Is it worth playing Outlast 2 in 2025?

Outlast 2 is Red Barrels' follow-up to the incredible first title. This time around, the game puts you into the shoes of an investigative cameraman named Blake, as you search for your missing wife after crash landing in the Arizona desert. However, as the game is on its way to completing its eighth anniversary on April 25, 2025, players might be wondering whether the game is still worth playing or not.

To answer that question, yes, Outlast 2 is still worth playing if you enjoyed the tense, gory, and palpitating horror of the original game.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

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Why Outlast 2 is still worth playing in 2025

1) A new, open, yet equally tense setting

There's more than meets the eye in the Arizona Desert (Image via Red Barrels)

Outlast 2 does away with the previous game's mental asylum and instead focuses on a small region harboring a Satanist cult. The more open world of the sequel feels like a welcome change from the closed interiors of the original. But it still retains the tense atmosphere of the original.

The game intersperses mild puzzle elements between its stealth and horror sections, which help in breaking up the gameplay loop.

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2) The feeling of barely surviving

Death lurks around every corner in the game (Image via Red Barrels)

Survival horror is still at the core of Outlast 2, and it is what the game does best. The feeling of looking through the myriad of cut-up bodies lying around and wondering how you managed to survive this madness is still present in the game, and it also invades other gameplay elements.

Your primary mode of navigating Outlast 2's environments will be using your camcorder's night vision mode, which only runs if you have enough battery, and thus, needs replacing now and then. Additionally, the game skillfully balances the feeling of finding another battery just in the nick of time.

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3) Blake's flashbacks add depth to the campaign

The hallucinations provide a fair bit of background for the campaign (Image via Red Barrels)

Between the other horrendous events of the game, Blake will start experiencing hallucinations of his own. These hallucinations, as you'll discover, will be related to Blake's time inside a catholic school. But it will become evident that things did not go happily in that abode.

These flashbacks are skillfully sprinkled between various sections of the campaign and can sometimes present the best storytelling prowess of Outlast 2.

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4) One-note chase sequences slightly detract from the experience

Chases can sometimes be focused on a trial-and-error basis (Image via Red Barrels)

While the game does pull off the survival horror experience with great execution, sometimes it can feel too scripted. Namely, some of the chase sequences in the game might feel frustrating for the players as it expects them to go exactly how the developers want them to.

But the issue with this direction is the game sometimes doesn't make it clear what the way forward should be. As you go through these trial-and-error sequences again and again, it feels frustrating to realize that you must go through a small opening out of your field of view positioned inside the darkness. However, it doesn't completely retract from the game's otherwise horrifying atmosphere.

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To summarize, while some players might feel annoyed by its linear nature, it still contributes well to the game's terrifying nature. Thus, Outlast 2 is still worth playing in 2025 for any horror enthusiast.

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