Outlast review: America's most horrifying home movie

September 27, 2013

Outlast, the new horror game from Red Barrels, puts you in the shoes of journalist Miles Upshur as he investigates the old Mount Massive Asylum, an abandoned facility in Colorado. Armed only with your faithful handheld video camera, you quickly find out Mount Massive is not nearly as abandoned as it seems and OH MY GOD IS THAT MAN TALKING TO ME WHILE IMPALED ON A GIGANTIC SPIKE? Lead camera in a clever cage Outlast is the game equivalent of a found-footage film, a la Blair Witch Project, except actually scary (sorry Blair Witch fans). Whereas most found footage films are made out of necessity, in an attempt to disguise low budgets with a heaping dose of shaky cam and crude lighting, Outlast adapts those characteristics into actual game mechanics. The best journalism is done in abandoned asylums after dark. You’re ostensibly “recording” your time at Mount Massive, with the commitment of a journalist who has absolutely no self-preservation instincts. Even in the creepiest moments of the game, you’re rarely forced to put your camera down. I can only imagine you whispering to yourself, “Just keep rolling, Upshur. Keep rolling. You got this. This is going to snag you that daytime Emmy.” Up in the top left of the screen, the timecode ticks by. One hour recorded. Two hours recorded. Upshur must have a very patient editor. The camera is more than an aesthetic choice, though; it's a makeshift scope. You can use it to zoom in and out at any time or toggle the night vision mode. Night vision is essential, as it’s the only way for your character to see in the darkened ruins of Mount Massive—apparently nobody’s bothered replacing light bulbs in a while. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2049621/outlast-review-americas-most-horrifying-home-movie.html#tk.rss_reviews