Renault on 7/9/2013 at 21:20
Yeah, I'm digging this too. Actually scary, and creepy. Some of the "jump" scares you see coming, and some not. The story is mildly interesting, and it's actually great that you can't fight at all, gives you the same feel as having to ghost in Thief. Most of the game is pretty linear, and you basically know you're on the right path if you're on any path at all that's not a dead end, but the journey is interesting so it doesn't really matter.
The UI is great, which is basically nothing. No health bar, light gem, or anything else to clog up the screen. Even if you have a crosshair activated in the options (mainly for opening doors), it's tiny. The controls are solid too, and I can't help but micro-inspect them after all the talk in T4A about controls and contextual actions. The contextual lean with a hand on a corner (as BH mentioned) works really well, but you can still lean anywhere you want and at anytime. Same with jumping. There are definitely some contextual jump areas where you aren't doing much besides pressing a button, but it's kind of that type of game anyway. You can also vault over stuff. I thought using the lean buttons to look behind you while running (usually away from something chasing you) were really nice too.
The game is dark. I suppose it all depends where you set the gamma in the beginning, but there were times when I was hiding under a bed or in a locker, and the screen was literally pitch black, no ambient light whatsoever. If you're playing in a dark room, with your sound volume up, it's pretty immersive, and a little unnerving. I guess the night vision camera thing works OK, but it almost turns the game into a "let's collect some batteries from obscure places" minigame, which could be annoying, but I really haven't come close to running out yet, so no biggie. You can record certain events, and they log in your journal, but I haven't really figured out why you do that so far. If you don't do it, it doesn't stop you from progressing, so there must be some other function.
Anyway, only 2 hours in, but I'll give this one my "thumbs up" as well. The story & setting may be a little cliched, but I'm still interested to see where everything ends up.
Angel Dust on 8/9/2013 at 03:43
Quote Posted by Brethren
You can record certain events, and they log in your journal, but I haven't really figured out why you do that so far. If you don't do it, it doesn't stop you from progressing, so there must be some other function.
I think it's simply nothing more than a way of giving the player character some kind of arc. The initial journal entries are a bit more formal and lengthier but the last few I've got (I'm about 4 hours in) have been nothing more than a panicked sentence or two. The whole journalist with an obsessive commitment to 'getting the story' is a neat way of maintaining the suspension of disbelief with the, usually nonsensical and contrived, people writing shit down when they really shouldn't be writing.
But, yeah, chalk me up as another who is really digging this. You guys have already covered much of what is great about it but there is some other that I reckon deserves a mention too. One is the sheer physicality of the game. The full-body awareness, the feel of movement, the aural attention to detail (clothes crinkling when you squeeze through tight spots etc), all combine to create a real sense of inhabiting a flesh and blood person as opposed to a hovering camera, which greatly enhances the feeling of vulnerability.
Amnesia comparisons are naturally the first ones you make (personally, I'd probably still rate
Amnesia a little higher because it maintains a style of horror and dread that I prefer + the obstacles/puzzles are much, much better than
Outlast's press 3 buttons things) but the game that is coming to mind the most while playing this is
Condemned. That aforementioned physicality is a big part of that but also the visual aesthetic and tone of the horror in this game. Everything is grimy, dirty and rundown and the world is just as brutal and aggressive, even if you don't actually fight anyone.
The freakiest moments so far:
1.
When I realised that one of the non-hostile NPCs (the sheer number of them is a great touch) was just following me around as I rummaged for notes and batteries.2.
Being out in the courtyard in the pitch-fucking-dark in the middle of thunderstorm. I couldn't see squat but, boy, could I hear a lot. Edit: Well I've finished it and as expected the story didn't really go anywhere interesting or surprising. That's not a big deal though because the thing with games like this, for me anyway, is the visceral nature of the experience; the story is just some contextual fluff. So, to that end, the closing sequences of
Outlast are, unlike
Amnesia's, a success as they are as tense and terrifying as the rest of the game.
Overall,
Outlast is one slick and tightly focused slice of horror gaming. It has its issues, some minor[sup]1[/sup] some not so minor[sup]2[/sup], but Frictional now have some real competition in the FPP horror stakes.
1. One puzzling one is that they've copied
Amnesia's wonderful fine control for opening doors but have neglected to let you close doors in any other manner apart from slamming them. Not really what you want to be doing when there are deranged lunatics prowling around.
2. The AI is a bit wobbly at times and the 'zoned' nature of the level design breaks it completely. I've had a guy start chasing me and give up immediately because I leapt over a waist high barricade into the the next room, which was in a different 'zone'. My heart quite likes this feature though.
Gryzemuis on 10/9/2013 at 13:00
I'm not happy with the save-system. Another checkpoint system that kinda assumes you finish the whole game in one run ....
On a more positive note, the game looks nice.
At first, I found it a bit grainy. Probably because of the lack of AA. Complete lack of AA.
Then I found out how to enable SGSSAA.
At least, when you are using an nVidia videocard.
Use the 3rd party application called nVidia Inspector to change these settings:
(
http://img.techpowerup.org/130905/nvidia_20130905_173049.png)
No more jaggies. And the picture looks a lot calmer. Big improvement, imho.
Gryzemuis on 11/9/2013 at 14:18
Every button I press, a scripted event is started. Every single fucking time.
It gets boring after the 3rd time. It is now getting close to ruining the game for me. I'm an idiot. But I'm not such a big idiot that I can't predict every scary moment in the game. Literally every moment. "Oh, a button to open an airlock. Better prepare to run or hide, because the second I push it, a big bad zombie will come chase me". Press the button. "Where did that big bad zombie suddenly come from ? Oh noes. Run, run, oh this is sooo scary".
Not.
I really hope Machine for Pigs will feel less artificial.
Because god, I really don't want to resubscribe to WoW, after being clean for 2 years now ....
