Outlast

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2039 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,598 out of 2039
  2. Mixed: 316 out of 2039
  3. Negative: 125 out of 2039

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  1. Torque2100
    Sep 4, 2013
    4
    Wasted potential. So much wasted potential.
    This game lures you in with some great graphics and a neat little camera gimmick. To be fair to the game the graphics are gorgeously rendered. The camera's Night Vision effect in particular is well done and it's nice to actually see Mile's hands when he actually performs an action.
    However, the experience starts to fall apart almost    Wasted potential. So much wasted potential.
    This game lures you in with some great graphics and a neat little camera gimmick. To be fair to the game the graphics are gorgeously rendered. The camera's Night Vision effect in particular is well done and it's nice to actually see Mile's hands when he actually performs an action.

    However, the experience starts to fall apart almost immediately. What's wrong with this game? Well where do I begin? For one, the setting. Asylums are seriously overplayed as horror settings. We get it, crazy people are scary. The so-called scares are predictable and hokey. The story is the same warmed over pap we've seen over and over and over and over and over again. An evil Mega Corporation has been performing unethical experiments that got completely out of control blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Mercernaries blah blah Ham fisted religious undertones blah. There's no mystery at all. Furthermore it falls into the exact same trap that the Dead Space games fell into. The graphic designers are so proud of their work on the monsters that they just can't bear to keep their babies in the dark, so they have the monsters prance around in plain view like they're so happy to be seen. Also, the poorly designed stealth mechanics make enemy encounters frustrating rather than scary.

    I see that the game was heavily marketed as being "designed by veterans of some of the biggest franchises in history." This is a flaw as far as I can see. These veterans just kept on doing the same thing they've always done, and the result is that they did the same thing we've always done and the game falls into the same traps it always has. These developers could have learned so much from the Amnesia series since it's obvious that Outlast desperately wants to be Amnesia. The developers would have benefited from another playthrough.    … Expand
  2. Lyserg1260
    Aug 23, 2015
    4
    It's not bad game, but not so good either. It's not scary at all and it's too easy. Enemies are dumb and slow. Plot is quite interesting. Atmosphere was good for first hour. There are some cheap jumpscares, but not that much. It has amazing graphics for an indie game. You must admit it. This game looks really good.
  3. TyrannicusX
    May 27, 2020
    4
    Disturbing imagery. Disappointing game. Some people call this survival-horror, but it isn't survival-horror at all. It's walking sim- horror. It's essentially a disturbing walking simulator with a little Tom & Jerry and Where's Waldo thrown in. You either walk around admiring the scenery through the hellish maze like design of the looney bin while looking for a needle in a hay stack key orDisturbing imagery. Disappointing game. Some people call this survival-horror, but it isn't survival-horror at all. It's walking sim- horror. It's essentially a disturbing walking simulator with a little Tom & Jerry and Where's Waldo thrown in. You either walk around admiring the scenery through the hellish maze like design of the looney bin while looking for a needle in a hay stack key or switch, or you do so while being chased by a tiny number of different enemy types. Small inmate, big inmate, later the walrider (a spooky ghost thing). The problem is, it's bad enough to figure out where you're supposed to go in the first place, and even more frustrating when the enemies are on your ass. It's not fun replaying the same segment for an hour, dying and restarting, because the game gives you no indication of where to look while the enemies can catch up to you and kill you in two seconds. Unless Where's Waldo combined with Pacman only no power pellets set in confusing 3D mazes that you can't make heads or tails of sounds like fun to you, you're probably better off watching the game instead of actually playing it. The engine and graphics are great. If they made an actual survival horror instead of a walking sim, it could've been great.… Expand
  4. hileger
    Oct 19, 2022
    4
    Пряталки, хуяталки говно говном как можно делать хоррор без возможности стрелять ааа тфу блять
  5. iseeall
    Jan 21, 2017
    3
    Jumps scares, running around halls full or closed doors just to get the next key for the next door. Avoiding or running away from monsters which you can't attack(!). The game is utterly linear, all its scary moments are scripted and mostly rely on loud sounds. This game feels more annoying and stupid than it is scary. With plenty of objects lying on the floor which could be used as aJumps scares, running around halls full or closed doors just to get the next key for the next door. Avoiding or running away from monsters which you can't attack(!). The game is utterly linear, all its scary moments are scripted and mostly rely on loud sounds. This game feels more annoying and stupid than it is scary. With plenty of objects lying on the floor which could be used as a weapon, your character simply refuses to fight back. And don't security guards carry pistols which you could pick? It's like one of those bad horror movies where you are more disappointed with the main charater's stupidity than scared by the danger he or she faces.… Expand
  6. Ananas4
    Sep 8, 2013
    3
    It's a linear game without any puzzles. Instead it's full of jump scares. Graphics are nice and the camera effect looks cool but it could've been much more. It's short and has none replay value. I wonder if we ever again see actually good horror in video games or will everything just be jump scare after another.
  7. zmmby
    May 31, 2014
    3
    So i got Outlast now. The start is very nice, the enviroment is beautiful and i get a creepy feeling. But thats it, really. The game itself is kinda.. boring? I've been around in Horror games since Silent Hill 1 on PS and this game is very cheap. "Made by veterans" That's alot of BS, or just very sad that you guys havent developed in the last years.

