Is Outlast a Horror Video Game?
Outlast is a franchise of survival horror video games, in which players assume the role of survivors and witnesses of horror situations in different locations. In Outlast video games, the player character must often escape and outrun different foes, by analysing their behaviour patterns and adequate timing. The first Outlast video game, Outlast (2013), was developed and published by Red Barrels. Outlast video games have been praised for their scary gameplay, immersive atmosphere, puzzles, storyline and voice acting. Considering that Outlast video games are quite well-known, and that they draw a lot of attention and curiosity from players who have not yet played these video games, players wonder whether Outlast video games are considered horror video games, or whether they belong to a different video game genre, such as action-adventure, for example.
Outlast video games are horror video games because the gameplay experience is mostly directed at scarying and frightening the player, a distinctive characteristic of the horror genre.
Horror Elements of Outlast
- Gameplay experience directed at scarying and frightening the player
- Absence of weapons and of means to directly fight enemies
- Absence of lighting or limited lighting
- Limited resources (such as limited flashlight batteries)
- Mysterious atmosphere
Outlast video games, such as Outlast (2013) and Outlast 2 (2017), feature many different elements that combine to provide the experience by which the franchise has become known for. In general, Outlast video games feature first-person camera perspective, absence of weapons, limited lighting, limited resources (such as limited flashlight batteries), stealth gameplay, and enemies that in general are tougher than the main game character, or enemies that the main game character is unable to directly fight and defeat. Some of these elements are also seen in other classic horror video games of the late 2000s and 2010s, such as Penumbra (2007), Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010) and Slender: The Eight Pages (2012). These video games feature first-person camera perspective, the absence of direct combat with enemies, puzzles, and enemy behaviour patterns that must be observed in order to progress in the video game.
Moreover, there are many atmospheric elements in Outlast that add to the horror video game experience. Perhaps some of the most evident atmospheric elements are the frequent absence of lighting, the limited sources of lighting (through the flashlight which has limited batteries), the mysterious atmosphere of the environments and of the story, among other elements. These different elements combine to provide a horror experience, such as would be seen in a horror movie or in a horror story being told at a campfire. The different aspects of the atmosphere and immersion all add to the scary and frightening experience, which is in line with the horror genre.
Differences Between Horror and Action-Adventure
While Penumbra (2007), Amnesia: The Dark Descent (2010), Slender: The Eight Pages (2012) and Outlast (2013) feature elements of action-adventure video games, one of the most important difference between these video games and typical action-adventure video games is that the gameplay in typical action-adventure video games it not directed at scarying the player. One of the defining characteristics of the horror genre, including horror books, horror films and horror video games, is that the experience is directed at scarying and fightening. Typical action-adventure video games, such as God of War and Tomb Raider, often provide a narrative, offering a cinematic experience, in which the player must fight and defeat enemies and progress through the story in order to reach an ending. In horror video games, enemies are often tougher or faster than the player character, and may often be much more numerous than the player character. Moreover, in horror video games, the player character is often much more focused on surviving the horror situation than in fighting all enemies. This focus on surviving the horror situation is particularly evident in survival video games such as Dino Crisis, Resident Evil and Dead Space. While in these video games it is possible to fight enemies, ammunition is often quite limited, and thus in many cases it is more effective to focus on completing puzzles and escaping, rather than making an effort to fight and defeat all of the enemies presented.
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While video game writers and analysts may point out that horror is a sub-genre of action-adventure, over the course of the evolution of video games, the differences between action-adventure and horror have become more evident. Indeed, action-adventures and horror video games have become so different that most players would not confuse with a typical action-adventure video game with a horror video game, and thus it is quite reasonable to consider these as two completely different genres.
Blending of Aspects
While there are horror video games which blend aspects of different genres, such as Dino Crisis, Resident Evil and Dead Space, which blend many action elements with horror elements, such as third-person shooter combat gameplay with limited resources such as ammunition and healing items, quite often the defining aspect of a horror video game is whether the experience is directed at scarying the player. There are action video games which offer a horror atmosphere, but quite often in these action video games the main focus of the gameplay is to fight and defeat all enemies. In a typical horror video game, the focus will be to survive the horror situation or reach a story conclusion.
The Case of Outlast
Outlast video games, such as Outlast (2013) and Outlast 2 (2017), have few typical action elements, and present some action-adventure elements such as puzzles and stealth. The fact that the player character is mostly unable to fight enemies throughout Outlast video games is one of the reasons why Outlast video games are not typical action video games, and the aspect of limited resources, such as the limited flashlight batteries, is a classic survival horror element, also seen in other survival horror video games such as Dino Crisis, Resident Evil and Dead Space. Moreover, most of the gameplay experience of Outlast video games is directed at scarying the player, while the player character must progress through the story in order to survive the horror situation. These aspects are very in line with the definition of horror fiction, and with the definition of the horror video game genre.
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