Reviews - Outlast 2

Oh boy...

Let me start by saying this. I played the first Outlast and the whistleblower DLC and, well I didin't love them, but they were pretty good.

This game, however is a different story.

I enjoyed Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Penumbra and even, like I said, the first Outlast, because of the pacing and contrast. First I was scared, then I entered a more calm area and could catch my breath. Then back to the horror again.
Outlast 2 don't have that. Horror, horror, horror, horror all the way. You know what happens when the enemies are everywhere, and chase scenes are added constantly? It gets annoying, repetitive and frustrating. Not to mention the god aweful chores I can't complete without being constantly attacked by the non-stopping enemies.

The story itself has very weak character development. It's hard for me to care about someone right from the get-go when I don't know the character at all. That's exactly what it is though. I have to save my female colleague (yet another damsel in distress. Go ♥♥♥♥ing figure. I'm not an SJW, it's just that this plot is so incredibly cliché at this point) pretty much from the start of the game, without knowing her at all. That's no good motivation for me.

Level design gets repetitive fast, and the "hub areas" many other horror games, including the first Outlast have (a bit of at least), is nowhere to be found. It's very linear constantly. One major criticism I had for the original Outlast was the ridiculous scripting. Example: There is no one behind me. I then move 2 cm. Bam, enemie is right behind me. Outlast 2 is the same. No enemies nearby. I move 1 cm further, touching the invisible trigger. Bam! Town filled with enemies. Oh what's that, I have to escape the barn by walking on this legde? Well, thank good the enemies are downstairs and can't catch me *Moves 1 cm* and enemie is upstairs, pulled the chain and hit me with the corpse, making the protagonist fall down, ofcourse. Oh thank god I found the exit, and the enemie is very far away *moves closer to exit* aaaaand chase scene, despite the enemie being very ♥♥♥♥ing far away and couldn't possibly see me.

Oh yeah, and one last thing. The batteries lasts for like 2 minutes o_o. Why? I get it, it adds to the tension this game desperatly needs, except that they are doing it all wrong in my opinion. This further adds to the frustration. I don't believe for one second, that a battery is used up in 2 minutes, even if your camera is crap. It would be so much better if they instead made batteries harder to find, but made the battery life longer. This is just like the games with weapon durability and the weapons break after 4 hits. Please, developers, stop doing this.

I can recommand this game if you love to be in constant danger and extreme pressure. That's about it though. Can't recommand it to people that enjoyed the first Outlast, because I did as well and I don't like Outlast 2 at all. I can also not recommand this game to horror fans because there is almost no tension at all in this game. Only frustration.

3/10 - Bad

"Did you hate Outlast? Was it the lowest common denominator of horror? Is Outlast 2 somehow worse than that? Is it even possible?" - you ask. Well, my childe...

Outlast has no significant role in the horror's evolutionary cycle. Contrary to popular belief, it did not have great atmosphere, great story or great scares. Was it close to bringing about the end of the horror genre? I don't think so, but it did set the bar very low for future horror games. Did the sequel manage to outdo that?

Short answer is: in a way. The atmosphere, the soundtrack, the visuals and trying to progress under the pressure did ease up the ultimate pain however, but alas; what we've got here is DOOM without the shooting. And what happens in DOOM if you suddenly could not shoot the enemies? You either run away from them or you die, constantly, until you figure out where you're supposed to be going. The developers seem to expect the players to know the area layouts beforehand and thus punish them for taking the occasional wrong turn. A complete opposite of that classic chase scene from 2004's Haunted Mansion during which a fortune-teller who is trapped in your lantern tells you where to go in order to survive. Does that sound stupid? Outlast 2, being an exercise in frustration and repetition, is a primary example of why it was not. That's unfortunate, because the game's beginning is actually not bad, enjoyable even. I wouldn't call a game like this a horror game, but the soundtrack, the environments and the lighting together manage to create something that the first game couldn't with its identical corridors. And once again, the certain semblances of atmosphere will be gone once an enemy decides to show up. The enemies look weak and ridiculous, begging to be chokeslammed. The reason you'll be staying away from them is because the game tells you to do so, not because you don't want to see what they look like. Artificial horror at its finest.
There was no rhyme or reason in having so many enemy encounters and scripted chase sequences with the same enemies in the first Outlast, and the sequel is even worse. Being about as subtle as a sledgehammer, it becomes such a chaotic mess that even Chris Walker would be ashamed.

The level design is as uberlinear as it was in the first game. There is nothing open about it. What looks like it could be an open area with multiple places to explore, in actuality there is only one place you can go, maybe one extra place for those who try to find every single battery in the game. The biggest misstep here revolves around being constantly hunted and trying to find where you're supposed to go at the same time. As I mentioned, the levels are linear; clearly not designed for these activities at all.
Different hiding places are of little use in this game; hiding is on The Evil Within's level of uselessness. Due to their set paths, the enemies slowly wander from point A to point B and then back to point A, never looking for me or doing anything out of ordinary. Running is the option players are constantly bound to, which is why it is so comical to see a stamina system present in the game like this. It takes about 5-10 seconds before Blake gets out of breath and can't run anymore.

However, the reasons I liked the game were these : the soundtrack and the more varied environments, plus the semi-ambiguous narrative. The ending doesn't do the game any favors and some things could have been left more open for players to interpret. Replacing Miles's dreadfully written notes from the first game with recording and reviewing footage works better; Blake slowly "losing it" in these recordings is evident the further you get in the game. The school segments were the peak of the game, but there was not much to them. Less time in the hillbilly-land and more time in the school I would've liked, but with more mystery behind it instead of doing the same thing everytime over and over. The game does however use symbolism fairly well and helps you piece things together yourself before they are spelled out for you.

All in all, the story department seems to have been improved, the gameplay stayed mostly the same (repetitive, the gameplay and the story completely separate entities), level design still linear but more detailed and varied areas, the lighting and sound design are both strong in Outlast 1 and 2. Although they are not the answer to the problems of the genre, the sequel took some babysteps in the right direction, or so I'd like to think.

One of the scariest games ever made (it deals with real-life elements like fanaticism, suicide and abuse, that's scary enough).

This game sucks as an adventure and puts all the cards on being a scary game... yet it fails horribly. Outlast 2 is a jumpscare generator, a game made to be fun to watch but it's not fun to play at all.

Best Game !

great