Developer : Red Barrels
Release date : February 5, 2014
Synopsis :
Outlast is a first-person survival horror video game developed and published by Red Barrels. The game revolves around a freelance investigative journalist, Miles Upshur, who decides to investigate a remote psychiatric hospital named Mount Massive Asylum, located deep in the mountains of Lake County, Colorado. The downloadable content Outlast: Whistleblower centers on Waylon Park, the man who led Miles there in the first place.
Outlast was released for Microsoft Windows on September 4, 2013, PlayStation 4 on February 4, 2014, and for Xbox One on June 19, 2014. Linux and OS X versions were later released on March 31, 2015. A Nintendo Switch version titled Outlast: Bundle of Terror was released in February 2018.
Outlast received generally positive reviews, with praise for its atmosphere, horror elements, and gameplay. As of October 2016, the game has sold 4 million copies. As of May 2018, the whole series has sold 15 million copies. A sequel, Outlast 2, was released on April 25, 2017, while a third installment, The Outlast Trials, is set to be released in 2022. The Murkoff Account, a comic book series set between Outlast and Outlast 2, was released from July 2016 to November 2017.
Freelance investigative journalist Miles Upshur receives an anonymous e-mail that inhumane experiments are being conducted at Mount Massive Asylum, a private psychiatric hospital owned by the notoriously unethical Murkoff Corporation. Upon entering, Miles is shocked to discover its halls ransacked and littered with the mutilated corpses of the staff. He’s informed by a dying officer of Murkoff’s private military unit that Mount Massive’s deranged inmates, known as “variants”, have escaped and are freely roaming the grounds, butchering Murkoff’s employees. The officer implores Miles to escape and reveals that the main doors can be unlocked from security control.
Moving on, Miles is suddenly ambushed by a hulking variant named Chris Walker, who knocks him unconscious. While incapacitated, Miles encounters Father Martin Archimbaud, a self-appointed priest with schizotypal personality disorder, who claims Miles is his “apostle” and sabotages his escape by cutting off power to the front doors. Miles restores power, but Father Martin injects him with anesthetic. He shows Miles footage of “the Walrider”, a ghostly entity killing patients and personnel alike, which he claims is responsible for the asylum’s ransacking.
Regaining consciousness, Miles finds himself trapped in a decaying cell block filled with catatonic and demented patients. He escapes through the sewers to the main wards, pursued by Walker and two cannibalistic twins, only to be captured by Richard Trager, a former Murkoff executive driven insane. Trager amputates two of Miles’ fingers with a pair of bone shears, preparing to do the same to his tongue and genitals. However, Miles escapes to an elevator, inadvertently crushing Trager to death between floors when he attacks him.
Miles reconvenes with Father Martin, who tells him to go to the asylum’s chapel. Reaching an auditorium, Miles learns that the Walrider was created by Dr. Rudolf Gustav Wernicke, a German scientist brought to the U.S. during Operation Paperclip. Wernicke believed that intensive dream therapy conducted on traumatized patients could connect swarms of nanites into a single malevolent being.
In the chapel, Miles finds a crucified Father Martin, who gives Miles a key to the atrium elevator that he insists will take him to freedom before immolating himself. Miles takes the elevator, which descends into a subterranean laboratory. Walker attacks him, only to be eviscerated by the Walrider. Miles locates an aged Wernicke, who confirms that the Walrider is a biotechnological nanite entity controlled by Billy Hope, a comatose subject of Murkoff’s experiments. He orders Miles to terminate Billy’s life support in the hopes that this will destroy the Walrider. Miles accomplishes this task; however, just before Billy dies, the Walrider attacks Miles and possesses his body. On his way out of the laboratory, Miles encounters a Murkoff military team led by Wernicke, which guns him down. A horrified Wernicke realizes that Miles is the Walrider’s new host. Panicked screams and gunfire are heard as the screen fades to black.
Source : Wikipedia
