That Was a Dumb Game: DreadOut

https://www.jackeverett.com/rc_files/d/r/dreadout1.JPG
DreadOut!

I recently completed the game ”DreadOut” and I’m not going to lie, it could possibly be the worst game I’ve ever played in my life. I’m not even saying that for the sake of hyperbole. I actually looked through the list of all the games I’ve played, and nothing struck me as being worse. Basically this was a game of endless frustration and many temper tantrums. I found myself repeatedly screaming, “It’s not fun! It’s not fun!”

I don’t even know how to describe how bad it is. Most of the puzzles in the game don’t make sense, so you’ll find yourself wandering around for hours in the same place hoping to find something you didn’t notice before. Initially the game is a little scary, which is something I like in games, but you spend so much time wandering around the same hallways so it becomes more annoying than scary. On top of that, every time you die the game punishes you by making you go through this “limbo” stage which gets longer and longer every time you die. And there is a boss that you will repeatedly die on. One thing that is truly scary about the game is that the developers have released some free content for it before, and they might do it again, which means I might have to play more of it some day.

https://www.jackeverett.com/rc_files/d/r/dreadout2.JPG
A hot female main character does not mean a good game.

Well that pretty sums up my review for the game, but what I really want to discuss is how this game tricked me into playing it. It has a demo, and I played the demo. The game has a hot female main character, and it was at least somewhat entertaining. The demo featured a little bit of exploration and a few fights with ghosts. It seemed interesting enough. I mean, admittedly, I was mostly interested in playing a game with a hot female main character. I thought to myself, ”Why wouldn’t I play a game with a hot female main character?” And I couldn’t come up with an answer to that question, so I got the full version of the game. A decision I regretted.

I was tricked into playing a game with a hot female main character once before. The game was ”Blades of Time”, but that game was just mediocre, not bad, but not great. Maybe that’s why I played ”DreadOut” maybe I expected it to be the same as ”Blades of Time”, a mediocre and forgettable game with a hot female main character. I was tricked though. ”DreadOut” isn’t forgettable. It’s been a few months since I played it, and I can say that I haven’t forgotten it. I have a funny feeling that I’m not going to forget it either. It was that bad.

I feel dumb for getting tricked into playing a game with a hot female main character, because I was a boy when ”Tomb Raider” came out, and that game didn’t trick me into playing it. I played the demo for ”Tomb Raider” and I thought to myself, “This game could be better,” and I didn’t play a ”Tomb Raider” game until they got good, see my post on Lara Croft. So I must admit that I’m a little ashamed of myself (though I do have a bigger budget for video games these days).
Now, I know I’ve sounded sexist as flip in t

is post, so to clear up some hot air, let me make it clear that I have also played games with hunky male main characters. And I played them solely because they had hunky main male characters. ”Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine” was one such game. That game was also mediocre and about as memorable as ”Blades of Time” (which is to say I don’t remember much of it either). Anyway, I’ve ranted on long enough.