A game where you can't defend yourself. Sounds cool, right? The answer is yes. That was one of Outlast's main selling points. A survival horror game that instead of fighting back, you can only hide. And hide you shall as you navigate investigative reporter Miles Upshur through the hell that is Mount Massive Asylum.
For a setting that is an insane asylum, Outlast puts its pedal to the metal in creativity as it surprisingly has a variety of places to cautiously explore. Even on the rare occasions when the settings felt old, a curve ball is thrown that made me appreciate the uniqueness of Outlast. It also gives Outlast a chance to show off its graphical quality that only makes the settings and backdrops even more eerie with its intense detail to lighting. However, character models noticeably show off their age as they look unloaded and bland. With lighting being put at a forefront, its no wonder that your intangible companion is a camera with the ability of night vision. This god-given power does have one major draw back; it needs batteries. These scarcely placed resources are crucial as they are the only power source for your only light source for your only... oh forget it. Finding a battery is like locating a hiding spot, s***s about to go down.
Outlast does not exclusively focus on horror. As a good scare-fest should, an equal amount of tension is also built into its foundation. Not having constant fear is good, because that means I scream my pants off when a good scare does come my way. The real importance is how horror and tension combine in events such as being chased (by the way, you can look behind you *shudders*).
It's common sense that every form of entertainment should have a minimally descent story. Though there are those few that go above and beyond and create a fantastic narrative, IE Outlast. Exploration from the normal path heeds rewards to players in the form of an additional story. While the background narrative is impressive, it feels unneeded as the interest of the story lies in the context given off by dialogue instead of recordings or found files.
Outlast not only contains excellence in its own journey, but in gaming as a whole. It goes above and beyond in every component with a soundtrack that captures the tension of Outlast itself and a narrative where I actually rooted for the main character to survive. Outlast does what exactly what its title says, its decision to hide instead of fight influenced Indi games such as Hektor and even the infamous P.T. Silent Hill. Outlast will leave a lasting impression on gamers everywhere.
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