My thoughts on the fright mode (and yours) [HAS SPOILERS]

[KilThrall]

So, as anyone that has bought the DLC might know, once you open the game you are told that you can reduce fright with an option in case you need it. For context, I basically completed the DLC in around 10-12 hours of game (I played almost without stopping, just to eat and go to the bathroom) and I had a few moments where I felt completely stuck, but I pulled through and completed it.

Now here come my thoughts, if you haven't found what the spoopy part of the DLC is yet, I don't recommend you to keep reading since I will mention it, but you can do as you want, just be warned that you might get spoiled.

From what I've seen, the 'less scary' option is not actually a fright modifier, but a behavioral modifier for the 'guys' (lets call them like that). Basically they move slower.
Now, I do understand why it would be less scary (you can juke them), but the thing is, to me it just feels unfair to try and go around them in the tower 'dreamworld' without that option because of the sheer amount of guys going around and their insane speed. Now here is a spoiler that makes that option make more sense, but if you haven't fully explored the tower 'dreamworld', don't read this while it's not needed to go there with the guys goind around, it does feel like you need to, and I spent around 1 hour just to figure how to make it to the pit with them wondering around because that was what I understood I had to do (and I was wrong at the time)

Now, while from what I've gathered it is not actually necesary to go through so much trouble with the guys, it does feel like you do since it feels like they are unfair (they can detect you even with the lights off and from really far away, and they are way faster than you without the fright mode on).

I am not even sure what the point of this post is, but basically I would like to hear some other people's thoughts on this option and basically on the unfair behavior of the guys.

Also, sorry for any typos or mistakes during the post, I am not a native speaker.

[heidi]

I enjoyed Outer Wilds as a discovery, puzzle, environmental storytelling etc. game. I most definitely did not enjoy the parts of the DLC that were stealth horror. Having to reload the same sections over and over because you literally cannot see a thing with your light off, and if you do you get caught very fast, just was not fun in the slightest.
'Less scary' mode was welcome, but even better would have been to rework these segments in their entirety.

[KilThrall]

Originally posted by heidi:

I enjoyed Outer Wilds as a discovery, puzzle, environmental storytelling etc. game. I most definitely did not enjoy the parts of the DLC that were stealth horror. Having to reload the same sections over and over because you literally cannot see a thing with your light off, and if you do you get caught very fast, just was not fun in the slightest.
'Less scary' mode was welcome, but even better would have been to rework these segments in their entirety.

I honestly can't agree more. While I get why this things are there, I think it could have been handled better. I really liked the DLC despite of that, but it really feels annoying to go through those parts, and it will probably make a whole lot of players drop the DLC entirely just because of that. I think that if they really wanted to make something like that, they should have added them a weakness like the anglerfish one, but at the same time, it wouldn't have made sense if they had one, so idk.

[Bobywan]

I wasnt really sure what the reduce fright mode did, but I enabled it after getting detected 10 times at the same location.

[GrandArtillery]

I found an easy trick, try to look straight form the elevator and jump down and jsut walk straight. Wait for the owl guy to go right, you can see his antlers. Then forward, left, straight after the pillar. Don't turn and it's easy

[KilThrall]

Originally posted by ArachnophiIe:

I was able to handle the stealth sections pretty good because I play a good amount of stealth games, but that was only after learning the lantern trick, without knowing it, it's next to impossible to know the enemy's location or patrol paths because you just can't see anything. I had to brute force my way through 1 section and cheese my way through another before even learning the lantern trick.

It would really do to have more in the game to point to needing tricks to get through those parts, as it's not obvious the only way to win is to not play by the same rules.

By the lantern trick do you mean like an actual weird trick or the 'glitch blue' thing (I call it like that to not spoil you in case you don't understand)

Also, I also play a whole lot of stealth games, but the AI just seemed way too op. For reference, I played Dishonered 1 and 2 in ghost mode, so I have some experience with that.

[KilThrall]

Originally posted by Bobywan:

I wasnt really sure what the reduce fright mode did, but I enabled it after getting detected 10 times at the same location.

