Outlast

Survival horror at its most primal, this is an exceptional jaunt into madness. [Dec 2013, p.73]

An unrelenting torrent of gore and terror that plays your nerves like a fiddle...until all the strings break. [Nov 2013, p.94]

This game is completely honest about wanting to scare the crap out of me, and being released next to Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, it’s good to have the plain option.

If you enjoy a terrifying game and are not prone to heart attacks, this $20 fright-fest is for you. Just be warned, it is not for the faint of heart.

Outlast offers a lot for the $20 that the developers are asking: great visuals, a decent story, some solid scares, plenty of checkpoints, and a little bit of openness in both exploration and in dealing with the enemies that can't be fought back against.

Outlast simultaneously reminds me of the grainy slasher flicks of the '70s, the gruesome body horror of Clive Barker, and gratuitous modern torture porn. It manages to squeeze a great deal of diversity into what is quite a small package of around six or seven hours, but it doesn't burst or struggle to reconcile the different elements.

Outlast perfects this self-inflicted madness in every area of its design, and it's absolutely petrifying. I love it.

Even late in the game, it had the ability to get my blood racing and my spine tingling. It’s possible that by the end, Outlast does, in fact, slightly outlast its mechanics and AI, but the novelty of running and hiding and its phenomenal, no-holds-barred presentation definitely make up for it. This is a gross, scary, disturbing game: you should play it.

Outlast’s combination of stealth, platforming and horror is exceptional, the benefits of the diverse experience of its highly talented development team always in plain sight.

It’s stressful and terrifying in a way that most recent horror games can’t match... I say play it in a brightly lit room surrounded by pictures of kittens. The heart can only take so much.

Dark, intense and brutal: Outlast celebrates classic survival horror.

Outlast hits most of its objectives, serving as head of a new series for the horror subjective.

Outlast is a game designed to frighten even those who deem themselves hard to scare. What we have here is a proper survival-horror game that thankfully doesn’t make the transition to the action genre like so many other horror-themed games these days.

It’s certain not to appeal to all gamers, and while I often personally use games to relax and blow off steam, I find that after playing an hour or so of Outlast I’m too wound up to play anymore. Good thing then that the whole game is about five hours long.

Outlast is terrifying, brutal and crazy. The story is clever enough to assemble all themes into a complete picture and tie it with some historical facts, but the most important thing is this: Outlast is really scary. Honestly, no game before has made me feel such strong emotions. Outlast is a must buy for all fans of scary stories. Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs is a fairy tale in comparison.

Outlast is the best horror title this year. [Oct 2013]

Red Barrels is a developer that I hope to see more from, and to my knowledge, there's nothing currently like Outlast that doesn't freely give in to cliches on a regular basis (I have yet to play either Amnesia title), and that's enough for me to call it worth playing.

Fostering a reaction as elusive and subjective as fear and then circulating it through a game presents a vicious assignment. Outlast nearly completes this task before exhaustively collapsing under the burden of its medium. While Outlast doesn't crack the code, its dreadful atmosphere and relentless tension move the entire genre closer to figuring it all out.

A good horror game, with plenty of chills and a very effective setting.

A game that is not as innovative as you would hope. It is very old school. Nevertheless, this is a real horror-game and we can guarantee that you will freak out. It may be old school, but it is still a very good game that will blow you away.

This is probably the most horrifying experience in videogames, ever!

On one side, you have linear gameplay, at times simplistic game design and plenty of clichés. On the other – an exciting opportunity to star in a very cool horror ‘movie’.

Outlast is as intensive as riding a rollercoaster through a haunted house. It grips you by your neck and drags you through horrors, that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It won't last long, though, and works only the first time. [Issue#234]

It won't ever be a classic, but Outlast does enough to be an important inclusion in your collection all the same. [Issue#140, p.113]

Outlast grosses you out (like Condemned: Criminal Origins) rather than making you fear your own shadow (like the first Amnesia did), but nonetheless it’s a great horror. [11/2013, p.81]

Outlast is a very positive note in the current gaming landscape and a pearl in the horror genre. The atmosphere is reminiscent of movies like Rec, and the game follows the trend of the modern horror film, shot in first person.

Outlast doesn’t do itself any favors with uninspired gameplay elements, that all too often reduce frightening moments to simple routine. Not to say that it isn’t worth the confrontation though. It plays into the fear of being found or chased by something that wants to harm you. That feels primal, and is often absolutely terrifying. This is enhanced by environments that come to life through a great attention to detail. Outlast is a nightmare that’ll stick with you for while.

Outlast is able to create true terror in the player, but it falls a bit short in gearing up that feeling when scary things really happen.

A little but perfectly accessible, even greatly playable game. It puts forward its hero protagonist and his helplessness, its whimsical hazard, and its great number of properly placed scripts. While playing Outlast you will relive plenty of convulsive experiences, but you will chuckle at the very same time. Gameplay aside, if the game was a bit more creative, it could get a better grade.

It’s creepy from beginning to end.

Outlast is the pleasant surprise of fall 2013, a true survival-horror game with old-school gameplay and a very scary atmosphere. Fear is what it's all about and that's what you're going to find inside Mount Massive Asylum, and it already makes the game a success. With a very well-made storyline in spite of a touchy ending, Outlast is definitely a reference title rivaling Amnesia or Forbidden SIREN. In spite of some problems which are largely due to the tight development budget, hence the small retail price of 20€, the game will provide gamers with a deep dive into the most dark horrors, which will make you forget the ultimately minor faults that Red Barrels let slip pass. A title that will scare future PS4 owners for sure.