    Its not scary, the first 20mins had    So i got Outlast now. The start is very nice, the enviroment is beautiful and i get a creepy feeling. But thats it, really. The game itself is kinda.. boring? I've been around in Horror games since Silent Hill 1 on PS and this game is very cheap. "Made by veterans" That's alot of BS, or just very sad that you guys havent developed in the last years.

    Its not scary, the first 20mins had me afraid and very interested but after that, i just started to laugh when i got chased and thought to myself "This game is so bad".

    The AI is just idiotic. I ran from a guy and tried the same locker three times, and he caught me twice but after the third time he didnt see me apperently. There's no horror in the game. It's just jumpscares all the time.

    Imagine you going into a fight with a guy and he from nowhere - punches you in the nutsack. It aint fair and it just feels lazy. I dont wanna be scared by a 15000db scream. I wanna have a scary and disgusting feeling that i wont survive at all - such as in Condemned for example.

    This is more like: "find this" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

    "find 3 levers" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADIHAuDHSIhdAuD

    It gets alot unserious from a time, the enemies arent scary at all.
    And the whole scary asylum, blood on the wall "Run away, they will catch you" crazy doctor that is following you and all, really? This is 20th century.

    I didnt complete the game, i played for around 2 hours, and i just couldnt take it serious. It feels so stupid. Like it was meant for idiotic morons like pewdiedee or 14years kid that cant handle real horror.    … Expand
  8. chilao
    Sep 5, 2013
    3
    As said before, the game loses his essence of horror itself on the very 10~30 minutes. After that is "go there", "oh, there's a very predictable problem and you have to take another route", "oh a bad guy on the way and you gotta run and hide, hearing your heavy breathing" etc...

    Horror?! Seriously, Gone Home was scarier. Seems like a bad movie where you can't wait for it to finish    As said before, the game loses his essence of horror itself on the very 10~30 minutes. After that is "go there", "oh, there's a very predictable problem and you have to take another route", "oh a bad guy on the way and you gotta run and hide, hearing your heavy breathing" etc...

    Horror?! Seriously, Gone Home was scarier.

    Seems like a bad movie where you can't wait for it to finish and say for sure "yeah it sucks".
    It amazes me how a game that took me about 4 hours to finish, bored me as much Outlast did.

    The idea of "can't fight any enemy" made me think that "this could be interesting", but the AI is really easy to outrun. I didn't ran out of battery neither died on the entire game play (pretty much the entire meta-game).

    And what about the notes?! Some crack-wise spiderman-like comments from a character that runs the entire game...

    I was expecting much, much more from this game. Very disappointing.

