When the original DreadOut was released all the way back in 2014, it was met with mixed results. At first glance, it would seem DreadOut is nothing more than a knock-off of Koei Tecmo’s Fatal Frame series. If one were to make that assumption, it would be understandable. After all, the series protagonist, Linda, battles ghostly figures with nothing more than her smartphone or, as it is referred to in-game as the “IrisPhone”, which is similar to what you would use in Fatal Frame with that series staple, “Camera Obscura”. What sets DreadOut apart from its more notable contemporary is its story, which is based on Indonesian horror and folklore. When it comes to the world of survival horror video games, this is not something you see every day.

DreadOut 2 was developed by Digital Happiness, who are a game development studio based in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. According to their website, Digital Happiness is the first Indonesian-based game developer to successfully reach their crowdfunding campaign to make their dream title a reality. The first DreadOut went on to become the first Indonesian-developed horror game to surpass one million downloads across all systems, which is an incredible feat for the newer studio.

Despite the mixed reception that the first DreadOut received, a sequel was green-lit and would be released in 2020 for all major platforms, excluding the Nintendo Switch. While it is unknown why the Switch version has now just been released four years later, the question remains, how does it stack up to its more powerful counterparts, and is it too little too late?

DreadOut 2 continues the story of Linda Melinda, a high-school student with supernatural abilities who aims to seek answers about her past and unravel the insidious plot of her teacher, Ms. Siska. DreadOut 2 does not feature a particularly engaging story, but the gameplay elements featured within are what kept me engaged enough to finish the game. At times, I am unsure of what direction the story tries to pull you in.

In certain areas of DreadOut 2, you will find yourself in a normal hospital only to awake to a hellish nightmare world with no explanation. Linda just gathered herself and headed into the dark world with her trusty IrisPhone. Much like the first entry, this is what Linda will mainly use to defend herself. There are two main types of combat scenarios. Fighting ghosts exclusively through the camera lens or using the light from the IrisPhone to shine it upon them to stun them for a duration.

In other instances, you will gain access to physical weapons such as an axe or knife, which is exclusive to DreadOut 2. The way Digital Happiness conducted these combat encounters is extremely plausible and adds an extra layer of realism to the horror. Linda is an otherwise petite high-school girl, so the fact that she struggles to swing an axe around makes sense and will have you question your approach to how you should swing such heavy weaponry around.

Not to mention, Linda will always have her phone in her left hand as well, making it much more difficult for her to swing such a weapon like the axe more freely. Sometimes your only option is to stun and run away from enemies. One act will have you in a level where you will throw poisonous gas at an enemy to kill it. The combat featured in DreadOut 2, while clunky, was responsive and sometimes fun. If Digital Happiness refined the combat a bit more to add more weight to the hits and more combos, this would have made these sections much more enthralling.

While the enemies can certainly look fearsome, sometimes their awesome might is too overbearing, even for seasoned fans of the genre. Certain enemies are downright brutal for no reason, giving Linda no recovery time after getting knocked over and eventually being pummeled to her death. I am all for a brutal challenge in any video game, but there has to be a balance. The quality game design would present the player with ample opportunities to defend themselves after a mighty blow.

Some enemies were relentless, and Linda could only move so fast. On the subject, Linda’s movement speed was way too slow at times, especially when moving around with the camera in front of her. Some ghost types can only be killed by taking multiple pictures, and they move much faster than you. I would consider myself to be an adept gamer, but even I succumbed to such brutal odds. The last fight, in particular, is borderline insanity, with how much is thrown at you. I won’t provide spoilers here, but I definitely saw the game over-screen one too many times.

What DreadOut 2 lacks in story attempts to make up with its haunting atmosphere within certain locales. Unfortunately, due to the lackluster power of Nintendo Switch hardware, DreadOut 2 looks like a muddy mess with a heavily muted color palette. Sometimes, textures take a few seconds to load and completely break away from the immersion Digital Happiness tries to set forth here. When the game world is loaded correctly, the game is downright horrific in the most bone-chilling ways.

DreadOut 2 completely nails it in the audio department when it comes to the creatures. When the darkness envelops the game world, the ghosts come out to play, and they make some of the ear-splitting noises from any enemy in the survival horror genre. I jumped out of my seat on multiple occasions, even when I expected an enemy to be close by. Off in the distance, can you hear the blood-curdling noises of ghosts that want nothing more than to kill Linda. This is where DreadOut 2 shines.

However, the ghosts are much scarier looking on beefier hardware due to textures looking incredibly plastic or slimy looking on this watered-down Nintendo Switch port. Sometimes, this ruins the scare factor, which should be otherwise hostile-looking creatures and eerie environments. In one boss encounter, the boss froze in place, soft-locking the game in progress. I was forced to reload the checkpoint just to continue. This really broke the tension when it was an otherwise frightening encounter.

In other instances, textures were missing entirely as a cutscene would play. Unfortunately, these aren’t the only other issues to plague the Nintendo Switch port of DreadOut 2. Frame rate dips happened frequently as well. DreadOut 2 is not a terribly taxing title for the Switch hardware, so why is this version riddled with issues? Not to mention, these new issues presented by the Switch port add to existing ones that plague the original release as well.

One of the worst offenders happens as soon as you boot up the game. Upon arriving at the main menu, all the text defaults to Japanese. Now, this wouldn’t be an issue if this was a review for a Japanese version of DreadOut 2, but that is not the case here. You will have to bust out a translator or fiddle around with the menu settings to hopefully land on the option to change the text back to English.

Then, when you finally enter the game, the subtitles are barely readable, even on a big-screen television. It is borderline unreadable unless you are quite close to the screen. Trying to read DreadOut 2’s text in handheld mode was even worse. You would think that now that you are holding the display closer to your face would make reading the text that much easier, but you’d be wrong. Sadly, there is no option to change this as of the time of writing. Seeing that the game is already four years old, I don’t see Digital Happiness rolling out an update for this anytime soon.

And speaking of which, the original release of DreadOut 2 was all the way back in 2020. What made Digital Happiness decide to wait almost four years later to release the game, especially on such aging hardware? The original release of the game was already quite a mediocre gaming experience, so why decide to release this version now?

We may never know the reason for that, but until DreadOut 2 receives updates for better optimization, there is virtually no point in playing this version of the game. You’d find a better time with DreadOut 2 on any other console but the Switch. As a whole, DreadOut 2 is almost an exceptional survival horror game. It does just enough to set itself apart from the herd with different combat options to spice things up a bit, in addition to the creepy atmosphere.

The bottom line is even at only $19.99, DreadOut 2 is not worth your money, at least when it comes to this version of the game. From frequent frame rate dips to muddied graphics, If you are going to play DreadOut 2, you are better off buying this for any other device. If you are a fan of the survival horror genre and you only own a Switch, I recommend waiting for DreadOut 2 to go on sale, as there is a semblance of a fun time to be had if the game ever receives an update to improve the player experience. Only time will tell if that will be the case. It is a shame, too, because overall, DreadOut 2 could be a horror classic if the game had a higher level of polish and budget to work with.
 

Update: The developers are aware of DreadOut 2 starting in Japanese text and are actively working towards fixing it.


Michael Nicolosi (@ChipmunksMikey)
Editor, NoobFeed