Is the story good?

[Faid]

I watched the trailer but all it has is a guy walking into an asylum, using a camera, and being attacked while running away a lot. Without any real nod to a story in the trailer I worry this will just be "Stereotypical Scary Location + Protagonist Unable to Defend Himself + Jump Scares = Scary, right?"

I'm hoping for a story, preferably a mystery to unravel. Is there a good story/relatable main character or is it difficult to get "into" the game?

Are there any other games you can compare it to? I don't mean "Scarier than/not as scary as ______" I mean "The combat was constant, like Dead Space" or "The story was scary in and of itself, similar to Fatal Frame games and relied more on story than on what happens in the game itself."

What does the game rely on to "scare" you? I see people on this forum saying "Oh god it's so scary" but they said that about Amnesia as well, which wasn't scary in the slightest.

[rservello]

Great story. It's mainly told thru the protagonist writing notes, and various documents you find throughout the asylum tho...so it would be really hard to show in a trailer. Also, you could decide to skip the story all together if you aren't interested in finding the docs.

[Noodlesocks]

There is a story but it doesn't really take centre stage. It explains the reasons why you're there and what has been going on but you will get as much out of the story as effort you put in to finding the bits in pieces that tell you about it.

[hectoneon]

outlast uses mostly jumpscares, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your taste. they are somewhat well executed but you naturally get used to them. i didn't care much for them since i just respond to other things in horror.
the story was interesting in the beginning but got way worse over the course of the game and the ending is just stupid. this is, of course, my own subjective opinion.
the gameplay during the first half actually constantly reminded me of the first bioshock (without fights of course), which was a great game but in a different genre (even though i remember at least 1 jumpscare that was better than every one in outlast).
it has been a couple of years since i played it but the story of outlast overall seemed like a partial ripoff of f.e.a.r.. but that basically gives away the ending already so i put it as spoiler.

[Weasel Biggs]

The story remains intriguing throughout most of the game, but my backseat gaming experience led me to think that the ending was a tad lackluster. There isn't so much a change of tone or pace as there's a shift in narrative devices: the game goes from Harrowing Psychological Horror to Still-Harrowing Science Fiction Horror within, oh, twenty seconds of certain plot elements being introduced, which can be a little jarring.

A lot of people will say it doesn't matter, since that misstep happens at the very end of the game. You've already gone through all of the scares, you've seen all that Outlast has to offer - and it just tends to work towards its own end in a way that's not quite as graceful as it could be.

That aside, it's pretty fun. The major beats are horror clichés, but they're sufficiently well presented so as to not be annoying or uncomfortable to see playing out onscreen.