This review has been a little bit of a roller-coaster. This game is buggy, awkward and not so easy on the eyes but it is also a respectable love letter to the classic survival horror genre. It is important to point out that this is a low budget game made by one person. This review starts off with my initial experience before an update that ended up changing that overall experience. Maybe not drastically but enough to keep me playing longer than I initially would have. I decided to leave what I had already started to write so please keep that in mind as you read on from this point.
Outbreak: Endless Nightmares. I wonder if the irony is intentional. I reviewed one of the Outbreak games 9 months ago. I didn’t like It. Will Endless Nightmares have enough improvements to change my mind?
I really wanted to like this game so I kept trying it, not really feeling it and just turning it off.
I think these games rely too heavily on the tank control mechanics to determine its difficulty. Of course your game is going to be hard if the simple act of walking in a straight line is damn near impossible. Honestly, they should just make all the characters drunk. It would at least be a humorous gimmick to justify the awkward movements. I do however appreciate the inclusion of the new camera modes OTS (Over The Shoulder) and FPS (First Person Shooter) as well as the tactical camera that freezes time and allows you to travel around the map freely to scout ahead.
If you are a PS2-era survival/horror game fan then you might and quite probably will enjoy this game. If it’s not though, steer clear.
Now I should mention that when I first started writing this review, you could not use the right stick to look around in the OTS and FPS modes. Yeah, if you’re a gamer then you know that last sentence is fucked. But I only bring this up because now you can and it certainly makes this game a lot more playable.
It’s obvious to me that most of the other people who have reviewed this game haven’t even made it past the first anomaly. Which means I got farther than most of you, so suck it nerds!!
God damn, the right stick was a phenomenal addition, not just this game but gaming as a whole, don’t you think? Now that traversing wasn’t an endless nightmare I could finally take a big meaty bite out of what this game was trying to offer me.
The game starts you off with the choice of six characters, all of whom are in previous games as well as game mode difficulties, including a mode where your file deletes upon death. You awake in a dream-like hub world called the nexus. It’s a foggy abandoned hospital that looks more like a school than a hospital that is filled with all kinds of items, statues and information to find. There are also specters hanging around that will either give you advice or mock you. As well as areas yet to be unlocked. Different things will bring you to different “Anomalies”. For example, the first one I found was a grand piano. Which then had a little writing about the main character and her connection to the place it was about to transport you to.
The levels are usually seven condensed rogue-like rooms filled with items, journal entries, puzzles, traps and of course, the cursed undead mutant monsters. You can craft ammo and dismantle weapons for parts that in turn upgrade your gear. You also have to collect tokens in order to progress in the games campaign and nexus. You can reenter the rooms that are at a higher tier to find better loot and more coins or go back to the nexus to trade them in and unlock areas of the map and access to new anomalies.
As per usual in these types of games inventory management is a big part of the gameplay and boy is there plenty of items to manage. The more you play the more weapons and ammo types there are for you to add to your arsenal as well as weapon upgrades and repair kits. You can find treasure chests that act the same as an ender chest would in Minecraft or weapon crates in Resident Evil. It’s pretty much a bank where every chest has the same inventory. But if you would rather, the easy mode does allow you to immediately start with a large selection of weapons and supplies but the catch is you cannot change the game difficulty at all like you can in the standard mode.
As you trade in your trade in tokens to a specter called the Conductor, you unlock access to harder anomalies. There are 5 that I found, one of which is called the Tower of Pain, a 45 room dungeon that is a combination of the previous four anomalies filled to the brim with the best loot in the game and some of the hardest enemies. (Oh look, a Segue!)
Enemy types are a little on the bland side. You’ve got a handful of zombie variants and some odd looking mutant creatures. But not as much variety as the ridiculous traps ranging from spikes, lasers, cameras, gas clouds and lighting surges. One of the spike variants I personally feel is a little broken and has killed me more times than I can count. But it does make the tone of the game a little goofy. Which honestly isn’t a bad direction for this series to go.
The game’s story is told through journal entries that you collect on your travels as well as some more things to read every time you find a new anomaly. The specters seem to provide little hints here and there as well. In the main menu you can also read up on the story and lore of the whole series which is nice for new players interested in the story.
What were the ultimate drawbacks? On the last three anomalies I’ve experienced a large amount of game crashes. An issue I’m sure will get resolved, but being a low budget game that is certainly something that can hinder the user experience. You can’t save your progress in an anomaly. When you die you return to the nexus. That discourages players from even attempting playing multiple tiers in these later levels, especially in the tower of pain.
So, to answer my question I asked in the beginning of this review. Have there been enough improvements since the last game? Well the answer is yes. I think there have been several improvements. Do I still hate this game? No, I don’t hate this game. It certainly has plenty of issues. But based on the YouTube comments of the developers videos it sounds like they have plans for the future of this game. Which is nice to know. Now the final and most important question? Is the game worth $19.99? I want to say yes, but it’s definitely not the best rogue-like game you’re gonna find in that price range. That being said, it’s certainly not the worst game I’ve reviewed, and most certainly not the worst game on PS5 as so many other reviewers would have you believe, but for a game that can be as difficult as this one, it would be nice if there was a platinum trophy to earn.
