Outlast Review
Played on Xbox Series X
Developed by Red Barrels
Released 4th September 2013
Thinking back to the early days of the PS4/Xbox One generation, you tend to find many gems of the past that not only defined entire genres but also grew to become household names. One such instance is 'Outlast'. Growing to pave the way for "AAA indie" studios, repopularising the no-combat horror formula that 'Amnesia' brought about, and overall being a megastar compared to its other horror contemporaries, the story of 'Outlast's development and success is quite spectacular. Despite it being Red Barrels' first game, the studio was comprised of veterans in the games industry. Whether it is an animator with 15 years of experience or the co-founders having worked on giants like 'Uncharted', 'Splinter Cell', 'Assassin's Creed' and 'Prince of Persia', the small yet competent team of 10 were able to come together using their experience to produce a game that looked like it was made by a team of 100.
The development process wasn't easy for them, as, after leaving their respective positions at studios like Ubisoft Montreal, they had to work on this concept with 12 months of no salary, no publishers and no investment money. They were able to turn this bleak moment into a driving force as, after many publishers refused to invest in this standout concept, the team was able to scrounge up as much money as they could to apply to the Canada Media Fund for a second time, proving they had the money and the ideas, and received their $1.4 million worth of budget. The team had 14 months to deliver a full, playable experience before the budget would sink from the 10-person payroll, and so that the game could be released before the overwhelming noise of the next generation. From 2012 to 2013, a trailer concept developed into a vertical slice before evolving into the full-scale project that would be playtested at PAX East, with 2-hour queues building up to play the 15-minute demo. From there, and a summertime full of crunch hours, the team brought about one of the most definitive horror games of the last decade. Red Barrels not only proved that they could make a smash hit without having to sell any equity of their studio to another company, but that the once-turned-down idea that was deemed as "not being able to turn a profit" would result in a $64 million franchise (by 2018).
Story
Like most horror experiences, the story of 'Outlast' begins incredibly strong, before slowly dwindling to a lacklustre ending. The summary here is that you play as Miles Upshur, a journalist who receives an anonymous e-mail about Murkoff Corporation's inhumane experiments at a psychiatric hospital. Investigating leads you down a rabbit hole of trying to survive in a mental asylum that has been overthrown by its patients and ties to MKUltra programs. Going into this, I expected the game to be the standard 10-hour campaign, but after beating it in one session, I found out it can be beaten in 3 hours. Despite its less-than-expected length, the game's pacing was consistent and upheld the terror introduced in its beginning moments. From the first scare to the last, the game never lost momentum and didn't rush through any of its concepts or themes. However, after dealing with Richard Trager, one of the game's antagonists, the game does enter this "epilogue" state where it probably should've ended after Father Martin's burning cross fiasco instead of the ending we did receive.
There is a lot of discourse about whether the ending in this game is good, as many find it unsatisfying and confusing, but I found it to be the opposite. I still think it's one of the weaker parts of not just the story, but the entire game, but it handles this whole MKUltra perspective uniquely with a shocking and fresh ending, whereas most games end with some cheery solution to the threat they nearly died surviving. I still don't particularly enjoy the "supernatural" turn of events, as that shift to the Walrider being the focal point in the underground laboratories felt quite jarring compared to the psychological abominations we were dealing with previously. In general, this whole narrative of simply trying to stay alive for as long as possible as a regular Joe was as effective as it is simple, and the moments it started to deviate from it, I found it to lose that terror effect it had been building up via the enigmatic dialogue from the patients or environmental storytelling. The only time the horror remained despite the exposition dumps was when the videotape explained the background of all that went wrong. Other times, like when scientist Wernicke confronts you, it felt slightly forced to rationalise further a nightmarish scenario that thrived better off its incomplete story. Besides the ending not being as fulfilling as the rest of the plot, most, if not all, issues I've had with the game's narrative are nitpicks for my preferences in horror, because this was a telling of a great story.
