Title: DreadOut
Date of Review: 16/03/2017
Score: 7/10
Link to Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/269790/
DreadOut – Review
To have this out of the way first, here is the video review I did for my channel. Have a look! Don’t forget to comment, like if you liked and subscribe to the channel for more content!
Now then… What is DreadOut?
DreadOut is a horror game that is heavily influnced by Fatal Frame, or else Project Zero. Instead of an old camera however you are equipped with a modern smartphone, the Irisphone. Your enemies are ghosts that are based on Indonesian mythology.
Now then, let’s talk about the story. You play as Linda, a high schooler that returns from a trip with her fellow school friends and teacher. You arrive at a broken bridge and while you try to think what you are going to do next, a troublemaker finds a way through the bushes and towards the village where the broken bridge leads to. Soon the whole group follows suit and you arrive at a school. You found nothing and no one along your way. The moment you enter the school, all hell breaks loose. Linda is seperated from her friends and now has to grit her teeth and get on with it in order to find her friends and escape from this place.
The story is nothing too fancy, is actually kinda vague all the way, but it’s a standard one and doesn’t go to the exremes in experimenting new ideas. However, the Indonesian mythology of ghosts, their origins and story as well as the visual perception of the ghosts are spot on!
The soundtrack of the game is also kinda vague, nothing too memorable, but the ambient sounds of your footsteps, the voices of the ghosts and so on add to the overall atmosphere of the game which is absolutely fantastic; you feel the immersion of the game, something very rare in horror games nowadays. Jumpscares are nice, but actually feeling dread, THAT is what horror fans such as myself are looking for! The voice acting is average at best unfortunately, something that destroyed the already bad character cast.
The characters of the game are not memorable at all. The only one that they did absolute justice upon is Linda, the protagonist. Through her voiceless acting, her demeanor, her composure, her unwavering willpower, you come to see Linda in a new light, someone that you actively want to protect.
The graphics are old and the game does indeed show that. They are not ugly per se, but they are indeed outdated, something that lowers the atmosphere score in my opinion. However, there are some details out there that are very nice when you spot them.
The game revolves a lot around the camera, as most if not all of its puzzles are solved through it. Sometimes the controls are clunky but once you get used to them you shouldn’t have too many issues! If however you are using a controller for Steam, ensure the button configuration doesn’t change, especially if you switch from Big Mode and so forth.
DreadOut is a game I personally loved and enjoyed till the end. There are some fun achievements as well, for those who actively seek them out like I do. It’s not a groundbreaking experience by all means, but DreadOut taught me a couple of things. One, that you don’t need a game to be overly complicated, it can be enjoyable if what you present you really worked on. And two, this kind of gameplay is not dead yet!
A game for horror fans, a niche even in that and a game that anyone can play, even if they are squirmish!
Thanks for reading! Have a good one!
