Horror has long been one of gaming’s most interesting and varied genres. A lot of this variation depends on the level of power and agency developers give players, with the most obvious being the ability to fight back with weapons. This can easily separate survival horror from psychological horror, and both have long histories in the gaming industry. Recently, developers have begun experimenting even further in these genres, and no series shows that better than one that began 13 years ago, becoming so popular that it influenced one of the most well-known series in the horror genre.
Outlast leaned heavily into first-person and psychological horror. Developer Red Barrels released this indie hit on September 4th, 2013, placing players in the Mount Massive Asylum with nothing more than a camcorder. Players had no way to defend themselves from their pursuers, and instead had to hide and run as they wandered the asylum. Its success would ultimately lead Capcom to go in a different direction with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, transitioning the series into first-person. Without Outlast, recent games in the series may not have happened at all, and other indie developers took notes from Red Barrels as well.
The most impactful feature of Outlast was how vulnerable it made the player feel. A large part of this was its first-person perspective, as players could truly feel the terror the protagonist, Miles Upshur, felt as they explored Mount Massive Asylum. Players could not fight back, and their only tools were a battery-operated camcorder needed to see and their own wits. Survival relied solely on preserving the camcorder’s batteries and always knowing where a hiding spot was.
Now, this design is commonplace, but when Outlast was released in 2013, it was more revolutionary. The combination of resource management and survival was different than what came before it, especially considering players had no idea how much life they had and that there was literally no way to protect oneself. Even seeing an enemy wasn’t safe, and players had to decide if it was worth using the camcorder’s precious battery life at any given moment, or if it was better to wander in the dark.
As someone who is a total chicken when it comes to horror games, there is an appeal in games that are easy to watch rather than play. Outlast fits this perfectly, and it took off in the streaming world. A streamer could walk into a dark room, slowly raise the camera, hear something moving, and suddenly sprint in the opposite direction. Reactions like this helped the game gain a reputation among horror fans, and even those who didn’t normally play these games, showing Outlast was frightening to play, but it was also compelling to watch.
The impact of Outlast on Capcom is easy to see. Before 2013, Resident Evil had used fixed camera perspectives or third-person, but Resident Evil 7: Biohazard made a bold shift to first-person. Koshi Nakanishi, the director of Resident Evil 7 aid the development team had checked out first-person horror games including Outlast. With this in mind, it is easy to see how Capcom could have simply copied it, but instead, adapted the indie hit to better suit the Resident Evil series, focusing on the fact that players ultimately wanted the ability to fight back, but leaning into the psychological horror aspects.
The perspective change was hugely responsible for this immersion. Like with Miles Upshur, players could better get into the mindset of Ethan Winters, the series’ newest protagonist. This made the series’ iconic horror feel more intimate and allowed Capcom to move away from the more action-oriented games of the past. Capcom took the intimacy of first-person horror and combined it with exploration, puzzles, resource management, and combat, combining the strengths of both Outlast and the series.
The result was one of the most terrifying games in the series yet, and this came about because Resident Evil 7: Biohazard introduces its enemies with no way to fight back, forcing players to run until they gain the proper tools and weapons. These lessons continued into Resident Evil 8: Village and even into Resident Evil 9: Requiem. The isolation and immersion of Outlast was so important in Capcom’s shift of one of its most successful series, and showed why indie horror is so important.
Outlast was not simply a fluke or an indie one-and-done, as Red Barrels continued the series with sequels and new ideas. Outlast 2 arrived in 2017, moving the series away from Mount Massive and placing players in a new setting with a new protagonist. While the sequel changed its location and story, it retained the series’ emphasis on first-person vulnerability, stealth, and evasion. These were the major pillars of the first game, and Red Barrels wasn’t about to drop what made Outlast so impactful and influential in the horror genre.
Red Barrels eventually expanded the series and formula with Outlast Trials. Rather than being another straightforward single-player sequel, it transformed the concept into a cooperative survival horror experience. While the original game capitalized on the popularity of single-player horror titles, Outlast Trials leaned into the growing popularity of multiplayer horror while staying true to what made the first game so popular and beloved. Even with this shift, it still retains first-person psychological horror.
That is perhaps the clearest measure of Outlast‘s legacy. It did not invent first-person horror, and Resident Evil 7 was not simply a product of one indie game. Capcom had its own reasons for returning Resident Evil to horror, including feedback from longtime players and a desire to reinvent the series. But Outlast arrived at exactly the right time and demonstrated how powerful first-person vulnerability could be. Thirteen years later, its impact can still be seen across survival horror, while Resident Evil continues to use the perspective that helped define its modern era.
