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Even the harshest critics of found-footage have to admit that the sub-genre excels when immersing viewers directly into the horrors of a scary story instead of having them be passive observers. Funnily enough, this is the same reason why horror is such a great fit for videogames, with the added interactivity making it easier to feel like you’re in danger alongside the protagonists instead of simply watching them from afar.
That’s why I find it baffling that so few developers have managed to take advantage of the similarities between these two mediums when coming up with new horror experiences. While it can be argued that titles like Michigan: Report from Hell and even Slender incorporate elements of found-footage into their mechanics, the closest thing to a non-FMV game that fully commits to the diegetic POV horror experience is Red Barrels’ infamous hide-and-seek simulator, Outlast.
And with the game currently celebrating its tenth anniversary, I thought that this might be a good time to look back on how the title does such a great job of translating found-footage thrills to an interactive medium.
The story of Outlast actually begins years before the game was even in development, with Red Barrels co-founders David Chateauneuf, Hugo Dallaire and Philippe Morin working for EA and Ubisoft and finding themselves frustrated with mainstream gaming studios’ reluctance to finance new single-player IPs. This led to the creation of an independent studio which would end up pioneering the “mid-budget indie game” – independently produced titles with enough production value to feasibly compete with AAA projects.
And when your company is trying to craft low-budget experiences that can stand toe-to-toe with mainstream productions, what better genre to borrow from than found-footage horror? Taking inspiration from games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and films like the Vicious Brothers’ Grave Encounters (a horror flick that simulates a ghost-hunting show gone wrong as the cast and crew become trapped in an abandoned mental hospital with a mind of its own), it was decided that the studio’s debut game would be a night-vision-heavy scare-fest of the first-person variety.
This hits so much harder after hours of first-person terror.
In the finished game, players step into the shoes of Miles Upshur, an intrepid journalist who receives an anonymous tip about illegal human experimentation going on at a private psychiatric hospital. Armed only with a camcorder and good intentions, Miles trespasses onto hospital property only to find himself trapped amongst homicidal patients after a catastrophic security failure, with players being forced to navigate this labyrinthian hellscape as they unravel the secrets of Mount Massive Asylum.
Fortunately for genre fans, the found-footage elements are much more than mere window-dressing here, with the camera actually aiding you in gameplay with its aforementioned night-vision mode (which rapidly expends battery-life, adding an anxiety-inducing element of resource management to the game) and zoom function helping you to explore and document the horrors of Mount Massive like a bona fide reporter. The camera also holds some narrative significance as the catalyst of this entire story, with this fragile device being the only thing capable of taking down the Murkoff Corporation if you can only find some way to escape.
That being said, it’s the found-footage-inspired visuals that really make Outlast stand out. From predatory eyes reflected in the greenish hue of night-vision to seemingly harmless patients finding ways to cope with the madness of the asylum in increasingly disturbing ways, one could argue that the realistic presentation is the main selling point of the experience. In fact, some of the title’s freakiest imagery seem eerily reminiscent of the infamous 1967 documentary Titticut Follies, in which a lawyer-turned filmmaker documents the inhuman treatment of patients at the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. While those patients never resort to murder, there’s a clear connection between the horrific living conditions of Bridgewater and the abuses perpetrated by the fictional Murkoff corporation.
Beyond these real-world scares, there are plenty of familiar yet effective set-pieces here that are likely to make you sweat all over your controller – like moments of complete darkness where the player is separated from their only source of light or perfectly orchestrated jump-scares at the end of claustrophobic passageways. Hell, I even appreciate how the camera ends up damaged by the end of the experience, with a small crack reminding you of the horrors you’ve been through to get this far.
Peek-a-boo!
Outlast’s aesthetic elements are also exacerbated by the title’s use of epistolary storytelling, with this classic survival horror trope feeling even more fitting here once you realize that you’re creating an eerie document of your own as you play. Naturally, the frequent notes and environmental storytelling also serve as a bit of much-needed downtime in between scares, with the player being encouraged to freely explore as they catch their breath.
Unfortunately, this high level of immersion is sometimes broken by a handful of unfair chase sequences and formulaic missions that operate on repetitive logic (such as having to acquire a certain number of objects in an arena inhabited by a maniacal stalker). While these sections don’t exactly ruin the experience, it’s clear that the developers were trying to pad out the game’s brief runtime in order to make it feel more like a proper AAA title.
And on a more nitpicky note, I think Outlast would have been a much more cohesive experience if the developers had insisted on keeping the camera in the hands of the player at all times, as the digital filter and added level of authenticity only add to the scares and would have made the entire thing feel more like a proper interactive found-footage flick. Red Barrels could even have played some player-recorded snippets of their version of the ordeal over the end-credits, further emphasizing the importance of the footage to the story.
It may not be a perfect experience, with frequent jump-scares and some formulaic chases probably scaring off fans of slow-burn horror, but there’s a reason why Outlast is still undefeated when it comes to pure interactive terror. Even Red Barrels themselves couldn’t quite top this one with its sequels, and it can be argued that games like Alien: Isolation and even Resident Evil 7 have been chasing this terrifying high since 2013.
With that in mind, one can only hope that future horror games learn from Outlast’s cinematic inspirations. However, even if they can’t quite replicate the found-footage thrills of this claustrophobic dive into madness, the original title remains a must-play for the Halloween season even a full decade later.