Wow. That is the word that comes to mind when I think of Outlast 2. If you enjoy a plethora of jump scares, then oh boy will you enjoy this. In Outlast 2 you play as Blake Langermann, a journalist whose helicopter has crashed in the Arizona desert. You and your wife Lynn were traveling there to find a missing pregnant woman, Anna Lee. Shortly after the crash you find the pilot of the helicopter skinned and crucified to a tree. Quickly you realize shit is about to get real. You must journey into the unknown desert of Arizona to find your wife Lynn, who has been captured by “Papa” Sullivan Knoth, a Christian cultist leader who rapes the women of his town and then kills the children because he believes they are the antichrist. Lynn then gets captured by heretics in conflict with Papa Knoth and its your goal to find her.
Much of the game is filled with intense gory situations, horrifying jump scares, and intense situations. Within the first ten minutes of the game I found myself crouch walking everywhere with my heart beating out my chest. Apart from the jump scares the game is also a psychological thriller. The music created for this game intensifies at certain situations making the journey to wherever you’re going next, that much more terrifying. The story for Outlast 2 is not that hard to follow if you’re into collectibles. There are 105 collectibles in the game that if you obtain gives you little insights into the backstory of Temple Gate, the town Papa Knoth and his followers live in.
Just like the first game you are equipped with a camcorder that has a night vision feature. Good lord is this game dark. At times, pitch black. But, unlike the first game, even if you’re not using the night vision feature your battery on the camera still drains. This can be quite annoying especially on the harder difficulties with less batteries to find. Though I played on normal so finding batteries was not a problem for me.
The only difficult part I found throughout the game was the minor puzzles to solve. I am not the most observant person, so often times I found myself stuck at certain parts of the game somewhat frustrated. The puzzles are honestly not too difficult so if you are any more observant than I am you will have no trouble. One knock I did have one the game came about 30 minutes into my play through. I was wading through water when these black squares appeared on my screen. It only happened twice during my play through and I am not sure why. Below is what I saw for a few seconds. Not sure what caused it but be wary of it possibly happening to you.
I have seen around the internet as the release of this game came a lot of great comments about the game. People are horrified playing it, but being able to laugh about it afterwards. One thing I have seen is the Resident Evil 7 lovers come out and say how “boring” this game is. I respectfully disagree with their opinion. The game has a much different story line than the first one, a lot scarier, and tons of fun. I personally know someone who has played both games, and he has enjoyed both, Outlast 2 wasn’t boring because RE7 came out before it. Get the game for yourself and form your own opinion (but don’t worry, you will enjoy it). This game is terrifying and if you don’t get scared by this, nothing will scare you. There are a lot of in your face jump scares such as this one.
Now, you can’t tell where this is in the story, so don’t worry, you will still scream like I did. There are tons of jump scares that will leave you jumping out of your seat. If you remember the first game, there was a giant “man” who would randomly appear in an area. Outlast 2 has a character like that as well. It’s an enormously tall lady that walks around with what looks like a pick axe and is not very fun to run into. Upon being creepy looking, her raspy voice sends shivers down your spine. She will casually walk around the corner when you least expect it, forcing you to backtrack and work around her. Other than the sudden jump scares, she is the scariest part of the game.
This game was so much fun to play. Something about being scared and literally running for your life makes for such a good game. With plot twists along the way that keep the story fresh there is no lack of entertainment within the game. Red Barrels really knows how to get under your skin. Play the game, you will understand. The dark undertones of the game set up the story throughout and constantly make you think wtf, yet you still want more. Buy Outlast 2, be scared, you won’t be disappointed.
