Listening to the wind in his headphones, and looking at the asylum on the screen in the distance...
Sean paused for a moment.
"Before I keep playing, let me ask you guys something. If... I'm just saying if... what if I say I have a problem, can I not play this?"
"Alright then… how about I turn on the light, okay? Don't rush."
After saying that, Sean stood up, leaned forward a bit, and hit the light switch with a click.
In the next second, the lights in the room—something that looked like a storage room on the camera—turned on.
The chat in the livestream instantly exploded.
"?????? Scaredy-cat and pervy Sean!"
"Didn't you say horror games are as easy as breathing?"
"Turning on the lights already? Getting scared now?"
"LOL Sun bro, maybe we should wait for Mike to come back so you won't be alone."
"LOL you said it's like breathing, so why the lights then?"
"Turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!"
"Turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!"
"Turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!"
As soon as Sean turned on the lights and sat back down, the entire chat ended up spamming the same thing:
"Turn off the lights! Turn off the lights!"
"Turn off what lights, dammit! Why would I turn them off?! Shut up!"
"I'm telling you, for me, horror games are just like breathing. Totally no pressure. Sure, I might get startled once or twice."
"But that's just a tiny bit of nervousness."
Looking at the chat, Sean tried to distract himself with outside stuff to calm his nerves.
Back in his chair with headphones on, Sean officially started the game.
From what he gathered from the intro, he got a basic idea:
In Outlast, he plays an unarmed reporter.
Horror games usually fall into two types:
One has combat systems, meaning the player can use guns or other weapons to fight monsters or bosses.
The other has no combat at all—just solving puzzles and running from enemies.
Most games on the market are the first type. The second kind exists but isn't mainstream.
At least, there aren't many big-budget ones. And Outlast clearly stands out as a big production for a no-combat horror game.
Just from the atmosphere and environment, Sean could already feel it.
The graphics weren't quite at AAA level, but still looked pretty realistic.
And for a horror game, that level of realism made it easier to get spooked.
"Damn it, I'm not scared! Why would I be scared? Chill, let me figure out the controls first."
Sean glanced at his second monitor, trying to chat with viewers to ease his tension.
Inside the empty guard booth at the gate, he found a battery.
He looked around the front gate and ended up collecting a few things:
A camcorder, a battery, and a blue folder.
"This should be what we use instead of a flashlight later, right?"
Sean pulled out the DV cam, loaded the battery, and turned it on.
Looking at the eerie green night-vision screen, he—being an experienced streamer—had played enough games to guess what was coming.
He figured there'd be some really dark areas later, and he'd have to rely on the camcorder to navigate.
He talked tough, but deep down, he was starting to get a little nervous.
After making sure there was nothing else to check out, he pushed open the big iron gate and stepped into the yard.
The building had a European design. The whole mental hospital was dead silent, and through the windows, some room lights in the building were flickering on and off.
It felt like a pair of eyes was staring at him from one of those lit rooms.
Controlling the main character to walk along the path, Sean suddenly stopped.
One of the floors in the asylum suddenly lit up, and a dark figure appeared in the window.
His half-closed eyes suddenly opened wide.
Sean used the character to pull out the camera and zoom in, trying to get a better look at whatever that thing was.
But it was like the figure had noticed it was being watched and quickly moved out of sight.
All he could catch was a blurry black shape.
At the same time, the lights in the room went out again.
A cold chill ran up Sean's spine.
Nothing had actually happened, and he hadn't even seen any monster.
But something still made him nervous inside.
The giant mental hospital looked like a monster with its bloody mouth wide open, just waiting for him to come in.
The layout around the building felt off too—especially the riot control vehicles parked at the gate. That alone gave him a weird feeling.
Why would a mental hospital need riot vehicles outside?
He walked to the front gate of the hospital and found it locked tight. There was no way to open it.
After wandering around a bit, Sean finally found a small hole in the iron gate on the left and crawled in through it.
What followed was a short tutorial on the game's controls.
Running, jumping, climbing, crouching—all those actions were covered.
The camera work and little details were really on point, something Sean hadn't experienced in other horror games before.
With his headphones on, he could clearly hear the main character breathing heavily.
Following the tutorial, he reached a window and climbed in—only for all the lights in the room to suddenly go out.
The room was swallowed by darkness.
Sean flinched as the lights went off so suddenly.
'What did I just see?'
'LOL, Sean actually has working eyes!'
'I'm dying laughing, did Sean just flinch?'
'Sean, just admit it if you're scared!'
Seeing his reaction, the chat in the livestream exploded with messages.
Compared to usual streams, the comments today were way more active. Clearly, many viewers were also scared and were using the chat to ease their own fear.
"D-damn it! What's there to be scared of! I'm a tough guy! I ain't scared of nothin'!"
After switching the DV to night vision, the screen turned a sickly green, making the game feel even creepier.
Sean kept yelling to hype himself up while holding the camera and exploring the area.
He pushed open a half-closed door and kept walking forward.
Suddenly, a TV that had been turned off switched on by itself and let out a loud screeching noise.
"Ahhhhh!"
The sharp sound scared the crap out of him.
The camera caught him flinching hard—he let out a high-pitched scream, pushed back from the desk with his feet, and rolled away in his chair. At the same time, he covered his eyes with both hands and flopped backward in the chair.
A few seconds passed, and realizing there were no more sounds coming through his headphones, he slowly parted his fingers, leaving a small gap to peek through at the screen.
All he saw in the game was a pitch-black room with a static-covered TV.
Once he was sure there was no more danger, Sean finally took his hands off his face and held his chest instead, looking like he had just survived a close call.
(End of The Chapter)
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