    I'm giving 3 because the gore was delivered as promised.    … Expand
  9. HonkAbby
    Sep 9, 2013
    3
    It doesn't take long into the game to look past the pretty visuals to see that the scares and atmosphere are painted on. From the title screen we already begin to experience some problems, there are no advanced graphical options (which to me was a problem as I have a fairly low-end PC luckily this game has great optimisation and I could run it 60fps on highest). There is also no soundIt doesn't take long into the game to look past the pretty visuals to see that the scares and atmosphere are painted on. From the title screen we already begin to experience some problems, there are no advanced graphical options (which to me was a problem as I have a fairly low-end PC luckily this game has great optimisation and I could run it 60fps on highest). There is also no sound options other than master volume. The experience has been on level with a haunted mansion ride predictable, repetitive, non threatening and frustrating jump-scares. It seems the reactions they got from the easily shocked by the body jump-scare behind the door were so fantastic that they decided to reuse the spooky door jump scares over and over and over. It began to be incredibly annoying and laughable that things kept appearing behind doors, fizzling out the suspense completely. Enemies pose absolutely no threat. At one point I ran away from an enemy with a weapon, that, surprisingly, was behind a door. He walked up to the locker I hid in, pulled me out, hit my character in the face and then threw me in the direction to run away, where he never ended up following me. Any true veterans of the horror genres will yawn as this game constantly tries to shock you. This game does nothing new, its story is on par with Killing Floor and the only thing it has going for it is its great optimisation and a cool camera gimmick. I was hoping more but I never expected much, your money is better spent elsewhere.… Expand
  10. RyRy79261
    Oct 10, 2013
    3
    This game is such a lazy attempt at horror. Make it all pretty and then throw in some really nasty guards to patrol and let the user run right past them.
    Walk here, dodge patrol, repeat.
    Its predictable.
  11. Damascusrose
    Nov 1, 2013
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is absolutely awful. As I was playing it, all I could feel was an intense frustration, and I was constantly hoping it would just end. The story- it's complete There was nothing in this game that came close to a coherent storyline, from beginning to end. The only I could understand was the most cliche bs I've EVER seen. Even the whole premise is garbage; you go to this insane asylum cause some anonymous guy tips you off. You get in there, and then as soon as you get in you are told to leave. But you can't leave from where you came because someone locked a door. This is just absolute garbage. There's no intriguing storyline to keep me interested at all, and the ending was I dont even have words it was so bad. God what the HELL? And the gameplay- it has a nice premise (definitely 'inspired' by amnesia...) but it fails at implementation. The camcorder gimmick doesn't work at all because nowhere in my whole playthrough did I run out of batteries, or find myself saving batteries. And yes my gamma was very low. This game has the dead space problem, the monsters just love being shown at any possible moment. This game doesn't understand that what you can't see will scare you more, and on the topic of monsters they weren't even scary. The big fat dude had me laughing my ass of at how stupid he looked and sounded. And having to go through sections after dying because the monsters never go away is incredibly annoying, absolutely destroyed my immersion after my first death. The jumpscares were really lazy and lame, not scary at all just annoying. The puzzles were ass, all they did was block progress. Seriously how many keycards and valves can you jam into one game? The linear gameplay was incredibly frustrating. Graphics were nice and sounds were ok, but the levels got really old because they don't change much. the only reason I gave it this high of a review is because it's just OK. It's not like garry's incident level of ****tiness, it does actually work and have decent production value, but don't buy it cause it sucks. If it was free I might recommend it just for funsies, but its 20 bucks so all i can is NO. play some amnesia if you want a good horror experience, just not the second one.… Expand
  12. Ramiro1992
    Oct 25, 2017
    3
    What can i say about this OVERRATED piece of trash, another overrated attempt of an "horror" game, if this is what we have now as "horror" we are really fuc*** up, so please stay away from this trash. I can't give it more than 4 points, because i am a very good person i don't give this a 3, but believe me, this is far to be a good game. How can you be completely disarmed in an "horror"What can i say about this OVERRATED piece of trash, another overrated attempt of an "horror" game, if this is what we have now as "horror" we are really fuc*** up, so please stay away from this trash. I can't give it more than 4 points, because i am a very good person i don't give this a 3, but believe me, this is far to be a good game. How can you be completely disarmed in an "horror" game, i know that the lack of weapons maybe increase the horror, but this is too far, imagine if in resident evil or silent hill (true horror games) you don't have any weapons, imagine how bad those game become if you don't have weapons. The weapons give you hope, but this game eliminates all your hope, you need to be running like a girl from every enemy, hidding like a **** and running away, like the mediocre title "silent hill shattered memories" but Outlast is even worst. The gameplay is very repetitive and the graphics are average, no good music to add to this **** experience, really don't waste money in this piece of garbage, another overhyped attempt of game, hope soon every good gamer forget about this horrible title.… Expand
  13. undoomed
    Mar 17, 2015
    3
    Good scares but unrealistic game mechanics makes it frustrating.

