Outlast 2 Torrent is an action survival game developed and published by Red Barrels. Outlast 2 benefits from abandoning the somewhat overused mental asylum backdrop of the original and embarking on the less-explored terrain of the Sonoran Desert. Protagonist Blake Langermann is on a quest to find his wife Lynn after crash-landing in the cult-infested Supai region during an investigative journalism assignment. Outlast 2 is deep South horror, but without the familiarities of domesticity seen in Resident Evil 7; Supai is wild cornfields, run-down shacks, and – surprisingly – grisly remnants of unspeakable religious rites.
It’s much more expansive than the original, enhancing an authentic horror experience. With numerous intricate structures and outdoor settings like tall grass and rivers to conceal oneself in, it’s simpler to merely escape from adversaries, yet it’s also more challenging to anticipate their approach. I felt persistently disoriented while aimlessly running towards a vaguely glimpsed place of safety, and though this might seem like flawed game design in theory, it proves effective in practice when the aim is to evoke a sense of desperation. Developer Red Barrels has crafted a world where linearity exists but is deceptive, creating escapes that feel heart-pounding and frantic thanks to clever world-building.
A significant factor in this is Outlast 2’s utilization of lighting. Armed only with your camcorder’s battery-dependent night vision mode to navigate through the ever-present darkness, and since you spend most of your time being pursued at a rapid pace, you have to depend on the most basic visual cues to stay on the correct path. Here, fires, faint lamp-posts, and flickering fluorescent bulbs guide the way, yet never overtly enough to alleviate your panic.
The only genuine aspect of Outlast 2 Torrent Magnet that disrupts the illusion of authenticity is Blake’s restricted maneuverability. While having him move like a top-tier athlete would contradict the limitations typical of the survival horror genre, it’s frustrating how context-sensitive and inconsistent his actions are. He can leap across wide gaps if they’re designed to be traversed, but he can’t vault over small objects on the ground. While he can climb over some waist-high obstacles, others of similar height prove insurmountable. Combine these constraints with your own frenzied panic, and you have a formula for immediate demise when you sprint towards an obstacle that seems conquerable but isn’t.
Some of Outlast 2 Torrent’s most impactful – and occasionally poignant – moments unfold in the flickering-lit corridors of Blake’s school. However, there are simply too many instances of excessive repetition, and in the middle of the narrative, they significantly slow down the pace. Furthermore, to grasp the deepest subtleties of these sequences, you must document specific vistas and objects around the world and then playback with Blake’s commentary for insight into his perspective. Given the horrific nature of the world, the motivation to voluntarily explore more of it is minimal.
Outlast 2 Torrent is a chilling sequel that expands on the frights of the 2013 original. Even if its ambitious themes don’t consistently hit the mark, and navigation through its world can be frustratingly irregular, there’s more diabolical creativity in play here than I’ve witnessed in a horror game in quite some time. Immerse yourself in it, in the dark.
Outlast 2 Torrent System Requirements
- OS: Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 10 / 11
- Processor: Intel Core i3-530
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1GB VRAM, NVIDIA Geforce GTX 260
- DirectX: Version 10
- Storage: 30 GB available space
