+ Scary
+ Atmosphere
+ Clever 'Game over' sequence
+ 'Sidemissions'

+/- Story so far is very cliche

- Short
- Mediocre graphics
- Easy to get lost

[Rating: 78/100]

Fighting the Supernatural with nothing but your Smartphone and schoolgirl purity.
I love it

Anyone who has played and enjoyed "old-school" survival horror, such as the Fatal Frame/Project Zero games or the first four installments of the Silent Hill series, will probably find something to like about this game. DreadOut borrows A LOT of elements from these two series, from the overall atmosphere of the enivronments to the use of a flashlight and an otherwise mundane, non-threatening object as a means of combat.

Graphically, it's good. It's not stupendous, but it's certainly not horrible either. They're about on par with what you would see in some the better PS2 games, and I mean that in a good way. The ghost designs are well done, especially the larger ones. They all look menacing and the fact that you have to photograph them to drive them off just makes them that much more unnerving. Unfortunately, some of them you may miss if you just press on through the game without doing some exploration outside of the school. The sound design is very well executed, from the ghost sounds to the overall ambience of the evironments. Since the game shrouds you in darkness and limits your field of vision when you do have your light on, sound is you're only indication of what is lurking around you before the visual cues appear. The music also enhances the atmosphere. There was one specific point in the game where the music was so eeire and off-putting that I was hesitant to press on any further. The voice acting is well done, at least the English is. I haven't played with Indonesian audio yet but I'd imagine the lip syncing may be better. The silent protagonist was also a good choice. It's better than listening to someone talk to themselves for the entire length of the game. The overall design of the game shows that a lot of thought was put into making it interesting without it being too cliched. The design of the school seems mazelike and unless you're paying attention to the signs above the classroom doors, it's easy to feel somewhat lost and like you're walking in circles. The puzzles are inventive, requiring you to use the camera to inspect the environment to find the solution rather than just finding a key lying around. They puzzles remind me of the kind you would come across in the early days of Silent Hill.

Of course, there are a few gripes. Some of the texture look a little flat in spots. It's particularly noticable in the areas of the game that take place in the daytime. And if you don't take the time to really explore the environments, the game can seem rather short. There's a little replay value, if only to get the achievements, but not much. I was also somewhat irked by the fact that in the demo you could see the environment on the phone screen as you wandered around, even when you weren't in camera view. This isn't in the full game and it's a bit of a bummer. The phone screen is blank until you enter camera view. I know it's minor and it doesn't really affect gameplay, but I thought it was a nice touch and would have been worked into the mechanics somehow. For example: as you're looking around the environment you may notice something pass across the phone's screen that you don't see in normal view, prompting you to go into camera view for closer inspection. Like I said, nothing major. More a personal opinion.

All in all, it's a well executed game and fans of classic console-style survival horror will enjoy this. I just hope the next act will be released in a timely manner.

A survival horror game in which the protagonist, on a field trip that took a wrong turn in Mentalville, discovers an abandoned village and school with her classmates and increasingly ineffective teacher.

Cue classmate getting possessed, everyone getting locked into the abandoned school and separated, and you have your game story.

Effectively scary, but sadly, suffering from some performance issues and the like, there's still a fair bit about this game to like.

Enjoy!

Kouen & Lasharus rate this game 7.1 / 10

Video Review Below:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=327007032

I personally enjoyed this game, although it was short (Probably because it was only act 1). It had good aspects to it.
-The atmosphere was very creepy
-The sounds and music in this game make you feel uneasy
-The ghost in the upper right wing scared the ♥♥♥♥ outta me
-Feels like a mix of silent hill and fatal frame
The not so good stuff about it:
-Graphics are meh
-Story is also pretty meh (so far)
Final Rating: 9/10 would throw headphones again (Thanks Upper Right wing ghost)
Can't wait for part 2!

Great representation of what the horror genre needs to focus on. I feel like the genre has lost focus on real scare tactics. -cough- EVIL WITHIN -cough.


The only complaint that I have is that I'm impatiently waiting on act 2.

If you were a Fatal Frame cult fan back in the day, this one's a no brainer.

I'd like to start this review by congratulating the designers, who by and largely succeeded in making one of the most atmospheric, spooky and genuinely fascinating horror games of recent years. I'd then like to move on to saying ♥♥♥♥ YOU, YOU ♥♥♥♥ING MOTHER-♥♥♥♥ERS for creating such a ludicrously ♥♥♥♥ing CHILDISH way of "punishing" the player (who is at that very same moment ironically "thanked" for "purchasing a legit copy of Dreadout") for the seemingly unforgivable crime of...wait for it...DYING IN A ♥♥♥♥ING VIDEO GAME. What is this punishment, you ask?

