Why Do People Hate Outlast 2?
I recently purchased Outlast 2 off of PSN and I gotta say, even though it does have its dumb moments here and there and it's not quite as good as the first one, I still think it's a solid horror game for the most part. I have been hearing that a lot of people were really disappointed by it however. If you're one of those people, I'm curious what about the game you found unsatsifying.
Also, just to get it out of the way before I get a hundred angry comments, I wanna point out that I'm not trying to validate my opinion of the game. I'm legitimately curious about some criticisms people may have.
Tagged:
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
I felt that it tried too hard to be as depraved and shocking as possible with children murder, molestation, torture, etc., to the point where most of these attempts to unnerve the player fall flat and comes across as silly or cringe-worthy instead.
The gameplay has also barely changed from the first game and the DLC, offering little to nothing new to the table where the player constantly runs from danger to the point where it gets tedious and immersion-breaking.
I'd add more, but AronDracula had summed up my other thoughts of the game.
I only saw it in a gameplay from DashieGames. The story bored me from the beginning....
Also, the enemies copied the ones from the first game way too much, like there was nobody we never encountered in the first game.
ignore
I agree on Marta. She didn't strike me as anything else other than the replacement Chris Walker.
If a horror game isn't scary or disturbing to some extent, then that's a huge flaw. Saying that something horror related isn't meant to be scary is like saying a comedy isn't supposed to be funny.
Chasing, chasing, gore, chasing, gore, gore, pedophilia, gore, demons, chasing, credits roll.
because it's supposed to be a psychological thriller experience and not an xd hilarious jump scare pewdiepie game.
Also in terms of the Jessica subplot, you could make the argument that perhaps that Blake subconsciously felt guilty for her death and rescuing Lynn is his own way of compensating. I think he saw Lynn as a grown-up version of Jessica since it's pretty clear in the last flashback that Blake and Jessica had feelings for one another. Hell even in one of the journal vlogs after rescuing Lynn from the mines, Blake refers to Lynn as Jessica and claims that he "got her out of the school and wants to get her to a grown-up." That's how I saw it at least.
I dunno why much people hate it lol I found it really enjoyable horrer game to play...{even tho I found some parts of the game to be frustrating af}
What's also wierd is that Lynn's young model pretty much resembles Jessica.
no it's not. there's plenty of horror that's not meant to scare you but instead to unsettle you or worry you or get under your skin in an emotionally personal manor. horror isn't just jumpscares and tense monster chases, horror is about what makes you feel like something isn't right, it's about being unsettled. silent hill 2 is hardly scary but the way the game is made is to make you believe everything is typical and normal until there's something that just does not seem right. it doesn't need to be outright disturbing, it just needs to be subtle. and outlast 2 is subtle a lot of the time. the surreal imagery, the symbolism behind the cult, the effort they put into making the disgusting things look disgusting.
so pretty much outlast 1 then? if these are everyone's criticisms then why did everyone like outlast 1 exactly? if it weren't for the story and the symbolism, outlast 1 would literally just be a game of tag you're it until somebody wins.
it's pretty easy to say when every year the same poorly made horror bullshit gets cranked out monthly and you have to sit through it until finding a gold mine.
Instead of hate, I'd call dissapointment. I think what seperates Outlast 1 from Outlast 2 in terms of storytelling, is closure. In the first game, story made us think that ''the Walrider'' was a supernatural being that hunted everyone in the asylum, until the last part in the game where Wernicke explained us that ''Nothing is supernatural.'' Whistleblower DLC added even more to the story, as it showed us who was the person that sent us the e-mail, and what happened before and after the first game. In the second one, first hour or two are ok, but after that, the game is going downhill very fast. There are pieces that can lead you to Murkoff, and one specific note, but it's all puzzled everywhere in the game. And if you're not careful, and can't put the pieces back together, it'll bore you to death. Chase sequences were too much they could've just called this game ''Chase Simulator:Dark Souls'' Speaking of Dark Souls, this game is even harder than the first one. You don't really know where you're supposed to go, what you're supposed to find, and how you're supposed to get it, the game doesn't give you clear objectives. Also, you're gonna die so many times, death will stop being something you're afraid of, leaving the game devoid of any horror, unless you count gruesome violence as horror. The first game had great writing and timing for nearly everything. Interesting characters too. It had unique jump scares with good timing, and just enough to not be too cliché. This one not as much. This game isn't that same experience.
I know that not everything needs to be balls to wall terrifying. I know that horror games can still be subtly disturbing or unsettling. Hence why I said they need to be scary or disturbing to "an extent." However reading your comment and rereading Mortal's comment, I do think you better iterated what Mortal5075 meant, so I'll retract what I initially said.
Exactly.
