Outlast

Outlast is a 2013 horror game, involving the function for the player to play the game from view point of a camcorder. The games story and environment is extremely dark, forcing the player to use the camcorder function constantly for it's 'night vision' mode. The game limits the batteries within the game in which the player needs to activate night vision mode. This function makes the game incredibly creepy and scary, even without the characters within the game being present in gameplay.

I've been playing the game with my friend James, taking it in turns to combat the fear. Playing the game you also come across documents and information that helps the player understand details about the game that aren't obviously defined visually - such as character back stories - So playing the game in a pair really helped us understand every detail of the game. We also played the DLC (downloadable content) additional game play which is from the view point of another playable character experiencing the same time period as the first playable character. The additional story I found far more enjoyable then the original game, because I was already aware of the plot but I had yet to understand WHY the events that occurred within the game happened in the first place.

The original game has the player interact with an 'abandoned' asylum as a directive - who receives a report of horrible things accruing within the asylum. However, the 'second' game  involves the person who sends the original report.

I really enjoyed playing this game, not only for the creepy factor but because I love the characters involved. Despite them being violent aggressive murderers (mostly) each character has a detailed backstory and 'reason' behind them being inside the asylum. Ellie Gluekin is the 'main' character and my 'personal favorite' within the game, a character that is abused by the asylum to an even more 'evil' character. His backstory involves sexual abuse as a child, which leads to his quarantine within the asylum after the rape and violent murder of several women. Despite his already violent nature he's turned far more sinister by exsperiments within the asylum to the point he chases the player obsessed with turning him into a woman and marrying 'her'.

I really really LOVE this game and will continue to play it over and over again until the end.