/2020;
Hello everyone, I am the clinically not insane G.E.M.Simov, a man who has never been to a psychiatrist before so I wouldn’t know, and I’m giving you all the scoop on Outlast.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it. Also, I am a gameplay designer and a writer so I got the credentials to talk shit.
Gameplay
Outlast is a horror game, and, as one can expect, thus features minimal mechanical complexity. In the case of the game that is being spoken of, that is due to a multitude of story-related reasons as well as a few basic facts of the horror genre that, sadly, lead into this state of affairs.
The reason why gameplay in horror games, and, as a function of that, Outlast, is because being unable to do much makes the player feel more vulnerable, weak and exposed. If one could start blasting their gun or swinging a sword as soon as the big baddie of the game showed up, the reaction would not be one of fear and unease, it would be a vastly different one.
A horror game does not try to empower the player. A horror game tries to make the player as weak and feeble as it can, so as to make the player fearful of the enemies they can encounter - and not only the enemies. In horror games, the player worries about any character they encounter, for said character might do something bad to them.
Thus, Outlast lacks mechanical complexity. The main thing the player can do in that game is walk. Additions to that are the ability to sprint and crouch. Addendums to crouching are interactions with beds and lockers which allow the player to slip either under the bed or inside the locker to hide from enemies. The player can also open and close doors, slowly if they so choose. That’s as far as it goes.
Other things the player can do, but these things, sadly, do not have a vast effect on the game world, are, as follows: Pull up the camera. Turn on night vision for the camera. Put down the camera. With this limited set of options, the player cannot fight back. The player can only run and hide.
That is step one to making a horror game, and Outlast has got that much. The movement is not bad, in fact it feels quite fluent and responsive to the controls that the player inputs. The game does have a non-issue, and those are its difficulty levels. The game was made with the mindset that it becomes harder the less you can see and the more difficult it is to survive an encounter with an enemy.
Those two things do contribute to making the game harder, but that is not a meaningful increase in difficulty. Sure, it’s not easy to get past enemy X if enemy X can kill the player in 1 hit, sees the player in pitch black and moves just a smidgeon slower than the player does, while the player is sprinting, all the while the player can’t see because they’ve run out of batteries. That’s not easy to get past… But it’s not a reasonable difficulty spike. After all, no human, no matter how malformed, can kill another human, with their bare hands, in a single strike, not without the proper training, preparation and the adequate circumstances.
The reason that it is a non-issue is that some difficulty options are locked at the start of the game, and the player needs to complete it once before they can access those difficulties. But a horror game is something players do not want to replay - even if they enjoyed it, playing through it again is not going to bring with itself the thrills of the first experience. The few challenges that were based around finding items or knowing which way to go are no longer challenges, because the player has completed them before and knows how to get past them.
Difficulties in horror games that do not feature combat or extensive amounts of puzzles are a waste. Other than that, Outlast performs quite well. 2/3
Presentation
Outlast is a horror game. That should inform the player that its presentation is not going to be glamorous and splendid, on average. But Outlast is a bit of a unique fish, in the ocean of horrors. Why? It looks good. The graphics of the game are quite well done. The models, their implementation, the smoothness of everything - Outlast is a very good looking game.
There are many areas where the lighting makes everything look that much better, but, alas, due to the game being a horror game, the player is not allowed to see, and so the sections that do have lighting look very good, while the rest of the game, which is shrouded in considerable darkness, does not look like anything at all. That would have been a big issue, but Outlast pulls a trick from out of its sleeve - the camera.
As mentioned in the Gameplay quarter of this review, there is a camera, and it has night vision as an option. Thus, the player CAN actually see in the dark, by using the camera. Of course, everything becomes green and loses its smoothness, as well as its quality, but what’s important here is that the player can see. On top of that, this adds to the atmosphere.
The music in horror games is rarely ever even present, let alone good. Outlast goes along with the music not being present, although what little there is manages to remain quite decent in quality. Of course, the loud pangs and bangs when some enemy finds the player are ever present and infinitely annoying, but somehow they are not as bad as similar techniques used in other horror games or movies. The jump scares are actually not as cheap as most other places.
The sound effects are good. Things sound a certain way, and they don’t feel misplaced or inappropriate, except when they are meant to, although there aren’t that many such situations. The voice acting of the game is also quite good, if not superb. Every character sounds a certain way, and even if some appear similar, that simply adds to the atmosphere. After all, a place like the setting of Outlast is bound to be a little weird.
Overall, the presentation is stellar. I have barely any issues with it, and what issues I did have with it were addressed by the game itself. 3/3
Story
In Outlast, the player puts on the shoes and coat of an investigative journalist who was contacted by a whistleblower. Said whistleblower informed the main character of some nasty stuff happening in the Mount Massive Asylum. That could be a great scoop, and so the main character, Miles Upshur, goes in to have a look.
Alas, things don’t go well, as they never do in horror games. The Asylum is lacking in staff, for inexplicable reasons, the patients are running wild, and there are some secrets to be uncovered. The story takes a very interesting turn, maybe not even halfway through, as it is mostly told through documents, notes and listening to maddened monologues, all of which can be found as early as ten minutes into the game.
The story is very well done. It remains interesting all the way up till the end, and then still remains with the player, if they paid enough attention to it, for it is simply that peculiar. There are not many questions that are asked, even fewer that are answered, but there is one thing I can say for certain - humanity is discussed, as well as its potential for many things. Those are two very broad and wonderful topics that allow for a lot to be said and thought of.
Overall, I had no complaints about the story, whatsoever. It was incredible, all throughout. 3/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? Yes. I am happy to inform you, ladies and gentlemen, that, for a simple in execution horror game that is as standardized and streamlined as it could be, Outlast is something that managed to outlast most other horror games I’ve played before and left me with a warm feeling inside.
It’s a great experience, a little lacking on the game part, due to its nature as a horror game, but there was still a lot for me to do in it. There was always a button being pressed to do something, there were always commands to be issued. It is engaging all the while until the end, even a bit afterwards, it is interesting and memorable. Also cheap! 1/1
Conclusion
9/10. Outlast is a great game, as already mentioned. It possesses the qualities required to make for a masterpiece, and I dare say that it is such a thing, when it comes to horror games. I recommend it to any person who likes playing horror games, and even some who do not, but are not too squeamish or afraid, as the game is tasteful, and the scares are not as startling as most.
I tuck it under my belt, another shining achievement that I proudly display. Covered in filth as it is, it is still quite something. I think the layer of poop is part of the aesthetic - after all, an insane asylum without carers is going to be quite stinky.