Outlast

About Outlast

Outlast is a first-person horror game from Red Barrels, a Montreal studio founded by developers who had worked on big action series, released on PC in 2013 and later on consoles. An anonymous email sends independent journalist Miles Upshur to Mount Massive Asylum, a remote Colorado institution reopened in secret by the Murkoff Corporation. He climbs in through a window and finds the staff dead and the patients in control.

Miles is no fighter and the game never hands him a weapon. What he has is a handheld camcorder. Its night-vision mode is often the only way to see in the dark corridors, offices and sewers, but it burns through batteries you must find along the way. Through its green, grainy image you watch inmates shuffle past your hiding place in a locker or under a bed, and you run, vault and squeeze through gaps when one of them chases you.

Some patients only mutter in their cells; others hunt Miles for long stretches, among them a hulking brute, a pair of naked twins and a doctor with surgical tools. Documents and the notes Miles writes on what he films piece together what Murkoff did in the asylum. The game is very gory and has graphic violence and nudity.

It takes the hide-and-run approach of Amnesia and makes it faster and louder, with chases rather than slow dread. It suits players who want a short, intense run of chases and scares. The Whistleblower DLC tells a story from inside Murkoff, and the console releases sell the two together as Outlast: Bundle of Terror. Outlast 2 and the co-op The Outlast Trials followed.

How to play Outlast

1. Explore the asylum in first person; you cannot attack, so avoid every patient you can.
2. Raise the camcorder and switch on night vision to see in the dark, and pick up batteries to keep it running.
3. Hide in lockers, under beds or in dark corners when an enemy is near, and peek out to watch where they go.
4. Run, vault over obstacles and shut or barricade doors to escape a chase.
5. Film key events and read documents to follow the story and find your way forward.

Screenshots

Tips

• Use night vision only when you need it; the batteries run out quickly.
• Look behind you while running to see whether you have lost a pursuer.
• Hiding spots are not always safe: an enemy who saw you go in will search them.
• Learn where you are going before you need to run there.

Questions