Remember that innocuous Pokemon Snap video game, in which you wander around photographing cute, furry little creatures? Well, it looks as if another video game developer just took the idea and ran with it. What they came up with, though is...much different.
[caption id="attachment_19787" align="aligncenter" width="405"]
Yep. That's authentically abandoned...and creepy.[/caption]
In Red Barrels' new video game, Outlast, the player is basically thrown into an abandoned insane asylum with nothing but a camera. Sounds fun, right? Well, you won't exactly be wandering around making urban decay art. In the asylum with you is hundreds of ugly, hungry, and ultimately very violent zombies. And yeah, they want to kill you and make your innards their main course. Why not? They have nothing better to do in there except absorb asbestos and radon.
[caption id="attachment_19788" align="aligncenter" width="406"]
The camera effects (for a nice change) are authentic, even down to infrared image grain[/caption]
Your job is simply to document everything you see, which as it turns out, is some really disturbing stuff. Sony is using this game as a hero title to sell with their upcoming Playstation 4 game console, and by the looks of it, this game won't be disappoint+ing. Visually and sonically, the experience looks very real. Video games developers have a history of making in-game cameras very cheesy, with fake-looking digital artifacts and statistics that never really appear on a camera's screen. Outlast's camera system, however, looks authentic, right down to the image grain and infrared mode. Of course, you have a limit on the camera's battery, so if you're in the 3rd sub-level of the dank, completely dark basement, you're out of luck.
[caption id="attachment_19789" align="aligncenter" width="405"]
The game's point of view switches depending on the current scenario[/caption]
On a deeper note, the developer says of the game's protagonist (the player): "what he discovers walks a terrifying line being science and religion, nature and something else entirely". In other words, it appears as if you're playing a role that some photojournalists in real life have been through: being cast into an unfamiliar environment and learning a lot about the darker side of life, and learning it quickly.
[caption id="attachment_19790" align="aligncenter" width="404"]
Zombies will get at you any way they can, like pulling you backwards[/caption]
Devout readers of our blog know that I am a big proponent and practitioner of urban exploration photography, but this game may make me afraid to enter any abandoned structure ever again. Are you morbidly curious enough (as I am) to pick up a Playstation 4 and a copy of Outlast?