Outlast : Review

Horror adalah sebuah genre yang memiliki basis fansnya sendiri, tidak hanya di industri film tetapi juga industri game. Di masa lampau kesan ini hadir lewat kehadiran beragam karakter dan tokoh antagonis penuh aura mistis nan menyeramkan, atau sekedar makhluk kegelapan yang siap untuk mencabut nyawa Anda begitu saja. Terlepas dari atmosfer intens yang terasa kentara di sepanjang permainan, Anda sebagai gamer selalu memiliki opsi untuk memberikan sedikit perlawanan, dari menggunakan senjata api kelas berat atau sekedar perangkat untuk menjebak musuh dalam kurun waktu tertentu. Dianggap tidak lagi dapat memenuhi kebutuhan para fans genre horror, industri game hadir dengan sebuah format gameplay baru yang jauh lebih menyeramkan.

Dipopulerkan oleh Amnesia: Dark Decent, genre horror video game menemukan bentuk baru nan mumpuni yang diyakini merupakan format terbaik untuk menyuntikkan sedikit rasa takut dan mungkin  saja, mimpi buruk. Berbeda dengan game “survival-horror” yang membekali Anda dengan senjata dan perlengkapan untuk melawan balik, di genre horror sesungguhnya ini, Anda hanya menunggu waktu untuk mati. Satu-satunya cara untuk bertahan hidup hanyalah dengan berlari dan bersembunyi, ditemani dengan kegelapan dan kesunyian yang seolah tak pernah habis. Atmosfer inilah yang berusaha ditawarkan oleh game action terbaru dari  Red Barrels – Outlast.
Lantas apa yang sebenarnya ditawarkan oleh game yang satu ini? Mengapa kami menyebutnya sebagai game horror yang mengerikan? Review ini akan mengupasnya lebih dalam.

PLOT
 

 

Miles Upshur, a freelance journalist, receives a tip-off from an anonymous source about Mount Massive Asylum, a psychiatric hospital owned and operated by the Murkoff corporation. Upon gaining entry to the asylum, he finds the bodies of the asylum's staff strewn about the hallways, and the now escaped inmates, known as "The Variants", roaming the grounds. Progressing through the upper dormitories, he encounters an impaled SWAT officer, who in his dying moments tells the journalist to get out of the asylum while he still can. Exiting the dormitories, Upshur is attacked by a powerful inmate named Chris Walker, who throws him through a window, and down to the atrium. Upon regaining consciousness, he encounters "Father" Martin, an inmate who believes he is a priest. Martin says Upshur was sent by God to be a witness to his cult and has to stay in the asylum, and then departs as Upshur passes out again.

Awakening, Upshur starts his attempt to find a way out of the building, while avoiding attacks from Walker and the other inmates. However, as he attempts to unlock the main doors from security control, he is ambushed and sedated by Martin, who again states that he must remain at the asylum and witness the events there. Martin shows him footage of the asylum's security forces being slaughtered by a mysterious, seemingly supernatural entity known as the Walrider before transporting a now-unconscious Upshur to the asylum's holding cells.

Upshur is forced to work his way upwards through the sewers after encountering a pair of inmates, the Twins, who express a desire to kill and eat him. However, the duo abstain from attacking for the moment, as Martin has asked them not to harm the journalist. Upshur makes his way through the sewers, while avoiding attacks from hostile inmates, finally reaching the asylum's showers.
While attempting to escape through the showers, however, he is attacked yet again by Walker, and escapes through the vents. Progressing further through the building, Upshur is soon chased into a corner by several inmates, but escapes through a dumbwaiter, only to be captured by one of the Asylum's now psychotic doctors, Dr. Richard "Rick" Trager, who collects body parts of the inmates. Trager imprisons Upshur, strapping him to a wheelchair, and slices off two of his fingers using a large pair of shears. Upshur manages to escape and a chase ensues, followed by a struggle when Upshur pulls Trager into a moving elevator and crushes him between floors.

Encountering Martin again, Upshur exits onto the asylum grounds, but he is chased back inside by the Walrider, revealed to be a ghost-like being which Upshur can only see with the naked eye and while using his camera's night vision. He is forced to circumnavigate the ruined stairway to access different floors of the building by following a trail of blood Martin left for him to follow. Upshur finally locates Martin in the asylum's chapel to witness the latter's death, self-immolation on a crucifix, before taking the now-repaired primary elevator down. Martin tricks Upshur, however, and instead of taking him to the exit, the elevator takes him to an underground military facility beneath the asylum. While searching for an exit, Upshur is attacked and incapacitated by Walker. However, before Walker can kill the journalist, the Walrider attacks and brutally kills the inmate before leaving. Upshur proceeds into the facility and meets Dr. Wernicke (originally believed to be dead), the scientist in charge of the entire experiment known as "Project Walrider".

Wernicke explains that the Walrider is the result of nanotechnology experiments conducted on an inmate called Billy Hope, and that the Walrider is controlled by Hope. Wernicke orders Upshur to find Hope in the laboratory and kill him by shutting off his life support system, thus killing the Walrider. After accomplishing this task, Upshur is caught by the Walrider who brutally beats and possesses him, as only a person who has experienced great physiological pain can sustain it. Limping towards the exit, he is confronted by Wernicke, who is accompanied by several armed guards who repeatedly shoot Upshur. As Upshur collapses to the floor, dying from his wounds, the screen fades to black and Wernicke's voice is heard as he realizes Upshur has become the Walrider's new host. Panicked gunfire, screams and mauling sounds are then heard briefly before the credits roll.


Bukan uji nyali, Upshur hanya menjalankan tugasnya sebagai seorang wartawan yang berdedikasi tinggi. Rasa penasaran akan motif di balik “kehidupan kembali” Mount Massive Asylum di bawah kepimpinan perusahaan multinasional – Murkoff Corporation akhirnya membawanya masuk ke dalam pusaran misteri yang berpotensi membuatnya tinggal nama. Keanehan sudah terlihat jelas sejak pertama kali ia memasuki dunia “aneh” Asylum yang satu ini. Tidak hanya menemukan mayat yang bergelimpangan di sana-sini, Upshur juga menemukan tingkah laku aneh para pasien yang sempat dirawat di rumah sakit jiwa ini. Mereka memperlihatkan agresivitas tanpa kendali, brutal, dengan beberapa kasus yang bahkan memperlihatkan transformasi secara fisik. Misi untuk mencari tahu kini berakhir pada satu tujuan utama – bertahan hidup dan lari dari rumah sakit ini.


Apa yang sebenarnya terjadi dengan Mount Massive Asylum ini? Apa yang membuat para pasien rumah sakit jiwa ini kian agresif dan brutal? Rahasia seperti apa yang sebenarya disuntikkan Murkoff Corporation di dalamnya? Semua jawaban dari pertanyaan ini tentu bisa Anda dapatkan dengan memainkan Outlast ini.

LINK :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlast