The Options:
Outlast (PC)
Rayman Legends (PC, PS3, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360)
Castle of Illusions (XBLA)
It’s been a long, hot summer and we spent the better half of it playing The Last of Us, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection: Legacy Edition, ironing our Batsuits for Arkham Origins, arguing back and forth about Ben Affleck, and reading up on the console wars. Finally, some new games to talk about! The fall is a season of promise and we’re very excited to get our hands on games such as GTA V and Beyond: Two Souls. But first, we head into the depths of Hell to get our hands on what might be this year’s scariest game (unless Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs has anything to say about it).
Outlast, Red Barrels’ new psychological thriller, delivers everything we love about horror mockumentaries such as .REC and Cloverfield in one terrifying PC download. It’s been non-stop chatter about this game since E3 2013 where it was voted “Most Likely to Make You Faint” and one of the “Best of E3.” Part of it is how scary the game really is, your only weapon a camcorder that inconveniently runs out of battery every five seconds, and Red Barrels’ brilliant promotional campaign. This game might just be the Blair Witch Project/Paranormal Activity of video games: spreading through word of mouth, infecting the tongues of those who have played it and declared it the scariest game they’ve ever played as they sat in those clever little dark arcade booths at conventions, screaming their butts off for a night-vision camera to record.
Chances are that if you haven’t at least heard of Outlast in the past few months, you’ve been living under a rock. If this game doesn’t satisfy you (we reckon it will), you will at least buy it out of curiosity after seeing another poor girl screaming in a booth as little blurbs float over her head reading: “Scariest game of the year!”
About the game, you are an ambitious journalist who gets an anonymous tip to investigate the Mount Massive Asylum, a long-abandoned insane asylum reopened by a secret corporation for an unknown purpose. Thirsty for glory, you decide to investigate the asylum in the middle of the night and record what is going on at the site. What you discover is MUCH worse than you expected as you proceed to soil your nice pair of journalist khakis over and over again.
You’ll spend most of your time running away from ugly ass demon things, begging for one more footstep, an open door, and a place to hide. The camera is your best friend as it is your only tool of vision in the thick darkness of the building. Too bad the camera betrays you more often than not, and you’ll find yourself braving whole areas in the dark in order to conserve the battery. There is no workaround. If you run out of batteries in a moment of Jesus-take-the-wheel, you’ll probably have to revert back to the last checkpoint and start the area again.
The use of cameras isn’t the most original idea, of course. Last year’s indie hit, Slender, skillfully implemented this style of gameplay into one of the scariest experiences of the year. What really brings it home is the feeling of being chased, whether by Slenderman or demon zombie trolls. There is plenty of adrenaline rush, run-for-your-life survival horror to be had in Outlast.
If you loved games like Slender, Amnesia, Penumbra, and Fatal Frame, then Outlast is just what you need to get September started off right. Bring your blankey and your collection of George Michael CDs (for when you’re too scared to listen to the game’s soundtrack), and spend a weekend at Mount Massive Asylum.
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