[GAME REVIEW] Outlast 2 - PC Games #17
By @anwarunsam
Hi steemian wherever you are good health always sdan always in his protection. After some time not writing because it is pursuing the final project or SKRIPSI, today I took the time to make a review again.
Most gamers seem to have known the name Outlast, regardless of whether they have the courage to taste it or not. Taking the action game formula that does not allow the main character to fight and can only "live" by running and hiding, this Red Barrels concoction game is fantastic because of its ability to offer the atmosphere that feels so right. One interesting? It also closes with a fairly solid sci-fi story for a game that makes horror the main attraction. Now, they are back with the second series they promised to come up with a much more sinister approach.
You who had read our preview article before seems to have a little picture of what this Outlast 2 offers. Despite the fact that he still uses Unreal Engine 3 that counts "old" as a base, Red Barrels manages to modify it so optimally. Outlast 2 comes with a much more qualified visualization quality, even achieving photo-realistic quality at some point. While from the side of the gameplay, you are now faced with a more open and broad world, with the main theme is also different.
So, what is actually offered by this Outlast 2? Why do we just call this latest series no better? This review will discuss deeper for you.
PLOT
For the second time, you will play a role as a journalist in the Outlast franchise. In Outlast 2, along with your faithful wife - Lynn, you will play Blake Langermann. The task of conducting a thorough investigation into the mysterious death of a pregnant woman named Jane Doe brings you into the mysterious Arizona territory. But for a mysterious reason, the helicopter you were traveling with Lynn suddenly experienced technical problems and dropped.
Waking up from unconsciousness for a while, you find that the helicopter you were traveling in now turns into a giant flame on the ground. Attempt to find your wife - Lynn among the ruins even exposes you to even worse dreams. The living pilot, now tied up on a wooden pole with a body skin that had disappeared from him. Slowly but surely, you begin to understand that you are now faced with a situation you never imagined before. That the story of looking for Jane Doe is starting to turn into a story to survive.
Blake was trapped in conflict between two crazy groups. On the one hand, there is a heretical cult of Sullivan Knoth who believes that anti-Christ (Devil) will be born from the womb of one of the women around the area, and it is his mission to make sure every baby born of them is killed. While on the other hand, not a few who began to realize the "fault" Knoth and began to rebel, calling themselves the "The Heretics". Led by Val, they want Anti-Christ to be present and bring the end of the world. A crazy concept indeed, but what he sees directly makes Blake must believe, that he is indeed stuck in the hell of the world.
While on the other hand, Blake is also faced with a hallucination of the past that keeps emerging once he's faced with crunch times. This haluninasi took him when he was easy and got his early school. School hallway deserted with a class full of empty stools so the main theme. In it, Blake always meets a daughter who had become her friend and Lynn - Jessica. A name he had heard or remembered for a long time. Just as he should feel in the real world, horror also becomes an integral part of this hallucination.
Then, can Blake save Lynn and survive this nightmare? How is this second series story related to the first series? Who is Jessica anyway? All answers to these questions you can answer by playing this Outlast 2.
The Unreal Engine 3 is Still Amazing!
When talking about the latest release games that are now becoming more realistic, most of us will probably associate them with the more modern version of the latest version of the engine. As an example? Deus Ex has Dawn Engine, Square Enix has Luminous, Horizon Zero Dawn has DECIMA, and many AAA release games also rely on third party engines like Unreal Engine 4. But believe it or not, despite the dazzling visualization quality, Outlast 2 is still built with the foundation of the previous generation engine - Unreal Engine 3 overhauled. Compared to the previous series, the visual enhancement in Outlast 2 is significant.
Even at some point the game, especially in the hall and the hallucinations of Blake that took him to the school setting successfully present with stunning photo-realistic details. Without knowing it as part of the video game, you can just take a screenshot and deceive the layman by calling it an object that you actually "catch" in the real world. The quality of lighting offered considering the event that you go through most of the happening at night is also worth to thumbs up. To bring a more cinematic impression, Red Barrels also injects a more subtle grain effect, especially when you use your video camera that remains the main identity in Outlast 2.
So, can they offer the first atmosphere of the first Outlast in the past? For a series that emphasizes the theme of religious deviations with various symbols on it, you are like being brought into the classic horror movie of the 80 / 90s era filled with similar concepts. But in Outlast 2, they seek to define this "fear" by offering more scenes of blood, body parts, and death on it. You will see a lot of dead bodies with imperfect shape, in harmony with the slaughter of animals with blood stagnation and feels like a stinking smell. They also still include scene-scene that will make you feel uncomfortable.
