When we were approved to review Outlast 2 I jumped straight on it because I’m an idiot. I hate games that make me scared, except I love it at the same time. The number of times I’ve told the TiX team that I can’t handle this game is beyond a joke, but you really need to play this.

Despite the gameplay being very familiar, the similarities end there, it doesn’t feel like a sequel. This time round you are a cameraman who has joined his wife Lynn, a Lynn on a helicopter ride into the deserts of Arizona, tracking the story of a mysteriously murdered woman.

It’s not long before disaster strikes and you find yourself separated from Lynn. It’s pitch black and you only have your night vision on your video camera to help you move around. It’s all very Blair Witch Project and it isn’t long before the game starts putting the pressure on you. Thankfully in Outlast 2 you aren’t quite so reliant on camera batteries as you were before, and even when you do need batteries they are fairly easy to come by. Your camera has a new feature that allows you to use the microphone to listen to sound through walls, which sort of helps as you try to navigate your way out of trouble.

If you played Outlast it all feels very familiar. Each new area you reach involves trial and error. You don’t have any weapons so all you are able to do is run away or hide. There are always different options but some prove to be more useful than others. At the very beginning, you get chased and the only way past initially was to run away before being able to go back and move on. There are beds to hide under, wardrobes to get into and long grass to hide in.

There were a couple of sections in the game where it almost felt impossible to get past, yet there were also sections that seemed far too easy. The further you progress into the game the more repetitive things become but because of the atmosphere the Red Barrels have created, you won’t have time to think about those sorts of things because you find yourself constantly on edge. On more than one occasion I had to just stop playing for a while as it all got a bit much!.It made me feel horrible, I loved it and hated it at the same time.

Outlast 2 tells its story through the discovery of suicide notes you come across. The most interesting part of the game is the hallucinations that send you back to your childhood, it’s creepy but interesting. If you went to a religious school you’ll find certain elements creepily familiar.

I really enjoyed Outlast 2, it has an incredible atmosphere and the story was just about interesting enough to keep me interested. Yes, some of the character models are a bit pants and the trial and error element can get a bit frustrating, but I loved (and hated) feeling uncomfortable the whole time.

If you are done with Resident Evil 7, Outlast 2 is an excellent game to move onto, just make sure you have something to hide behind.

Thanks to Red Barrels for supporting TiX