I’ve been a pretty big horror fan for most of my life, but the love affair with the genre easily started with games. Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Clock Tower; even the more obscure stuff like Galerians and OverBlood were some of my favourites. I felt the genre was on a bit of a downward trend with first person horror games that were designed to be watched, not played. Outlast had the potential to buck the trend, but slightly missed the mark. Outlast II, with its new themes, settings and characters, feels like a better designed sequel that attempts to buck this trend.
The story of Outlast II takes place in the same world as the original Outlast but this is a largely standalone affair, with minimal links to the original game. You play as Blake, a journalist and cameraman who travels with his wife Lynn to the Arizonan desert to investigate the death of a pregnant woman. Through mysterious forces, Blake is separated from Lynn. Even worse, the couple are lost in a strange village cut off from society where a strange sect of Christianity live, who are convinced that the end of days is upon them and that Blake and Lynn have something to do with it
The jump in quality from Outlast to Outlast: Whistleblower was strengthened with a great sense of self-awareness. Developer Red Barrels were really in tune with what could be done better in future instalments and what prevented their debut title from being truly perfect. Outlast II continues this tradition. Most major issues that I had with both Outlast and Whistblower have been remedied in Outlast II.
Your options for self-defence are more numerous in Outlast II. Whereas you could hide in cupboards or under beds in the original game, there’s a slew of things you can do in II. You can still hide under beds and in lockers and cupboards, but you can also hide in thick foliage as well as underwater. Slightly more ingenious, Blake can also lock himself inside buildings using deadlocks too – though this proved more than tense when I accidentally locked myself in a room with something and had to quickly scramble to get back out.
A huge issue I had with Outlast was that there were too many jump scares to the point where they got so formulaic that I began to predict them almost effortlessly. Outlast II still has jump scares, but it’s much more restrained in how it employs them. It better paces it’s scares, there’s more moments where you’ll be dreading what will be around each corner, behind each door. There’ll be moments where you expect jump scares and there won’t be, the whole process of mentally psyching yourself up proving to be more draining than what a simple jump scare might be. The style of Outlast II’s scares just feel better designed.
Blake’s journey to reunite and escape with his wife will take most players between ten and twelve hours to finish depending on how well you evade your captors and how much you explore. Those looking to expand their experience will probably miss some collectibles along the way. These are usually notes relating to the scripture of the sect you’re running from or video diaries of Blake’s own thoughts. I recommend seeking them out as best you can, as they’ll not only lengthen the experience for you but also better flesh out Outlast II’s terrifying world.
But it’s the gore-laden details that complete Outlast II’s look. You’ll find human remains, horrifically mutilated bodies, crushed viscera and the like throughout the region you’re exploring. It’s visually intense, but it enables Outlast II to instil a great sense of dread in players, scaring them to progress further or inviting you to stare at the unnatural displays of gore and violence yet at the same time wanting to look away.
Outlast II is a marked improvement over the original Outlast in almost every way. It’s still scary, yet utilises smarter designed scares to keep the tension high from beginning to end. The story is bound to be controversial, given the themes it tackles, but will easily demand and keep your attention from beginning to end. First person indie horror as a genre has lost its vision over the years, but Outlast II firmly stands tall as one of the best examples. It’s absolutely terrifying and a staunch improvement over the original.
The Xbox One version of this game was played for the purpose of this review. You can read our review policy HERE.
Outlast II is available digitally separately or at retail as part of the Outlast Trinity package, which includes Outlast, Outlast: Whistleblower and Outlast II. You can check out our older reviews of the original Outlast, as well as the downloadable expansion Whistleblower by the same author.