Outlast: Dementium III

Outlast: Dementium III (or simply known as Outlast) is a first-person survival horror video game developed and published by Red Barrels. The game revolves around a freelance investigative journalist, Miles Upshur, who decides to investigate a remote psychiatric hospital named Mount Massive Asylum, located deep in the mountains of Lake County, Colorado. The downloadable content Outlast: Whistleblower centers on Waylon Park, the man who led Miles there in the first place.

Despite it being a direct sequel to Dementium II, It has little to do with the story of the previous entries. And William Redmoor does not return, The Doctor however, does return as a brief antagonist and this time is known as Richard Trager.

Outlast was released for Microsoft Windows on September 4, 2013, PlayStation 4 on February 4, 2014 and for Xbox One on June 19, 2014. Linux and OS X versions were later released on March 31, 2015. A Nintendo Switch version titled Outlast: Bundle of Terror was released in February 2018.

Outlast received generally positive reviews, with praise for its atmosphere, horror elements, and gameplay. As of October 2016, the game has sold 4 million copies. As of May 2018, the whole series has sold 15 million copies.

A sequel, Outlast 2, was released on April 25, 2017, while a third installment, The Outlast Trials, is set to be released in 2022. The Murkoff Account, a comic book series set between Outlast and Outlast 2, was released from July 2016 to November 2017.

Gameplay
In Outlast, the player assumes the role of investigative journalist Miles Upshur, as he navigates a dilapidated psychiatric hospital in Leadville, Colorado that is overrun by homicidal patients. The game is played from a first-person perspective and features some stealth gameplay mechanics. The player can walk, run, crouch, jump, climb ladders and vault over objects. Unlike most games, however, the player does not have a visible health bar on the screen and is unable to attack enemies. The player must instead rely on stealth tactics such as hiding in lockers, sneaking past enemies, staying in the shadows and hiding behind or under things in order to survive. Alternatively, the player can attempt to outrun their pursuer. If the player dies, the game will reset to the most recent checkpoint.

Most of the hospital is unlit, and the only way for the player to see while in the dark is through the lens of a camcorder equipped with night vision. Using the night vision mode will slowly consume batteries, which there is not too many of them, forcing the player to scavenge for additional batteries found throughout the asylum. Outlast makes heavy use of traditional jump scares and audio cues, which alert the player if an enemy has seen them. If the player records specific events with their camcorder, Miles will write a note about it, providing further insight into his thoughts. Documents can be collected, which offer backstory and other expository information about the facility, including pages taken from the diaries of patients and reports from the hospital staff.

Developer Red Barrels have pointed to the survival-focused gameplay in Amnesia: The Dark Descent as a primary influence on the combat-free narrative style of Outlast. Found-footage horror films like Quarantine and REC also served as influences.

Plot
reelance investigative journalist Miles Upshur receives an anonymous e-mail that inhumane experiments are being conducted at Mount Massive Asylum, a private psychiatric hospital owned by the notoriously unethical Murkoff Corporation. Upon entering, Miles is shocked to discover its halls ransacked and littered with the mutilated corpses of the staff. He's informed by a dying officer of Murkoff's private military unit that Mount Massive's deranged inmates, known as "variants", have escaped and are freely roaming the grounds, butchering Murkoff's employees. The officer implores Miles to escape and reveals that the main doors can be unlocked from security control.

Moving on, Miles is suddenly ambushed by a hulking variant named Chris Walker, who knocks him unconscious. While incapacitated, Miles encounters Father Martin Archimbaud, a self-anointed priest with schizotypal personality disorder, who claims Miles is his "apostle" and sabotages his escape by cutting off power to the front doors. Miles restores power, but Father Martin injects him with anesthetic. He shows Miles footage of "the Walrider", a ghostly entity killing patients and personnel alike, which he claims is responsible for the asylum's ransacking.

Regaining consciousness, Miles finds himself trapped in a decaying cell block filled with catatonic and demented patients. He escapes through the sewers to the main wards, pursued by Walker and two cannibalistic twins, only to be captured by Richard Trager, a former Murkoff executive driven insane, whom is also revealed to be The Doctor. Trager amputates two of Miles' fingers with a pair of bone shears, preparing to do the same to his tongue and genitals. However, Miles escapes to an elevator, inadvertently crushing The Doctor to death between floors when he attacks him.

Miles reconvenes with Father Martin, who tells him to go to the asylum's chapel. Reaching an auditorium, Miles learns that the Walrider was created by Dr. Rudolf Gustav Wernicke, a German scientist brought to the U.S. during Operation Paperclip. Wernicke believed that intensive dream therapy conducted on traumatized patients could connect swarms of nanites into a single malevolent being.

In the chapel, Miles finds a crucified Father Martin, who gives Miles a key to the atrium elevator that he insists will take him to freedom before immolating himself. Miles takes the elevator, which descends into a subterranean laboratory. Walker attacks him, only to be eviscerated by the Walrider. Miles locates an aged Wernicke, who confirms that the Walrider is a biotechnological nanite entity controlled by Billy Hope, a comatose subject of Murkoff's experiments. He orders Miles to terminate Billy's life support in the hopes that this will destroy the Walrider. Miles accomplishes this task; however, just before Billy dies, the Walrider attacks Miles and possesses his body. On his way out of the laboratory, Miles encounters a Murkoff military team led by Wernicke, which guns him down. A horrified Wernicke realizes that Miles is the Walrider's new host. Panicked screams and gunfire are heard as the screen fades to black.