29th April 2017, 9:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 6th May 2017, 6:35 AM by Sacred Jellybean.)
...fuck. FUCK! Fuck. OH JESUS! Shit.
I find myself saying that a lot during this game. It's probably the best survival horror I've played since Silent Hill bit the musty ol' attic dust. The premise is that you're a freelance investigative journalist who travels to a remote insane asylum, hearing of abusive practices in the place. You get an anonymous tip from a man who worked at the facility as a software contractor for two weeks. Possessed by ambition, you drive out to the place with your handheld camera to record what you find and break the story.
Before long, you're trapped inside the asylum with no escape. Equipped with nothing but a video camera, you have to explore and find your way out. Along the way, you build the story by gathering files and recording the horrors you witness. It's a very simplistic game: there's no fighting, no puzzles, simple objectives... the bulk of it is exploring, running, hiding, and surviving.
You're pursued by various inmates who, through dream therapy and hallucinatory experiences, claim they've found a new god. Their messiah is Father Martin, a man who finds you and decides to guide towards salvation. He separates from you but leads you along, giving you direction from time to time, usually through trails of blood to show the path.
Aside from that, he leaves you to your own devices. Which are, of course, your video camera, and batteries you must collect. The batteries are needed for night vision; there is no shortage of dark rooms and corridors in this game, so you'll need it. In true survival horror fashion, resources are scarce, so you have to conserve the batteries you find as much as possible, leaving you quite literally in the dark.
This game almost gave me a heart-attack in the beginning. You have to go to the basement to start the generator and get the lights back on (yeah, yeah, horror movie cliche). There's a man stalking about the rooms with a stick with nails hammered through the end. As he patrols the rooms, the only way to avoid him is to hide from him, and sneak past him when possible. The game isn't particularly merciful in letting you spy on the man (remember, you have to save battery and use that night-vision sparingly), and audio cues of his whereabouts are limited. I found myself hiding in a room from him (easy enough), but once he walked about out, there was no way to know for certain where he was. Once he spotted you, the only option left is to run back to the beginning, or into another room (and outrunning him is NOT easy). Once, I was able to flee into a room and slam the door and hide under the bed, just barely getting away. (The man in question is obvously not bright; apart from seeing God, he couldn't figure out to check all the hiding spots).
Before I got used to the controls, any time I was in a chase, I found myself screaming and running into walls of tight corridors, frantically trying to turn the camera's night vision off so I didn't waste it, then switching it back on when I needed it again. Once I gave the guy the slip, I just sat back to catch my breath. It was a real love/hate relationship that only a good horror-masochism can provide. Now that I'm more used to the controls, it's a little easier... and unfortunately, also less scary. But that's okay! No more heart palpitations. And it's still scary enough to keep me hooked. I wanted to wait until tonight to pick it back up (to enhance the creepy), but I couldn't wait. I find myself not playing much more than an hour in one sitting. Too tense.
Apparently there's a sequel out (I almost typed SQL, fucking day job) called... Outlast 2. Which was my inspiration in picking up this one. I actually tried it (the first Outlast) months ago at a friend's house, made a note to download it, decided I was too cheap, and let it go. It's supposedly a short game, so it's only 20 bucks... but damn it, my friend got it on XBone for like 10 bucks through some promotion! I wanted that too! Another 10 dollars? What do I look like, an adult with a job?
I don't know the premise of the second one, but I'm eager to see it, plus there's also some DLC on this one. Happy trails, I'll let you know what I think when I beat it.
I find myself saying that a lot during this game. It's probably the best survival horror I've played since Silent Hill bit the musty ol' attic dust. The premise is that you're a freelance investigative journalist who travels to a remote insane asylum, hearing of abusive practices in the place. You get an anonymous tip from a man who worked at the facility as a software contractor for two weeks. Possessed by ambition, you drive out to the place with your handheld camera to record what you find and break the story.
Before long, you're trapped inside the asylum with no escape. Equipped with nothing but a video camera, you have to explore and find your way out. Along the way, you build the story by gathering files and recording the horrors you witness. It's a very simplistic game: there's no fighting, no puzzles, simple objectives... the bulk of it is exploring, running, hiding, and surviving.
You're pursued by various inmates who, through dream therapy and hallucinatory experiences, claim they've found a new god. Their messiah is Father Martin, a man who finds you and decides to guide towards salvation. He separates from you but leads you along, giving you direction from time to time, usually through trails of blood to show the path.
Aside from that, he leaves you to your own devices. Which are, of course, your video camera, and batteries you must collect. The batteries are needed for night vision; there is no shortage of dark rooms and corridors in this game, so you'll need it. In true survival horror fashion, resources are scarce, so you have to conserve the batteries you find as much as possible, leaving you quite literally in the dark.
This game almost gave me a heart-attack in the beginning. You have to go to the basement to start the generator and get the lights back on (yeah, yeah, horror movie cliche). There's a man stalking about the rooms with a stick with nails hammered through the end. As he patrols the rooms, the only way to avoid him is to hide from him, and sneak past him when possible. The game isn't particularly merciful in letting you spy on the man (remember, you have to save battery and use that night-vision sparingly), and audio cues of his whereabouts are limited. I found myself hiding in a room from him (easy enough), but once he walked about out, there was no way to know for certain where he was. Once he spotted you, the only option left is to run back to the beginning, or into another room (and outrunning him is NOT easy). Once, I was able to flee into a room and slam the door and hide under the bed, just barely getting away. (The man in question is obvously not bright; apart from seeing God, he couldn't figure out to check all the hiding spots).
Before I got used to the controls, any time I was in a chase, I found myself screaming and running into walls of tight corridors, frantically trying to turn the camera's night vision off so I didn't waste it, then switching it back on when I needed it again. Once I gave the guy the slip, I just sat back to catch my breath. It was a real love/hate relationship that only a good horror-masochism can provide. Now that I'm more used to the controls, it's a little easier... and unfortunately, also less scary. But that's okay! No more heart palpitations. And it's still scary enough to keep me hooked. I wanted to wait until tonight to pick it back up (to enhance the creepy), but I couldn't wait. I find myself not playing much more than an hour in one sitting. Too tense.
Apparently there's a sequel out (I almost typed SQL, fucking day job) called... Outlast 2. Which was my inspiration in picking up this one. I actually tried it (the first Outlast) months ago at a friend's house, made a note to download it, decided I was too cheap, and let it go. It's supposedly a short game, so it's only 20 bucks... but damn it, my friend got it on XBone for like 10 bucks through some promotion! I wanted that too! Another 10 dollars? What do I look like, an adult with a job?
I don't know the premise of the second one, but I'm eager to see it, plus there's also some DLC on this one. Happy trails, I'll let you know what I think when I beat it.