Our Review of Outlast: Whistleblower

I have a hard time identifying with most characters in video games.  Generally, the heroes I play are experts at swords, firearms or martial arts (even when they have no reason to be).  Thrown into a terrifying situation, they are perfectly capable at surviving.  Outlast was the first game I played in which I felt like the protagonist is doing what I would do in that situation.  I don’t know much about guns or other weapons, I would probably do my best to avoid combat and find a way out.  My ability to identify with the hero of Outlast (outside of his ridiculous decision to venture inside the obviously haunted asylum in the first place) made the game that much scarier.  As good as the game was, the graphics haven’t aged terribly well and the better experience now can be found in the followup DLC.  While we’re waiting for the delayed Outlast 2, we’d recommend taking the time to tryout Outlast: Whistleblower.

Given all the murdered guards inside, you really think the parking lot would be a lot more full.

The original Outlast had you play as an investigator tipped off to some terrible events occurring at an old asylum.  Here the sequel casts you as an insider in the asylum who gets involuntarily committed after alerting the media to the asylum’s inhuman conditions (if you played the original, you’ll remember that this asylum is using inmates for evil purposes).  The gameplay in Outlast takes a little getting used to.  You never attack the dangerous guards and inmates in the asylum; you constantly run and hide from different enemies you encounter.  Usually, you explore an area looking for an escape while some creepy killer stalks you.  As before, this game turns a lot of the typical gameplay elements on their heads.  First you cannot fight any of the other inmates in the game; you’re only strategy is to run and hide when they spot you.  Second, there are no items to pick up and keep in order to solve puzzles in the game.  Your only item is your camcorder which you need to use to see in the dark.  If you run out of batteries, you’re dead.  This means you have to explore areas to find batteries to keep the camera going which, of course, means seeing some really gruesome stuff.  These inmates may have had only a few hours to run the asylum, but they’re very fast interior decorators.

I’m beginning the think this hospital doesn’t really help anybody.

The game does a pretty neat job inverted the original title.  In the original game, you started in the asylum and worked your way down to the underground labs.  Here, you start in the lab and have to make your way back to the surface.  You’ll revisit some memorable places from the original game but overall this is a pretty new adventure.  The original game also had a creepy torture sequence you had to suffer through.  Here the game goes one step further with the introduction of The Groom.  Really, the core of the game is The Groom, a creepy, unstoppable inmate who falls in love with you and spends a section of the game trying to….er, make you his bride.  Your battle with him has several memorable sequences (one or two were truly horrifying) and a satisfying conclusion.  The Groom is one of those memorable villains encounters gamers always rave about and I wish encounters with him had been peppered throughout the game rather than largely tied confined to the first minutes and final act.

This scene with The Groom is probably the most intense sequence we’ve played since that eye thing in Dead Space 2.

Whistleblower is a pretty concise experience; you will probably play through it in a few hours.  It is a lot of fun for those few hours though.  Whistleblower’s graphics and gameplay hold up remarkably well, particularly compared to the original Outlast.  If you’re looking for a chance to have the Outlast experience in a concise few hours, Whistleblower’s the game for you.

The Good

The game does everything Outlast did but with better graphics and more memorable sequences.  Every now and then we missed the ability to attack but once you get the game’s rhythm’s down, avoiding conflict becomes second nature

The Bad

The game involves a lot of trial-and-error and there were also a couple of sequences where we weren’t quite sure where we supposed to go.  Also, for whatever it’s worth, this game probably isn’t going to do much to alleviate the stigma of mental illness.

Our Take: Try It

The sequence with The Groom is worth the price of admission, if you find the game for relatively cheap.  This is a fairly brief adventure but it’s well done all the way through.