The demo video for Outlast 2 is out, and it's every bit as terrifying as the first game, if not more.
Red Barrels proved, with Outlast in 2013, it did not need bullets and canon fires to up the excitement quotient of online gaming. A growing feeling of dread heightened by dark and sinister environment visuals works just fine.
The makers once again nailed the jump scares that don't come across as forced, but actually manage to catch you off-guard. The new game replaces the spooky asylum with a haunted village that seems to be abandoned, except when you enter its equally spooky school compound, you don't feel you're the only one wandering through the empty corridors. Scurrying shadows, self-slamming lockers, and cold whispers over your shoulder will make you wish you'd never pretended you had a strong enough heart to play the game.
It doesn't help that an ever-depleting battery life plunges you straight into pitch darkness, creating a sense of panic that evidently tops the "ghost-busterly" feeling of dread produced by a night-vision mode. The video ends with the protagonist running wildly through a cornfield to escape the flashlights of a pitchfork-armed gang, yet another element that wants to snuff the life out of you.
The camera is clearly the hero of this gameplay, managing to foster a fear that you thought you'd managed to bury in your childhood. There's a button to glance back over your shoulder, to see who or what is chasing you, which only heightens the anxiety levels.
The first look of Outlast 2 had done nothing to plant the impending sense of doom, as done so cleverly by the 4-minute video that showcases all the points of highlight – from a haunted village, a corpse-littered cellar, a house of a psychopath with a maniacal laugh to the final scene of the chase through the cornfield, which ends abruptly without revealing the outcome.
Outlast 2 is slated for a fall 2016 release, though the exact date is unknown yet, and will be available across PS4, Xbox One, and PC platforms. Spook lovers, you'll certainly revel in the dark and sinister visuals, and pretenders, don't say you haven't been warned.
