Wracked with strange dreams, I wake with an urge to look outside my window. Making my way over to it, a voice from my wall voices my urge and lets me know that its beautiful out there. I have a bad feeling and decide that if I’m going to do it, I should at least have a bit of a reason. Talking to this voice confirms my feeling as it contradicts itself and tells me not to, that it’s a bad idea. After a brief conversation, I find out that this voice belongs to Sybil, my neighbour, and that after she looked outside, she’s been feeling weird. But it should all blow over in 15 days.
These are the first moments of the game Look Outside, a survival horror RPG (with a large helping of both body and cosmic horror) developed by Francis Coulombe and published by Devolver Digital in March of 2025. The first of these 15 days set up and define what the rest of the game does extremely well, and I want to explore my experience with them here.
In this first conversation with Sybil, I also discovered a little about myself; I am an unemployed, thirty-something shut-in called Sam. I hop on my computer to look at the news and check social media. The news isn’t very helpful, seeming to be behind on what exactly is happening. Social media is a bit more up to date, but everything is so new that it’s hard to get a read on it.
A trail of blood leads into someone’s apartment
Going out into the rest of the apartment building might not be a good idea, but it would be good to quickly have a look and see how bad it really is. Immediately my fears are confirmed. A trail of blood leads down the hall and into someone’s open apartment. Now, this seems like a terrible place to enter, so I won’t. I don’t have any way to protect myself. Something might attack me. I quickly head back to my own apartment and decide not to go out there again. And hey, in here there are video games I can play.
Playing some games passes the time and eventually someone knocks on my door. Considering my first experience outside, I’m feeling a bit cautious. Entering the perspective for dialogue that occurs when looking through the peephole puts me on edge. It is only there for a moment, but what appears to be a battle ui flashes up displaying my health and stamina before being replaced by the dialogue menu. There’s a person clad in sports gear holding a baseball bat and I do not like that at all. He could attack me for all I know, so I stay silent and thankfully he eventually leaves.
The flash of battle ui that appears when entering dialogue
After a bit longer playing games, I’m feeling hungry. Going to the oven I throw together some food, but I don’t have very much left. It’s likely to run out in the next day or two. Putting this aside for the moment I also have a shower and brush my teeth. Both tasks reveal that I have very little soap and toothpaste as well. Staying holed up is not going to be an option for much longer.
By this point I feel terrible. With one fifteenth of the game having passed, all I’ve done is sit at home and play video games, avoiding anything social and anything new. Just like Sam did before this. And just as I often do myself. There is a whole world out there literally made for me to explore, and I haven’t touched it one bit. It feels terrible. And the game has done a great job at creating this situation.
What’s going on outside causing madness in everyone and the trail of blood in my hall forces me to be wary of everything. My apartment is safe, so why go out there? And there’s nothing to do in here apart from play games. The flash of battle ui whenever someone comes to my door makes any interaction have a layer of fear that a fight could break out at any moment. So, it’s better to not initiate conversation just in case. Look Outside has gotten me to encapsulate Sam’s being perfectly. But the next day changes this.
I talk to Sybil again when I wake up and she warns me of a man stumbling around in the hall. “Well, be careful if you go out! And, um… bring a baseball bat with you,” she says. It seems today will be like the last. I start by playing more games and ignoring people as they knock on my door. This time there was a man with a gun (immediate fear) and then, no-one…? My anxiety of the outside only grows from this.
But I have a problem: I’ve run out of food. And to make things even worse, I’ve played all my games. There’s nothing to do. So, I must get food, but how? The only way is to go out. In the hall again, I see the man Sybil was talking about and he looks a little deformed. I think I’ll go in the other direction. But that’s where the blood trail goes. There isn’t anyone in that direction though, so I have no choice.
Entering the apartment that the trail leads to I find a baseball bat. Finally, I have a means to protect myself. I even find some food in the fridge. Since I’m here, and now with some protection, I may as well venture further into the apartment. In the bathroom there’s a man covered in blood. It seems he is quite badly wounded and I offer help, the battle ui flashing up again as I initiate conversation. He starts mumbling about seeing something and brandishes a knife. I prepare for the worst, but do not expect this.
He thrusts the knife into himself, opening the wound on his belly even further. I yell at him to stop but he doesn’t. Walking closer to me he says he wants to “help me see” before a giant eyeball bursts out of his belly and stares at me. I think it’s safe to say that I am now terrified. Preparing to be attacked I attack him first, slamming my baseball bat into him. But instead of stabbing me in return, he simply stares at me with his belly eye and gives me the panicking status. I manage to kill him on my next turn, but I am thoroughly shook.
The man with a massive eye in his belly
I immediately run straight back home as I do not want to deal with anything like that again. Once I do get back, I am given bonus xp for being in danger and am told that Sam found some thrill in this expedition. And to be fair, although it was terrifying, I did too. Now that I can cook up some more food, I do so, and during this time someone else comes to my door. This time it’s a haggard young man who isn’t looking too healthy. Although I did just have quite a harrowing encounter, I can’t not see if he needs any help. I say hello through the door, and he asks if I have any medical supplies he could use. I decide to open the door and talk to him more directly, and it is just an injured man. He doesn’t stab himself; he doesn’t attack me. I give him a medkit I had lying around and he thanks me, even gives me some money.
Even though again, the battle ui popped up when I started talking to the haggard man, I felt different. Instead of only feeling fear that he would attack me, I felt intrigue in him, confident that I could handle myself at least a little bit with my baseball bat if needed, and curiosity that outweighed any negative feelings I had. It might have been difficult to get myself to do it, and I definitely was still afraid, but I was able to at least try and talk with him.
Look Outside has again gotten me to feel exactly as it planned. My initial fear of the world is still present, but now my curiosity has been fuelled. Forcing me to leave my apartment by removing my ability to play games and to find food and supplies, it introduced me to the world and its goings on. And now with the confidence to at least approach situations that seem dangerous, I am interacting with the rest of the systems the game has to offer.
The first days of Look Outside perfectly encapsulate the rest of the experience to come. It first gets you to fill the role Sam has as a shut-in that is afraid of going out before challenging that by forcing you out for supplies. And this challenge is the core of Sam’s journey. The social anxiety within him is actualised through the ui and the monsters you end up fighting in various forms. When talking to someone, it uses the same pov and ui as when you fight. The first encounter you have is with a man who has a giant eye in him that makes you panic by simply looking at you. But now you know that you can push through this anxiety and you will end up meeting new people in the world. Some you help like the haggard man; others you befriend and invite to join you exploring the apartment building; and others again may attack you.
Even though there is difficulty in pushing through the fear and social anxiety, there is joy to be had in exploring the building for both you and Sam. There are connections to be made with others. There is fulfillment to be had. You just have to push through the fear and try. This is set up within these first days remarkably well and is used as the base for the rest of the game to come.
2025-10-12 – jam-alade