As the year draws to a close, GameCentral is catching up on some of 2025's most intriguing releases that slipped through the net first time around. Kicking off this retrospective is Look Outside, a bizarre and brilliant fusion of survival horror and classic Japanese role-playing that stands as one of the year's most memorable indie experiences.
A Mind-Bending Mash-Up of Genres
On paper, Look Outside presents a deceptively simple, yet utterly bizarre, premise. Imagine the quirky, real-world charm of the SNES classic EarthBound (Mother 2) violently colliding with the existential dread of Lovecraftian cosmic horror. The result is a game where the core instruction from a neighbour—delivered through a hole in the wall—is to literally look outside your window. Obey, and it's instant game over, your body and mind transformed into scrambled eggs by an unknowable, reality-warping event.
This is not a story of straightforward evil, but of something far more incomprehensible. While it shares superficial plot points with Bird Box, the game's heart is classically Lovecraftian. Your goal is to survive for 15 days in your shabby four-storey apartment block, where other residents are mutating into grotesque monsters. The twist? Not all of them are hostile, and some can even be reasoned with or traded with.
Survival, Sanity, and Strange Encounters
Look Outside is a true survival experience. Lasting those two weeks isn't just about combat; it's about scavenging for food and supplies, managing your character's sanity by eating, sleeping, and even showering. The passage of time is marked by activities like playing in-game video games, while knocks on the door from other residents create a uniquely tense and unpredictable atmosphere.
You can venture beyond the apartment for greater rewards and experience points, but this increases the danger level—a clever risk-versus-reward system. The game's technical simplicity, being largely the work of developer Francis Coulombe, is a strength. Its chunky 2D graphics perfectly sell the unsettling tone, portraying monstrosities that are impressively imaginative in their horribleness. Combat, however, is the game's weak point. The turn-based system is functional but unremarkable, losing its appeal long before the narrative concludes.
Verdict: A Disturbing, Heart-Warming Bargain
Ultimately, Look Outside is a game about trust, community, and the perils of isolation. It teaches that strangers aren't always as scary as they seem—though sometimes they are far worse. While its difficulty settings could use fine-tuning and the combat grows stale, these are minor quibbles given the game's shockingly low asking price of £8.99 and its ability to run on almost any PC.
Released on 21st March 2025 and published by Devolver Digital, Look Outside manages to be disturbing, funny, and strangely heart-warming all at once. In a year packed with excellent indie titles, this unique blend of EarthBound and The Thing is not only one of the best survival horror games of 2025 but also one of its biggest bargains.
Final Score: 8/10
Pros: A unique and imaginative premise, wonderfully grotesque 2D art, clever RPG elements that offer non-violent options, memorable characters.
Cons: Uninspiring turn-based combat, poorly tuned difficulty levels.