It might also do something else, but I am 100% sure that it reduces the speed of the guys

[KilThrall]

Originally posted by GrandArtillery:

I found an easy trick, try to look straight form the elevator and jump down and jsut walk straight. Wait for the owl guy to go right, you can see his antlers. Then forward, left, straight after the pillar. Don't turn and it's easy

It's not about making it easy with a specific route. I don't think Outer Wilds is a game you should brute force. Like, of course you can just give it like 10 tries to find an actual route (and that's what I and most likely everyone did), but I don't think it fits the game. Also, I didn't understand your instructions lmao.

[Gallant]

I just sprint past them and/or juke them. Only have my light on while using focus for milliseconds at a time and they almost never start chasing me with this tactic. I've only been caught once. This is all without the reduce frights mode. I'm either insanely lucky or have played to much outlast.

[Raindancer345]

Personally I thought the stealth part was generally garbage. They really could've looked up some actual stealth games. Anyway the "guys" are actually fairly easy to deal with. You just have to forget about being sneaky. What you have to do is intentionally light in their face so they come at you. Turn off your light, go behind an obstacle. They will mindlessly flail around their lantern, which makes them essentially stuck in their animation so you can peacefully go behind them. They're essentially very similar to Anglerfishes. However while the Anglerfishes react to sound, the "guys" react to light. What all of this amounts to however is that you flicker your light on and off all the time and just run around them most of the time.
Which really has nothing to do with stealth. Not to mention the pitch black darkness. Sometimes I would actively search for those "guys" and bait them just so I can roughly tell where I am. Of course I got caught a lot of times too but bruteforcing it is much more effective than trying to be sneaky.
Which makes it more into a wild goose chase. Really frustrating. "The Freight" I didn't really get at all, they are not freightening. In my opinion it cannot even be considered a jumpscare when they get you. After I played it however, I kinda wish I would've turned it off if it really makes them easier to deal with. Would've probably been much less frustrating to be honest.

[PKPenguin]

Once you learn that you can just drop your lantern and move away from it to see in the dark, the "stealth sections" (of which there are about two tops) get a lot easier. The goons can't see you when you're in the dark, so you can just walk around them and look for a route, then grab your lantern and book it. I think the complaints about this are overstated for how small of a presence it actually has in the game. In fact, the one I've seen the most complaints about here is the one with the fireplace, but that one isn't even a stealth section, they're just not solving the puzzle and are trying to brute force it instead.

[[TE] Kuraudo]

'horror?'

Originally posted by PKPenguin:

but that one isn't even a stealth section, they're just not solving the puzzle and are trying to brute force it instead.

100% this.

[Leland]

Spoilers: I had trouble with this until I figured out that you could keep your light shining on them from afar. They won't actually give chase until they're within a certain distance. So if you're in a situation where you have one pathway with two ways of going through it; just lure the dude to one side, and then walk around on the other. You don't even need need to hide your light.

Still had my heart racing focusing the light as I was running past the dudes to get to where I needed to go. Just had to keep moving, not get too close, check my surroundings, and lure the dudes where I needed them to go. I loved it.

Before I figured this out, I got a good jump scare. I was in the wooded building in the dark realm that's high up on the cliffs. I accidentally spotted one of the dude's with my light. So he started coming toward me. I concealed my light, moved away, and saw his light searching the area. It went off. I waited for a bit thinking he would return to where he originally came from. As soon as I let go of concealing my light, dude was right in front of me and grabbed me. I legit jumped, it got me good.

Edit: Updated to hide text and mark this post as containing spoilers.

[[TE] Kuraudo]

Probably should spoiler a lot of these experiences.

[Leland]

Originally posted by TE Kuraudo:

Probably should spoiler a lot of these experiences.

Probably. Or just have Knackles update the title of this thread to include a "spoilers" in the name. That's on the assumption that you can do that?

[[TE] Kuraudo]

I hope you can; I would hate to have people get spoiler'd without knowing what they were getting into : | A lot of new players are probably going to check this out to see if fright mode is something they should turn off ("is it like Amnesia?!").