Outlast

i always thought this game was scary but after beating it its still was really scary

most my minutes spent were me trying to gas myself up to actually do something.. its too scary

I got so scared at times I felt the blood leaving my legs...
10/10

however playing it once was enough

Outlast in 2025 – A Classic Horror Experience That Still Haunts (But Can’t Escape Time)
Introduction: A Decade of Terror
When Outlast first launched in 2013, it redefined survival horror with its relentless tension, disturbing atmosphere, and the simple yet terrifying premise of being completely defenseless. More than a decade later, does Outlast still hold up as a masterpiece of horror, or has time dulled its impact? After revisiting it in 2025, the answer is mixed—while its psychological horror and oppressive atmosphere remain effective, its gameplay and storytelling feel dated compared to modern horror giants like Amnesia: The Bunker, Visage, or The Callisto Protocol.

The Story: A Descent into Madness (Spoiler-Free Overview)
You play as investigative journalist Miles Upshur, who receives a tip about unethical experiments at Mount Massive Asylum. What starts as a routine exposé quickly spirals into a nightmare as Miles discovers the asylum is overrun by homicidal patients, all victims of the Murkoff Corporation’s sadistic experiments. The deeper Miles ventures, the more he uncovers the horrors of the Walrider project—a supernatural force born from suffering.

How the Narrative Holds Up in 2025
Strengths: The game’s found-footage approach (via the camcorder) still works brilliantly, making the horror feel raw and personal. The asylum’s lore, hidden in notes and environmental details, remains intriguing.

Weaknesses: Compared to modern horror narratives (Signalis, The Dark Pictures Anthology), Outlast’s storytelling is minimalistic—Miles is a silent protagonist, and much of the plot is delivered through scattered documents. Newer games integrate storytelling into gameplay better, making Outlast feel somewhat passive in retrospect.

Gameplay: Still Tense, But Showing Its Age
The Good – What Still Works
✅ The Fear of Being Powerless – Unlike modern action-horror hybrids (Resident Evil 4 Remake, Dead Space Remake), Outlast forces you to run, hide, and pray. There’s no combat, making every encounter with enemies like Chris Walker or the Twins a heart-pounding ordeal.

✅ Masterful Sound Design – The distant screams, shuffling footsteps, and sudden bursts of static from the camcorder remain some of the best in horror gaming. Few modern games match this level of auditory dread.

✅ Brutal, Unforgiving Atmosphere – The asylum’s grimy halls, flickering lights, and grotesque imagery still unsettle, even if the graphics are outdated.

The Bad – Where It Feels Dated
❌ Predictable Enemy AI – Enemies follow simple patrol routes, and hiding mechanics are basic. Compared to Amnesia: The Bunker’s dynamic AI or Alien: Isolation’s adaptive Xenomorph, Outlast’s foes feel scripted.

❌ Overuse of Jump Scares – While effective in 2013, modern horror relies more on psychological tension (Visage) and environmental storytelling (Layers of Fear 2023). Outlast sometimes feels like it’s shouting "BOO!" too often.

❌ Limited Interaction – You can’t barricade doors, set traps, or manipulate the environment like in newer horrors. The gameplay loop (run → hide → repeat) gets repetitive.

Comparison to Modern Horror (2020-2025)
When stacked against contemporary horror titles, Outlast stands as a pioneer but struggles to compete in terms of depth.

Gameplay Depth: Where Amnesia: The Bunker (2023) introduces resource management and a semi-open world with reactive AI, Outlast sticks to a linear, scripted experience. Similarly, Visage (2020) leans heavily into environmental interaction and psychological puzzles, making Outlast’s "run and hide" mechanics feel one-dimensional by comparison.

Narrative Delivery: Modern horror games like Signalis and The Dark Pictures Anthology weave their stories more naturally into gameplay, using dialogue, cutscenes, and player choices. Outlast relies heavily on reading notes and watching distorted footage, which can feel detached from the action.