    1) You play as a reporter who doesn't knows how to PUSH so pretty every encounter with hostiles, u run like a rat and when u are trapped by the 3D physics, you are just dead 2) The scares from the tension is excellent and should be the type that is appropriate to this. Jump scares ARE NOT HORROR. Shocking people with    Good scares but unrealistic game mechanics makes it frustrating.

    1) You play as a reporter who doesn't knows how to PUSH so pretty every encounter with hostiles, u run like a rat and when u are trapped by the 3D physics, you are just dead

    2) The scares from the tension is excellent and should be the type that is appropriate to this. Jump scares ARE NOT HORROR. Shocking people with jump scares makes it really cheap especially after mid game when hostiles no longer scare u because storyline becomes banal.

    3) Your missions are meant to direct a storyline, NOT to make your game increase MEANINGLESS playtime.    … Expand
  14. Calx9
    Mar 26, 2020
    3
    Not very scary, game feels to gamey. Enemies walk in a very strict pathway and it's not very human like. Also the game mechanics are not very well thought out. You miss exposition if you don't have your camera out but it's very annoying to keep out. Also you can't do anything, all you can do is hide or run through the game real quick, if the player has zero interaction with the game thenNot very scary, game feels to gamey. Enemies walk in a very strict pathway and it's not very human like. Also the game mechanics are not very well thought out. You miss exposition if you don't have your camera out but it's very annoying to keep out. Also you can't do anything, all you can do is hide or run through the game real quick, if the player has zero interaction with the game then it encourages them to just run and die and then run back in and just skip the hiding. Finished th game in 1 afternoon. Story is subpar. Jump scares are the only thing it relies on and that's as cheap as gimmicks get. I want to rate it 0 out of 10 but I'm gonna give it my honest review. I do not general rate things this low ever, but I have no idea how people enjoy this. Even the ending is gimmicky and cheap as hell, worst ending to a game I've maybe ever played. Without spoilers the camera pans away that way they didn't have to animate an actual ending. Bleh... pass on this game hard.… Expand
  15. Izoeros
    Oct 12, 2022
    3
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  16. Le-
    Sep 21, 2013
    2
    Not scary. Could have been if the self-proclaimed "seasoned developers" of the game actually tried to make a decent horror game.

    I love horror games. I play them every day. When I saw the trailer for Outlast and read the back story, I was intrigued and eager. Eager to buy. Eager to be scared. Installed and started playing right when it became available on Steam. I immediately noticed    Not scary. Could have been if the self-proclaimed "seasoned developers" of the game actually tried to make a decent horror game.

    I love horror games. I play them every day. When I saw the trailer for Outlast and read the back story, I was intrigued and eager. Eager to buy. Eager to be scared.

    Installed and started playing right when it became available on Steam. I immediately noticed the smoothness in controls and zooming in and out with the camera added a touch of realism, immediately drawing me in even closer. This was short lived. As soon as started exploring the Asylum things got repetitive quickly. It's not that I do not like body parts and blood t all over the place or asylums, there was just something about Outlast's environments that were painfully familiar. And that's when it really it me. Throughout my entire play through, there was something that was just bothering me, gnawing at me at the back of my mind every time I thought about how much I had spent on it. Many moments in outlast felt like they were just copy and pasted from other mainstream horror media.    … Expand
  17. copi111
    Feb 24, 2014
    2
    I have bought this game on steam, it is a waste of time and money in my opinion. this game is not scary at the very least, i never felt any tension mainly because once you realize that your pursuers are sluggishly slow, you understand they pose no actual threat meaning you can really breeze through the game and all its predictable jumpscares.
    i bought this game because i wanted a good    I have bought this game on steam, it is a waste of time and money in my opinion. this game is not scary at the very least, i never felt any tension mainly because once you realize that your pursuers are sluggishly slow, you understand they pose no actual threat meaning you can really breeze through the game and all its predictable jumpscares.
    i bought this game because i wanted a good scare but i was sorely disappointing. this game fail on both aspect of horror, shock and psychological.    … Expand
  18. RabbleRouser
    Nov 29, 2013
    2
    If you appreciate jump scares, linear stores, no puzzles and dark environments, you'll LOVE this game.

