By Jennifer Tan AKA Mrs Fett
With every holiday that approaches, I take certain steps to get in the spirit. Halloween is by far one of my favorite holidays! Screams, Pumpkin cheesecake and cupcakes, costumes, cosplay, parties, and Knott’s Halloween Haunt are just a few reasons why I love Halloween.
Friday, Sept 13th, was the perfect time to kick off Shocktober, where I play a different horror game each week until Halloween! This week’s pick, was Outlast. Now, I have never played PC based horror games, and now I remember why! Pitch black room, Tritton Kunai’s on, and nothing but dead silence in my house.
In the remote mountains of Colorado, horrors wait inside Mount Massive Asylum. A long-abandoned home for the mentally ill, recently re-opened by the “research and charity” branch of the transnational Murkoff Corporation, has been operating in strict secrecy… until now.
Acting on a tip from an inside source, independent journalist Miles Upshur (you) breaks into the facility, and what he discovers walks a terrifying line being science and religion, nature and something else entirely. Once inside, his only hope of escape lies with the terrible truth at the heart of Mount Massive.
The environment is incredible. Shadows, foliage, and minor details really pull you into the game, but it’s the audio that locks you in, and keeps you scared. Your character has nothing more than a video camera and batteries, forcing you to stay in the “fight or flight” mentality the game thrives on. There is no “Come At Me Bro!” situation in the game. Either you find a closet to hide in, or that monster chasing 3 feet behind you is about to make you live your worst nightmare.
There are a few minor flaws in the game, none of which are a deal breaker in my opinion. If you aren’t careful, you could run yourself into the same savepoint fail over and over, until you go back two check points. Once in a while you will also run into that random item you, just….can’t….grab… making the story irritating to commit to. Of all the things I could find flawed, the biggest has to be the length of the game. 4 hours is plenty of time to stress, and scare yourself, but the game was well made, and I wish it had lasted longer. Even still, the game is worth every penny.
Next up is White Noise, a horror game for the Xbox 360!