The characters, the story, the pacing, the gameplay etc. We can never forget amazing characters like Richard Trager whose catchphrase is "BUUUUDYYY" and Eddie Gluskin whose catchphrase is "DARLING" and showed us a lot of disturbing stuff. The unofficial reason Outlast 1 is beloved is that it's inspired by Amnesia.
fair enough.
wouldn't be nearly as strong as it is without the characters or symbolism, on it's own it's dumb
also a good point
gameplay is pretty similar to outlast 2 imo. just with a few new mechanics and higher difficulty.
i do like trager and gluskin, but i also really loved the villains in outlast 2. they were kinda neat imo. nowhere near as good as the originals but enough to stand out a bit.
so like i said in a comment below then: "an xd hilarious jump scare pewdiepie game."
No you're fine. I just misconstrued what you said.
My own opinion is that Outlast 2 is not an horrible horror game but just average;however since it is a sequel of a game that many,me included,enjoy I think it is obvious be disappointed.
i didn't say it wasn't, i just said the majority of horror media is garbage with few good gems in there. what i meant was that it's easy for me to be able to properly form words about horror because i know it inside and out
I believe that the only real reason for the school segments is to make Blake move from place A to place B without have to show us the actual travel (because this is the only reason that I can find for the abuse of a setting that was useless story-wise and that become annoying very soon)
Oh boy here we go, sorry for the long post here but any chance I get to vent about this game I'll take it.
First off let me start with the characters, they are all weak and boring. The relationship between Blake and Lynn felt so flimsy and unnatural, so I never really felt that urgency that I should have had to recollect Lynn.The best look we get into the twos relationship comes from some quick dialogue where Blake mentions they haven't had sex in months, that leads one to think there's some friction there but it never reveals itself and goes nowhere. I know at the beginning of the game it says Blake isn't a fighter, but what kinda guy isn't going to start swinging to defend his wife whom he just got back from being kidnapped (and worse) and is now being threatened to be taken again? Besides that. Blake himself never really gave me the idea he was afraid, he only ever seemed startled at best, even after being crucified, he treats it more as an annoyance than anything.
Then we have the antagonists and these ones really sink the boat. Father Knoth was nothing more than the religious zealot that rose to power and abused it, we only really see him twice in the whole game and neither time did I feel threatened by this dough boy. I was utterly baffled as to why in the first instance we didn't just choke the bastard out or bashed his head in, I mean he was right there for crying out loud. Overall, Knoth was not intimidating at all. Then we have Marta, the pickax wielding woman, what is there more to say than she was boring? With the number of times we run from her in the game, she becomes more of an annoyance than an entity to fear. Then there's the other cultist leader who is just as boring, we meet her for a moment, she tastes your face a little, and then you play hide and go seek once and that's it. The duo in the woods (the ones who crucified you and buried you) are just as annoying as Marta with as good of a freaking shot the little bastard is on the big guys back. And lastly, the creature in the school is boring too, I expected there to be some context as to why it had a dozen hands and why it's tongue was also so present but no. This thing goes from being disturbing to just being confusing when you try to piece together why it looks the way it does which kills off the psychological horror fast when you realiza they just wanted to make a disturbing creature.
Now about the game's issues.
1). The chases are far too frequent and WAY too linear. God forbid you make a wrong turn during a chase otherwise you're dead, and that happens so frequently that it shatters the scare factor and just starts to aggravate.
2). The school. I could honestly right up nearly an entire essay as to why this was terrible. The first couple times it happened, sure it caught me off guard and seemed kind of cool, but when you jump back into the school nearly every 20 minutes and Blake somehow makes progress in the real world, unharmed too, I start to ask how is that happening when we are right in the zealot's backyard? Besides that, the school levels were very boring to me, with the only threat being this creature which makes no sense as to why it looks like it does, and each one devolving into more chases sequences, I found myself sighing whenever I knew I was going back to the school.
3). The gore and shock factor. First hour of the game, it becomes clear this group is nuts; killing children/babies with the pit, the rape and hilariously overused sexual notes found from the women, and what we find in the houses. And this continues further into the game where they keep trying to show you more and more gore and messed up stuff but by the time I got to the part where it was raining blood I was just laughing to myself and saying, 'Of course'. There's simply too much of this and it felt like someone REALLY liked the later Saw movies given all the gore and blood.
4). The story. It is terribly confusing, it leads you to believe this is some cult crap that has found some magic stuff by accident and it looks as though the end of the world is happening. But really it's the organization from the first game doing tests out here and making people go crazy. And you'll only know that if you find certain notes and don't miss some very minor dialogue. I mostly say this is problem because I'm willing to bet we'll see a priced DLC come out that goes further into it if not outright explaining it when it should have been in the game, especially given how short it it.
Oof, I think that's it, at least all I can think of right now! lol
i don't hate Outlast 2, i think that the two Outlasts are great games, but that's true, i prefeer the first one