About

Outlast is an indie first-person survival horror game developed and published by Red Barrels Studio.^[1] The player plays as a freelance investigative journalist who decides to investigate an isolated psychiatric hospital, Mount Massive Asylum, based on a lead you receives from an anonymous source.^[3] Inside the hospital, the player is besieged by inmates who have undergone varying degrees of mutation.

History

Red Barrels uploaded the first trailer for Outlast on October 31st, 2012 (shown below). Outlast was released on Microsoft Windows on September 4th, 2013 for download through Steam. It was later released for PlayStation 4 on February 4th, 2014 and for Xbox One on June 19th, 2014. Gameplay focuses on avoiding enemies, as the protagonist is completely unable to defend himself, and managing the battery of his camera, the player's only light source in dark areas.

The game was generally well received, scoring an 80 on Metacritic.^[10] It also received with a number of accolades and awards from E3 2013, including the "Most Likely to Make you Faint" honor, and one of "Best of E3."^[9]

Outlast: Whistleblower

On April 29th, 2014, Red Barrels released a YouTube video announcing Outlast: Whistleblower, downloadable content for Outlast scheduled for release on May 6th (shown below). Outlast: Whistleblower is a prequel explaining the unknown reasons behind Mount Massive Asylum's outbreak^[5] and picks up off the a cliffhanger from the previous game.

Outlast 2

Shortly after the popularity of Outlast, Red Barrels announced the sequel, confirming its production on October 23rd, 2014.^[11] Outlast 2 was released on April 25th, 2017, and is set in a new location with different characters than the previous game (trailer shown below).

Like its predecessors, the player must focus on avoiding enemies rather than engaging in combat. However, it was slightly less well-received by critics, where the PC version earned a 77 on Metacritic and the PS4 version earned a 69.

Online Presence

Outlast has been a popular game choice for Let's Play channels. For example, Markiplier played the game on his channel, racking up millions of views; the first episode of his playthrough (shown below, left) gained over 4.9 million views. Pewdiepie also played the game on his channel to even more success. The playthrough of the game's demo gained over 17.3 million views (shown below, right). On Facebook, Outlast and Outlast 2 have 74,000 and 19,000 likes, respectively.^[12]

Fandom

As of May 2017, there are over 5,000 pieces of fan art tagged #outlast on DeviantArt.^[6] Tumblr^[7] and Pinterest^[8] searches also yield results of fan art as well.

Search Interest

External References