Outlast 2 on PS4: Graphically great... but

There was a lot of hooplah surrounding this game's release back in 2017 but I am not an early adopter of almost anything and flat our refuse to pay $50-$60 for a game. I likely would have never played this title at all had it not been one of the "Free" games on my PS Plus membership this month.

While this game has "generally favorable reviews," I'm afraid i can't jump on board the fanboi-wagon as much as other people.

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Maybe it's because the "survival horror" genre has kind of run its course in my mind but I found this game, while beautiful and definitely scary, to be a bit of a bore after a while.

The story is that you are a reporter who was traveling with your wife when your helicopter crashes in rural Arizona. You suddenly find yourself in a community of religious nutjobs and well, this part of the story is definitely interesting and spooky as hell.

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The problems for me arise when the game quickly becomes pretty mundane despite the horror because you really only ever do one thing: Run and hide from your pursuers. You have exactly zero offense or even defense, you are just constantly on the lookout for closets and barrels to hide in as you search for your next destination.

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Anyone you encounter will kill you if you don't run away and hide and while the game does reload your last location quite quickly, it does become a bit tiresome doing the same thing over and over despite the wonderful visuals as well as fantastic sound and voice acting.

While this game is significantly less linear than its predecessor, much of this is for naught because there is still only one real way to go. There are certain explorable areas that will unlock achievements but since the game is already 12-15 hours long, this isn't really necessary and I can't really imagine anyone going back through the game once they finish it just to get 100% achievement.

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In a number of situations you find yourself back in a flashback of sorts to your grade-school upbringing and it doesn't really make sense because you walk through a dilapidated shed's front door and all of a sudden you are transported to a school hallway, complete with memories specific to you. This is explained in some way later on in the game but during your initial runthrough, it doesn't make sense and there are simply too many of them to remain interesting.

_{from the official Playstationchannel}

There are also some glaring inconsistencies in gameplay mechanics. During certain "allowed" areas you are able to scale certain walls and barriers, but in other situations a chair or a waist-high rock is an insurmountable barrier that you are completely incapable of circumnavigating. This results in you getting killed time and time again and it is extra frustrating because it doesn't make sense.

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_{This photo perfectly embodies my level of enthusiasm for the game after about 2 hours of gameplay}

Your desire to know the rest of the story will likely keep you going but despite the game's stunning visuals the repetitive gameplay and frustration of having zero weapon-oriented defenses is something that really doesn't appeal to me. I would much prefer a "stealth optional" mode but in Outlast stealth is pretty much the only part of the game.

Had I paid for this game I think i would be upset. Since it effectively cost me $1.50 on my PS-Plus annual membership, I'm gonna let it slide. However, i really don't see myself finishing this game when there are so many better games already in my library.

Graphically, and storywise it is awesome, but as far as gameplay is concerned jumpscares only work for so long on me before i demand a bit more.

My overall rating! 5 / 10