There is no combat system in place here as you never wield a weapon, so your only option is to hide from enemies in the hope that they don’t find you. This uncovers a little more of the backstory for you and as such means, it is completed optional, but for people like me who likes to get everything out of a game’s story, it’s a very welcome addition and only increased my enjoyment. Recordings happen automatically, providing you have your camera out at the time and are looking the subject at hand. With it being a camera you are also able to zoom in order to see in the distance and you can also record certain things of interest in the world, such as important buildings and the aforementioned dead pilot. Because of this, I’m not sure how easy it is to completely run out of batteries.
I never personally ran out of batteries to use as I was constantly turning off the night vision mode and turning the camera off altogether when I knew that I did not require it. In order to replenish it, you pick up batteries throughout your adventure. Your camera has a limited amount of battery life too, so you can’t just keep the night vision on constantly.
With it being night vision, the display becomes grey-ish and grainy, you will either see this as a novelty that will quickly wear off or it will only increase the tension and atmosphere. This means that in the areas that are particularly dark (of which there are many, this is a horror game after all), you are able to use the night vision mode of your camera in order to see. It’s pretty self-explanatory in that you play the game viewed through a video camera. In what was one of the best inclusions in any horror game of recent memory (for me at least), the video camera gimmick, returns. Just like in those games, the game does its best in having an open space in which to explore, but if you don’t want to do that, it also makes it clear that there is a fairly linear path to take in order to progress.Īs mentioned above, the gameplay is very similar to Outlast, so if you have played that game then you will have a good idea of what to expect here. The early story and wooded setting used here reminded me of the early sections of Resident Evil 4 and 7 which is by no means a bad thing. You come to realise that you have, unfortunately, and rather predictably, crash landed in a rather dodgy town and everybody you come across wants to chase after you and kill you. Their helicopter crashes and when Blake wakes up, his wife is missing and he finds the pilot of the helicopter skinned and therefore consequently, dead of course. Here we play as a journalist and cameraman called Blake, who along with his wife, Lynn, are investigating the mysterious murder of a pregnant woman known only as Jane Doe (a name sometimes given to protect ones true identity). The only thing that is the same is the gameplay, but more on that later. This isn’t a direct sequel in the sense that we have different characters in a different setting with no real connection to the first game. While I don’t think Outlast 2 ever captures the highs I had during the opening sections of Outlast, it is easily the better of the two overall. But it then went a little downhill from then onwards, so I’d hoped that the second would learn from its predecessor’s mistakes, and by and large, it has. With that game, however, the first half was extremely atmospheric, scary and tense, and as such, it was shaping up to be a truly incredible game.
After all, I was a fan of the first Outlast (which has also just happened to release on the Nintendo Switch). Outlast 2 was a game that I wanted to play ever since its release on other consoles, around a year ago now.