Gameplay
Bringing back that sense of hopeless horror that 'Amnesia' popularised, 'Outlast' definitely reset the trend of run-and-hide games. Nowadays, the only type of horror we get is survival horror, especially with the biggest games in recent memory being remakes of the cult classics that kickstarted the genre like 'Silent Hill' or 'Resident Evil'. So when I finally played this, and I had no option to fight back, genuine fear was found. Deep down in its DNA, the game is a stealth horror where your only options for dealing with enemies are to hide from them or run for your life if you are spotted.
The unique part of 'Outlast' is that you carry a camera that lets you see things in the dark using its night vision toggle. Having to run into complete darkness and hide in lockers, under beds, or around corners is tense, especially when all you can see are your pursuer's brightly lit eyes closing the gap between you. This scenario creates a unique type of fear that I haven't experienced in a while. The combination of the meticulously designed levels and the expert way in which all the mechanics work together adds to the overall intensity of the situation. Whether it was a regular psychotic patient chasing you with a knife or the game's infamous Chris Walker's hulking physique stomping his way towards you, there are chase sequences aplenty that bring back a tension different from the stealthy hide'n'seek gameplay that is mainly found here.
The only other key features worth noting are the notes and documents in the game that provide context to each area, character or plot point. Additionally, in tune with your journalism side, whenever you have your camera out, you're essientally recording what's happening. If you capture a significant moment or scenery, your player character will have notes on what happened that you can read to develop your connection to the story further.
Besides this, there are only the run and hide mechanics. Sometimes you'll be required to grab a specific key or turn a valve, but traversing to it would consist of that run-and-hide foundation, which is fine considering the game is 3 hours long. With the threat in each area being cycled between each other, it never hits a point of staleness. The main objective does hit that repetitivity flaw, but because it's so sidelined to your attempt at survival and escape, it doesn't become a detriment to the rest of the game.
However, what disrupted part of my experience was finding out halfway through the game that the player character ran faster than all the chasing enemies. This made stealthing unnecessary and led me to blasting through the otherwise slower-paced areas. There were times when the atmosphere and situation were so tense that I still felt inclined to sneak around and hide, mostly during Chris Walker's segments, but knowing that I wasn't in as much of immediate danger as before did shatter that hopeless horror illusion that the game spent so long and tried so hard to maintain. Despite this, this game is still an immaculate horror experience.
It has the tension, the payoff horror with some well-constructed jump scares that were unsuspecting (at least for me) and a gameplay loop that felt fresh and playtested to its better limits. Compared to other horror games, especially the ones from today, it doesn't feel like there is anything else like this. Many others go for that survival horror approach, which is still terrifying and entertaining, but the ones that stick to the non-combat aspect don't feel as seamless or fluid as 'Outlast' has felt. The lack of run-and-hide horror games is a testament to how vital effective encounter design is and just how impressively it was executed here.
Characters
The characters felt like definitive representations of horror caricatures. An unfortunate protagonist, a schizophrenic believer of the ongoing chaos, the charismatic yet brutalist antagonist, the rampant monster; there are a lot of archetypes here that you've seen in plenty of horror games within, not just the last decade, but possibly their whole existence. However, here they work so well. The personalities feel dynamic and varied without overstepping each other's narrative presence. Everyone here plays their role to the utmost, and as a result, it makes for many memorable moments throughout. The protagonist, despite being mute, experiences so much trauma here that there is no surprise that you end up feeling for him as if they are you - a case of fantastic immersion. Everyone in the cast has a highlight within this short 3-hour journey; from Chris Walker's introduction to Richard Trager's iconic, and probably one of the best-scripted scenes ever.