Well, the first couple of times it's actually kind of groovy...your character awakens in a "limbo" of sorts, lying on the floor of an otherwise featureless "landscape" surrounded by lit candles. She finds her feet, and soon enough you figure you may as well run towards a coalescing light nearby. Sure enough, you slowly emerge back into the land of the living, and may continue where you left off. Sounds pretty nifty, huh? TRY DOING IT MORE THAN TEN TIMES IN A SINGLE SITTING. But wait, there's more! The light...get this, you're gonna love this...the light MOVES FURTHER AND FURTHER AWAY EVERY TIME YOU DIE, until it's eventually, like, a minute or more's running distance away. In other words, not only are you rewarded with a two-minute wait before you can get back to trying to work out just how to get past that tricky ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of a boss bit, but you can't even walk away for those minutes like you would with a slow load screen, unless you have a pet monkey you can train to SIT THERE FOR TWO ♥♥♥♥ING MINUTES HOLDING THE "SHIFT" AND "W" KEYS DOWN!!!

I can tell the people who made this game are by and largely very talented, but apparently they either don't give a damn about public opinion or they don't know how to do STEAM UPDATES. Because given how many negative reviews I've seen complaining about this particularly "striking" and "unique" feature which they've foisted upon us, I for the life of me cannot understand why the designers haven't decided to do a patch to fix this INSANELY BAD ♥♥♥♥ING IDEA. Seriously, it's stupid, and insulting, and to add further insult you start getting on-screen comments like "You might want to consider switching to casual gaming" whilst running towards the light for the umpteenth time. Oh yeah, TROLLING people who shelled out good money for your game...genius.

Let us seriously, SERIOUSLY hope that this nonsense is gone - or at least severely lessened - by the time that Act Two of an otherwise excellent game rears its head, 'cause honestly Digital Happiness, it's the only conceivable reason I can see why this game has such an appalling Metascore. Apart from this highly significant flaw, and perhaps one or two puzzles/boss-battles which rely just a little TOO much on obscure solutions, this is top-rate horror gaming. Oh, and a map wouldn't hurt either. But honestly, the main criticism I have is the "dying" system (which you can't even circumnavigate by re-loading, thanks to you getting an auto-save the second said death occurs).

The people who make games this good deserve respect, but you know what? So do the people who PLAY them. Wake up, designers. We're not all uber-gamers who devote our lives to spending 16 hours a day in front of the computer. By all means make the games challenging, but please refrain from tactics which just make people wanna relinquish their support for your product (and FUTURE products) altogether. I'm sure the "limbo" idea was cute on paper, or in design meetings, but don't make the game-buying public your ♥♥♥♥ing guinea pigs. Cheers.

Verdict: 8.5/10 (subject to improve if the developers grow a conscience and "do the right thing").

PROS
- Nice atmosphere
- Based on Indoesian myths
- Puzzles
- SnK reference
- Sound and music works well
- Well timed jump scares
- Ghosts have backstories

CONS
- Split into 2 acts
- Can get lost easily
- Act 1 was fairly short
- Graphics are okay

Overall
The game is well worth it's price considering Act 2 will be getting released soon and this will be a full game.
I would recommend this if you enjoyed playing any of the Fatal Frame series though Dreadout doesn't match it, it will be closer than any other game would be unless they decide to make a Fatal Frame port for pc :)

During the Summer, I was trying out this game's demo and I was impressed so I decided to get it on Halloween and this is possably one of the best horror games I've ever heard of in my life. I love all the horror in the game and I cannot wait for Act 2 and The Free Roam DLC.

Definately worth playing through! At this current time only Act1 out of Act2 is available and Act2 will be released in the future as a free update if you have a copy of DreadOut in the first place. For what it's worth to me it reminded me a lot of the old Silent Hills like Silent Hill 2 especially. I fully enjoyed this game and had quite a few really good scares as it kept me on edge a lot of the time. I had to refer once or twice elsewhere as I got stuck; however the 1st Act was very enjoyable so I cannot wait for the 2nd Act to conclude the game. Good music, some interesting and unique opponents with only your camera ready on your smartphone as your only means of defence!. Once Act2 has been released and I have played it I will add to this review but so far it is a very good one considering there is still half of the game yet to go. Thumbs up xD

terrifying ghost
scary atmostphere
and ofcourse Female Main Character!!
so cool and scary colab

This review applies specifically to the single act version. When the second act comes out, I will make a new review.

