Look Outside Early Review

 I found this lovely, horrific game called "Look Outside." It has the player trying to survive three weeks in their apartment while a disaster plays outside. Something...unspeakable has happened outside and anyone who catches it's gaze is transformed. I've always loved Cosmic Horror without the Lovecraftian influence. It's amazing to see what kind of ideas people come up with when you take out the Eldritch horrors that Lovecraft spawned. I still love the Cthulhu mythos but when you step away from the creatures you start to see the true horror that Lovecraft was hinting at underneath his stories.

Instead of tentacles and scales, these monsters seem to reflect the horrors the onlookers feared. Such as "toothlings," little monster gums with teeth erupting from odd angles. Or maybe you'll find someone with eyes growing out of their stomachs. Or gigantic beasts that fully envelope the screen. Creatures you have no chance of defeating. The pixel art style leans into the player's imagination making the monsters seem worse than they appear. Your imagination fills the gaps of what the game is implying.

Strangely enough, I got this game the same time I started playing Undertale. The games share similar RPG mechanics but are polar opposites. In Look Outside you have to maintain your health as you explore the apartments. Each new room could lead to your death and restarting your progress, adding tension. Everything from bandaging wounds to brushing your teeth to eating a hot meal, adds to your character's progression. All the while you interact with cultists, deformed residents, and your neighbor who peers at you through a peephole in your walls. Who do you trust when the world is ending? Can you survive three weeks and hope that whatever is happening outside will stop?

I've only played for a few hours and I'm hooked. I'll post more later when I get through more but I just wanted to describe the experience I've had.