DreadOut 2 | PS4 Review

Starting off where DreadOut left off, DreadOut 2 continues with the story of an East Asian/Indonesian high school student named Linda. A victim of a previous tragic incident involving a school trip with her and her friends. That and the spirits of a forest which she had encountered and banished only to have inadvertently let loose the real evil hiding there. 

This haunting series of events continues, not yet fully explained, as Linda shifts in and out of the spiritual realm once again dealing with pursuing malevolent spirits. Utilizing her smartphone she channels her powers, and banishes them with a click of a button. It is with this phone that she can also locate helpful spirits like cats to guide her to where she needs to go as she comes to terms with the reality of her situation. As clear cut as said situation may seem at first Linda might not be the heroine she thinks she is as she too is being investigated for the prior incident by local authorities. She is the gossip of the town, and even she has doubts as to what has transpired.

As Linda you pick up the pieces of your broken life as you try to cope with the loss of your friends, and the eerie circumstances surrounding their deaths. Back at home, the local high school, and other key locations you find yourself once again facing the hauntings of ghosts as you go about running errands for various characters of interest while the story unfolds, and brings light to your predicament. At your disposal is a smartphone with several apps that will aid you in dispatching the spirits you encounter. The smartphone itself acts as a ghostbusting weapon, and with a certain amount of clicks aimed at the target spirit that spirit will vanish. In addition to that it can stun more physically present apparitions as well allowing for a deadly blow via on hand weapon. 

Also available through the phone is a note app for keeping track of tasks that need tending to as well as curious case files beholden to the given plot. There's even a Ghostpedia which acts as a spiritual bestiary detailing the lore of spirits you've banished. Additionally the phone acts as a means to fast travel, and call a bike taxi to places you need to go. That and a means to call key characters when the timing is right. 

Between the smartphone, and app use you'll also stumble upon weapons or tools that can be used. For both combat, and environmental interaction. This can be accessed via the Inventory app on Linda's smartphone. In regards to interactive gameplay part of what you'll be doing does require a certain element of puzzle solving, and stealth. The game, as it were, isn't straightforward in that sense, and is varied enough to keep the goings on interesting. While some of the gameplay is hands-on some of it will also have you going along for the ride. Unable to interact at moments. Heightening the tension, and playing heavily on the horror aspect of gameplay. Part of the time you'll be doing things in the "real world", and through transitions or time passed will phase into a bloody and darker alternate realm at other times. A place where spirits haunt, torment, attack, and tease you. Messing with your mind, and guiding you to a conclusion that isn't initially clear. It's this morbidly curious journey that makes "DreadOut 2" so impactful, so haunting, and so psychologically unnerving.

Visually "DreadOut 2" is a dated looking game, to be honest. With an indie in appearance that has a PS3 era look to it. Combat through the smartphone mimics, lightly, that of games like "Fatal Frame" which this game seems to be inspired by. Ultimately bringing that take on the horror genre to a more modern age with nods to social media thrown in for good measure. It is lightly cinematic at times with briefly animated intros as well as cutscenes that forward the given narrative. Ghosts you encounter are attributed mostly to East Asian lore, and are designed to look and behave like those spirits. Set pieces within the spirit realm are varied with their own environmental moving parts, and ghosts that will sometimes lead to an arena based boss fight. Linda, herself, often times shows appearance changes that reflect her otherworldly encounters. Adding questions to whether or not what we are witnessing through her is real, or imagined. With NPCs also acting a bit off after her returns from the spirit world with little to no acknowledgement of her ordeals it leads to a visually confusing montage of moments wherein lies the eventual answer to the mystery. At the very end of it all.

The Verdict ...

While it does show a lack of visual polish DreadOut 2 stays strong in it's horror element. It builds tension properly through thematic music, haunting sounds, and ghastly specters that inhabit a sometimes lonely landscape filled with unique locations. The gameplay, and storytelling is slow and methodical as it helps the player come to terms with what's really happening. Cranking up the unsettling atmosphere, and peaking at key points as to unnerve the player only to settle them down before the next scare in line. It is a rollercoaster ride of frights done right. Ultimately culminating in an ending most won't see coming. Those who enjoyed the first game will definitely want to pick this game up as it continues the story of the previous entry. Those of you who haven't played the first game can still enjoy it as well in that there is a brief prologue that will catch you up enough to be able to enjoy this addition to the series. Between the nods to Silent Hill and Fatal Frame I was pleased with what I witnessed in "DreadOut 2". Enough to recommend it to horror fans, and fans of those two series.