Atmosphere
Brilliant. The atmosphere is brilliant. It's suffocating, tense, grotesque and jam-packed with everything needed to make a horror experience thrive. The visual design being grounded in reality makes it feel so much more heavy-hitting, and despite its somewhat outdated visuals of a 2013 game, its approach to visuals being demented, dark and unsettling brushes away any issues with its graphics. Watching an officer impaled on rhubarb bleed out using your night vision, walking through a bloodied hallway with many patients losing their sanity in the corners, witnessing some of them become victims to the other patients' antics, running away from the disfigured villains of the game, and more is all so gruelling and drives home the need to escape. One of my favourite instances of diegetic design occurs in this game, as once you drop your camera and retrieve it, whenever you bring it up for night vision, there is a prominent crack on it that works so beautifully with its aesthetics.
These rustic and gruesome designs are remarkably accompanied by the sound design, which is key to a truly memorable tale of terror. The ragged breathing, the mumbling of insanity, the pressuring footsteps; there is so much here that complements the visuals and makes them rise to a level higher. The soundtrack is also phenomenal in delivering that trepidation that is prevalent throughout. Still, none of the tracks stuck with me after the credits rolled, meaning they, at best, were backstage boosters rather than spotlight stealers. A decade after its release, unsurprisingly, there were no performance issues.
Story - 7.5/10
Gameplay - 8.5/10
Characters - 8.5/10
Atmosphere - 9/10
Great
A standout horror experience with nothing but nitpicks as flaws.
Whistleblower DLC
Released 6th May 2014
Building off the story established in the base game, 'Whistleblower' takes place before, during and after the main events where you play as software engineer Waylon Park, the person who sent the e-mail to our main protagonist - the one who blew the whistle on Murkoff's whole immoral operation - the "Whistleblower". After being found to send that e-mail out, Waylon Park is captured and tortured by Murkoff's scientists as part of their dream-therapy program, which incites this breakout of the patients, which leads to the player's journey in the base game. A fascinating concept with a just execution, as you'll mostly be taken through the areas of the base game backwards, trying also to escape. Through the notes, documents, and self-written thoughts of the player character, I found that their trauma ingrained here is more guilt-ridden than that of fear, which I liked.
The psychopathic patients you'll be running into in this 2-hour tale consist of 2 new caricatures besides the base game's threats, like the cannibal twins or Chris Walker. Frank Manera, wielding a bone saw, was terrifying, especially with how relentless he is in the chase to you. Still, his screen presence was probably as intimidating as any regular patient you had to run from in the base game, as he lacked quite a bit of that unique personality that made the base game's villains so memorable. However, the other antagonist, Eddie Gluskin, was a force of pure terror. His whole plotline, though relatively short, clocking in about 30 minutes out of the entire DLC, was unforgettable with how diabolical of a demeanour he had, with imagery of his environment being so vile and messed-up I genuinely had to pause the game because of how shocked I was. An impeccable threat that was unfortunately sidelined due to being in an expansion.
It's clear that the developers learned from their shortcomings with the base game, as the ending this time felt much more conclusive and fulfilling. But its cliffhanger-esque final scene that never gets built upon (at least from my knowledge of the sequels) did annoy me as much as it did intrigue me.
The gameplay stays the same with the exact case of repeating goals, hide'n'seek gameplay loop and chase sequences. This isn't bad, but it does feel less coherent here as the level design will vary between being extremely linear or lacking indication of where to go (though that might just be me being dumb). It also raises the issue of the repetition of tasks, as this continued length of the gameplay's formula leads to this flaw becoming more noticeable; luckily, it never makes itself too present. Also, the inclusion of the camera here, despite not being a journalist, was done cleverly without feeling forced or excluded. While the issue of being significantly faster than your pursuers persists here, there is a point within this expansion where this doesn't become the case anymore. It presents a genuinely intense moment of fear that I didn't expect to feel again since I've already experienced most of the type of horror that the game had to offer so far. The aesthetics here continue to be excellent, ramping up the disturbing nature of the visuals and audio to 11, almost as if the base game was the testing phase somehow.
Story - 7.5/10
Gameplay - 8/10
Characters - 8/10
Atmosphere - 9/10
The DLC does its duty to expand upon the sick world of 'Outlast' in a truly memorable way.
