Outlast 2 (stylized as OUš£LASTII) is a 2017 first-person psychological survival horror video game developed and published by Red Barrels.
The sequel to Outlast (2013), it revolves around cameraman Blake Langermann, who works with his journalist wife Lynn to investigate the murder of a pregnant woman in the Sonoran Desert.
[2] When both get separated in a helicopter crash, Blake has to find Lynn while traveling through a village inhabited by a deranged cult that believes the Judgement Day is upon them.
The player assumes the role of cameraman Blake Langermann, who investigates a dilapidated rural area in Supai, Northern Arizona,[4] near the western edge of the Colorado Plateau.
[5] The player can also crouch, run, jump, walk, vault, slide, and climb much like the first game and can hide in lockers, barrels, wardrobes, beds, water pools, tall grass, cornfields, and houses.
Compared to the first game, his status as a cameraman means he carries a more advanced camera, one with clearer footage, zoom, and a sensitive microphone that can be used to detect distant footsteps and other noises.
Blake makes his way to the nearby town of Temple Gate, where he learns that the residents sacrificed all their children in the name of God, and eventually locates Lynn in a chapel.
She is being held hostage by a violent, delirious Christian cult led by preacher Sullivan Knoth, who rapes the local women and, once they are pregnant, executes them on suspicion of carrying the Antichrist.
They are separated when Lynn is kidnapped by a Satanic splinter group known as the 'Heretics' and their androgynous leader Val, who wish to hasten Judgement Day by witnessing the Antichrist's birth.
While Blake rests, Marta, a gigantic and imposing woman wielding a large pickaxe and one of Knoth's executioners, breaks into Ethan's home and murders him after accusing him of heresy.
Blake flees through town from Marta and the cult to another chapel, where he learns while hidden from a tortured Heretic being interrogated by Knoth that Lynn was taken to the mines near Temple Gate.
Throughout his journey, Blake is repeatedly assaulted by the blinding light and suffers from increasingly disturbing hallucinations of his childhood's Catholic elementary school while pursued by a demon.
He also finds a document revealing that the Murkoff Corporation is responsible for everyone's insanity in the region due to an experimental mind control station hidden deep in the mountains, which is also the cause of the blinding light seen by Blake.
[10] It was also reported that the characters and setting would be greatly different in comparison to the first game, as players would not return to Mount Massive Asylum in the sequel.
[11] In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, co-founder Philippe Morin stated that "we really want to keep improving our craft, but ultimately we'll approach things the same way.
Even in the corrupt and filthy tongue of the Romans, in the Puritan city... On the fourth month and the twenty-second day of the sixteenth year of the third millennium, our reckoning begins.
[23] In order to achieve the desired sounds for the game without the use of an orchestra, Laflamme created an instrument consisting of a metal string attached to a piece of wood.
While more involved fans might be disappointed as to how the story resolves, I found it hit the sweet spot between overly expository and frustratingly vague.
"[41] Lucy O'Brien's score of 8.3/10 on IGN said that "Outlast 2 is a terrifying successor to the 2013 original that keeps the scares coming at a relentless pace.
"[42] "Stealth and pursuit haven't changed much in Outlast 2, but it excels as a beautiful, brutal journey through extreme spiritual anxieties," was James Davenport's conclusion on PC Gamer with a score of 85/100.
[43] 7.5/10 was Philip Kollar's score on Polygon with the consensus: "Outlast 2 may be the single most qualified recommendation I've given in my history of writing reviews, and not just because of its occasionally stilted design.
My reactions to that anguish have run the gamut, but more than anything, I respect that Outlast 2 has the singular focus and intensity to dredge up those emotions; that alone made it worth the time spent for me.
"[44] Alice Bell's 6/10 score on VideoGamer.com stated that "Outlast 2 has some great design elements, and the night-vision handy-cam mechanic is still scary.