Enemy Behavior: Games like Alien: Isolation (2014) and Amnesia: The Bunker have raised the bar for enemy AI, creating foes that learn from player behavior and adapt their tactics. Outlast’s enemies, while terrifying in design, follow predictable patterns that lose their edge after a few encounters.

Scare Techniques: While Outlast popularized the found-footage horror aesthetic in games, newer titles have evolved beyond cheap jump scares. Visage and Layers of Fear (2023) focus on slow-burn psychological horror, making Outlast’s approach feel somewhat dated for players desensitized to sudden loud noises.

Graphics & Performance in 2025
Visuals: The game’s lighting and art direction still hold up, but low-res textures and stiff animations show their age. A remaster with ray tracing would be a dream.

Performance: Runs flawlessly on modern PCs, even at high refresh rates. No major bugs or crashes.

Final Verdict: Is Outlast Still Worth Playing in 2025?
Score: 8/10 – "A Classic That’s Starting to Gray, But Still Nightmare Fuel"
Who Should Play It?
Horror Purists – If you love raw, unfiltered terror, Outlast remains a must-play.

Newcomers to Horror – It’s a great introduction to survival horror before diving into more complex modern titles.

Fans of Found-Footage – The camcorder gimmick still works brilliantly.

Who Might Be Disappointed?
Players Used to Modern Horror Mechanics – If you’ve experienced Amnesia: The Bunker or Alien: Isolation, Outlast might feel too simplistic.

Those Who Hate Jump Scares – The game relies on them heavily, which can feel cheap compared to slow-burn horror.

Conclusion
Outlast is like a vintage horror movie—it doesn’t have the polish of modern films, but its sheer intensity still makes it a terrifying experience. If you missed it back in 2013, now is still a great time to play it—just don’t expect it to outshine the best horrors of today.

Desde que lo jugué y acabé por primera vez en la PS4, en el 2014, me atrapó por completo. Excelente juego, y su DLC no se queda para nada atrás. Su historia es interesante, tétrica, y grotesca; la jugabilidad, a pesar de ser simple, no deja de ser retadora durante las persecuciones. 10/10

I was not scared at all (lie...)
Chase scenes increase my heartbeat... I don't want to experience something like that again but will probably continue to do so regardless.

10/10 very good horror game

im like 3 hours in and this is the most terrifying game i have ever played. it takes half an hour to convince myself to play, but when i start i find myself playing for ages

great game totally didn't beat the game in 2 hours by speedrunning.

⭐ 9.5/10

Welcome to Mount Massive Asylum. You’ll scream, you’ll hide, you’ll love it.

Outlast isn’t just a horror game — it’s a benchmark. A masterclass in atmospheric terror that still sends shivers down the spine, even years after release. Whether it's your first time stepping into the darkness or a return visit, the fear hits just as hard.

You’re not a hero. You don’t fight back. You run, you hide, and you pray your camcorder’s battery doesn’t die. The night vision mechanic? Genius. It turns every dark hallway into a nightmare waiting to happen.

The horror here is raw, relentless, and psychological. It doesn’t rely on cheap jumpscares — it builds tension and holds it until you break. Every sound, every flicker, every breath is part of the terror.

Achievement hunters: the trophy is well-balanced. “Insane” mode will definitely test your nerves, but overall, it’s a challenging yet rewarding experience. Nothing unfair — just pure, satisfying survival horror.

sucker jumpscare stupid lol and dlc twins wow

outlast 1 and 2 is the best horror game i have ever played

I'm going back to Outlast 1 and 2 as a break from Trials, see how the seeds were sown narratively and in terms of gameplay.
Outlast 1 is still fantastic, even if SOMETIMES the experience is marred by what I can only describe as jank. Sometimes I get stuck on a piece of geometry when I shouldn't, sometimes I'm not entirely certain where I need to go, but overall it's still a great experience. And the entire Eddie Gluskin section is *chefs kiss*, THAT'S amazing horror game design, playing with expectations, adding twists to the formula and simply making that whole ordeal so uncomfortable.

