PS4 Free Games Part 1 - Outlast

We all know that our gaming habit can become expensive, we all want the latest hardware and games, however we are still in the middle of an economic crisis and the majority of the average gamers have to watch what they spend. It was with this in mind that I have decided to take a look at some of the games that will be free to play on the PS4, as personally I will not have access to a large gaming budget when the PS4 launches in November. I have a wife and family to feed first and foremost and my gaming budget is limited, yet I always find enough money for more booze when required! Firstly, I think it is only sensible to set out what my guidelines are for being classed as free. I will be getting PS+ like the majority of gamers at the launch of the PS4 as I will be playing online and PS+ is required for this. With this in mind I will be including games that will be available via PS+ along with games that are "Free to Play". I appreciate this might not fit everyone's definition of free and that these games are rented whilst having a PS+ subscription however I'm including these regardless! Now we have established what the criteria is for this series of articles lets crack on and take a look at the first game in the series, which is Outlast. Outlast is a survival horror game that has a unique edge to it in that you have no weapons to attack anyone with your biggest asset to help you through the game is your trusted video camera and its night vision mode, although the camera has an awful battery life. Philippe Morin recently stated that his goal with the game was to "Scare the s**t out of its audience" Outlast was launched on the PC last week with at a cost of £14.99/$19.99 the game has been met with rave reviews for its incredible level of immersion and a rate of intensity that is up there with some of the greatest horror games of all time. Outlast so far as a Metacritic of 90% from fans and 80% from Critics. The game is the brain child of Red Barrels an Independent games development company from Canada. I expect those names mean nothing to you like they didn't for me before I started the research for this game however I can tell you that the Co-Founders of Red Barrels have a wealth of experience in the games industry having worked for Ubisoft and EA before setting up their own studio. The co-founders are: Philippe Morin: Game designer on Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Assassin's Creed & Uncharted: Drake's Fortune David Chateauneuf: Lead level designer on Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Assassin's Creed & Splinter Cell: Conviction Hugo Dallaire: Art Director on Splinter Cell & Army of Two The team at Red Barrels have managed to create an excellent game and whilst its not a long game with reviews stating between 5 and 7 hours to play through it, they do manage to really capture the fear and ambience of having to fight for your life and try and evade your foes without having anything to kill them with. Red Barrels have plans for DLC for the game which they plan on starting once they see how the game fares amongst all of the massive titles coming out over the next 6 months. This makes a refreshing change from some of the games coming out these days with their day1 DLC, such as EA with Tiger Woods as an example how many DLC packs were released on launch day for that game? Several at cost exceeding that of the original game. Comes a time when enough is enough and to take a stance against DLC, however lets save that for another article. Outlast will be made available for PS4 via PS+ for 30 days when it launches early 2014. It is interesting that Sony approached Red Barrels after seeing their demo at Pax East and managed to strike a deal with Red Barrels for exclusivity and making the game free via PS+ for a limited time. This game looks immense and I am sure it will make me jump, when I am sat playing it in the dark with my headset on. Does Outlast look like something you will be playing when it launches early next year on PS4 ? Do you like to be scared whilst gaming ? For game footage why not check out this YouTube Video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtqSKW-H_F8 Coming up in part 2 will be Resogun a side scrolling shooter from the makers of Dead Nation.