    If you enjoyed the mechanics of Slenderman then its likely this is for you. If however instead, you like games with some depth, such an Amnesia, then maybe this game won't be to your palette. Frankly, I feel quite angry that this game achieved such a high score, which encouraged    If you appreciate jump scares, linear stores, no puzzles and dark environments, you'll LOVE this game.

    If you enjoyed the mechanics of Slenderman then its likely this is for you.

    If however instead, you like games with some depth, such an Amnesia, then maybe this game won't be to your palette.

    Frankly, I feel quite angry that this game achieved such a high score, which encouraged me to purchase it. It certainly says something about how there's no accounting for taste.    … Expand
  19. ijilkl
    Mar 2, 2014
    2
    Oh. Asylum. Monsters. Blood. Darkness. Corpses. Psychos. Flashlights. Priest. Scripts. Generators in the Basements. Jumpscares. 10/10. Very. Original. Yeah..
  20. rambozsolt
    Sep 19, 2013
    1
    this is a low budget game i dont get why is this poppular it is not good at all. its graphic is OK but i seen better battle field 3) and you walk solo. what the point goind solo where is your team mates? i also dont find multiplayer option maybe they hide it? and the most annoying thing in FPS: it means FIRST PERSON SHOOTER but who you can shoot?? without guns?? srsly? i played about 4this is a low budget game i dont get why is this poppular it is not good at all. its graphic is OK but i seen better battle field 3) and you walk solo. what the point goind solo where is your team mates? i also dont find multiplayer option maybe they hide it? and the most annoying thing in FPS: it means FIRST PERSON SHOOTER but who you can shoot?? without guns?? srsly? i played about 4 hour but i could not pick up a single weapon no pistol in this game!! i even seen a m4a1 but couldnt pick it up! instad of this you have a camera with no use. video recorder is total useles you cant kill zonbies with it..

    NEGATIVES:
    - no guns srsly this game is shame of FPS genre
    - atrocious story line
    - no achievements
    - very scary
    - no inventory
    - no weapons

    ill wait for the DLC which provides me pistols and then i play this out.. but now.. i stop playing    … Expand
  21. Crash328
    Oct 2, 2013
    1
    A disappointing experience all the way through. Even if you look past the walking cliche of a plot: a cynical journalist (cliche) uncovering the secrets (cliche) of an abandoned (cliche) insane asylum (big whopping cliche) where some German scientists performed questionable experiments (cliche-a palooza). Seriously even if you could look past that you couldn't look past the biggest flawA disappointing experience all the way through. Even if you look past the walking cliche of a plot: a cynical journalist (cliche) uncovering the secrets (cliche) of an abandoned (cliche) insane asylum (big whopping cliche) where some German scientists performed questionable experiments (cliche-a palooza). Seriously even if you could look past that you couldn't look past the biggest flaw this game has: that not one part of this game hasn't been done before by previous games far superior to this one. Lets start with its much touted camera lens view. Other than the fact that its a video recorder it's blatantly obvious this has been done before in the fatal frame series. But then there's the battery life system of the camera itself. It's suspiciously similar to the lantern and oil used in amnesia in that your ability to see through the dark of the game is a limited resource. But the key difference between the two is that amnesia's was more tense and involved and ergo better in the context of a horror game. Allow me to explain:
    In amnesia while the lantern allowed you to actually see, the oil burned quickly and oil cans were somewhat sparse and sometime easy to overlook so you had to use it strategically because it made you easy to spot while being used and when it wasn't being used your sanity would deplete causing all sorts of difficulties making gameplay more tense.
    Now in outlast by comparison your night does admittedly eat through batteries quickly, however batteries are plentiful enough that in my playthroughs I never once came close to running out. Also, unlike amnesia, you don't have a sanity meter to keep watch of and your night vision does not attract enemies, so there isn't a whole lot of reason to not use night vision as much as possible. In summary outlast clearly has a knock off amnesia light mechanic and it's inferior to the original
    Come to think of it, a number of different cues seem to be taken from amnesia. The protagonists memos to himself, the collectible documents, the hiding places. Alot of it just seems copied. But amnesia clearly wasn't the only game the developers were copying. The deformed psychopaths throughout the game have a silent hill deformed monster feel to them. The big ugly mother who chases you around at several points even reminded me a little of pyramid head minus the helmet. And the crazed doctor who cuts your fingers off gave me more than one Clock-tower flashback. The game simply feels stitched together from its superior peers.    … Expand
  22. SoloYU
    Feb 11, 2014
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What is new ? Not even holy water? The control is bad. The graphis PS one. Only first person view . Can you use a mantra or pencil to defend yourself? Only run and run an jump . I prefer used my cel and film my old house!… Expand
  23. DOZENT
    Apr 30, 2014
    1
    Boring. not scary.
    But good graphic quality and bring the game to a new Neveau in chanre.
    Sensed his main purpose, "scaring" but not.
    Playful as well as by the atmosphere and the Geschihte the game is very boring and monotonous. The motivation to continue playing complete missing.
  24. JinntheMGTOW
    Jan 16, 2019
    1
    I'm not saying this game is trash. Story was okay and graphic was sexy.

