Jimquisition: Jimquisition Awards 2013 - Horror of Outlast

[Banzaiman]

I also dislike horror in general, since I don't see the appeal of being scared/frightened/whateveradjectiveyouwanttouse.

High five for us people who don't like to be scared! We are not aloooone!

For risk of low content post;
OT: Having never played a horror game and not planning to in the near future, Outlast is the only horror game I've heard named this year besides Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. While the latter might be good, I have a thing against sequels (it's prejudiced I know), so claps from the guy who has absolutely no knowledge of horror whatsover!

Oh, and please don't sap me with a "seriously" post. I already mentioned horror's not my thing, so don't be surprised I haven't heard of any that you might have.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Jim, if farm simulator 2013 does not get an award, I'm boycotting this show you have

 

[Flaery]

The only thing keeping me from putting Outlast in my own GOTY list is its absolutely dreadful ending that ruined it all for me. Call me petty, but an ending can very easily make or break a game for me.

 

[sXeth]

Yeah, I'd have to side in with the "We've seen this all done before (American Horror Story, near parody that is, dedicated an entire season to the insane asylum cliche), which lowered a lot of the impact. The inmates all being nearly identical didn't really help spice up variety. The pursuer was made a laughing stock early on by the easy methods of escape, and the huge effort into building up *spoilerder* was kind of a bland payoff. Ending with a sequel hook that just left me wondering if they think they can manage to wring the last sputters of life out of the premise with another game.

 

[Therumancer]

Yeah, I'd have to side in with the "We've seen this all done before (American Horror Story, near parody that is, dedicated an entire season to the insane asylum cliche), which lowered a lot of the impact. The inmates all being nearly identical didn't really help spice up variety. The pursuer was made a laughing stock early on by the easy methods of escape, and the huge effort into building up *spoilerder* was kind of a bland payoff. Ending with a sequel hook that just left me wondering if they think they can manage to wring the last sputters of life out of the premise with another game.

The ending of Outlast was okay, even if I am usually a romantic. I sort of saw it coming and I have to say I kind of appreciated how it tied itself up fairly well even without a sequel as opposed to simply leaving most of the really big questions hanging.

An Asylum as a setting for horror is a classic one for a reason, and it works well, it all comes down to the story and how good the writing is, which rapidly turns into a matter of opinion. I don't consider "Outlast" to be one of the best "horror asylum" stories I've seen out there, but it is a pretty good work for an indie game, especially at a time when it seems like no one is actually even trying to make horror games anymore.

The attempts at pursuit and stealth mechanics were interesting, and I have to give points because one of the big questions in a horror game is always how you wind up making it a "game" as opposed to little more than a semi-interactive movie where you just walk around and watch stuff happen. I disagree with the current design philosophies that you need to stay away from combat, rather feeling that it comes down to how the combat is implemented, however we are seeing some interesting ideas by the current movement on how you might do it another way, though truthfully forced stealth and evasion sequences are just as bad as combat, especially when it becomes an exercise in dying while I try and figure out where the developers wanted me to go, exploring the environemtn as much as I can while playing dodge the baddie. It manages to make the monsters even less scary than simply action-shooting them does because the whole thing rapidly becomes so absurd that I can almost mentally hear "Yakkity Sax" playing in the backround, especially when my death might come from say getting stuck on the edge of a cabinet or something and unable to work myself free as the monster lumbers up to me.

When it comes to "American Horror Story" I actually think it deserves points for trying, being on TV there isn't a whole lot it can do to be really "scary" since that would offend too many people in the audience. It manages to amuse in other ways, and truthfully I thought "Asylum" was kind of cool simply for having the audacity to pretty much throw out every clique there is and actually have them all co-existing simultaneously in the same Asylum at once. I was actually kind of hoping they would work the old "Monster Mash" song in there somewhere. My major complaint was that we didn't really get to see any of the really "big" ones interact... a confrontation between the aliens and the demonic possession would have been classic.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

I have to play "Outlast". Sounds like my kind of thing. Then again, so did "Amnesia".

