Outlast

[cantremember]

So anyone played it yet? What's the consensus?

I love people who're asking their questions without even trying to read a couple of pages of the thread. Nice style of communicating with the world. I love all of your type to death.

Not everyone has the time to read through 17 pages of thread, learn communicating yourself instead of being passive-aggressive on an internet forum, I love your kind aswell.

[Kreekakon]

Doing a quick run-down of the thread I do not think everyone agrees enough for there to be a general consensus of the game just yet.

You can go back to read people's thoughts on it. They do not take up the whole thread; mostly just the past three pages.

[The Raining Brains]

Edge gave it a 9. To be honest, I'm struggling to justify that. I'd give it a 7.

It was moderately scary at first but the repetition dampened the experience quite a bit and I became desensitised to encounters fairly quickly. I would say this was the game's greatest flaw. The frequency of the encounters and the raw in-your-face nature of the enemies wore off fast. It induced more of a sense of panic than actual fear. The only stand out moment was the large pitch black area in the sewers...and perhaps a certain unexpected encounter later in the game.

So not quite the next Amnesia then. I'd say it's more along the lines of something like Condemned or F.E.A.R without weapons...which is more or less what I was expecting. However I would still recommend it as something to kill the time until AAMFP arrives.

[Plectrum61]

I'm playing the game at the moment and I must admit that it's a pretty terrifying experience. Great ambience, graphics, music and enemies. You can't really compare Amnesia with Outlast since both games has it's own unique experience. It may look like Amnesia to some people but you'll notice that it's not when you are playing it yourself. In my opinion it's a game you should definitely try out.

I'm going to put my headphones on and dive back into this twisted world full of demented pshycopaths!

So not quite the next Amnesia then. I'd say it's more along the lines of something like Condemned or F.E.A.R without weapons...which is more or less what I was expecting.

I don't fully agree on that. Condemned was a terrible game in which you only had to break the skulls of your enemies. There were no enemies that searched the area to find you or any hiding places, and neither in FEAR. I can't really compare this game to anything, but that's just my opinion.

[Scarypigthing]

It is scary, but it has no restraint so it wears off fast. So much so that I keep making that big muscly dude chase me on purpose now just to kind of troll him. Its fun and the graphics are nice though, the bit with the crazy doctor is good too.

[Alardem]

From what I can tell, the game is competent - the level design is appropriately dark and foreboding, the protagonist has a much more visible presence in the world, and the reliance on the camera for night-vision is a clever mechanic. But it doesn't do anything for me. It's a paint-by-numbers game, with a ridiculously desensitizing overuse of gore, generic-looking bald bad guys, bombastic music that annoys rather than engages, and a predictable plot about something-Nazi scientists-something-evil corporation-something. It's the soundtrack that really bothers me - great horror like Silent Hill often utilizes discordant sounds that linger in the player's mind.

I'd stick with A Machine For Pigs, thanks. I find it interesting that Outlast represents the 'triple-A' emulation of 'independent' horror that Amnesia and Penumbra exemplified so well.

[Lleviathyn]

It is linear as hell. Then again, so was Amnesia. What's your point?

Not really.

You see, in Outlast it's just moving forward with the frequent monster encounters and the occasional key needed for a door. There were no real puzzles, and like I said before, very very linear with all the objects blocking lots of potential explorable rooms.

In Amnesia, you were given the goal right away, and as you progress there were constant puzzles that required side quests and exploration. For example, let's say you've just completed the water part and have reached the Back Hall. You're not restricted to going to the Guest Room first, you can go to the Storage first too if you want.

Sure, it's still linear, but it's not all that restricted. However, I'd say Outlast has strict linear progression, something that doesn't really have any wiggle room for free exploration.

[Zgroktar]

Played it through today. A solid game altogether, there is nothing in particular you could hate, but still there are much better games, and it isn't on par with Penumbra and Amnesia.

[Paddy™]

Pro tip: don't reload your battery until the previous one is more or less at the point of dying. The remaining power doesn't carry over. This is fair enough, but if you accidentally tap the reload key while your camera is already at 100% power you'll lose an entire battery.

I'm at the "fire" part now. I'm still enjoying the game a lot, but I'm also still feeling virtually nothing in terms of fear. There seems to be something missing and I'm not quite sure what it is...

The chase sequences feel exactly like Mirror's Edge (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, ME rules) but with more gore and flapping cocks. The stealth sequences remind me a lot of the way I felt playing the original Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation. Again, not necessarily a bad thing!

[Paddy™]

I just completed the game...in 3.6 hours (according to Steam).

What the fuck? This isn't a sarcastic question, but did I miss something? Are there alternative endings/paths through the game? I read all the documents and checked every inch of every room, or at least I think I did haha. I've heard some reviewers talk about it being a "9 hour game" This can't be right. I'm not one of those who demands a certain length of game for my buck, but when I'm told it's a certain length and it ends 6 hours earlier than I expected...well, it's a bit jarring to say the least.

I enjoyed the game and would recommend it. Great graphics, great "feel" to the mechanics for the most part, AAA-quality all around for sure. And, despite being shocked that I completed the game in 3.6 hours, I do think it was an adequate length for what the game has on offer (and for the price). I just felt virtually nothing resembling fear throughout, which is obviously the main selling point for a horror game. The chases got more frantic and intense as the game progressed, but no more so than a chase in Mirror's Edge, which isn't even a horror game!

The story...I'm not entirely sure what it was about, and I'm not entirely sure why it ended the way it did. I'm scratching my head about a few elements which became central towards the latter part of the game. But that's probably more the fault of my coffee-addled brain than the writers' ineptitude.