If you’re looking for a new horror game, you’re in luck. Devolver Digital just announced and released a brand new game, Look Outside. The terrifying game is a genre hybrid that mashes survival horror and turn-based RPG systems into one retro adventure that’s loaded with good scares and tons of pixelated gore. Ahead of its announcement, Digital Trends went hands on with Look Outside to get a feel for the surprisingly terrifying new release.
The project comes from indie developer Francis Coulombe, who previously released a smaller version of the game on itch.io. The new release is an expansion of that project, blowing it out into a full length RPG that you can grab for $10 starting today.
After playing its first few hours, the best way I can describe Look Outside is that it’s an Evil Dead Rise video game. It kicks off when my character wakes up in his apartment building, only to discover that there’s some killer phenomenon passing by the Earth. Don’t believe me? Just look out the window right when you start your own save file. I bet you’ll learn something. Trapped inside for the foreseeable future, I now need to survive as long as I can, while also figuring out what’s going on in my apartment complex.
Spoiler: It ain’t pretty.
I quickly discover that my building is infested with disgusting zombie and flesh monsters made up of eyeballs and teeth. Coulombe gets the most out of Look Outside’s pixel art style here, creating grotesque monsters that are stomach-churning even in still images. I’m left to navigate a haunted house full of creatures, some friendly and some evil, as I look for ways to access locked floors and maybe pay my rent on time (landlords can’t be bothered by the end of the world).
What’s so intriguing here is how Look Outside fuses several genres together into something that feels entirely new. At first glance, it almost feels like I’m playing a classic point-and-click horror game. Once I get into combat for the first time, I realize that I’m actually playing a turn-based RPG. I have stats, gear, slots for other party members, and a combat interface not too far off from Earthbound. Once I equip a weapon — anything from a rolling pin to a kitchen knife — I’m able to bash in enemies using regular attacks and powerful specials that are unique to each weapon.
What’s less traditional is how Look Outside fuses that idea with a survival game. If I use my weapon too much, they’re at risk of becoming flimsy and then breaking altogether. My goal is to scavenge the complex for new weapons, food that can heal me, and hygiene products like toothpaste to manage my smell. The longer I’m out stealing items from my neighbors’ apartments, the more dangerous the building becomes. On the flipside, I get a chunk of experience every time I return to my apartment and I’ll get more the longer I’m out. Once I’m home, I can sleep to regain my health, spending one of the 14 days I have to complete the game. I can also wash up, cook meals, and craft items like Molotov cocktails with my supplies.
So, that’s the gameplay flow: wake up, scavenge, get everything back home in time for bed, repeat.
It’s a smart twist on the horror genre’s usual survival instincts, but placed into a retro RPG that’s unlike any I’ve played. It’s also incredibly challenging by design. On its standard difficulty, items are scarce and players can only save once they return to their apartment. The building is filled with traps, though, which are designed to massacre curious players. Those who don’t want to struggle quite as much can opt for an easier difficulty with autosaving and more items, but Look Outside is at its best when it feels as unforgiving as an old-school horror game. That sets the stakes high and makes it feel like a truer “survival” experience than virtually any of its peers.
I still have plenty more to see myself. What’s actually outside? Should I kill all of these horrifying living paintings even though they seem kind of sweet? Am I going to regret the fact that I gave a bleeding neighbor one of my precious bandages in exchange for $60? And, while I’m at it, can I kill my landlord? I’ll have to make it through a few more days to learn the answers, and that’ll probably mean enduring more sudden deaths and jump scares that have already caught me off guard. I don’t know if I have the patience (or stomach) to pull it off, but I’m a sucker for opening doors even when I know whatever’s behind it is going to kill me.
Look Outside is out now on PC.