Outlast: Whistleblower Review (SwissOracle)
General
For my review of the main game, see here.
My score for the game : 8/10
Outlast : Whistleblower is a DLC for Outlast that was developed and published by the canadian company Red Barrels, in 2014.
Plot
The player controls a IT engineer named "Waylon Park", whose revealed to be the one who sent the email to Miles Upshur (Protagonist of the main game) about the horrible experiences in the asylum. After getting caught by the executive "Jeremy Blaire" about his leaks, Waylon is forced to become a test in a similar way like the inmates. However, after the chaos started in the asylum, Waylon successfuly escape his cell, and has to escape the asylum alive.
Good Qualities
1. The DLC includes new scary enemies not seen in the main game :
* Frank Manera is a cannibal who pursue Waylon with a buzzsaw, trying to kill him to eat him.
* Eddie Gluskin is a killer who is obsessed of finding "the perfect wife", this including killing in an atrocious way the victims who refuse his desire. He is a scary major enemy in the DLC, like Manera.
2. The enemies and characters from the main game appear as well in the DLC, but only as minor characters or cameos.
3. Some of the chases in the DLC are stressful and scary, especially the ones from Gluskin.
* There is a moment during the last part of the game where Waylon will struggle to move/run due to his leg being impaled This increases a lot the fear when you get chased by Gluskin, since he can catch you more easily.
4. The music and ambiences are really good, doing a great job in the immersion, like in the main game.
5. Like in the main game, you can find documents explaining situations occurring in the asylum and write notes (Waylon's thoughts) depending of what you are filming at with your camcorder.
6. The last part after defeating Gluskin shows some events that occurred in the main game, such as the church being on fire, and Richard Trager's corpse.
Bad Qualities
1. The DLC is really gore and has a lot of graphic violence that goes too far, even worse than in the main game.
* There is a scene where you get NEARLY castrated by Gluskin with a circular saw.
2. Some of the dialogs in the DLC are recycled from the main game.
3. Like in the main game, the DLC has an achievement where you have to finish it in difficulty "Insane", however, this is less worse in the DLC, since it's shorter.
* In Insane, you can only carry 2 batteries, enemies move and run faster, do more damage (Some of them can even insta-kill you), and the worst thing : Checkpoints and saves are completely disabled, which means that if you die (or quit the game), you'll have to restart the DLC from ALL the beginning ; You have to beat the DLC in a single playthrough.
4. There is a dozen of times where Waylon gets nearly killed during cutscenes, but something always prevent this to happen, which is kinda too much exaggerated to the point Waylon seems to be "extremely lucky".
Tips
1. Closing a door behind an enemy chasing you will give you precious seconds to hide or escape.
* The enemies are unable to attack you when they do some animations, such as checking inside lockers and under beds, or breaking through closed doors, use that in your advantage.
2. You are more visible to enemies in the light, try to sneak them in the dark, since you are harder for them to spot you that way.
3. Avoid hiding in a dead-end room, if the enemy knows you are here, they will check every hiding spots.
4. While running, you can look behind you, this can help you determinating how far your pursuer is.
5. Try to look everywhere, batteries can be rare.
6. Some enemies (Especially Chris Walker) make noise when moving, and Frank Manera tend to make noise with his buzzsaw, use this in your advantage.
7. In the final confrontation with Gluskin (Where you have to find the key to open a metal door), try to go back in the vent only when he is far enough from you, try to close the door of the room if he is in, this will give you a lot of times to escape him via the vent, since he moves faster than you.
Trivia
1. The place where the DLC starts and ends is a complete "mirror" with where the main game
starts and ends.
* The main game starts at the entrance of the asylum, and ends in the lab. In the DLC, it's totally the inverse ; It starts in the lab, and ends at the entrance of the asylum.