Outlast Is Terrible

Right, I've had some time to gather my thoughts and now I'm going to write a little bit about why Outlast is so fucking awful.

I'm going to split this piece into 2 parts.  The first being why it's terrible as a game and the second being why it's a terrible story.

The Game

I remember when I saw the first trailers for Outlast, it originally looked like it was going to be some kind of Mirrors Edge but with a horror setting, which sounded radical.  When I played the game I was a little disappointed that the final product was a slow, plodding, shit excuse of a survival horror game with a crappy chase mechanic

Granted you can sprint and vault over things every now and again but this isn't used well enough for it to be at all enjoyable. Ideally, the enemies should have ALWAYS been coming at you and you'd have to parkour through the facility to survive but instead we got a bunch of uninteresting hallways and a few obstacle courses for you to parkour through when they decide it's time for a chase sequence.

Speaking of corridors, the game is FAR too linear.  There is barely anything to explore and the designated hiding rooms are far too obvious.  Also there are plenty of places to hide from enemies but not enough enemies to make the majority of them worth using.  Most of the crazies in the asylum are non combative and once you realise this it kind of kills any tension because you know that chances are they are just going to sit there and spout nonsense.

The game is also formulaic and predictable which thus makes it extremely boring.  You can basically describe Outlast as follows

1) Go through some corridors
2) Come to a thing that needs to be activated but it's broken
3) There will be 2 valves/levers/buttons, one down a left path, one down a right path.
4) Hit these buttons while avoiding ONE enemy
5) Go To 1

The game also has a habit of treating you like an idiot to the point where it becomes annoying.  For example, there was a part where I came to a broken generator control panel.  The panel read something like "Pressure valve 1 and 2 non operational" and as soon as I approached it a big fat yellow message popped up saying "FIX THE PRESSURE VAVLES".  No fucking shit game, thanks for your obvious hint.

The last thing I have to moan about with the game itself is the control, it's garbage.  The character moves far too slow at walking speed so there is no need to not have your pinky locked down on the run button.  There is absolutely no need to never have the camera readied since it doesn't limit your view and you need it half the time to see in the dark. Finally, jumping is bollocks because the character jumps like he has ankle weights on and the auto grabbing of ledges sometimes doesn't work because of reasons.

The Story

The story to Outlast is one of the stupidest things in gaming history.  However I did take long breaks between each session so if I'm wrong about any of the points I'm about to make regarding the plot, please leave a comment and tell me how I'm wrong.  I'm willing to admit I forgot/misunderstood some things if you can give me a good reason.  It's still shit though.

I'm going to take a few characters from the plot and explain why they are dumb.  Doing this should cover all the major problems I have with the story.

Also Spoilers

1) The Wistleblower

The Whistleblower is the character we never see or really hear from.  The only thing we know or at least the only thing I remember is that he is the guy who tipped off the main character about what was going down at Mount Massive Asylum.  But think about all the things we see inside Mount Massive over the course of the game.

1) We see and hear about lots of other freelance journalists that entered the asylum and were killed by the inhabitants
2) One of the first encounters in the asylum is with a dead SWAT team.  The guy on the pike telling you to flee with his last breath
3) This means that this Whistleblower guy possibly tipped off the SWAT team, and then after they failed sent in ONE freelance journo with a camera and somehow hoped he would do better.

A fucking SWAT TEAM was taken out by probably one man with no weapons or intelligence (Chris Walker).  That means that the Whistleblower is a bit of a fucking moron.  But whatever, more stupid shit happens inside the asylum.

2) Chris Walker

His very existence doesn't make any fucking sense.  He is a big hulking tosser with no sense of tactics or stealth and is completely unarmed, yet somehow manages to take out a bunch of dudes with fucking rifles on his own and comes out of the whole ordeal completely unscathed. 

But let us assume that he did/could do that.  It's assumed by some people that the reason Chris Walker is trying to kill you is because he's trying to stop a new host for the Walrider.  This doesn't make any sense because how would he know the Walrider could do that?  The doctor in the wheelchair seemed pretty surprised when he discovered that it had taken over the protagonists body so HOW THE FUCK would a big hulking moron like Chris know that?!

Also if he is trying to stop a new host for the Walrider, why aren't all the nutters who are on the side of that priest guy trying to kill him?  The whole reason for the priest being there is to worship the Walrider, so why would he not be trying to take down an enemy of his faith?  I know he's a big strong guy but the priest had a fucking legion of nutters with shivs at his disposal, I'm sure they could have taken him down, he's not invincible.

3) The Walrider and Billy Hope

I'm going to bullet point these ones because this side of the story is so stupid it makes my head spin

- The Walrider is a swarm of NANOMACHINES controlled by some dudes fucking lucid dreams.  This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

-If they are controlled by Billy, how the fuck do they continue to function AFTER the protagonist killed Billy

-If the Walrider can function without Billy, why does it need to "infect" or "possess" the protagonist?  It could have just killed him

-But let's assume it needs a host and the last point was done as a last ditch effort at self preservation while Billy was dying.  The protagonist is gunned down by a team of dudes right at the end so surely it would shut down because A) The new host is fucking dead and B) I'm going to assume that the protagonist can't lucid dream

-Finally, if it is fucking nanomachines (a thing created by SCIENCE!) why does it need a traumatised host?  Couldn't they just work on the nanites to make them less awkward to fucking use.