    What irritating and disturbing things were I can't fight back. It's thrilling for running away from threat and danger. But I started to feel annoyed and bored after hours of flee. Also, If anyone played DLC ..... You guys probably know the character known ...... who call Walyon 'DARLING'. That psycho    I'm not saying this game is trash. Story was okay and graphic was sexy.

    What irritating and disturbing things were I can't fight back. It's thrilling for running away from threat and danger. But I started to feel annoyed and bored after hours of flee.

    Also, If anyone played DLC ..... You guys probably know the character known ...... who call Walyon 'DARLING'. That psycho traumatized me enough and made me delete the game.

    If anyone were triggered by my review, I don't care.

    [At least, Trigger has some humors and call Miles 'Buddy'. And Will rider is mysterious and fabulous creature. Chris Walker..... well he was a solider. And thankfully Soldiers were wiping out all enemy at last.]    … Expand
  25. JMCCK
    Jul 9, 2021
    1
    An absolute mess of a game, no creativity in this whatsoever. A myriad of chase scenes and set pieces eventually breaking down to nothing more than some fetch-quests.

    A game that's became popular through a slow lowering of standards, slowly but surely the horror genre is nothing more than run/hide/collect and this one of the main offenders. Embarrasing all round. Avoid like you life    An absolute mess of a game, no creativity in this whatsoever. A myriad of chase scenes and set pieces eventually breaking down to nothing more than some fetch-quests.

    A game that's became popular through a slow lowering of standards, slowly but surely the horror genre is nothing more than run/hide/collect and this one of the main offenders. Embarrasing all round.

    Avoid like you life depended on it.    … Expand
  26. jld89
    Feb 5, 2014
    0
    This game was a total waste of money for me. I expected a different, though still fine tuned atmosphere in concert with the music as Amnesia The Dark Descent. I was thoroughly disappointed. This game is made of cheap scares to the fullest. Being set in an Asylum is already far from original for a terror game. The same plot than so many games about a uber evil corporation doing experimentsThis game was a total waste of money for me. I expected a different, though still fine tuned atmosphere in concert with the music as Amnesia The Dark Descent. I was thoroughly disappointed. This game is made of cheap scares to the fullest. Being set in an Asylum is already far from original for a terror game. The same plot than so many games about a uber evil corporation doing experiments blah you know the drill. Almost ALL scares I had where predicted before hand: "Oh this door is closed, I bet there will be a 5000db sound that will scare me to death." Every every time it happened. Seriously go buy Amnesia the dark descent instead of this veteran-made mainstream unoriginal terror game.… Expand
  27. WarpZone
    Sep 30, 2013
    0
    I will never understand the popularity of this game. It's not Amnesia... it's not even Doom 3. It combines the gameplay of the former with the aesthetics of the latter-- exactly the *opposite* of taking the strongest part of each game. The result is a lame brown next-gen sludge that isn't scary or even creepy at all, just obnoxious and loud and distracting.

