Outlast

Outlast

Systems:

• Windows PC
• PlayStation 4
• Xbox One
• Releases:
  • Original Release: 2013
  • Xbox & PlayStation Release: 2014

Publisher:

• Red Barrels

Developer:

• Red Barrels

ESRB Rating:

• Mature (M)
• Reasoning:
  • Blood and Gore
  • Intense Violence
  • Sexual Content
  • Nudity
  • Strong Language

Outlast is a first-person survival horror game centered around Miles Upshur, an investigative journalist. Miles receives a tip about the horrific and abusive practices of Mount Massive Asylum. He travels to the asylum and finds the staff dead, the inmates free, and his escape route cutoff. Trapped with the violent inmates, Miles must find a way to escape and survive.

Incomplete Tags for this Game

• Avians
• Bones
• Dolls
• Felines
• Needles
• Victim Blaming

General Comments

This review also contains CATs for the Whistleblower DLC.

There is one instance that did not fit into the other categories well, but is easily the most disturbing section of the game and anyone who intends to play the game should be cautioned of it.

In the DLC, the player eventually comes across a decapitated male corpse that has been mutilated and posed to look like a woman in childbirth. The man's head has been placed at the groin, as if the child's head is emerging from the womb.

Bigoted Language

In the Whistleblower DLC, Eddie often calls the Player Character gendered slurs such as "whore". Other instances of bigoted language may be in the game as well.

Blood

The game is very graphic and violent; blood and gore is strewn across the environment and many characters have blood on them as well.

Body Horror

Many of the inmates have been horrifically disfigured in some way.

Cannibalism

In the main campaign, the Player Character is hunted by a pair of twins that calmly discuss eating him.

The DLC features another cannibal, initially encountering him in a kitchen where he can be seen cooking and eating body parts. Later, he chases the player with a chainsaw with the obvious intent of eating him.

Claustrophobia

A primary game mechanic involves hiding from enemies in lockers and other small spaces. The player is occasionally required to travel through tight spaces, such as vents.

Darkness

Darkness is a primary game mechanic and there are many pitch-black areas that cannot be traversed without using the video camera's night vision. The night vision uses up batteries. The batteries are a finite resource and if they run out, but player will be forced to navigate areas in complete darkness.

Dead Bodies

Dead bodies are frequently found throughout the game and are often mutilated in some way.

Death of Family/Friends

During the DLC, the player is able to find a document that implies that the head of the project is planning to kill or otherwise harm the Player Character's family.

Dehumanization

One of the core plot elements of the game is the dehumanization and exploitation of the mentally ill. The DLC features a character named Eddie who dehumanizes women (or anyone he perceives as a woman).

Depiction of Disaster

By the beginning of the main story and shortly into the Whistleblower DLC, the asylum becomes overwhelmed with chaos as patients rebel against abusive doctors.

Emotional Abuse

As part of the dehumanization that patients experience, patients are emotionally abused.

Fire

Towards the end of the main campaign, a priest lights himself on fire, eventually consuming the entire chapel. Towards the end of the DLC, which runs concurrently to the main game, the Player Character can see the chapel ablaze in the distance.

Gender Dysphoria

Your character is male and he is stalked by a man that is under the delusion that the Player Character and all the other inmates are female. He attempts to make "alterations" to them to make them fit his delusion.

Ghosts

The features an entity known as the 'Walrider' which often frightens players due to its ghostly appearance.

Gore

Blood and gore appear very frequently in the game. At one point, the Player Character falls into a pile of gore.

Graphic Violence

Violence is a large component of the game and can be seen throughout. Below are some instances, but this is not an exhaustive list.

One of the antagonists rips the heads off of anyone in his path.

One sequence features a doctor chasing the Player Character with a large pair of scissors.

The DLC features a cannibal with a chainsaw and a stalker who tortures and mutilates his victims before ultimately killing them.

Heights

The player often finds themselves shuffling along narrow ledges and at least once is thrown from the second floor to the floor below.

Jump Scares

Jump scares are a major component of the game.

Kidnapping

Some of the patients are implied to have been wrongly committed.

In the DLC, the Player Character is kidnapped and institutionalized when he becomes a 'problem'.

Medical Malpractice

The premise of the game is that those in charge of a mental institution have begun conducting unethical experiments on their charges.

Mental Health Institutions

The game takes place in an asylum that has fallen into horrible condition and abuse was prevalent.

Murder

There are many implied murders throughout the game, the player character witnesses multiple murders, and is chased by murderers as well.

Mutilation

In the main campaign, the Player Character has two of his fingers cut off.

In the DLC, the Player Character watches the mutilation and death of others before nearly being subjected to it himself.

In the DLC, the player eventually comes across a decapitated male corpse that has been mutilated and posed to look like a woman in childbirth. The man's head has been placed at the groin, as if the child's head is emerging from the womb.

Nudity

A few characters are nude, most notably the twins, and the DLC's Player Character during one torture scene.

Offensive Language

General profanity is used throughout the game.

Physical Abuse

This is a primary component of the backstory to the asylum.

Psychological Horror

The game has multiple scenes that are meant to disturb the player and make the player uncomfortable. The game also instills a sense of paranoia in the player.

Psychological Trauma

Chris Walker, one of the game's antagonists, suffers from severe PTSD.

The protagonists of both the main campaign and DLC are traumatized by the end.

Sex

There is one instance of an non-player character having sex with a decapitated body.

Sexual Assault

The beginning of the DLC features a doctor licking the side of the Player Character's face and moaning softly.

Early in the DLC, the Player Character encounters an inmate begging for help, saying that he is going to be raped. Documents can be found later on that same inmate revealing that he was sexually abused by his father and uncle as a child.

Stalking

In the DLC, the PC is stalked by Eddie, who intends on making the Player Character his bride.

Suicide

There are at least two instances of suicide (one successful, one unsuccessful), both carried out through self-immolation.

Supernatural Evil

The Walrider would qualify as this.

Torture

There is an extended sequence in the main game wherein the Player Character is tortured and has two of his fingers removed.

In the DLC, the Player Character watches another character tortured before nearly being subjected to it himself.

Transphobia

Your character is male and he is stalked by a man that is under the delusion that the Player Character and all the other inmates are female. He attempts to make "alterations" to them to make them fit his delusion.

Verbal Abuse

Eddie is verbally abusive to the player, calling them a variety of gendered slurs.

Violence Against Children

Eddie's backstory is that of being sexually abused as a child.

Vomiting

After being tortured in the main campaign, the PC vomits.

Weapons

Some inmates wield makeshift weapons, such as chainsaws, knives, or scissors.

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