It is fascinating to see how horror media is depicted in different countries. Each culture brings unique perspectives and focuses on aspects of fear that others might overlook. Japanese horror, for example, often delves into psychological terror and haunting spirits as seen in Silent Hill or Project Zero (Fatal Frame in North America). Indonesian horror media is a bit more elusive compared to the big names put out by Japan. Catch anyone on the street and ask them which J-horror media they enjoy and they’re likely to name a few of the usual suspects, yet it would be doubtful to assume anyone could think of anything Indonesian on the spot. Thankfully, Digital Happiness is out there trying to bring its flavour of Indo-horror to video games with DreadOut. With this sequel, what can be expected from the pit of Indonesian fear?
The events of DreadOut followed a group of high school children who go on a field trip to a haunted town where everyone has a bad time. Linda was one of the few who survived the ordeal and it was due to her having some kind of latent spiritual power. DreadOut 2 follows up on Linda who has become a pariah at her school. Her awakened spiritual powers are growing and allow her to see ghosts and communicate with paranormal entities.
Unlike the girls in Project Zero, Linda’s powers, channelled through her run-of-the-mill smartphone, can be used as a catalyst for exorcising malevolent spirits. It doesn’t take long before she is hounded by Indonesian folklore entities like the Kuntilanak, a towering female spectre with unnervingly long, claw-like fingers. DreadOut 2 mixes things up during certain chapters where Linda faces corporeal entities such as some zombie-like creatures. Her camera and powers are hopeless in these moments and the only option for her is to find a fire axe and hack these creatures to pieces…very clumsily.
DreadOut 2 is a very sloppy and seemingly unfinished game. Amid all the Indonesian flavour, there is a hint that the developers behind it truly cared about what they were making and wanted to allow people to experience a provincial region of their country. There are some ambitious ideas like the non-horror segments of Linda’s everyday mundane life. These moments are savagely undercooked and have very little going on when they could have been rich sequences that make the setting feel real and lived in.
The peaceful daytime segments often lack detail and cohesion. While some sections begin with voice acting, they quickly shift to text or even leave foreign language audio untranslated. Furthermore, the scarcity of flavour text offers little insight into Linda’s state of mind, and there’s almost nothing to interact with. These environments feel unconvincing, resembling cheap movie sets rather than living worlds. This experience is like if Shenmue was frozen in time, where NPCs offer no meaningful interaction and repetitive errands pad out the gameplay.
In contrast, Linda’s exploration of haunted environments and spectral photography within nightmares delivers a different experience. This survival horror module is deliberately streamlined. Inventory management and phone battery life are non-issues, and health slowly regenerates. Players focus solely on escaping these nightmares by exploring, finding keys, and solving occasional puzzles.
Linda’s phone also can flash, which can stun foes and bosses, and players will need to rely on this if they hope to avoid getting stun-locked into a game over. This is an issue that persists during almost every encounter with every threat. It is especially frustrating when the enemy is a phantom that can clip through the environment and Linda is battling this thing in a narrow hallway. Compounded with the shutter speed on the camera being delayed, expect several cheap deaths on a playthrough. Most of the time, her shots will look perfect, but the game has very specific parameters for what counts as a shot, which is frustrating when trying to align a moving ghost dead centre without a reticle and hoping it counts.
DreadOut 2‘s paranormal photography battle mechanics are pretty woeful, far below the standard and effectiveness seen in the first Project Zero on PlayStation 2. Does the situational melee fare better? Of course it doesn’t. Linda is hopeless with an axe. Her swings are slow and unwieldy, and sometimes her strikes won’t count unless the camera (not her phone) is positioned in a way where it is centred on the target. There is no lock-on at all and the only way to survive is to exploit the flash bulb to stun foes and run away. The final boss is especially rotten with this tactic.
The atmosphere in DreadOut 2 sometimes verges on being almost spooky. Most of the time, it feels like Scooby-Doo, but occasionally it achieves an effective scare and might make some raise an eyebrow in surprise. What makes it effective is the uncanny visuals and awkward animations. There are some decent lighting effects, yet when Linda views through her smartphone, all lighting is turned off. Amusingly, this bug persists in the PlayStation 5 version, too. Performance is fairly stable for an Unreal Engine 4 game on Nintendo Switch, but then again, the graphics don’t look more sophisticated than a 2010s-era indie game on Steam. Load times are regretfully long and crashes can occur.