One of the highlights of Outlast 2 is a clear effort from Red Barrels to no longer rely on a cheap "Jump scare" just like the first series to create a noticeable atmosphere of horror. That like modern solid horror games lately, they want to make sure the tense and frightening feelings are now more focused on emerging from the settings they racik or the "monster" design they offer. According to us personally, this is a solid direction, although there may be a lot of gamers out there who may not share the same sentiments.
For presentation problems, Outlast 2 is pretty amazing. They managed to mix Unreal Engine 3 so fantastically, that he can be seen parallel to the latest release games though. A game with ease, will make your heart beat fast while holding your breath to enjoy every moment he has to offer.
No Better!
Unfortunately, in terms of gameplay, we can not call Outlast 2 better than the first Outlast. He still offers similar formulas similar to his first series, actually. You continue to play the main character who is not able to fight and can only run to reach the next area and progress the story. Sometimes, at one point in the game, you will be required to search and find specific items and perform specific activities before you can continue. For you who have tasted the first Outlast or other horror games that do not allow you to fight a lot, then you seem to have understood about what Red Barrels offered in Outlast 2 this.
Still armed with video cameras that serve as long-range telescopes, "flashlights," as well as moment recorders to help you get a clearer picture of what's going on in this one hell, Outlast 2 is based on a familiar formula. The most significant difference lies in two things: the theme and the extent of the setting that becomes your game arena. For the subject matter, you certainly already know the difference between the two. As for the broad side of the game setting? Outlast 2 is designed to offer more open worlds than the first series. That instead of facing room after room, corridor after corridor, you now have a bigger world with some alternative paths and spaces you can explore. Unfortunately, this is precisely culminating into its own boomerang.
One way to simplify and distinguish the experience offered by this first and second Outlast is by associating it with children's games. The first outlast is thicker with hide-and-seek games, where you have to hide as best you can to "congratulate". Sometimes if the situation is safe, you can take the required major objectives. While in Outlast 2, the extent of the world he offers just make it uprooted from the root. Outlast 2 is more rational to associate with the game chase, because that's the main activity that you should often do. You'll go to a new place, see what kind of threats there are, and then run, run, run, and run as you figure out where you should go. Misplaced and dead? Please do the same again.
With no clear map, believe it or not, spin - misstep - die - repeat - find - the right place - the story progress will be the sequence you routinely repeat in Outlast 2. Such broad world designs make the feelings of threat not subtle in the first series. Your brain and body are slow but it will begin to learn that you always have the option to run from any form of threat that might happen. While on the other hand, it also opens the "flaws" of the AI design of Red Barrels itself. To ensure that gamers remain feeling threatened and do not finish this game too fast because of the option to keep running, they make AI the pursuers, especially the threatening "monsters" like Martha unbalanced. Like a Predator with hot sensors, Martha can sometimes capture your hidden well for no apparent reason. Though you do not make a sound, nor light a light source, and the like. For obvious reasons, you will find the condition where Martha suddenly, knowing where your hidden position is mysteriously.
Outlast 2 is trying to "redeem" this open-world concept by offering Blake a more enclosed world of hallucinations, a concept similar to the first Outlast. Where you will play more from one corridor to the other. But unfortunately, this concept also collided with the design of the monster that haunt it itself. Just as we mentioned above, Outlast 2 also still asks you to run more often from threat sources in this world of hallucinations, rather than hiding and waiting for them to pass by. The combination of both really make this game more make you often run than hide. We are even convinced that we managed to complete this game on a normal difficulty level with no more than 10 hides in various venues.
One thing that makes the first Outlast so creepy is the situation where you feel trapped in a place that consistently seeks to take your life, wherever and however. While in Outlast 2, this "trapped" feeling unfortunately, does not become the dominant emotion in the game sessions you are jejali. Because basically, the open world he offers ultimately offers a clearer challenge - finding out where the next road is going, rather than survival. To be honest, we much prefer Blake's hallucinatory world to the main plot of the heretical sect that Outlast 2 offers.
Let's Talk About Weapons
There is one interesting discussion plot we found on the community site - Reddit when surfing in cyberspace some time ago. Horror game is seen to find the optimal format through the main character design that can not fight. But does this mean that this is a "necessity", especially if it starts to crash into the boundaries of the story that makes it rational. The popularity of Amnesia or Slenderman, or even the first Outlast did make many developers insist, but on the other hand, Capcom proved that these creepy feelings are not always present due to "weapon absence", as long as they succeed in concocting the right atmosphere or enemy design. This is certainly an interesting "hot" discussion.
Frictional Games - the developers behind Amnesia and SOMA mention that there are at least 6 reasons why many horror games dispensing protagonist characters who can not fight: (1) to form appropriate character traits (2) make the monster feel more threatening (3) make the gamer's imagination more active to solve the problem (4) create a paranoid feeling (5) make the object / enemy in the game feel more meaningful and (6) make sure not make the action side so the solution. What is revealed by the Frictional Games is of course something rational and indeed offered by Outlast 2 from Red Barrels. So, why did this discussion arise?
