Outlast
Outlast screenshot 1Outlast screenshot 2
ActionAdventureIndieHorrorFirst-PersonSurvival HorrorAtmosphericPsychological Horror

878 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 2,173

Peak in the last 7 days: 2,962

Outlast Steam store

Game description

Hell is an experiment you can't survive in Outlast, a first-person survival horror game developed by veterans of some of the biggest game franchises in history. As investigative journalist Miles Upshur, explore Mount Massive Asylum and try to survive long enough to discover its terrible secret... if you dare.

Basic info

DeveloperRed Barrels
PublisherRed Barrels
PlatformsWindows · macOS · Linux
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateSep 4, 2013
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 - 64 bits *
Processor2.2 GHz Dual Core CPU
Memory2 GB
Graphics512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX / ATI Radeon HD 3xxx series
Storage5 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 404 reviews from the past 1 year

91.8/ 100
Top 10%

Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (96%)

Metacritic: 80 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 20, 2026)

Set in an asylum where you can only run and hide, Outlast scores 91.8, top 10% of the games we analyzed.

👍 Strengths

279 reviews praise the atmosphere, and some call the world tense, spooky and genuinely terrifying. Story & World appears in 87% of analyzed reviews and ranks 63rd of 1096. 36 call it fun and thrilling, and a few have played it several times. 27 praise the story and lore, with notes that fill in the plot and an ending that brings closure. Gameplay ranks 194th of 1396, and Visuals & Sound ranks 204th of 1249.

👎 Where it falls short

31 talk about difficulty and fear, some finding the scares limited to jumpscares and chases and others finding it too hard on small mistakes. 27 call the loop of hiding, finding keys and running repetitive. 18 say the campaign is short, and some finish it in a few hours. Content Volume ranks 955th of 1351.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“calm and soothing atmosphere, relaxing after hard day” · 279 reviews
“scary and thrilling, played three times” · 36 reviews
“gameplay becomes monotonous over time, scripted scares” · 27 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 46% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Difficulty +2.53 · How hard it is, how the challenge ramps, and whether it feels fair
Positive “game is challenging but fair with proper understanding of mechanics” · 10 reviews
Negative “limited scares beyond jumpscares and chase sequences” · 31 reviews

Progression 2% · Onboarding 4% · Freedom 2% · Strategy 2% · Controls & feel 6%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 87% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

World +4.40 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “calm and soothing atmosphere, relaxing after hard day” · 279 reviews
Negative “horror game presented as relaxing with constant jump scares and chase sequences” · 8 reviews

Story 44% · Characters 16%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 26% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -1.95 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “gameplay becomes monotonous over time, scripted scares” · 27 reviews

Volume 15% · Replayability 4%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 32% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Audio +3.98 · Music, sound effects, and voice acting
Positive “good music and jumpscares, fun to stream with intense moments” · 3 reviews
Negative “cannot freely toggle background music, startling sound effects cause fear” · 2 reviews

Visuals 17%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 2% of reviews mention this.

Playing together +3.75 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 0% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 3% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing +0.03 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Negative “the only thing scarier than asylum is realizing you paid” · 2 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 0% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 7% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -0.04 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “game fails to reopen after alt-tabbing, requires force quit” · 9 reviews
Positive “muy bien optimizado, casi no hay bugs” · 1 review

Performance 3% · Developer support 0%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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