    Aesthetically, the game is    I will never understand the popularity of this game. It's not Amnesia... it's not even Doom 3. It combines the gameplay of the former with the aesthetics of the latter-- exactly the *opposite* of taking the strongest part of each game. The result is a lame brown next-gen sludge that isn't scary or even creepy at all, just obnoxious and loud and distracting.

    Aesthetically, the game is a mess. Areas are not only well-lit, but it feels like light sources have been placed specifically to guide the player through the maps. The Zombies run like Olympic athletes and there's military corpses everywhere, which your character does not loot for weapons even though he feels his life is in danger. There's piles of blood and gore that don't really make you feel anything, and everything has a mundane explanation.

    The game is constantly playing super-loud panic noises instead of, you know, maybe gradually leading up to it. The much-praised "realism" works against the game, with tiny details not quite adding up right. Everything from highlights on skin to animations that are slightly out of synch. The Uncanny Valley has a place in horror, of course, but here it's applied exactly the opposite of where you want it. The characters

    Meanwhile your character is a friggin' mental patient himself, rubbing his hands all over filthy walls and rusty metal you would never touch in real life. I mean he absolutely *caresses* these surfaces, in a way that no human being ever would. I don't grope all the walls as I make my way through my own house, why would I do it in a video game? It's like watching a porno for mysophiliacs.

    The story constantly flops back and forth between nonexistent and forehead-smacking dumb. I'm sorry, did I call the enemies "Zombies" before? That was a mistake on my part. See, they're technically not zombies. They're just humans who have been given Captain America juice that makes them LOOK like Zombies. So, yeah. The antagonists in Outlast are actually "ugly men who want to kill you for no reason." Way to push the boundaries of creativity there.

    Overall this feels like someone's Unreal Engine deathmatch project, hastily converted into what passes for "survival horror" to the Dead Space generation. Seriously, guys. Don't buy into this garbage. Play some Amnesia, play some Silent Hill. Hell, even Submachine was more of a horror game than this is. Because it sucked you in with a world that appeared superficially normal but when you started to think about it, you slowly realized that the objects making up those rooms were just... wrong. Twisted. Subverted to an outsider's purpose, ineffable but silently implied. Like everything else in the horror genre, Outlast gets this exactly backwards. They start with an overdone trope (creepy old asylum,) and then pile mutilated corpses all over the place, without ever giving you a reason to care or wonder. You never feel curious or intrigued, you never suspect there MIGHT be a scare about to happen but then it never comes. The game is so busy mashing the panic button that it stops working entirely after the first five minutes of play. You become desensitized almost immediately, and from then on the game is a rote Execution Challenge. You're basically playing pac-man in the Unreal Engine with a few dirty wallpaper textures thrown in for flavor.

    This is not horror. This game is all blood and noise. If I wanted blood and noise I'd go play an action game. Red Barrels has somehow made a game that is mechanically a horror game, but which feels like a first person shooter. And in many ways, that is a much worse offense than your Resident Evil 5s and your Dead Space 3s.

