Outlast

About Outlast

Outlast is a first-person survival horror game from Red Barrels, which describes its team as veterans of some of the biggest game franchises in history. It came out on Windows, Mac and Linux in September 2013, on PlayStation 4 in 2014, on Xbox One in 2015 and on Nintendo Switch in 2018. In the remote mountains of Colorado, Mount Massive Asylum, a long-abandoned home for the mentally ill, has been reopened in secret by the "research and charity" branch of the Murkoff Corporation. Acting on a tip from an anonymous source, independent journalist Miles Upshur breaks in.

Miles is no fighter. The store page puts it plainly: to survive the asylum your only chance is to run or hide. Play is built on stealth, with parkour-style climbing and vaulting, and the inmates can catch up with you at any time and from any direction. Much of the asylum is pitch dark, so you often see it only through the green night vision of a handheld camera, whose screen shows a REC mark and a battery meter. Its screenshots show a morgue with a mutilated body on a steel table, wards with old bed frames, a cell block, sewer pipes, burning rooms and the woods outside in a storm.

Red Barrels says the setting and characters are inspired by real asylums and cases of criminal insanity, and warns of intense violence, gore, graphic sexual content and strong language. The ESRB rates it M, and the German USK rating also lists sexual violence. There's real nudity too: a pair of twin inmates who stalk the prison block wear nothing at all. Some critics, such as Game Revolution on Metacritic, say it leans heavily on jump scares.

The Whistleblower add-on lets you play as Waylon Park, a software engineer under contract with Murkoff and the man who emailed journalists, Miles among them. It tells the story that led to Outlast and goes past the end of the first game. On consoles the two are sold together as Outlast: Bundle of Terror. On Steam and GOG Outlast costs $14.99, and a first play of the main story takes about five hours according to HowLongToBeat.

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.

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