This is a game I genuinely wanted to love, but unfortunately, I can not in its current state. For $15, it is far too short, and it has fairly little to offer.

It's disappointing, and rather mind-boggling, because the demo they released had for more to it, there was much more dynamacy and uniqueness in the demo.... So what happened to the version that is being sold? It makes me wonder if it may have had an unfortunate period of development troubles.

Currently, it is extremely short, there is virtually no exploration (getting locked in at a certain part near the beginning of the game), and of course we are still waiting on the second act. The puzzles can also be very frustrating, especially one particular puzzle involving a key that you have to find, yet it is very painfully hidden. I for one didn't notice any sort of highlighting, because it blended in far too well to its environment, and had to resort to checking through a walkthrough to find where it was.

On the bright side: The few scares it does have, are very good! The atmosphere is tense, the different entities that you encounter are mysterious, and the lore is actually quite intriguing, based Indonesian mythology. The visuals are quite nice, a little above average, but does the job well, while the game runs buttery smooth. It's quite impressive for a Unity game.

Overall, it's a game that feels like it has potential more than anything - and I hope that the developers will take advantage of the potential it has, and put more content toward it, to bring it closer to what we had seen in the demo.

My buying advice: Definitely buy it when the Act 2 and Free Roam DLC are available. But for now, wait until then.

Dreadout is a great freshman effort at crafting a new Indie 3rd person survival horror game. It is not a perfect or even a long game, even with the promised 2nd Act still in production, but what is there is pretty damn unsettling and creepy. You just wish there was more of it.

Going in its favor is the great atmosphere of a small Indonesian village (which you only get to explore a tiny portion of) and a school. The Indonesian language shows up all over the school, lending it just enough familiarity and exotic flair for those of us who grew up on horror games set in the States. Adding to this are the ghosts you encounter, of which there are a small number. It isn't like Fatal Frame where you keep encountering 'filler' ghosts that respawn when you get stuck and are circling throughout a level.

Much has been said of the frustrating bosses in this game, but whether they've tweaked them or nerfed them or I just got lucky, neither of them gave me too much trouble, although the last boss's strategy did get annoying, even with the hints you get upon dying from her to tell you what to do.

Just how does a phone camera have the power to stop the undead? I dunno, but I'm glad it works for the most part. Sometimes you wish it took pictures faster so you could nail a ghost's weakspot, especially the one you do find in the school that wanders around on the second floor.

The graphics range between impressive and late era PS2, which shouldn't be looked at as a flaw. I enjoyed them. The sound design works well and instills more of the creepy atmosphere.

The voice work is miss and hit. It doesn't have any standout lines like "A Jill sandwich", but thankfully it's limited to the beginning when the students are all milling about. It's probably for the best that all the kids disappear; they undermine the horror more than help it.

I hope Digital Happiness continues to make horror games and to refine their experiences. If you want to play this game, play the demo first; the demo is, oddly, a unique experience and works more like a free prologue to the game you buy. The demo's content isn't cut and paste from the main game and works better at instilling horror than the main game does.

If you know what you're doing, the game will last around 2 hours, but there are a number of achievements to track down and collect which can help extend the game's life. It's no Fatal Frame but it earns high marks for trying.

This Game is just a fun, spooky experience. Definitely worth a try, if your not convinced watch the first act on youtube, more is to come.

Not too horror as i expected it would be but pretty challenging when it comes to face the first boss which is also the toughest boss in the whole game, that goes same for collecting items and notes while you get lost and confused in rooms. A good game to play if you are up for a challenging game that is bound to leave you confused but yea not too scary.

School Girl Main Character !!!
Terrifying Ghost !!!
more Scary and Creepy Atmosphere when Explore !!!


I Waited a Free Roam DLC !!!

I love this game! There are jump scares, missable activities and collectables! I love the music, gameplay, and story. I can't wait for the next one!

Nice Characters, story, and very creepy atmosphere. It all looks flawless. This a true game that will throw you back in you seat! So, If you wish to experience the horrorfiyng adventures with Linda, prepare yourself, because it's gonna be a terrorfying ride.

please add more Indonesian ghosts in Act 2 :D