Ditching homicidal maniacs for religious nuts, who also happen to be homicidal maniacs, Outlast 2 can sometimes be as tense as its predecessor, plus slicker visuals and a more ambitious, albeit messy, story.
My main criticism is that much of the time I was able to evade the psycho townspeople by running past them in the wide open village spaces - sometimes the chases were thrilling but most of the time it loses that tight-corridor claustrophobia the first game excelled at. This is probably why some of the most effective horror in the game comes from the psychological segments that flash back to a labyrinthine school setting, where you unravel a suppressed childhood trauma through spooky hallucinations. It’s quite an uneven balance between these ‘classier’ segments and the exploitation gore fest craziness of the main game, but it keeps an interesting pace.
My main criticism is that much of the time I was able to evade the psycho townspeople by running past them in the wide open village spaces - sometimes the chases were thrilling but most of the time it loses that tight-corridor claustrophobia the first game excelled at. This is probably why some of the most effective horror in the game comes from the psychological segments that flash back to a labyrinthine school setting, where you unravel a suppressed childhood trauma through spooky hallucinations. It’s quite an uneven balance between these ‘classier’ segments and the exploitation gore fest craziness of the main game, but it keeps an interesting pace.