Outlast: scary or not?

[lacktheknack]

Jump Scares: ++
Atmosphere: +
Not Showing Everything: --
Paranoia: ~
Shock: +(+)
Vulnerability: -
Length: ++

Scared me lots, got really stupid (but still unnerving) at the end. Worth a play.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Good grief people, there's nothing inherently wrong with "jump scares". It's not shorthand for low-brow horror, it's the very foundation of horror, both good and bad.

It is not the very foundation of horror, and while I agree with you that there's nothing inherently wrong with them as a concept, that doesn't change the fact that they tend to be overused by lazy writers who can't think of other ways to build tension.

Absolutely. The pervasive belief that the foundation of horor is the jump scare is one of the biggest reasons why horror in games is at such a relative low point right now. Jump scares are a tool that can be used in both active and subversive manners, but they only work in either fashion when the real world building and tension creation are done.

 

[KayRead91]

It's scary at first, but there are two problems that kill it dead after a point:

1. Repetition of jump scares

2. Repetition of gameplay


Now, Horror games can be pretty repetitive. Hell, a lot of people whined that Outlast's enemies are repetitive and yet give Amnesia amnesty there, despite it having only 3 enemies. But the fact is, Amnesia still did that better. It managed to create unique set pieces and the atmosphere was so thick that it kept you engaged. In Outlast, it works for a few hours before it just starts repeating itself over, and over, and over - and it doesn't have the intelligence or proper grasp of horror to keep things interesting like in Amnesia. Outlast takes a very typical, american approach here: Shock at all times, even the moments that aren't jumpscares are there solely for shock. Necrophelia is disturbing, yes, but it's in there just to try and shock you and ruffle some feathers. It serves no purpose, and while the game has a superb atmosphere at the start - it fails to refresh that too; another thing Amnesia did, as its atmosphere managed to stay consistently good by changing things up through new environments and concepts.

I don't hate Outlast, and I did enjoy it to a point - but I'm not going to finish it. I got way, way too tired of "Let's have a jump scare, or let's show something involving another penis or some gore because that's SHOCKING!" and the relatively base and lackluster use of stealth and puzzles.

 

[Harlemura]

I've only seen a Let's Play of it so my opinion of it probably isn't very valid. Still, I felt it started out really scary, then just got less and less so because the same things happened throughout the game. Spotting a big dude looking at you as you round a dark corner seems like it'll always induce a little bit of pant-wetting, but it started becoming too easy to tell when you were going to run into those situations.

I found the later parts disappointing because of these patterns.

Spoiler

I was watching Markipier [http://www.youtube.com/user/markiplierGAME]'s playthrough, and when he got to the women's ward he got all excited to see how the wimmins would work in the game. It was then that it really started getting dull, because instead of taking the opportunity to make some new type of enemy, they use the exact same dudes you've been seeing since the start.

Doesn't take away from how well the game starts out though.

 

[thejackyl]

Minor spoilers:

The first... third of the game is pretty scary, after you meet Trager it stays tense and gets annoying rather than scary, and once you meet the priest at the end, the game has one section where I think they should have just let your character leave the asylum rather than what actually happened rather than turning it into a sci-fi thing.

Honestly though, if you can catch it during a sale, and you liked the Amnesia games (Dark descent, or it's predecessor Penumbra: Black Plague), get it, it's worth at least $10, imo.

 

[shogunblade]

Having bought Outlast during the winter sales (OMG, $7? Hell Yes, I'll buy!) and having played it some, not yet completed, I'm partially disappointed. I have a strange relationship with scary games and movies. I don't like playing lots of them because I am a coward in most cases, but when I do play scary games, I find it's the initial fear, and that most games don't leave me really scared, just tense.

Outlast sort of reminds me of the Friday The 13th movies in obvious ways, and that disappoints me, because it shows that jumping at the player is just unimaginative. A game I do like (kind of) that did the same things Outlast did, but in a different sort of way was Manhunt. Manhunt was a very tedious slog because snuffing out other bad people for points is quite depraved, but the last level, Deliverance, which has you square off against the chainsaw-wielding Pigsy is quite unnerving, and it's why I love that game.

There is no music, just the soundtrack of a man squealing like a pig whilst a Chainsaw revs, and you are armed only with a stake to drive into his shoulder until his health drops. It freaked me out more than Outlast did, because like most Friday the 13th movies, eventually, you can fight back. Now, I haven't beaten Outlast yet, but the game so far is just hiding from the Doctor, and that's uncomfortable because he's insane, but doesn't portray insane as well as the various patients do.

That being said, I do love the atmosphere the game exudes, but it's more a rollercoaster ride than a psychological one, but I have Silent Hill 2 for psychological terror. Some days you want A Nightmare on Elm Street and other days you want The Shining. I'll say it's well made, though I hope one day a psychological First Person game comes along (Amnesia or Penumbra may be it, I don't know).

I want more psychological horror games, but for what it does, It's reasonably tense and scary in some parts, and if you are like my sister who jumps at every scare, it might be enough, though for me, it's a game that's scary in other spots and not so scary in others.

TL;DR, it's personal preference, but it's not as scary as it could be.

 

[shogunblade]

Having bought Outlast during the winter sales (OMG, $7? Hell Yes, I'll buy!) and having played it some, not yet completed, I'm partially disappointed. I have a strange relationship with scary games and movies. I don't like playing lots of them because I am a coward in most cases, but when I do play scary games, I find it's the initial fear, and that most games don't leave me really scared, just tense.

Outlast sort of reminds me of the Friday The 13th movies in obvious ways, and that disappoints me, because it shows that jumping at the player is just unimaginative. A game I do like (kind of) that did the same things Outlast did, but in a different sort of way was Manhunt. Manhunt was a very tedious slog because snuffing out other bad people for points is quite depraved, but the last level, Deliverance, which has you square off against the chainsaw-wielding Pigsy is quite unnerving, and it's why I love that game.

There is no music, just the soundtrack of a man squealing like a pig whilst a Chainsaw revs, and you are armed only with a stake to drive into his shoulder until his health drops. It freaked me out more than Outlast did, because like most Friday the 13th movies, eventually, you can fight back. Now, I haven't beaten Outlast yet, but the game so far is just hiding from the Doctor, and that's uncomfortable because he's insane, but doesn't portray insane as well as the various patients do.

That being said, I do love the atmosphere the game exudes, but it's more a rollercoaster ride than a psychological one, but I have Silent Hill 2 for psychological terror. Some days you want A Nightmare on Elm Street and other days you want The Shining. I'll say it's well made, though I hope one day a psychological First Person game comes along (Amnesia or Penumbra may be it, I don't know).

I want more psychological horror games, but for what it does, It's reasonably tense and scary in some parts, and if you are like my sister who jumps at every scare, it might be enough, though for me, it's a game that's scary in other spots and not so scary in others.

TL;DR, it's personal preference, but it's not as scary as it could be.

EDIT: Please Delete Double Post, please. I don't know why I had to do Three Captchas before it did the double post, sorry.