While irksome when you run out, the battery system effectively amps up paranoia since you regularly rely on your camcorder to see. Using your camcorder depletes its battery, and limited supplies are scattered around. Both features are intuitive, but come at a cost.

Using night vision is terrifying with its loss of definition and shades of green, and the microphone is effective in helping you gauge when it’s safe to leave a hiding spot. The only tool at your disposal is your camcorder, which helps you see in the dark with its night vision and notifies you of enemy whereabouts with its microphone’s audio levels. Each area provides plenty of ways to escape, but I often had to run around in circles to lose an enemy, which became more tedious than scary. You may hide under a bed, in a closet, in a barrel, or underwater. Running only works for so long since your stamina lowers quickly and you have to break the line of sight when chased. You’re weaponless and vulnerable, meaning when enemies spot you, your survival hinges on how fast you run and hide. It’s a distracting and tiring problem, especially when asked to fetch items or flip switches to get an elevator or entryway working. Early on, I became dizzied and lost while escaping enemies in a maze-like cornfield. Although the large areas are diverse, they can be disorienting. Arizona’s countryside provides variety in its environments, from traversing a lake by raft to entering the depths of a mine. This narrative is completely separate to the first Outlast, offering a new storyline in the same universe, so newcomers don’t need to worry about being left in the dark.ĭuring the majority of the game, you evade two different factions of a religious cult that want you dead. Upon arriving, however, the two are separated when Blake’s wife is captured by a group of radical cultists. Outlast 2 stars investigative journalist Blake Langermann, who seeks the truth behind the murder of a Jane Doe in rural Arizona alongside his wife. The environments and psychological scares in Outlast 2 are bigger than its predecessor’s, but the storytelling suffers by relying too heavily on shock value. Players still sneak around in first-person, solve light puzzles, and avoid enemies at all costs. This sequel leaves behind the claustrophobic asylum of the first game for greater ambitions. Horror lurks in every corner in Outlast 2, making it tense and exhilarating. Immediately, an overwhelming sensation comes over me: I know I’m not alone. A girl’s melancholic voice sings a children’s song in the distance. The walls bleed a deep red and pulsate like bulging veins. While walking down a school corridor, lockers open and close of their own accord, like shutters in a strong wind.

Outlast 2 xbox one