Synopsis
In the remote mountains of Colorado, horrors wait inside Mount Massive Asylum. A long-abandoned home for the mentally ill, recently re-opened by the “research and charity” branch of the transnational Murkoff Corporation, has been operating in strict secrecy…until now. Acting on a tip from an inside source, independent journalist Miles Upshur breaks into the facility and what he discovers walks a terrifying line between science and religion, nature and something else entirely. Once inside, his only hope of escape lies with the terrible truth at the heart of Mount Massive.—Red Barrels Games, "Outlast". September 4, 2013.
Plot
Miles Upshur, a freelance journalist, receives a tip-off from an anonymous source about Mount Massive Asylum, a psychiatric hospitalowned and operated by the Murkoff corporation. Upon gaining entry to the asylum, he finds the bodies of the asylum's staff strewn about the hallways, and the now escaped inmates roaming the grounds. Progressing through the upper dormitories, he encounters an impaled SWAT officer, who in his dying moments tells the journalist to get out of the asylum while he still can. Exiting the dormitories, Upshur is attacked by a powerful inmate named Chris Walker, who throws him through a window, and down to the atrium. Upon regaining consciousness, he encounters "Father" Martin, an inmate who believes he is a priest. Martin says Upshur was sent by God to be a witness to his cult and has to stay in the asylum, and then departs as Upshur passes out again.
Awakening, Upshur starts his attempt to find a way out of the building, while avoiding attacks from Walker and the other inmates. However, before he can do it he is ambushed and sedated by Martin, who again states that he must remain at the asylum and witness the events there. Martin shows him footage of the asylum's security forces being slaughtered by a mysterious, seemingly supernaturalentity known as the Walrider before transporting a now-unconscious Upshur to the asylum's holding cells.
Upshur is forced to work his way upwards through the sewers after encountering a pair of inmates, the Twins, who express a desire to kill and eat him. However, the duo abstain from attacking for the moment, as Martin has asked them not to harm the journalist. Upshur makes his way through the sewers, while avoiding attacks from hostile inmates, finally reaching the asylum's showers.
While attempting to escape through the showers, however, he is attacked yet again by Walker, and escapes through the vents. Progressing further through the building, Upshur is soon chased into a corner by several inmates, but escapes through a dumbwaiter, only to be captured by one of the Asylum's now psychotic doctors, Dr. Trager. Trager imprisons Upshur, strapping him to a wheelchair, and slices off two of his fingers using an enormous pair of shears. Upshur manages to escape and a chase ensues, followed by a struggle when Trager corners Upshur in an elevator; Upshur, however, manages to kill Trager by trapping him between the elevator doors as it begins to lower.
Encountering Martin again, Upshur exits onto the asylum grounds, but he is chased back inside by the Walrider, revealed to be a ghost-like being which Upshur can only see while using his camera's night vision. He is forced to circumnavigate the ruined stairway to access different floors of the building, finally witnessing Martin's death, self-immolation on a crucifix, before taking the now-repaired primary elevator down. Martin tricks Upshur, however, and instead of taking him to the exit, the elevator takes him to an underground military facility beneath the asylum. While searching for an exit, Upshur is attacked and incapacitated by Walker. However, before Walker can kill the journalist, the Walrider attacks and brutally kills the inmate before leaving. Upshur proceeds into the facility and meets Dr. Wernicke, the scientist in charge of the entire experiment.
Wernicke explains that the Walrider is the result of nanotechnology experiments conducted on an inmate called Billy Hope, and that the Walrider is controlled by Hope. Wernicke orders Upshur to find Hope in the laboratory and kill him by shutting off his life support system, thus killing the Walrider. After accomplishing this task, Upshur is caught by the Walrider and brutally beaten, but survives. Staggering to the exit, he is confronted by Wernicke, who is accompanied by several armed guards who repeatedly shoot Upshur on sight and he collapses to the floor. As the screen fades to black, Wernicke realizes Upshur has become the Walrider's new host. Sounds of panicked gunfire and terrified screams are heard, implying that the Walrider (and possibly Upshur) are still at large.
Gameplay
Upshur is incapable of combat, except for certain scripted sequences. To navigate the environment, the character is able to climb to ledges, vault over low obstacles, crawl, and slide in narrow gaps. Except for vaulting, enemies are incapable of any of these maneuvers, which gives the player a certain edge. In addition, the player can survive encounters with the inmates by hiding inside of lockers or under beds, although certain enemies may search the room and attempt to locate the player for a short time before moving on. Since much of the asylum is dark, the player must use Upshur's video camera to see, thanks to its night-vision function. Using night vision consumes batteries, for which replacements are scattered across the environment.
When injured, Upshur must avoid taking any further damage for a while, which will allow him to recover.
Certain enemies are capable of contextual attacks on Upshur. Walker, for example, is capable of ripping Upshur's head off bodily if the player gets too close while injured, and the Twins are both capable of instantly killing Upshur if he gets close, regardless of whether or not he is injured.[clarification needed]
Release
It was released on September 4, 2013 for digital download through Steam, and it will be released early next year for PlayStation 4 as a free title during its first month for PlayStation Plus members.
Reception
| [hide] Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 81.04%[2] |
| Metacritic | 80/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Eurogamer | 7/10[4] |
| Game Informer | 7.5/10[5] |
| GameSpot | 7/10[6] |
| IGN | 7.8/10[7] |
| Joystiq | 4.5/5[8] |
| PC Gamer (US) | 7.5/10[9] |
| Metro | 7/10[10] |
Outlast was met with mostly positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, as of September 17, 2013, the game holds an 80/100 score based on 41 critic reviews.[3] At GameRankings, it maintains a 81.04% based on 26 critic reviews.[2] It has been received with a number of accolades and awards from E3 2013, including the "Most Likely to Make you Faint" honor, and one of "Best of E3".[11]
The PC gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun gave Outlast a very positive review, noting that "Outlast is not an experiment in how games can be scary, it’s an exemplification."[12] Marty Sliva of IGN rated the game with a score of 7.8, praising the horror elements and gameplay while criticizing the environments and character modeling.
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