To play Outlast 2 at PAX East, you're first ushered into a creepy house and sat among black curtains. There's a camera above the monitor, mocking you, waiting to capture your screams so they can put you in their next trailer. I refused to become an infrared marketing clip.
Outlast 2 is scary, though, for sure. It's got all the horror pastiches we know and love: a night vision video camera, inverted crosses, a creepy music box, a cornfield, a little kid, tricycles. It's a toybox of horror tropes rattled around until a monster jumps in your face. I let out a "hah, uh," at one point, I think. But no scream. Not me.
I left the black curtains more uncomfortable than on edge, really, because the final scene gave me a nice first person look at what it might be like to be stabbed through the crotch. What the hell, Outlast 2?
After my demo, I spoke to Red Barrels co-founder Philippe Morin (I didn't scream or ask him 'what the hell?' but maybe I should've) about the horrors we can expect in the full game. Watch the interview above, and look for Outlast 2 to release later this year.