Right off the bat, I'm overall not a fan of Horror games. Especially since most horror games these days just put everything into darkness so you can't see what's going on and then slap Jumpscares into your face repeatedly, thinking they'll keep scaring you.
DreadOut certainly does use jumpscares and has multiple areas that are so dark that you can barely see your environment, which is pretty annoying. But the true aspects of its scaryness isn't in the darkness or jumpscares. It's in the atmosphere.
The game's atmosphere is what scares you. It starts off as pretty much any typical horror story with Linda and her companions getting lost while on a trip. But the atmosphere gets pretty tense very fast, mostly because the game doesn't include a whole lot of music. Majority of the time, you'll be walking around in places with no sound except the ambient noise of perhaps crickets or mice running around, chirping or squeaking.
It definitely makes you feel uncomfortable, which is what makes even small things in the game seem uncomfortable and frightening. Despite knowing that this is a scene where obviously something is about to happen, I still had a good jump now and then because the atmosphere is what got me the most.
While the game still seems to have some glitches or slight bugs, nothing that seems too drastic. The story gets interesting enough, the characters are a bit flat but rather believeable and despite Linda being a Silent Protagonist, you do feel a bit sorry for her about the things she's going through.
As good as the story seems, it doesn't seem finished, so more Arcs are likely to appear or a flat out Sequel that will tell us more. And I'm looking forward to it.
It's Not The Jumpscares That Are Scary
Right off the bat, I'm overall not a fan of Horror games. Especially since most horror games these days just put everything into darkness so you can't see what's going on and then slap Jumpscares into your face repeatedly, thinking they'll keep scaring you.
DreadOut certainly does use jumpscares and has multiple areas that are so dark that you can barely see your environment, which is pretty annoying. But the true aspects of its scaryness isn't in the darkness or jumpscares. It's in the atmosphere.
The game's atmosphere is what scares you. It starts off as pretty much any typical horror story with Linda and her companions getting lost while on a trip. But the atmosphere gets pretty tense very fast, mostly because the game doesn't include a whole lot of music. Majority of the time, you'll be walking around in places with no sound except the ambient noise of perhaps crickets or mice running around, chirping or squeaking.
It definitely makes you feel uncomfortable, which is what makes even small things in the game seem uncomfortable and frightening. Despite knowing that this is a scene where obviously something is about to happen, I still had a good jump now and then because the atmosphere is what got me the most.
While the game still seems to have some glitches or slight bugs, nothing that seems too drastic. The story gets interesting enough, the characters are a bit flat but rather believeable and despite Linda being a Silent Protagonist, you do feel a bit sorry for her about the things she's going through.
As good as the story seems, it doesn't seem finished, so more Arcs are likely to appear or a flat out Sequel that will tell us more. And I'm looking forward to it.