Review | Outbreak: Endless Nightmares

LifeisXbox’s Outbreak: Endless Nightmares Review | Jumping back into the Outbreak horror series, which currently has six installments, by slaughtering and fending off zombies while uncovering the truth in the latest addition – Outbreak: Endless Nightmares. You start by finding yourself trapped in what seems to be the remains of Arzt Memorial Hospital. You may come across journals that will enlighten you on the events and what occurred in these dire circumstances. During this experience, you will have to find supplies and hunt for important clues as you fight your way through zombies and undead foes in an attempt to proceed through each anomaly. With some roguelike elements, Discover and explore to uncover information as to exactly what happened in this outbreak. Outbreak: Endless Nightmares has been developed and published by solo indie developer Dead Drop Studios LLC to bring a frightful yet eventful game to those who relish horror and everything it offers. However, you should know that death is never the end.

VicciVulpix played Outbreak: Endless Nightmares for six hours (ongoing) on Xbox One S. This game is also available on Xbox Series S/X, Playstation 4/5, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, Steam, and Linux.

What we liked!

• Concept of the game | As horror games generally tend to go, Outbreak: Endless Nightmares has a pretty decent idea behind it that did show similarities to the recent Resident Evil remakes in my opinion. The game has been made to focus on the various anomalies that characters have to venture and survive through. You are required to loot in order to find conductor coins that can be used to unlock additional areas thus allowing you to progress further into other anomalies. Should you want to exit after a few areas, you may but you are also shown the choice of continuing further though to earn higher rewards if you wish at the risk of not only encountering tougher enemies but also losing valuable loot you may have picked up through the course of the anomaly. It’s almost a comfort to know you won’t be left with nothing if you meet your demise sooner than intended.

Somewhere between

• Optional modes | Once you’ve chosen the character you wish you play, you will be shown all the different modes you can choose to play. I was quite surprised with the variety of modes on offer as it certainly gives players the opportunity to play the game in whichever way appeals to them. Unfortunately, due to the poor performance, I was not interested in any other than easy mode and I was somewhat upset that I felt unable to feel comfortable enough to play the much more demanding modes. Should the game get any performance updates or improvements in the future, I would perhaps consider returning to try these out and enjoy the stimulating and testing options available. 

• Incorporated co-op | Although I only managed to play Outbreak: Endless Nightmares in single player, I can definitely see the appeal and fun potential of going through using co-op mode if you fancy sharing the experience with someone else. It’s a real shame there is only a local co-op included. I really believe that if online co-op would have been an option, it would have been a fantastic addition that would have given the game an increased interest to those who find more enjoyment in a joint adventure, even if the quality has much to be desired.

What we disliked

• Questionable introduction | As you start your new game, you are randomly placed outside what appears to be the Arzt Memorial Hospital. Other than seeing an inventory chest to your right, you really aren’t given a whole lot to go on. You can open your map which will show you where items, missions, chests, enemies, and other additional things that may interest you. Apart from this, you are pretty much on your own. No idea of what to do, where to go, how to play – nothing. There are ghouls placed around the ‘safe area’ that you can speak to and although they attempt to enlighten you on various elements in the game and how things work, they weren’t very helpful. It started off extremely confusing and I feel like a small tutorial or introduction could have majorly helped.

• Bugged environment | Clipping was an issue when faced with the majority of walls, objects and confined areas. It meant that when encountering enemies in either close quarters or where objects were in the immediate proximity it made your shots hit these instead of the obvious target which would be the zombie walking towards you. It did become a little annoying as I had to keep adjusting where I stood to make sure I was in a large enough space to hit what I intended to the first time. Also, enemies would aggro onto you through bookcases for example and manage to hit you if you got too close. Yes, I could shoot and melee them but this should not be the case.

• Lacking in horror | The idea of horror games usually consists of being scared, having jump scares, fear-inducing atmosphere, scary enemies , and frightening surroundings. Outbreak: Endless Nightmares greatly lacks in all of the mentioned areas. I found myself casually walking around, acquiring loot and progressing past enemies with ease and for me, this should never be the case if your game is classified as a horror in any way shape or form. I want to feel worried to move in case something jumps out at me. I want there to be enemies that cause me to shiver in fear. The environment was dangerous but not necessarily a concern. I should have never felt secure and I’m sad to say, I spent the whole time playing without any terror or distress gracing my playthrough.

• Poor performance | From the very beginning of Outbreak: Endless Nightmares, the performance was incredibly bad and I could not believe the state the game has been released in. The frame rate is atrocious to the point where I was constantly expecting my game to randomly crash on me. It’s almost like everywhere I go, I’m juddering and not moving with any fluency. Had this feature alone been improved, I could have perhaps found myself enjoying what the game had to offer. In the current state however, I did not find much entertainment traversing around any and every region. The controls were a little clunky to use but worked well enough to at least make it through this awful execution.

• Graphically disappointing | Appearance wise, Outbreak: Endless Nightmares was dull, undetailed and just lifeless in every way imaginable. I get that horror games tend to go for the dark and gloomy appearance to instill fear of the unknown which I totally understand but when the quality of the graphics is as appalling as these, it becomes more of a chore to walk through. I want to enjoy how horrifically beautiful it is to be face to face with monstrous zombies as I run through wonderful chaos, all while admiring my surroundings. Of course, there was no chance of this happening and left much to the imagination. 

• Narrative doesn’t stick | Notes can be found amongst the levels, allowing you to piece together different documents that ultimately give you a better insight as to what has and is happening in and around this dreadful place. Much to my dismay, the story didn’t seem very important or interesting which I found was another element that let the game down as there was no structure to follow. If you’re going to add background information for players to read, make it immersive and have it become relevant to the current situation instead of purely using it to add irrelevant reading.

• Audio is shameful | There is very little to talk about when regarding the sound in Outbreak: Endless Nightmares mainly because there isn’t much to hear. There is an ominous background sound and the enemies that groan at you that, let’s face it, couldn’t be any less frightening – especially with these ones. I would have liked there to be a far more improved frightful ambiance to play with that causes me to become wary of going into areas instead of feeling pretty content and safe. The gun sounds are bland and that’s about all I can find to mention right now.

How long to beat the story | Approximately around 8 hours
How long to achieve 1000G | Approximately around 8 hours
Similar with | Resident Evil, The Evil Within, Daymare 1998

CONCLUSION

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