Outlast

Compared to Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, this little gem positively sparkles. Havent quite finished it yet, so a final verdict waits, but its one of the most refreshing games I’ve played in a long time. Nowhere near as scary as it’s been made out to be, but its power lies not in chills, but in a whole new dynamic in survival horror. Not running and hiding, but outwitting. You have no weapons, no way to fight back, your enemies are nearly as fast as you, but you have the advantage of brains and agility. Wait in the darkness, watch your enemies, plot their movements and then go where they’re arent. Crouch in a dark corner while your enemy walks past oblivious then track them at a safe distance. Being pursued, duck into a narrow crack or crouch into a low pipe where they cant fit, then taunt your enemies while they glower impotently at you. Its quite intoxicating to outwit such powerful enemies from a position of absolute weakness and is such a refreshing change from running frantically or trying to hide in cupboards (which is offered in the game, but you’ll soon learn its a clever tease from the makers. Take the easy option and do it, an you’ll end up dead more often then not.) I would venture to say this game has turned survival horror on its head, and all from the most cliched and over-used setting in the genre’s history – the good old insane asylum full of psychotic freaks.

So far tracking to a 9 – great stuff.