I love this game, it has good jumpscares, the story is fire, the gameplay is good and its also affordable🔥

10/10 title, just crashed the game from spam clicking the delete save button to fast.

it is a GRIND to complete both the stories in insane without pro experience. man. great game though. if you power on through, the gameplay span might go over 5 hours to complete the base game and whistleblower DLC.

I love it

Scariest game I've played
Pro tip: Play it in a dark room. Headphones on and crank up the volume

I was getting scared even when I knew I was about to get caught :D

horrifying, beautiful, the sound design was on fucking par. one of the scariest games ive ever played. not only that, the story was amazing, holy hell, wow lmao

I would recommend this Game but this is not for weak nerves. You see many Blood and the Jumpscares are nice but really scary so yeah for me its a 10/10

When i tell you this game is a masterpiece I mean it, without spoilers I think that this game in junction with the dlc mastered the art of hard work frustration and catharsis. The payoff at the end of the dlc was crazy good and the story line felt line it was created with care. This is honest in my top three for favourite games (horror, I suppose, as that's what I play) and I highly recommend trying it, but only if you're willing to work to make it to the end and try and understand what the story is.

2013 and still feels like TOP terror/horror gameplay experience. The mechanics are simple but satisfying, the characters are gold and the lore is very interesting. It uses a lot of gore buts it does not feel like free gore, it actually makes sense because of the lore and the people/entities you find there. I'd replay it? Definitely, i'll play the DLC and the sequel? Absolutely. One recommendation that i'd give you before you start playing is: try to enjoy it and play it like if you were there, do not try to find EVERY places or EVERY batteries because the game is not intended to be an RPG or something like that and trying to find and explore everything will ruin your experience a bit, just go where your instinct tells you and try to escape and survive.

honestly just a good game all around, its scary with a super compelling story and mysteries. if you are not deathly scared of horror games like i used to be play it.

After earning all the achievements, I can confidently say that Outlast was ahead of its time. It's sad to see big companies struggling to make truly scary horror games nowadays. Outlast came out in 2013, which is 12 years ago, yet the game still looks awesome. If you're playing it for the first time, you'll be scared as hell. When I played it for the first time, I was with my cousin, and I was still scared . The lore of this game is really deep and sad. I felt upset and experienced a strange feeling when I found out what Outlast is truly about. Thankfully, it's just a game.
In the end, Outlast is a masterpiece of horror that still holds up today. If you're a fan of terrifying experiences and deep stories, this game is definitely worth playing.

Rating 9.5/10
-0.5 point because of AI sometimes not working properly
R.I.P. Miles Upshur

If you're trying to get into horror games, the outlast series is a great start. This game is probably the most well-rounded horror game ever.

This is the game that broke me as a kid. And took me a decade to finally beat.

Chases get annoying after a while, but when they go from terrifying to just annoying, that's when you know you're ready for practically any other game. This is a good way to get into horror games.

It's 2025....but still one of the best horror games ever built.....even when you play repeated times,The amount of fear you get in your heart remains the same.....just go for it if you have not played it.....And for gamers....We know we are here forever

Incredible horror game, one of the few where if you're spoiled on the story and jumpscares, you still hesitate to advance.
Very short, but "sweet".
It holds up even 10+ years later.

Amazing game, good mechanics, graphics, and atmosphere

eevil wretched endfing eeevil i did noyt like

This is certainly not a bad horror game, but I really did not find it all that exciting to play through. I got it on a sale and don't regret playing it for how cheap I got it for. The common consensus from people who have played more horror games than me is that this is a fantastic horror game, and I trust their judgement enough to recommend this one for people to try. In my personal opinion though, you should wait to pick this one up for cheap, especially considering how old it is at this point.

Alr now after getting all the achievements and watch alot of YouTubers explain the story i can say this game was 10/10 ngl i know it have alot of +18 things but the gameplay was W and the graphics was better then black ops 6 and the characters Was W and there story was 10/10 and if you want to pee yourself at night i recommend you try this game

Great game in case of horror and really fun to speedrun (in other categories than any%)

What an experience! I am not big into horror games, so I don't have a large frame of reference here, but this was one of the most tense, immersive and thoroughly entertaining games I've played in a long time. The mechanic of using your camera as night vision is absolute genius, as it forces you to use your light sparingly while also giving an incredibly immersive found footage effect. The game is perfectly paced, delicately alternating between periods of quiet dread and moments of exhilarating action. Whenever you get accustomed to a certain environment or game mechanic, things suddenly switch up and your scrambling again.

