An Unforgettable Glimpse of the Abyss: Why You Need to Play Devolver’s Oddball Horror, Look Outside

The latest Devolver Digital Steam sale has landed, and while it features a plethora of critically acclaimed indie titles, there is one game that deserves special attention for its brilliant, bizarre, and genuinely unsettling nature: Look Outside. Published by Devolver and developed by the singular talent of Francis Coulombe, this title is a unique blend of survival horror and turn-based RPG that defies easy categorization. It is a game that is not just scary, but profoundly disturbing, a chilling experience that is as strange as it is brilliant, and a perfect example of Devolver’s knack for finding the most creative and oddball games on the market.

The Premise: Don’t Look Outside

The game’s concept is simple, yet immediately horrifying. You play as Sam, an apartment dweller who wakes up to a strange, ethereal light glowing from behind his curtains. A voice whispers, urging you to simply “look outside.” This seemingly innocuous act is the game’s core horror. Anyone who gazes upon the light is instantly transformed into a grotesque, horrifying monster. The game begins with a choice: look outside or don’t. The moment you give in to your curiosity, a terrifying sequence unfolds, and your face is melted, resulting in an instant game over. This brutal “game over” within the first minute is a brilliant way to establish the game’s stakes and its uncompromisingly strange tone. From then on, your goal is to survive for 15 in-game days until the mysterious “phenomenon” passes. Your apartment becomes a safe haven, a hub where you can manage your resources, craft items, and interact with the few sane neighbors who haven’t looked outside yet.

The genius of Look Outside lies in its gameplay loop. You are forced to venture out of your apartment, floor by floor, to scavenge for food, medicine, and makeshift weapons. The world outside your door is a terrifying blend of mundane apartment life and cosmic horror. The hallways are filled with horrifying, mutated creatures that were once your neighbors. The game uses a top-down perspective for exploration, but combat shifts to an inventive, turn-based system. The combat is not about brute force, but strategy. Your makeshift weapons—from a broken chair leg to a kitchen knife—have a durability system, and you must carefully manage your limited resources to survive. The enemies themselves are a masterpiece of grotesque body horror, with designs that are both creative and deeply unsettling. The game’s pixel art style, while retro, is used to incredible effect, creating a feeling of unease that is far more impactful than a hyper-realistic horror game. The game never shows you too much, instead relying on its sound design and the player’s imagination to fill in the horrifying blanks.

More Than Just a Horror Game

While the horror is a key component, Look Outside is also a surprisingly deep RPG and a social experiment in its own right. As you explore the apartment complex, you will meet a bizarre cast of characters—some are still human, while others are in the early stages of their transformation. You can recruit them to your party, and each has their own unique abilities and stories. There are multiple branching paths and endings depending on your choices, and the game’s narrative is a surreal and compelling mystery. The game’s social hub, your apartment, becomes a place of safety and a microcosm of the apocalypse. You can cook food, watch TV, and interact with your new companions, all of which are designed to create a sense of normalcy in an utterly insane world. This contrast between the mundane and the horrifying is what makes the game so effective. It’s a game that forces you to confront your own curiosity and your own morality in the face of an impossible situation.

The recent Devolver Steam sale is the perfect opportunity to experience this masterpiece for yourself. At a discounted price, the game offers a fantastic amount of content, with multiple endings and a high replay value. It’s a game that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it, a title that is as memorable for its unique gameplay as it is for its deeply unsettling atmosphere. Look Outside is a testament to the power of independent game development and a brilliant example of Devolver’s ability to find and publish games that are truly unique. If you are a fan of horror, RPGs, or simply a player looking for something different, do yourself a favor and get this game. Just don’t look outside.

Have you had a chance to play Look Outside? What was your favorite part of the game?