Outlast II (2017)

This should have been called Outlast : The Cult. A spin off, not part 2

I know outlast was set to shock people and be unique. The first title had success, one of a kind. Second? A spin off, not a worthy sequel. During Outlast 2 walkthrough i was begging for it to get to the point. Too much lingering, to much beating around the bush for a psychological horror game. Interesting take on religion, faith, fanaticism, abuse, but too much circling around when it could have been delivered smarter. Others have done it better, this title is not part 2 it is a spin off. The sequel it deserves has yet to be seen.

This is, in every way, far superior to the awful shithole that came before it, and yet...it still just feels like a walking simulator. Games like these or The Blair Witch or even Stanley Parable...while they might have decent enough stories to carry them through, I think are just ultimately kind of boring to experience.

I mean, they very clearly state at the start "you are not a fighter", and yet, anyone in their right mind, when surrounded by a myriad of things that could be turned into a weapon and used to defend onself against an onslaught of clearly crazed religious yokels out for blood, would happily do just that. I'm not a fighter either, but guess what, if it came down to it, yeah, I'd defend myself, because that's just human nature. It makes sense.

Don't get me wrong, these aren't (well the first Outlast is) bad games by any means, but you want me to have a sense of realism for not having my character be able to even half heartedly awkwardly defend himself while I'm suspending said belief in the fact that we survive a plane crash and somehow land in the middle of a cult that's built an entire shanty town? You can't have it both ways, man.

And I've got no beef with on rails linearity, that aspect doesn't bother me in the slightest. Games remove aspects like defending yourself - a totally believable aspect for the record when found in this type of situation - to make it more "tense", but really tension should come from atmosphere, which this game has in spades, but that's when you realize that's all it has to it. Your entire goal is to survive, and yet the only way to do that is to hide in fucking rain barrels? There's literally sickles and farm tools everywhere. Give my man a weapon. He's a grown ass dude in his prime, I think he can handle swinging a rusty hoe around a bit.

I don't know man, I just don't get modern gaming.

Played on PS4.

The graphics and experience in this game is amazing You'll remember those gorey scenes that you see all along and the way they induce you the fear of being followed by those sick heretics and Christians is amazing.

There are pieces of gameplay that I found a bit 'too much', in the sense of being longer than needed and not scary at all. e.g when crossing that big lake in the raft, you see almost nothing in the way and it is very very slow. Also at the end when walking with Lynn, it seems longer than needed.

Other than that, the game is a great visual experience and almost qualifiable for me as one of the best horror games out there in terms of fear causing capability. It's a must for every horror genre aficionado.