Releasing way back in 2014, DreadOut is an indie survival horror game from Indonessian studio, Digital Happiness. Releasing to a fairly mixed reception, DreadOut gained a cult following over the years and despite some issues, I found it to be a compelling horror adventure. DreadOut: Remastered Collection brings a cult classic back, but does it breathe fresh life into the franchise?

DreadOut takes clear inspiration from one of my personal favourite horror franchises, Fatal Frame / Project Zero, with its camera-based combat. DreadOut: Remastered Collection takes the main game as well as the standalone expansion; Keepers of the Dark, but unfortunately skips out on the rough, but still charming, DreadOut 2, making this collection feel a little incomplete.

DreadOut follows the story of Linda Meilinda. Heading into the ghost town, she and her friends soon discover it is haunted by ghosts and get trapped in the local school. Separated from her friends and classmates, Linda ventures deeper into the school and surrounding areas to look for them but uncovers a much deeper supernatural mystery.

This is a pretty straightforward premise for a horror game. Main characters get separated, go look for them and for the most part that is what you get. What surprised me the most are these characters; there’s some great scenes with Linda and her best friend, Ira. All of this is helped along with a wonderful selection of ghosts you will discover throughout the story, each with their own backstory based on Indonesian folklore, and leading up to an absolutely bonkers final act that feels right at home as a Fatal Frame fan.

Keepers of the Dark expands on the story, taking place during the events of the main game where a certain something happens. I won’t spoil exactly what, but this acts as the missing link that reveals a lot more of the world of DreadOut, with more ghosts to encounter.

Gameplay between both games are pretty much the same, but there are a few key differences I will touch on later. However, if you’ve played games like Fatal Frame, you pretty much know what to expect; exploring decrepit environments full of ghosts and gathering key items to progress.

DreadOut‘s big problem is the level design, which feels drab and completely uninspired. There are insanely large and mostly non-interactive spaces that you will be wandering around aimlessly. This is especially bad in Act 1 when you are exploring the school. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve been lost more times than I can count playing this game. Just wandering around aimlessly will eventually allow you to find your way through, but needles to say, this is an incredibly rough chapter. With a little more guidance and direction, this would have left a better impression.

As a Band-Aid solution to this problem, a vignette will appear more present the closer you are to an object or clue you will need to progress. The potential is there to guide players with better signposting using environmental storytelling, but DreadOut: Remastered Collection didn’t take the chance to improve on DreadOut‘s weakest aspect. Act 0 and the final act are much better in this regard, streamlining the progression to be a lot more focused on ghost encounters, scares and just straightforward level design in general.

The key selling point here is the combat. Linda is equipped with a smartphone and using the camera will scare off the ghosts. Unlike Fatal Frame, framing isn’t a critical part of the combat loop and is a lot more straightforward. Simply having a ghost in your sight and hitting the shutter when the screen starts glitching will do the trick. Although, different ghosts require various strategies, and some you can’t get rid of completely, but only just slow down. Dealing with ghosts is when DreadOut is at its best, with some truly tense encounters.

Whilst the base game and Keepers of the Dark play in a very similar fashion, this standalone expansion has a much more combat focus. You will spawn in eight different zones in any order you want to deal with the ghosts that reside there. If you prefer the puzzle and exploration aspect of DreadOut, then this DLC certainly won’t be for you. It is very much a boss rush-type mode where you will see a lot of new enemies.

There’s some incredibly creative encounters in here, though, that provide some of my favourite moments in the game. Like the mannequin boss where you need to find the real ghost among a sea of mannequins, or the ballroom dance that is more of a spectacle than anything, requiring you to dodge through multiple dancers to survive. However, there’s also some incredibly harsh difficulty spikes in the DLC that border on completely unfair. Just be aware when diving into this. You won’t get stuck for too long, thankfully.

Unfortunately, visuals haven’t seen much of an upgrade in DreadOut: Remastered Collection. Even back at launch it was always a rough looking game, with some low-quality textures and rough animations.  I was never expecting a Nightdive tier remaster from such a small studio, but was hoping for a little bit more. For better or worse, it still has a lot of those rough edges. The saving grace though is some great ghost designs that really carry this game and  brings that visual presentation up a notch or two, with some horrifyingly twisted designs.

Sound design also has its issues. Whilst the voice acting isn’t good it certainly is campy and incredibly enjoyable, wrapping all the way around from being so bad it ends up being entertaining again. There’s a scene right towards the end of the game that managed to top anything else in the genre, fans will know which scene I’m talking about here. Elsewhere, sound design is mostly okay, with decent enough atmospheric sound effects, and a soundtrack that is just passable.

DreadOut: Remastered Collection is not a perfect series, and this remaster still shows that time hasn’t been kind to it. However, I have a soft spot for horror games based on Asian Folklore, and this Fatal Frame-inspired adventure is at the very least worth a go. Full of charm and interesting ideas, but often stumbling in execution. Just be prepared for a game that is occasionally frustrating.

 

Graphics: 5.5 DreadOut: Remastered Collection unfortunately retains the same rough visuals that remained aged ten years ago. I was hoping for a little more on this remaster.	Gameplay: 5.5 The camera-based action is always a treat, however, level design leaves a lot to be desired.
Sound: 6.0 Voice acting has so much charm to it. The rest of the sound design is nothing overly remarkable.	Fun Factor: 6.5 DreadOut: Remastered Collection is a compelling, engaging, yet flawed and occasionally frustrating experience that doesn’t reach its potential.
Final Verdict: 6.0

DreadOut: Remastered Collection is available now on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Original release is also available on PC.

Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

A copy of DreadOut: Remastered Collection was provided by the publisher.