So that's it, Outlast is a shit game.  I'll be doing another post soon about survival horror at large so watch this space.

Tau Plays Outlast Part 14

Well this one went a lot better

Tau Plays Outlast Part 13

Everything that could have gone wrong with this episode did.  The level itself AND the upload to YouTube.  Goddamnit

Tau Plays Outlast 12

You may be noticing that I'm hammering the YouTube content recently! Well I'm hoping to get this Outlast playthrough done soon so I can move on to the next game.  Enjoy the vid! Like and subscribe and all that good stuff!

Tau Plays Outlast Part 10

I've had a rather busy weekend, so time to settle back into the blogging with a new video!

Tau Plays Outlast Part 9

I'm sick of this game treating me like a fucking moron

Tau Plays Outlast Part 7

Sewer levels are never good....

Tau Plays Outlast Part 5

Well here comes the next part! Bit earlier than the last one too! I'm getting better at this.

Tau Plays Outlast Part 4

I made good on my plans and released the next part pretty quickly!

Tau Plays Outlast Part 3!

Sorry for the slow uploads on this thing, I got sick and I didn't want to upload any more until I knew I could carry on doing commentary for it.

Anyway, here it is! Hopefully there will be less of a break between this and the next one!

Tau Plays Outlast Part 2!

Here we are again with Outlast!  I have a bit of a moan about the jump scare nature of the game and then get brutally murdered!  ENJOY!

Tau Plays Outlast! Part 1!

Oh boy! A new playthrough! So soon after the last one too!

It's a horror game so expect to jump out of my skin like a little bitch at some point.

I messed up the audio levels for my first recording session so I might be a little hard to hear at certain points, but it's mostly fine.  It will be better in the future, I promise!  Enjoy!

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.

The Outlast Extended Trailer

A while ago I did a little post about how excited I was for the new Outlast game that is being developed by Red Barrels, well, since then there has been an extended trailer for it, if you want to take a look, you can do so here.

Well I was pretty hyped for it before but since watching this trailer, a few of my hopes have been put down.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm still excited, but not as excited as I was before and I'll tell you why.

First, it really does just look like Mirrors Edge. If you watch the trailer you have parkour-esque sliding over desks and it even has that little effect where you can see the hands moving back and forth in the characters periphery.  There is nothing wrong with this, Mirrors Edge was a good game, but I don't think this style of gameplay works in this genre, you need time to take in the atmosphere rather than just frantically run through everything.

Second, it appears to be full of jump scares, and I fucking hate jump scares.  This is what really kills games like Dead Space for me, because having things jump out at you and scream is not scary, its just shocking, it makes you jump for a moment and you feel like an idiot, but after that there isn't much else and doing it over and over kills the effect. I wont talk about this part much more because I'd rather talk about what makes scary games, scary in a future post, but jump scares are no good!

Finally the plot, I don't like it.  I'm no expert writer but I'm sure they could come up with something better than "criminal insane nut jobs go on a killing spree in an asylum".  I mean it's not a bad premise but it's so fucking stock, at least try to push the boat out a little bit.

But I'm being overly critical in this post, I still have high hopes for the game itself being good, just any hopes of it being a scary one are gone.  That said, I'm still excited and I'm looking forward to seeing some gameplay, and maybe being proved wrong on stuff I said above, that would be nice.

The Outlast Teaser Trailer

Since Halloween is getting pretty damn close now, let's talk about some scary fuckin' games, and what better way to start than with a brand new scary fuckin' game that I just saw the teaser trailer for!

So this is a game called Outlast, being developed as we speak by a bunch of guys at the new company Red Barrels.  This will be their first game as far as I'm aware, and if you go check out the website and look at the team, they have some really good talent in their ranks.  These guys have all had a part working on some kind of big game or for some kind of big company so the skills on display here are top notch.

So, before we continue, watch the trailer

Now, after watching that my brain is saying 2 things.  One half of me is saying "wow, it sort of reminds me of Mirrors Edge in a way, but as a horror game", and that's pretty cool.  Despite what anyone said about Mirrors Edge, I really fucking liked that game, so if you can wrap that kind of gameplay in a nice warm blanket of horror, it could be really good.

But then the other half of my brain is going "This is going to fucking suck.....", and that is because if you watch the trailer, you may realise that the character spends the entire trailer running away from the scary things.  Now, what was the last game that had you running away from the scary things as it's main game mechanic......

......yeah, remember how AWESOME Shattered Memories was.....no, you don't because it sucked ASS (still better than Homecoming though)

Despite saying that, I do imagine the guys at Red Barrels will be able to make this kind of gameplay enjoyable.  Hell, a game like Catherine is essentially running away from the big nasty but look at how awesome that is.  Either that, or I'm just making assumptions from the trailer that aren't true, and when we see more I'm promptly going to shut my gob about the game potentially sucking.

So keep an eye on this one people, it looks like it might be good!