Playing Outlast means embracing that horror and walking in it. Even with a handful of small issues, this is a game that will repeatedly make you jump from your seat and for that alone it is worth a recommendation.

Outlast is an incredibly effective horror game with a satisfying story, good looks and good pacing. Unfortunately, the whole thing is nearly derailed by linear level designs and painfully simple gameplay. But many horror fans will ignore all that when they discover just how scary Outlast really is!

Anyone interest in the need to be scared should check out Outlast. It takes some ideas from Amnesia, but blends them with its own unique gameplay mechanics and setting.

Quotation forthcoming.

Outlast is the pinnacle of a less is more design philosophy. While other horror titles use jump scares and musical cues Outlast utilizes startling imagery and precision timing to make you call for mommy.

Some troubles aside, in the here and now, I'll leave this one with the most glowing of compliments. Outlast's not particularly original, but its extremely effective brand of horror makes for a haunted mansion experience that's all too easy to recommend. It's almost as if this one was shoving the finger into all of the horror has-beens' faces: "Look, if you dare, what only ten people can do!" I for one can't imagine they'd like what they'd see.

Outlast is an intense experience that knows little of subtlety and much about scaring you out of your mind. It´s a violent, shocking and credible voyage made with technical and artistic mastery, only slightly undermined by its ending and its own concerns about difficulty.

Lights off and headphones on is a must. Allow yourself to fall deep in Red Barrels’ asylum and the reward is a frightening descent into the bowels of man’s search for greatness. The sound design is exceptional – even more so when considering this is a lower budget production – and the weight of the world is tight.

It’s not so much that it tries to scare you with monsters, blood, or gore that makes the experience so powerful as it is how the game mentally plays with your senses and emotions. Even if you don’t think you’re easily scared, try playing Outlast alone in the dark with headphones on. This intense rollercoaster ride will keep you on the edge of your seat and make you jump out of it a few times too.

It's a great survival horror game, following the steps of previous "hide and survive" games where we cannot attack creatures. We think there's enough talent behind this game to try something different, but still they've created a very scary adventure that we think is worth enjoying.

Annoying design choices and forced moments of repetition have a bad habit of spoiling the mood, but between them is an experience that's scary as all hell.

The initial hours, when played with a survivor’s unsure intent are electrifying, illuminating a slice of fast, animal terror. Before long, it settles into the mechanical, methodical, human realm, challenged by a few creative late-game curves. By all means check in, get a physical, but you might want to opt for outpatient care.

Outlast is an horror game with the great virtue of creating fear and terror with simple but highly effective weapons like dark, scary sounds, desperate escape from mad psychos and perfect locations for the purpose, but lacks a little bit in gameplay variety.

An elaborate horror setting with plenty of effective scares – but not quite enough to last the entire game.

A good survival horror, but with those guys the expectations were higher.

Outlast is a virtual tour through a hall of terrors. Even playing the game in full daylight makes me uneasy. However, the game's overall level design and gameplay were sacrificed at the altar of fear. If you're looking for an experience that will get your adrenaline pumping, Outlast is hard to beat, but if you’re looking for a meatier horror experience then you might want to run past this one.

Outlast gets the visuals and sound right, has some great mechanics, and will provoke feelings of dread and horror in even the most jaded gamer. It's cat-and-mouse sequences are a repetitive dirge, but elsewhere this is a strong first offering.

Yes, Outlast’s blind corners and pitch black sewers possess an illusion of danger greater than the actual threat posed by the monsters they hide. But really, illusions of danger are all games are capable of conjuring — and Outlast conjures them up relentlessly.

Still, it's easy enough to recommend Outlast despite the weaknesses. As far as atmosphere goes, it's at the top of its class and the journey throughout is a well-constructed one, for the most part. It occasionally dips too heavily into common video game contrivances—three fuses littered around the area, three switches for a door, scrounging for batteries, that sort of thing—but it's still a gruesomely enjoyable tale despite its flaws.

Although Outlast’s probably not a game you’ll revisit once completed, it’s certainly somewhere you’ll remember for a while to come.

If you’re looking for a more cerebral approach to horror, you’re going to be disappointed with Outlast. There isn’t much depth – or replayability, for that matter -in this short, nightmarish rollercoaster, but it will make you jump more than once.

It’s a shame the plot and enemies ruin things a bit, because Outlast is a truly effective survival horror for the most part.

Outlast is not so impressive visually, but it has a terrific atmosphere that will scare all players. It would have been better with a wide variety of gameplay situations though.

Repetition and overfamiliarity are always the best ways to nullify fear, but until they set in this is one of the most effectively scary video games ever made.

Stop and peer too long into Outlast's gloom and you'll see the zips on the monster costumes. Take it at at speed and you'll find a haunted house worth visiting.

Most of the time, particularly early on when its quirks are fresh and unknown, it delivers. Even its weakest moments owe their existence not to ineffective ambiance and tension, but rather to excessive confidence spurred by eventual predictable encounters that clash with the promise of the setting.