    Outlast says "We know all the elements that make up a good survival horror game, and we deliberately chose not to use any of them." Thanks, Red Barrels, for turning a genre that was the last bastion of legitimate emotional connection in modern gaming into a pandering gorefest. I guess this is what happens when you take all your cues from Hollywood.    … Expand
  28. Hitman41165
    Nov 19, 2013
    0
    Read this review before rating,you might change your mind.Its FOUR hours long,when Amnesia is a whole 8 hours,or 9 if you're a completionist.Its around 20 euros on steam,when you can get Amnesia for 15.Amnesia knows how to build an atmosphere and how to play its cards,while this game only uses jumpscares.Amnesia's atmosphere was based on the spooky,dark nature of everything,theRead this review before rating,you might change your mind.Its FOUR hours long,when Amnesia is a whole 8 hours,or 9 if you're a completionist.Its around 20 euros on steam,when you can get Amnesia for 15.Amnesia knows how to build an atmosphere and how to play its cards,while this game only uses jumpscares.Amnesia's atmosphere was based on the spooky,dark nature of everything,the environments,the noise,the jumpscares being very few and away from eachother,its monsters,wich you have to hide from,wich really gives you the sensation that you had as a child,when the lights went off and you were afraid of monsters getting out of your closet,and the story is just perfect in all details,while Outlast's is boring.Amnesia had gameplay in the form of puzzles,wich helped you wonder what will be in front of the mysterious locked door,while Outlast only had QTEs… Expand
  29. LifeHistory
    Apr 20, 2017
    0
    Fail and a boring idiotic idea of a game. You will use the camera the whole game and you will have nightmares not because of the horror in the game but because of the green color... Its like you playing the game with a broken video card.

    And the game is far from scary, its a jump-scare game. And whats stupid is that jump scare does not accomplish the word "horror". jump scares are not    Fail and a boring idiotic idea of a game. You will use the camera the whole game and you will have nightmares not because of the horror in the game but because of the green color... Its like you playing the game with a broken video card.

    And the game is far from scary, its a jump-scare game. And whats stupid is that jump scare does not accomplish the word "horror". jump scares are not the way to do a horror game.

    This game is a rip off the game Amnesia, that game was the original FPS horror of its kind and it did things the right way not like this trash.    … Expand
  30. JaydenPickens
    May 22, 2019
    0
    A shi**y attempt at creating something resembling a horror game, but failing so hard, it might as well be called an abomination. The first 5-10 minutes of this game will show you everything, what this "product" is about... awful jumpscares, no atmosphere whatsoever. The creators don't know what is "atmosphere" or "climate", so you won't find it here. Instead you get chased by nakedA shi**y attempt at creating something resembling a horror game, but failing so hard, it might as well be called an abomination. The first 5-10 minutes of this game will show you everything, what this "product" is about... awful jumpscares, no atmosphere whatsoever. The creators don't know what is "atmosphere" or "climate", so you won't find it here. Instead you get chased by naked s*itheads every now and then and try to move into another room and so on and so on. There is nothing interesting or fun here. I'm not even gonna talk about the camera and the green color that makes me want to watch Shrek instead of playing this filth ever again. Jumpscares do not equal horror. There is nothing scary about this game. it's a waste of time, sh**y walking/running simulator in an asylum... which is probably filled with people, that had to test this game before releasing it. Boring s*itstain... that's what Outcast is. And sadly, I need to inform you, that I've also played and finished the "expansion pack" to it, so be ready for that review, which might be just a copy of this review... it's still gonna be more work, than those a**holes did while making this game. Pickens laughs at this.… Expand
  31. SNXL
    Mar 3, 2022
    0
    Vou ser rápido em minha opinião: KKKKKKKKKKKK QUE JOGO RUIM DO KRL PQP, MEUDEUS.
  32. SANYAHUSKA1337
    Jan 3, 2022
    0
    Outlast this best horror in my life.The best storyline games like fnaf and other such horror games will not be able to compete with this game.Buy this game now at a discount and support the developers. I started playing the game with a nightmarish difficulty level and I liked it, although it was hard, it was more interesting than on an easy one.
  33. eljontxu
    Nov 5, 2022
    0
    Terror absoluto, desde el primer momento que entras en el manicomio sabes que te espera un infierno absoluto, la jugabilidad con la cámara es increíble, teniendo que administrar las baterías para no estar vendido en ciertas situaciones. Uno de mis juegos favoritos del género de terror.
  34. aosdjasijda
    Jul 5, 2023
    0
    this is a horse **** do not waste your **** time, play genshin impact instead

Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Best PC Game of 2013
20
#20 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
12
#12 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 59 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 50 out of 59
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 59
  3. Negative: 0 out of 59
  1. XGN
    Feb 21, 2014
    80
    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.
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  2. GameOver.gr
    Dec 5, 2013
    80
    This is probably the most horrifying experience in videogames, ever!
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  3. Riot Pixels
    Oct 31, 2013
    80
    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’.
    Read full review
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