

It rains blood and spews locusts and sends twisted cultists after you through it all, just regular people wearing overalls and carrying bloody steak knives, moaning in apocalyptic overtones. Outlast 2 takes you through dilapidating farms and flooded mines and old townships that all say something about the history of the people who lived there. The first Outlast had the same intense stealth sequences and chase scenes, but in the spooky asylum every Early Access game goes for. What I like most about Outlast 2 is that it doesn't just use its themes as set-dressing. It’s fear of the drastic measures people will take to ensure their salvation, the burden of guilt, and whether or not the big guy up top exists and gives a damn. It's not a fear about being hunted, artistic viscera spills, or neatly arranged corpses on spikes (though there’s plenty of that stuff). It’s one of the most bizarre ending sequences I’ve witnessed, tapping into a fear I’ve known since my first week at Sunday school. When focusing on the main objectives, Outlast II is about 7 Hours in length. Set in the same universe as the first game, but with different characters and a different setting, Outlast 2 is a twisted new journey into the depths of the human mind and its dark secrets. Long after the final minutes of Outlast 2, I felt queasy, uncertain that what I saw had actually happened. Outlast 2 is the sequel to the acclaimed survival horror game Outlast. If you're having trouble navigating Outlast 2's dark farmland or can't figure out how enemies keep spotting you, check out our beginner's guide. And when you’re dashing through it, nearly out of battery while a ‘man’ screams biblical verse and shoots fiery crossbow bolts past your head it’s both thrilling and nauseating, all propped up by an incredible soundtrack. It’s stunning artistic and graphical work. Subtle lighting casts trees and figures like paper silhouettes against muted backdrops, and convincing effects like the camera’s depth of field and visual noise make the world look real at a glance. Red Barrels’ commitment to building such a disorienting horror simulation is as admirable as it is annoying. While the original Outlast could depend on the hospital’s architectural pathways to direct the player, pulling off subtle signposting in an outdoor setting can’t be as obvious without compromising the feeling of being lost and helpless. The area was a wild goose chase killbox, built only to confuse. The way out was a short sprint not far from where the sequence begins, a quick hop over a pile of wood pallets piled next to the fence. Future you will be thankful when you aren’t afraid to reload your batteries after you’ve made it into the mines.Red Barrels’ commitment to building such a disorienting horror simulation is as admirable as it is annoying.Įarly on, I wandered the same cornfield for 30 minutes, crawling the perimeter and making several suicide runs to scope out the buildings for an exit. The flashbacks to the school are a particularly good place to find a charge so even if you don’t feel like it, head into all the offices you can enter and check every desk. and evade so many rusty blades and pointed pickaxes, that it feels much longer. It feels like common sense but when you’re in a room that you aren’t being chased through, have a wander around and you’ll probably find a few sneaky glowing batteries hiding. Outlast 2 is not game about pulling punches or subtle implications. Helpfully they stay in there, even when you’re being crucified or swimming. If you look down at your body, you can see how many batteries you have in your left pocket. There are of course a few fires scattered around and the sequences in the school are well lit, but you’ll need a solid supply of double As to survive.

Night vision is essential for the majority of Outlast 2, as it plunges you into near darkness a lot more than you’ll probably be comfortable with.

Let’s definitely not take this opportunity to question why Blake Langermann doesn’t use a lithium ion device.