And while we're on the subject, can we PLEASE stop the uncritical love-in for both "Amnesia" and "Bioshock Infinite"? The first was... not good. I'd have loved it if it had just stuck to being a really good survival horror game, but instead you have to suffer Daniel's awful voice acting and the ridiculous puzzles (what kind of bridge falls down if you throw a tiny pebble at the chain holding it up - have these guys ever even SEEN a chain, or a pebble, anyway? - but doesn't budge if you put your entire weight on it?) plus the constant noisy interruptions from "memories" that don't even make any sense and just take you out of the experience.

As for "Bioshock Infinite"... I mean, I've been playing Ken Levine's games for the past twenty years, almost, and that was the worst one. It was just so linear. I didn't like the combat, and it was ALL combat. Everything about it was over-simplified to the point that the only reason to get through it was to see what happened with the story. And ok, it was a great story, although not particularly original and not told as well as it could be, but still... boring combat, bland enemies, and nothing else... is this what passes for great gameplay nowadays?

I mean, Levine made my all-time favorite game ("System Shock") and a bunch of others that I and many other people consider to be classics. "System Shock", one of the most imaginative and original games ever (as well as one of the best ones) sells under two hundred thousand copies; "Bioshock Infinite", a rather boring FPS with great characters and world design but a completely linear storyline and progression, sells a bajillion? How is this a GOOD thing?

Sorry to be the downer here, guys, but this is just depressing to me. There's about a million other designers, none of whom have a tenth of Levine's talent, making bog-standard FPSs where you get led along linear paths, doing nothing but shooting waves of enemies, while a story that you have zero influence over plays out around you. It might as well be a movie or something. Levine is SO MUCH BETTER than this.

 

[Metalrocks]

havent gotten around playing it. i wait until its cheaper like 75% off. i played amnesia and it dint scare me at all. it was alright but not scary. i still have other games i have to finish, indie and AAA titles.

 

[Drummodino]

I watched my friends play some Outlast the other day (I was too chicken to pick up the controller myself). We only got about 2-3 hours in but I can see why it's a popular game. Horror games like Amnesia and Penumbra aren't really my thing but Outlast had a great, tense atmosphere. Edging your way past guys who may/may not attack you can really get your heart pounding.

 

[XMark]

...And then there was the dude in the strafe jacket that had nothing against you, he just wanted to follow you.... everywhere you went.

I love straight jacket guy! Freaked me out the first time I saw him because he quietly crept up behind me. But then I was all like awww he just wants a friend. Can I keep him?

One of my favourite things they did to mess with your head - there's this one spot where you have to creep sideways on a ledge, and there's a guy behind bars. You see that and you're like "oh shit, he's gonna grab me isn't he?" but then he doesn't.

Then a little bit later on you have to do the same thing higher up and THAT guy grabs you.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

Outlast is a serious game, guys [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=667JFnDqqJE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUY3dk5-6NtOsWjMs_iXvQBA] (NSFW). For real, it's super serious [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb1kZPaBLO0]. Stop laughing at it, it's totally a horror game [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWJzD2rLqiE]! Please stop laughing at Outlast [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lat4rTq5iR4&feature=c4-overview&list=UUY3dk5-6NtOsWjMs_iXvQBA]!

 

[Cabisco]

Sometimes I really don't know what people want from Horror games, Outlast has been one of the best we've had for years. It knew exactly when to make you jump and when to pull its punches, the fact as the player you had no way to fight back was brilliant, hidding in a corner just hoping nothing found you made you in a great paranoid mess.

I do suspect, sometimes, that some people are not actually fans of horror games but are in denial about this fact.

 

[fractal_butterfly]

Holy hell do I disagree with Jim on this one. I played Outlast and found it to be really, really, really boring, except for the parts where I was laughing or just mildly amused. Everything was so over the top that it seemed more like parody than anything else (especially the overly polite pair of rapist), the scares were so predictable and mechanical I felt as if I were to look behind the characters I would see the spring that they were hooked up to, the camera was annoying, batteries were everywhere so I was never in danger of running out, and the main character is an idiot who broke into an insane asylum, so I couldn't have any less sympathy for him if I tried. OH! And the name of the nutty house was "Mount Massive Asylum" not even D horror movies have names THAT bad.

