Outlast Reviews
"You can only run or hide."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
An intense survival horror experience from start to finish.
Outlast is scary and will make you feel fear. It doesn't do much more than that, but if horror is what you're looking for, you won't do much better than this.
If you have any interest in horror of the most unsettling and macabre nature, Outlast deserves your time.
Let it be known that Outlast is a genuinely stressful and nerve-racking experience, but that's exactly what a true survival horror game should be, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Outlast is terrifying no matter what platform you play it on. Tense, punchy, jumpy and beautifully-paced, Red Barrels' debut is one of the most effective horror games of recent years.
A genuinely disturbing and terrifying game that'll have you jumping out of your seat in fright. It's a little short at around six or so hours, but the experience Outlast delivers is well worth the price of admission.
I applaud Red Barrels for embracing the origins of survival horror in a time when horror games in general have become synonymous with high action. The emphasis on running and hiding over standing your ground and fighting adds to the constant sense of dread. While I would have preferred some amount of defensive abilities, the overall experience was frightening, disturbing, and incredibly tense. 'Outlast' is not a game for everyone, and I believe even horror aficionados will be affected by the images and gameplay.
If you love getting scared, Outlast provides you with an enjoyable weekend; if you don't, your weekend is better spent elsewhere
The terrifying debut of Red Barrels is a masterclass in the art of video game horror that is stretched a little thin
Other than these small gripes, though, Outlast remains a memorable and incredibly effective survival/horror quest. There are so many moments that will make you feel legitimate fear, and that's no easy feat. It's also worth noting that despite the game's constant desire to make you jump, none of them feel cheap or contrived.
Outlast is flawed in many ways, but it's the most exemplary offering these days of how to engage, entrap, and entice players looking for something that scares them out of their wits.
Over the course of this review it became clear to me that unlike the majority of video games, Outlast is in no way designed to be fun. For me at least, it was an ordeal, something I felt compelled to go through but I had no idea why. It is oppressive and morbid, maniipulating common fears of imprisonment, isolation and madness. From the moment you step out of your car at the beginning you will yearn to get back in it and scramble away to safety. I guess at least that's the very aim of horror. Outlast is memorable and gripping, but Outlast is also guilty of being a one-trick pony with little to offer beneath its terrifying surface. Once you've blasted through it once there really is no need to revisit it, the curtain's been pulled back and the puppeteers at work are laid bare for all to see.
Red Barrels' Outlast is a solid indie title, which provides tension and scares in equal abundance. And while it lacks the sort of story depth a lot of us have become accustomed to, there is still a plethora of terrifying fun to be had. Get it on PlayStation Plus as soon as you can.
There's actually some fun in traversing the asylum with friends around, or by streaming it online via the PlayStation 4's many sharing options. Plus, there's a decent enough mystery at the core of Outlast, and uncovering it bit by bit can be enjoyable if you're able to get invested. There's just not enough engaging material to keep you from getting bored after a few hours. There's plenty of room in the survival horror market for someone to come along and really revitalize the genre. Outlast just isn't that game.
Just remember to turn off the lights and try not to cover your eyes, because you're in for one hell of a ride.
More intelligent enemies and less eye-rolling predictability would have made this one of my favourite videogame horror experiences.
Outlast loses momentum occasionally, but its unsettling atmosphere and pulse-pounding chases keep pulling you along for the ride.
As a huge horror aficionado, it’s great to see that the horror genre is making more of a comeback in recent years.
It's not perfect, but Outlast is still arguably one of the best survival horror games in recent memory. You'll need a strong stomach to get through the campaign, but if you can cope with jump scares and graphic content, then this is an exhilarating experience from bloody beginning to chilling conclusion. With fantastic audio work and a clever camera mechanic, Red Barrels' debut fear fest really will make you afraid of the dark.