Outlast 2's primary mechanic is running and paying attention. But even then the game doesn't exactly give you a sense of linear time when you're escaping from enemies or specific areas, and a lot of the moments you find yourself barely getting out with your heart pounding in your chest is all for nothing as you'll find yourself in an equally bad situation shortly after. When this happens (and trust us, it will happen), there's a renewed sense of urgency to get out of wherever you are. While the upside is that you have the ability to save on life, the downside is that the area is so open and weirdly constructed, you'll find it easy to get lost. Without giving too much away, you'll come across random enemies who want to kill you, but you have the option of avoiding them and hiding rather than fleeing in a hurry. Like the previous incarnation, you have no ability to fight off any threats, you're essentially seeking and fleeing for the entire game.

In fact, there are moments where you'll feel downright restrained despite the fact that you're walking in an open area. As you wander around you'll notice you have a lot more freedom than the last game, but the controls you have to work with are less than stellar. You'll also use the camera to record certain areas and play them back to gain memories and backstory into Blake's life. You have a camera with you that allows you to light up areas as well as see in the dark, but it has a limited battery life that you need to keep an eye on. The vibe as you walk around has a very 'southern' vibe going for it, as you come across farms and structures that might as well be blood-soaked from the amount of it you see everywhere you go. Lynn, of course, is nowhere to be seen when you wake up, and now you set off to find her in a cult-ridden land with lots of dark corners and random corn fields. The game starts you off with a new story not tied to the original, as you play as Blake Langermann (oddly enough, another investigative journalist) who crashes his plane in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona with his wife Lynn. Outlast 2 is a survival-horror sequel from the 2013 predecessor, which was a cool alternative version of the genre that played on visual cues and emotional responses as you played. That's the kind of rabbit hole you can expect to dive into when you peer into the abyss that is Outlast 2 from Red Barrels.

Oh sure, there are games that cause me great deals of paranoia from jump scares, and other games that cause me to get physically active as I play-but having both without moving a muscle is something I have to applaud because rarely do I get so edgy that I have an unexplained fear after turning off the game. It isn't often that I experience a game that causes me anxiety and extra perspiration as I sit in a chair.

Outlast 2 beta