The story is interesting and vague enough to not overshadow the important part of this game: the experience itself. The combination of timeless visuals with great level design and some absolutely fantastic uses of music results in a thrilling ride from start to finish.

I have wishlisted the DLC and sequels and look forward to getting my teeth into them. First I will take some time off from the spooky games though and pat myself on the back for completing this journey.

9.5/10

I'm a big horror fan and have been for ages so I've kind of grown numb to the majority of scares, especially in games. Outlast is one of the few I can genuinely say have scared me and it's the game that's scared me most in recent years. If you're like me and want a game to scare you despite your built-up resistance, I can wholeheartedly recommend Outlast.

The story is also excellent and the lore is super intriguing. The level design is amazing, the graphics are beautiful, the character design is superb, and there's no glitches that the casual player would notice. There's no issue with performance either. (I miss when games were actually optimized lol) For a game made over a decade ago, it holds up perfectly.

Overall, Outlast is well worth it's price- Plus, with the Whistleblower DLC you get basically two top tier games for the half the price of recent releases.

Really fun, outlast trials inspired me to try and get teh hardest achievement. im really disappointed to find out i cant get energizer. i accidentally practiced it before finding out i cant unlock it. Games too good not to leave a good review overall... im gonna play outlast 2 instead for the achievements

scary, good lore too if you can be asked to read the papers and notes scattered through out the game

if u wanna know how 20 pounds of pure taco bell coming out is like def play this game but if u dont.....well dont

One of my favourite games!!! I love the atmosphere of the game and I love how some horror elements actually shock you! When i first played and i had to hide in a locker, they were coming straight towards me but opened the locker next to me instead, i held my breath the whole time haha

Game is 13 years old but felt like a breath of fresh air to play, I absolutely loved this game and its DLC. The horror is fucking amazing and is always tense. I haven't felt this tense playing a horror game in a while

Banger, peak cinema dont play outlast though unless youre gonna get whistle blower dlc TRUST ME THEY WORK WONDERS TOGETHER its like PB&J you cant have one without the other <33

It is one of the scariest games. There is lot of jumpscardes. 10/10

A little scary, gets very tense, good ending.

Imagine Batman in this game though

Very fun and spooky and only a few jump scares, It only takes a few hours to beat

I was absolutely blown away by how good this game was and it far exceeded my expectations

The start of the iconic Outlast series and is the strongest of all of the games. This game introduces the main game play of Outlast run, hide or die. This game has a disturbing and isolating setting being set in the Mount Massive Asylum. Disturbing characters and jumpscares that will make you jump out of your seat await you when you least expect it. The game even has a follow up DLC with the whistleblower expansion that continues the terror and further solidifies this game as one of the greatest horror games of all time

very good horror game, a lot of jumpscares. 10/10 i'm a bit behind but i cant wait to buy and play number 2

Simply the best Horror Game that exists. Would've also paid more than double the price for this masterpiece.

gets boring after the 50th buttfuck sneak mission

I love this game I tried beating it on insane and as of leaving this review I am making more attempts, but I was able to beat both main and dlc on nightmare mode.

Truly terrifying. Right behind Amnesia: The Dark Descent, for me, as the most frightening game I've ever played.

take only 5 hours to complete this game and sometimes it was scary and overall game is great and i will probably play it once more

All i understood from game was that there is an asylum works in the name of charity but gains money by torturing people in their basement, develops their own technology etc.
Long story short, i wasn't bothered to read all those documents and notes.
I just focused on enjoying jumpscares, tension, violence, drama and all the other shit.
Throughout the game, not going to lie i was expecting less crazy kind of difficulties or bosses whatever you'd call them.
Well not a bad game after all yet no need to overrate.
Don't fuckin try to cut my dick again and no more naked men chasing me.