Outlast (PC) review "Little pig, little pig... No more escape..."

It took me a few sessions before I really got into Outlast. I'm not one to dog cliches in horror because all genres are built on tropes, standards, and predictable plot devices. However, I haven't played many good games that start with the protagonist entering a clearly bedeviled place, especially not when their motives are either unclear or unbelievable. Worst of all, the campus you trespass upon this time is an asylum. Honestly, I'm struggling to recall any well-made scary games I've played that revolved around psychiatric wards. Most I've played come with premises that barely developed beyond, “Wouldn't it be scary to be in a haunted mental institution at night?” Yes, it obviously would, which is why no one in their right mind would enter one...

Yet, here we are again...

Our protagonist, Miles, is a journalist who received a tip from a whistleblower who mentioned inhuman experiments being conducted in the hospital. Compared to what's actually going on within the asylum, the short written note is horrifically vague. Nonetheless, Miles commits breaking and entering. Armed with only a camcorder, he stalks the eerie hallways of the hospital, and things go from zero to traumatic in short order. You're barely there for a few minutes before you spot mutilated bodies, mutated inmates, and all manner of wreckage. Hell, some parts of the institute have somehow crumbled to the point that they look like they're suffering from decades of disrepair in perhaps a few days or a couple of weeks at most.

Straight off, you've gotten the visual, gore-centered scares. Folks who cut their teeth on horror cinema from the '70s onward aren't likely to be fazed by this. Many older viewers survived the video nasty era, and even younger fans are currently witnessing the revival of splatter in the form of “ultra slashers” like “Terrifier” and “In a Violent Nature.” We need a bit more than guts on the ground or spatters on a wall. Thankfully, Outlast mostly obliges...



The game has several ways to unnerve you. For one thing, it takes some of the more trite routes, which work decently well. Don't get me wrong; some of this adventure's scares don't stack up to more psychological, “get under your skin” kinds of chills. Just the same, though, you can't help but squeal like a frightened child whenever a certain Chris Walker enters your line of sight. Yeah, with a moniker like that, you might expect some random dude in tight jeans and a tucked-in polo shirt moseying about. No, Walker is absolutely not that guy. Imagine if Brock Lesnar bulked up, ripped off parts of his face, and could now bench press an elephant. No joke, one of the death animations that plays out if Walker catches you depicts you looking down on him, hoisted up by your throat with one hand, watching as your own arm separates from your body.

Yes, jump scares come frequently, with bumps sounding out of nowhere and patients throwing themselves up against windows. In other situations, you might walk down a corridor, thinking you're relatively safe. Seconds later, a nearby patient grabs you, and you aren't sure if this is the end, just a harmless cutscene, or the precursor to a running segment.

And yes, this is one of those horror pieces where you elude a swift villain. Sometimes, Chris Walker pads after you, and you respond by leaping over displaced desks, ducking under fallen debris, or launching yourself into crawlspaces, hoping he doesn't close the gap between you. You might think you're home free if you crouch into a hole in the wall, but Walker can actually reach into it, snatch you, pull you out, and promptly murder you. However, he's not the only one stalking the premises. Generic patients with weapons also want to see what your insides look like, plus you've got a mad doctor with a pair of scissors and a shapeless apparition to deal with...



Oh, and a naked guy with a knife. Because what horror game set in an asylum isn't complete without death at the hands of a dude with his dong hanging out?

Though this is all well-worn material, it's actually where things get tricky and scary. The most nerve-racking part of Outlast isn't the running scenarios, the “boo” scenes, or the maniac roaming around in his birthday suit. It's the fact that most of the guys you come across are harmless. They're mostly distracted by their own madness, staring off into space, muttering about seemingly random things, engaged in utterly horrible tasks like self-mutilation or extreme violence. Hell, one guy walks straight into a burning room because being incinerated was preferable to what was transpiring around the two of you.

Almost all of the NPCs you meet look the same, so you can't tell by looking at one if he's going to slither up to you and mutter some innocuous nonsense or grab you. You also don't know if his grimy mitts intend to strangle you or just shake you ineffectually. Even one man's actions don't reveal his intentions easily. For instance, you catch a glimpse of one patient absolutely slaughtering a security officer, and you fear that he'll do the same to you. You might try to slink past him, only to realize you can't escape his gaze. And you know what? He does nothing you. Nothing. Well, okay, if you get too close to him, he'll start taking swipes at you, but he's otherwise docile towards you. Mere seconds later, you bump into an identical character at the end of the hall. Your previously interaction could cause you to drop your guard, and that's when the second guy decides he's going to cave your skull in.

You can escape your opponents pretty easily because Miles is swift on his feet. Also, you can hide under beds and in lockers to elude your pursuers, as most of them lose heart when they enter a room and don't immediately see you. Hell, you can even crouch in a dark corner to avoid notice because the ward is pitch black in most areas.



This is where your camera comes useful. The night vision feature allows you to see through the darkness, though its batteries run out over time, forcing you to find some during your travels. You can also take shots of various displays and key things throughout the campus, giving you useful notes that detail some of the game's lore. Yeah, like many titles of this type, exploration comes with some decent rewards.

Ultimately, Outlast doesn't really accomplish anything new or groundbreaking. It mostly arranges its old elements in a way that's effective and enjoyable, but mainly succeeds by instilling a kind of distrustful dread in you. You become afraid to approach or sneak past anyone, fearing they may have violent motives in store for you. Imagine an everyday life like that: developing a sort of anthropophobia that causes you to approach everyone with caution in its most benign form or run screaming in extreme cases. That notion is where this game finds its defining characteristic, by filling you with terror just interacting with fellow humans.

Staff review by Joseph Shaffer (October 20, 2025) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.