I have to second this opinion. Most of the "gameplay" was waiting and guessing, when to make your move (when you are hiding in a closet and have to wait for the enemies to go away for example). The only real fun parts were the chase scenes, but those were to linear which often boiled down to guessing again, i.e. "guess the right way, or you are screwed". In my book not better than "Press X to not die". The atmosphere was really good, it had some really disturbing scenery and imagery. But I also perceived the writing as beeing cheesy as hell, borderline parody material. I wanted to write it off to bad translation (played the German version), but I don't seem to be alone with this opinion. And ghosts? Fucking "ethereal apparition floating" ghosts? No, this is just silly...
The overall horror didn't work for me. I was disgusted, I was scared by the various, well implemented jump scares, but I was not horrified. More often bored or annoyed, that I was yet again not finding the right way. I don't think, that the "defenseless protagonist" is a good idea, it diminishes the horror for me, since the game designers can throw less challenges at me. And the protagonist of Outlast is an especially annoying wuss, he can't even shove away a crippled inmate in a straightjacket. I literally cheered, when he finally stood up to the mad doctor.
I think it is more horrifying, if you have a gun, but there is a horror, that can not be defeated by guns. Zombies you can shoot. Asylum inmates? Piece of cake, they even have vital organs and can mostly feel pain! But a demon posessing you loved ones, that then try to kill you? And you have the hope that you could save them? True horror for me.

So I think Outlast is a really good game. But a good Horror Game? Not for me, to say the least.

 

[Metalrocks]

Holy hell do I disagree with Jim on this one. I played Outlast and found it to be really, really, really boring, except for the parts where I was laughing or just mildly amused. Everything was so over the top that it seemed more like parody than anything else (especially the overly polite pair of rapist), the scares were so predictable and mechanical I felt as if I were to look behind the characters I would see the spring that they were hooked up to, the camera was annoying, batteries were everywhere so I was never in danger of running out, and the main character is an idiot who broke into an insane asylum, so I couldn't have any less sympathy for him if I tried. OH! And the name of the nutty house was "Mount Massive Asylum" not even D horror movies have names THAT bad.

I have to second this opinion. Most of the "gameplay" was waiting and guessing, when to make your move (when you are hiding in a closet and have to wait for the enemies to go away for example). The only real fun parts were the chase scenes, but those were to linear which often boiled down to guessing again, i.e. "guess the right way, or you are screwed". In my book not better than "Press X to not die". The atmosphere was really good, it had some really disturbing scenery and imagery. But I also perceived the writing as beeing cheesy as hell, borderline parody material. I wanted to write it off to bad translation (played the German version), but I don't seem to be alone with this opinion. And ghosts? Fucking "ethereal apparition floating" ghosts? No, this is just silly...
The overall horror didn't work for me. I was disgusted, I was scared by the various, well implemented jump scares, but I was not horrified. More often bored or annoyed, that I was yet again not finding the right way. I don't think, that the "defenseless protagonist" is a good idea, it diminishes the horror for me, since the game designers can throw less challenges at me. And the protagonist of Outlast is an especially annoying wuss, he can't even shove away a crippled inmate in a straightjacket. I literally cheered, when he finally stood up to the mad doctor.
I think it is more horrifying, if you have a gun, but there is a horror, that can not be defeated by guns. Zombies you can shoot. Asylum inmates? Piece of cake, they even have vital organs and can mostly feel pain! But a demon posessing you loved ones, that then try to kill you? And you have the hope that you could save them? True horror for me.

So I think Outlast is a really good game. But a good Horror Game? Not for me, to say the least.

sounds like amnesia the way you guys describe it. so even more reason to wait until its 75% off.

 

[Pickles]

So of the 1 horror game I will convince my friendship group to play on a big screen on our annual coast trip, which should it be out of:

Outlast, Amnesia: Machine for pigs or Slender: the Arrival

I know it seems dumb given Jim just gave this an award, but in a group of 10+ people its more about which game is more fun to watch.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

Well, Outlast is fun to watch, but not necessarily for the right reasons [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lat4rTq5iR4&feature=c4-overview&list=UUY3dk5-6NtOsWjMs_iXvQBA].

 

[fractal_butterfly]

- snip -

- snip -

sounds like amnesia the way you guys describe it. so even more reason to wait until its 75% off.

It is mostly even more "in your face" than amnesia. Amnesia was much more subtle in my opinion, the story was more mysterious, and it even had some descent horror Moments.