Being the horror fan that I am, I think its easy to say that as far as video games, console players have not had the greatest luck lately with horror. With flops like Dead Island, and beloved series taking the shoot em up route such as Resident Evil and Fear. I am so happy to praise Outlast for how good it is! While I know Outlast was originally a PC release in 2013 it found its way to PS4 in 2014. Now let's get into it!
THE GOOD:
I'd first like to say that Outlast has a great story. Even if its not very deep, of course without spoiler, the main premise is that your a journalist that sneaks into an abandoned asylum to find the dirty secrets of a corporation in an attempt to shut them down with the evidence. It quickly turns into a fight for survival when you find much darker occurrences than you expected. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and it does a great job of motivating you to continue playing though your own fear as the farther you go, the more it seems that you're unraveling the bigger picture. Towards the end it even begins to take up a slight SCI-FI feel.
As for gameplay, it is definitely the shining aspect. Its gameplay is often compared to Amnesia: The Dark Decent, as just like in that game, your only defense from enemies is running and hiding. It feels strangely refreshing as your transformed from the bad-ass you normally are in video games, into the b*tch. You're character controls very well, and the aspects like running, jumping, and hiding all feel really smooth. It really gives those chases the extra feel of urgency of escape. Of course the main highlight is your camera, which you use to record and take notes of the happenings in the asylum, and navigate through the darkness using the night vision mode. Not only is the night-vision the most vital part of the gameplay, it is also one of the scariest aspects considering it makes everything seem ten times more sinister.
The enemies in the game showed off the game's AI very well, they're not anything revolutionary but they feel very smart, and very capable of matching your skill. Which in a horror game is key, and what makes it much more unnerving, nothings worse than an enemy in a horror game that is just downright laughable. You make noise, they investigate, you make too much noise, they track you down. If you run and they see you, they pursue, you hide out of sight, they will search, your hide in plain sight, they'll go so far as to drag you out. You're biggest advantage is that you're smarter than them. If you close doors in front of them while in pursuit, their deranged state of mind will attempt to break down the doors instead of simply opening it, you can also put things in front of doors, to stop them completely. Of course with so many enemies, not all of them are the same, some are stronger, and therefore take less time to break down doors, some are faster than you, some are just as smart as you, and will open doors, and lurk silently instead of giving sound ques.
Finally the game does horror really well, the soundtrack is amazing, the graphics are very nice, and the biggest thing that surprised me was just how much it scared me. The chases are so intense its ridiculously panic inducing, trying to find places to hide, desperately hoping that the door you try to open will open (as many of them are locked). Also, the game has plenty of jump-scares, but they are done really well. Which was surprising, most games make jump scares so stale, but these...I don't know they just seem to work.
THE BAD
I honestly have no real complaints about Outlast, but to nitpick the only thing I didn't like was that in cut-scenes where you are grabbed by enemies, you have no cue to shake them off, like in the PC Version. Also there, is significantly less batteries (Resource to keep camera on) in the PS4 version. If you don't use your camera wisely, you will be without your night vision, and at that point, you're pretty much screwed. I happen to enjoy this but I know not everyone will like that. Finally, now this is really reaching, this game may be too scary for some people. I'm not easily freaked out, and I had to take a few breaks here and there.
THE VERDICT
Outlast is fairly short, but its one of those games that feels like its the perfect length. I never got bored playing this game, and I feel like it ended just in time, it never feels dragged out. Every time you think you've seen everything you get hit with a new scenario, a new area, or a new enemy or enemies.
Outlast stays fresh throughout the entire experience, and that is something not seen in many games. Also its only 15 bucks on PSN (I got it for free in February). I don't really like scores so I'll simply say just BUY IT! Do not wait, its very cheap and you will get so much out of it. When deciding the score for this game, I was going to give it an 8 because I didn't feel I should judge it on the same scale as AAA games, but the fact that this game outdoes many AAA games is why I gave it a 9. Outlast gives me hope for horror games in 2014. I just cross my fingers that games like Alien Isolation, Dying Light, and The Evil Within will carry on the streak of good horror.