Because setting Outlast 2 makes the main character actually dealing with many objects that he can use to defend himself. Along the way, he met with many agricultural tools made of iron, from just pitchfork, hoe, to machete even lying just like that. Rationally, any human instinctively will take this "weapon" as a self-defense tool if it is in a truly threatening situation. Regardless of whether he will use it or not, this is a supposedly "normal" reaction. But in Outlast 2, Blake ignores all the potential objects that might save him and focuses more on one thing - the camera video he continues to lose and its relevance as the story progresses. This is what triggers a hot discussion about whether it is a horror game should not be able to fight?
As gamers who do not really like the protagonist character format that can not fight, we always with open arms welcomed the implementation of any weapon without changing the horror game into action game. Red Barrels actually has a myriad of options to make it rational, but still does not make Outlast 2 turn into a different game.
They can make Blake's weapons are not designed to kill, for example, but also keep the enemy in a "stun" position for a few seconds, for example. This will not make the tension element diminish, but rational at the same time. Or like Nintendo's system at Breath of the Wild, they can make each of these weapons have a limitation on the number of uses, but still with super little damage on any enemy they want to attack. Just as with the Creative Assembly on Alien: Isolation, the flamethrower that Ripley uses is more focused on making the source of the threats evade for some time rather than killing. Something that should also be considered by Outlast 2, to at least not make it end up a "simple game" that culminate relying only, hide and run.
Conclusion
Outlast 2 is a horror game that can be called, fulfilling what you expect from it. Although it must be admitted he is not as insignificant and as good as the quality of his first series, but Red Barrels still deserve to get a thumbs-up about the variety of new things he tried to jajal with him. They still succeed in building with an extraordinary atmosphere, complete with evidence of explicit brutal violence and a variety of scenes that will make you frown and even, looking away from the screen for some time. The vast world and fantastic visualization quality also makes this game appear as a horror game that will lead you to the concept of 80 / 90s horror movies related to a cult cult but now in a more interactive format. While from the side of gameplay, you who have tasted or just know what it is Outlast will get what you imagine. Moreover, it also seems to build a red thread with the previous series in a genius way.
However, it must be admitted, Outlast 2 is not the perfect game. The concept of a wider world that he offers precisely leads into a double-edged sword. That unlike the first series that reinforces the keyword "trapped" as part of the experience, this second series will actually get you through more trial and error processes just to find your way to the next place, which is usually decorated with running, running, , and more runs. Until enough to make the Blake hallucinations actually feel more tense.
But regardless of these shortcomings, Outlast 2 must be recognized to remain a solid horror game but unfortunately, can not be called fantastic. But keep in mind, with the selling price he offers, at least for the PC version, Outlast 2 will offer what is needed, desired, and envisioned by horror genre lovers.
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Advantages
- The quality of visuals is mesmerizing
- Blake's hallucinatory gameplay sessions are super duper creepy
- The red thread of the story with the previous series of "mysterious"
- Gore is explicit, uncensored
- Fantastic character design
- The atmosphere is still enough to make your hair goose bumps
Deficiency
- No more "hide and seek" games and more runs
- Minimize the puzzle
- AI can know your position for no apparent reason
- The plot is quite confusing
Developer: Red Barrels
Publisher: Red Barrels
Designate:
David Chateauneuf
Pierre-Luc Foisy
Philippe Morin
Program:
Réjean Charpentier
Mathieu Gauthier
François Vaillancourt
artist:
Patrice Côté
Hugo Dallaire
Patrick Dubuc
Alexandre Sabourin
Writer: J. T. Petty
Composer: Samuel Laflamme
Engine Unreal Engine 3
Platform:
Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
Release Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
WW: April 25, 2017
Nintendo Switch
WW: Q1 2018
Genre: Survival horror
Mode: Single-player
Minimum Requirements (720p 30fps)
OS: Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10, 64-bits
Processor: Intel Core i3-530
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: 1GB VRAM, NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260 / ATI Radeon HD 4870
DirectX: Version 10
Storage: 30 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Recommended Requirements (1080p 60fps)
OS: Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10, 64-bits
Processor: Intel Core i5
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: 1.5GB VRAM, NVIDIA Geforce GTX 660 / ATI Radeon HD 7850
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 30 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Langsa, Aceh, Indonesia, 13 Februari 2018
Thank You I Speak to the Steemit Community of Indonesia Specifically to Curator @aiqabrago and @levycore, and Curator Gaming@jodipamungkas who has supported me to be able to channel my hobby to my friends Steemian in Indonesia.
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