'Outlast 2' is as scary as the first game, but with new twists

The E3 show floor is not the most effective environment in which to experience a horror game. Even with high-tech headphones on, it’s impossible to block out the sounds of countless other games and the milling crowd. So it’s pretty impressive that Outlast 2 managed to provide a few genuine scares even as I stood in front of a kiosk at the bright, flashy Microsoft booth.

While Outlast took place in a somewhat cliché (but still scary) abandoned asylum, the sequel moves to the Arizona desert, where investigative journalists Blake Langermann and his wife Lynn are digging deeper into an unsolved murder. Things go awry right away — the demo starts out with a crash of some sort, though because of how dark it is, we only get audio. There’s a lot of screaming.

When Blake opens his eyes, the first thing he sees is an upside-down cross burning. It’s not exactly subtle, but it sets the scene and lets us know that something is not quite right. Lynn is missing, so Blake brushes himself off to find her. 

Thankfully his video camera wasn’t damaged in the accident. This mechanic carries over from the first game and is used in the same way. Recording every horrifying moment is a major part of the gameplay, and sometimes the camera’s night vision is the only thing lighting the way in the otherwise pitch-black night. Batteries were plentiful in the demo, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t worrisome every time the battery indicator started flashing red. With no weapons and no way to defend himself, the camera is pretty much all Blake has.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Outlast 2 does a great job setting up a spooky vibe, but it’s still got predictable scares that take you out of the moment. Looking down an eerie old well, I just knew something was going to pop out of it and grab me, which is why I wasn’t at all startled when it happened a second later. What I didn’t expect was to get pulled down into a ventilation system. After crawling around a bit, I tumbled out into a high school classroom — the ultimate horror.

A floppy disk on the teacher’s desk implied that this was not only another place, but another time as well. A note on a locker addressed to Lynn, lockers blowing open and slamming shut, chilling laughter and disturbing shrieks: all of these elements made Outlast 2’s high school unsettling. The otherworldly feel (plus a number of jammed and inaccessible doors) gave the demo a Silent Hill vibe.

Before any deeper meaning to the high school flashback could be uncovered, Blake was back in desert territory, and he wasn’t alone. Because ghastly figures tend to float in and out of the screen, it’s sometimes hard to discern what’s meant to be spooky and what’s a legitimate threat. Pro tip: if a machete-wielding figure moves toward you -- and the game prompts you to run -- you should run.

The chase led me to a cornfield and quickly left me out of breath. Outlast 2 recommends stopping for a bit to regain energy, but it’s kind of hard to take that suggestion seriously when a knife enthusiast is hell-bent on killing you. It was here that the camcorder’s night mode failed me; visibility was still limited enough that I ended up running in circles through the corn, always ending up in the same place. Thus the demo ended with my own brutal murder -- all in first person.

Outlast 2 is at its best when it’s working the environment, laying on the psychological horror and nudging you forward when the absolute last thing you want to do is go down that creaky staircase. It’s less great when the horror becomes more of a hassle. Thankfully, the demo had more of the former, and it creeped me out enough that I want to see more. During broad daylight. With all of the lights on.