GDP2 - Emotional Contagion

Last time I played a game that have gripped me and moved you emotionally was Outlast. Outlast is a first person horror game developed by indie studio Red Barrels.

I like this game a lot because it can deliver an extremely thrilling experience to the players. The first-person view really gets players into the game and the textures are very realistic and well-done. There is also no HUD in regular mode and it maximizes the first-person experience with the least distraction on the screen.

In game screenshot

What make this game stands out from other horror games I have played before is the camera vision mode. During the game, players often have to travel in the dark, by dark I mean pitch dark where you cannot see a thing on the screen at all. At this time you will have to activate the camera night vision mode in order to see. This effect reminds me of the movie Quarantine where the whole movie is filmed with camera. Things always could happen in the next corner when you are not expected and vision is very limited. In Outlast, the camera mode has the very similar look to the movie except players have to take their own actions in the game. It really brings players into a horror film and let players explore by their own will. Moreover, the battery of the camera will eventually die, so players have to constantly look for batteries in order to have vision in the dark. While trying to figure out a way to home and avoiding the unfriendly creatures, players also have to worry about batteries. With all these tensions put together, it keeps players busy and pay full attention all the time.

In game camera mode screenshot

Outlast also increases the thrilling atmosphere by putting players into a helpless position with the limitation of the players' action. Players often encounter hostile beings in the game and the only options they have are to run away from them, or hide and hope they will not be found. This deprives the ability to fight back and keeps players frighten to explore because they always have to escape in an environment they do not know about. For me, I get panic very easily every time I encounter those hostile beings because of it. :( However, this is what makes it a very impressive game and I like the features a lot.

A hostile being in the game

Besides the visual and gameplay, the sound effect has a significant impact to the overall experience. Most of the time, there is no sound but the breathing sound of the character. However, special sound effect would be triggered as players hit to a certain part of the map, which makes it very dramatic and emphasizes the sudden change of atmosphere.

With all these elements successfully done and put together, players are able to feel the game closely and follow the story as like if they are in it. Therefore, although the story is not super amazingly written and the ending was an easy guess, the overall experience players can have is incredible.