How Scary Is Outlast? Not very

Outlast is a game I've mentioned a few times on this blog.

First I said that it was worth looking out for, then I said that while some of my hype had been dashed I was still looking forward to it, and now it's just another one of those games in the back of my mind that I'll probably get on the cheap about a year after it's release date.

I saw this video on YouTube put out by IGN called "How Scary is Outlast?" here it is

This is a silly video where a bunch of people play the game and over react to bad scares like they are 12 years old.

The game itself looks pretty solid technically speaking.  The demo that they were playing ran smoothly and it didn't bug out or anything like that.  Also the game doesn't seem to have that DreadOut problem of the character having a move speed no faster than a frail old person with broken legs.

But I'm not talking about the game from a technical standpoint, I'm not here to discuss fucking graphics, frame rate and shit like that, I'm here to talk about scares, and this is where this whole thing really falls flat on its fucking face.

If you are scared by this game, you need to seek help.  Now I'm not saying I'm some big manly man but this game isn't scaring you at any point, it's only shocking you.  All the gore and bodies and shit like that is really in your face and it's the same kind of "scary" that a movie like Saw is.  Also when the game does attempt a scare it plays a huge bang and fucking loud violins go off in the background here, the soundtrack is TELLING you to be scared and instead it has the opposite effects.

When you hear huge bangs and shit like that you aren't scared, you're shocked and the effect wares off immediately after.  What's worse is that jump scares seems to be the only thing this game has, so it becomes even less scary because I know when I play the game I'm just going to be looking for points where a jump scare is probably going to come out.

Also the big dude running around and grabbing you isn't scary because he's just a fucking dude with a strange face.  Even the Amnesia monster was scarier than that because even though it was just a humanoid type thing at least it looked sort of fucked up and you could only ever get a passing glance at it.  But no, here, it's just a big burly man trying to beat the shit out of you, WHOOP DE FUCKING DOO.  Plenty of games have big burly men beating the shit out of you, and they aren't scary, it's not just magically scary here because you put the burly man in a long corridor and surrounded him in gore.

Outlast has disappointed me before it has even come out.  Way to go Red Barrels, you proved that you know absolutely nothing about making horror games.  I'll be sure to give it a go still, but the rant about your incompetency is going to get really long when that day comes.