Every Outlast game, ranked
All 2 Outlast games we hold, spanning 2013 to 2017: 2 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 202,787 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Outlast (GamingPickz Score 8.3), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For the money: Outlast 2 gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Outlast games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 2 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
2 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 2 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Multi-platform
- Nintendo
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
2 best Outlast games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Outlast
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
8.3GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceOutlast at a glance Released 2013 Studio Red Barrels Player sentiment 96% positive of 138,407 Critics 80/100 Price $14.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 5 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 96% shrinks to 96.0 on 138,407 reviews, then blends with the 80 critic aggregate, giving 8.3.
What the data supports- 96% positive across 138,407 reviews is a strong signal at that volume, where a few enthusiasts cannot move the number.
- Small install at 5 GB.
Worth checking first- Players rate it well above critics, 96 against 80. Usually a sign it improved after launch, or that it delivers something reviewers undervalued.
- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Outlast 2 at a glance Released 2017 Studio Red Barrels Player sentiment 91% positive of 64,380 Critics 75/100 Price $4.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 30 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 91% shrinks to 91.0 on 64,380 reviews, then blends with the 75 critic aggregate, giving 7.6.
Worth checking first- Players rate it well above critics, 91 against 75. Usually a sign it improved after launch, or that it delivers something reviewers undervalued.
- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Outlast game we can score is Outlast at 8.3. The lowest is Outlast 2 at 7.6, a 0.7-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Outlast 2 at $4.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Outlast 2, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Outlast entries on Steam:
- Playable: Outlast, Outlast 2
Platforms across the series
Where the 2 Outlast games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 2 of 2 |
| PlayStation | 1 of 2 |
| Xbox | 1 of 2 |
| Nintendo | 1 of 2 |
The Outlast series, game by game
Every Outlast game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2013
Outlast
8.3Hell is an experiment you can't survive in Outlast, a first-person survival horror game developed by veterans of some of the biggest game franchises in history. As investigative journalist Miles Upshur, explore Mount Massive Asylum and try to survive long enough to discover its terrible secret... if you dare. (Steam)
Plot
A freelance investigative journalist named Miles Upshur receives an anonymous email about inhumane experiments at Mount Massive Asylum, a remote psychiatric hospital owned by the notoriously unethical Murkoff Corporation. Upon entering, Miles is shocked to discover its halls ransacked and littered with the staff's mutilated corpses. He is informed by a dying officer of Murkoff's private military unit that the hospital's deranged inmates, known as… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Outlast received generally positive reviews from critics. The review aggregation website Metacritic gave the Xbox One version a score of 80/100 based on 6 reviews, the Microsoft Windows version 80/100 based on 59 reviews, and the PlayStation 4 version 78/100 based on 33 reviews. It received numerous accolades and awards at E3 2013 , including the "Most Likely to Make you Faint" honour, and one of "Best of E3". (Wikipedia)
- 2017
Outlast 2
7.6Outlast 2 introduces you to Sullivan Knoth and his followers, who left our wicked world behind to give birth to Temple Gate, a town, deep in the wilderness and hidden from civilization. Knoth and his flock are preparing for the tribulations of the end of times and you’re right in the thick of it. (Steam)
Plot
An assisting cameraman named Blake Langermann works for his wife, Lynn, an investigative journalist , who is investigating the murder of a pregnant teenager only known as Jane Doe . The couple have a helicopter pilot fly them over the area where Jane Doe possibly came from, but they are suddenly hit by a mysterious blinding light and the helicopter crash-lands in the Supai region of Coconino County , Arizona , United States. When Blake wakes up after the… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Outlast 2 received generally positive reviews from critics but received "mixed or average" reviews for the PlayStation 4 version. Destructoid s Nic Rowen scored the game an 8/10 with the consensus "Impressive effort with a few noticeable problems holding it back. Won't astound everyone but is worth most people's time and cash. (Wikipedia)
Outlast, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Outlast vs other series
How Outlast stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Outlast vs Counter-Strike, Outlast vs Dead Space, Outlast vs Doom, Outlast vs Wolfenstein, Outlast vs Crysis, Outlast vs Dead Island, Outlast vs F.E.A.R., Outlast vs Max Payne, Outlast vs Quake, Outlast vs BioShock, Outlast vs Deep Rock Galactic, Outlast vs Friday the 13th, Outlast vs Homefront, Outlast vs Infestation, Outlast vs Killing Floor, Outlast vs Left 4 Dead, Outlast vs POSTAL, Outlast vs S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Outlast vs Sanctum, Outlast vs The Evil Within, Outlast vs Thief, Outlast vs World War, Outlast vs Zombie Army
Common questions
How many Outlast games are there?
We hold 2 Outlast games in the catalogue, released between 2013 and 2017. 2 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Outlast game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Outlast rates highest at 8.3. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Outlast games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2013 to 2017. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.