Outlast is a first-person survival game with an interesting story. The setting is Mount Massive Asylum, a mental institution in the mountains of Colorado. Your character is a journalist who goes there to investigate the alleged inhumane experiments being done on the inmates. Just like many other similar games, Outlast has easy-to-learn mechanics: it is just a matter of using a few keys and movements.
The game succeeds in creating a horrifying atmosphere of corpses, lunatic murderers and insane shrinks. Thus, you need to find your way through the asylum’s corridors and rooms with no weapons to defend yourself. Besides, there is the additional element of darkness, which you can only avoid by putting your camera in night-vision mode, but, unfortunately, its batteries drain so fast that you are soon in the dark again. Luckily, the soundtrack plays its part in supporting this dreadful feeling by creating tension and, at times, contributing to a sudden fright.
So, with nothing else to do but run and hide for your life, you need to solve various mysteries, just like puzzles, which include finding door keys, restoring elevator power and opening the relief valves of the sewer system.
Regrettably, the middle part of the game can turn repetitive. At this point, it can get a little bit mechanical. This feeling that the game is too linear is accentuated whenever you get caught and need to start the same situation over and over again. The ending, on the contrary, gives you a feeling of accomplishment and relief, just what you expect after so much effort. more
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