Part 1
Horror game is not exactly my liking. But i feel obliged to review Digital Happiness' DreadOut 2 (2018).
My first complaint here is the absence of "2" on title. I mean i notice that the letter "R" is 2 but that just make the title spelled "D2eadout" and that just not right. The main reason why i review this game is because it's made by fellow Indonesian. Also there's some part of my hometown Bandung in this game. So it feels very wrong to not do this. I will review the game in 3 parts and each part is roughly on 1 chapter. Another thing that puzzles me is the language setting. There's only 1 which is subtitle language setting but if i change it whole menu texts change as opposed to only the subtitle. My plan is to set the subtitle into English and other text into Indonesian but apparently i can't do that. So for the sake of your convenience, i set the language setting into English. Not a big problem for me.
But before we get into the game, i went to Previous Story (or "kisah sebelumnya" in Indonesian) to introduce you to the prequel. It's told in Fairytale style. The storyteller refers the teacher and her 5 students as mice. They're on school field trip (maybe?), stranded into abandoned town, and trapped within huge school building. Linda, the protagonist and one of the student has ability to banish paranormal creatures with her cell phone.
Linda, the protagonist and one of the student has ability to banish paranormal creatures with her cell phone. But this "mouse" accidentally destroy guardians that guard the place from snake. Because of that, the snake roams free and spread poison all around the world once more. In her defense, she just defense herself and those -so called- guardians are demons that don't hesitate to kill human. In fact, one of the guardian kill Linda's friend name Doni by twisting his neck.
Usually, modern game provides you with 3 save slot and auto-save feature. But DreadOut 2 gives me 4 slots! How generous of you, game.
The game begins with cryptic message that camera has been used to capture soul and desecrate spirit world or whatever that is. I think there's similar message in Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. Then the game cut to dark classroom while someone shouts Linda's name and she come out from a locker while wearing no shoe. What's happening here?
In that tragedy, Linda is the only survivor and the others are assumed dead. But somehow Linda is hated. Come on guys! Linda is clearly also victim in that tragedy. Bullying her will only bring unnecessary misery to her. I like the cartoon drawing on that white board. It's cute but the message on it is horrible!
The control is simple and generic. W, A, S, and D keys to move forward/backward/sideway. Mouse movement to look around. I went outside my classroom which is in 2nd floor of the building. I descended some stairs and went to courtyard. I find my bag and chair is smoking along with my bag. First the cruel drawing and now they throw my chair, table and bag and burned them. This bullying is bloody outrageous! Fortunately, my phone survives within the bag. Must be made by Nokia.
As soon as i pick my phone, this white cat appears and running that way. It's within my instinct to follow kitty and eventually pet them in the head. So i'm after that kitty.
The kitty leads me to this guy. He apologize for bullying me. He also tells me that the school lobby is locked because Henny goes mad for some reason. Andre have the key to lobby but Budi doesn't know his whereabouts.
I can bring this phone menu by pressing "Tab" button (not default). From it, you can see objective, or paranormal creatures that i encounter so far from the application called "Ghostpedia". Apparently its database based on lelembut.com (not real internet address) and lelembut is common term in Javanese community for ghost, demon, and other paranormal creatures. That's quite funny, game.
I admit that i watched some videos of playthrough that i remember where to go and what to do. But i don't watch them until the ending. I don't like too many spoiler. So Andre is in locker in this classroom with book on how to do Endless Misery ritual by making Jelangkung which is wooden stick doll that is equivalent to voodoo doll.
Andre refuse to come out of the locker because there's white shadow chasing him. By that, he means that Pocong who currently peeking from outside of this classroom. Once i approach it, it disappears. Heavy_domination06.wav
But before i chase after that apparition, i check the photo of President and Vice President. I recognize any of them most likely they're from developer team. Maybe the reason why the developers don't put photo of real President and Vice President, because they don't want to put politic in their game. By the way, it's common in our school to put picture of president and vice president above whiteboard/blackboard. Possibly to show our nationalism.
The white cat suddenly appears again and lead me to banana tree where i found Budi again. But this time Budi is being possessed by the Pocong and you can only see it through the phone. To bring the phone view, simply press right mouse button. To take picture of Pocong and also bring harm to it, press left mouse button while in phone view. I forget to tell you that, DreadOut is basically indie Fatal Frame clone in which you fight ghosts by taking picture of them. But in DreadOut 2, you use camera phone instead of real camera.
You can also take normal picture
on about anything. I took an embarrassing picture of Budi faints after released
from being possessed. Look at his dumb face! :D
Pocong runs after i exorcism it away from Budi's body and hitting me on its way to this shack. But after that it just stands there facing me with his back. How rude! Face me and fight like err a real ghost! After few shot, he refuse to fight me and give up instead. It said it doesn't mean to scare Andre and it acts weird and aggressive because of some bad vibration. Totally believable [Average graveyard sized sarcasm]
Inside the shack, i find Jelangkung with Linda's photo on its head and also on a tombstone nearby which is according Endless Misery ritual on the book! First, they burn her bag and now they use paranormal approach to bully Linda. They should be brought to prison for bullying poor Linda! >:(
Daaw. Look at that kitty. So cute. I think there's small hint on cat's face of feeling proud that i banish that pocong. :)
Now that i banish the Pocong, Andre has courage to open the locker where he cowers inside and also give me the front lobby key. Time to go back home!
However, remember that the lobby is locked because Henny goes mad? So the way to my home is not 100% clear, yet. After obtain the key, Henny broadcast video from TikTok, maybe? You can watch here live video here with phone view. She accuses Linda murder her friends and Miss Siska in the event of first game. Unfortunately, i have aunt who also have name "Henny" but she's far from this delusional delinquent. But i understand that it is just mere coincidence. Besides i think Henny is quite common name in here Indonesia.
Look at this creepy snake sigil on the floor right after unlocking the lobby door. I heard that this sigil appears on DreadOut the movie! I didn't know there's movie of this game!
Look at you. Paint your hair red. Walk around jauntily with fire axe and more than happy to chop me into pieces. And i'm the one who's called Psychotic murderer. So she's not hard to defeat. I can just take a picture of her safely as long as i keep my distance. Wait a minute! Doesn't my photo shoot affect supernatural being and not ordinary (crazy) human?
Oh, i see. Once the girl get some roughing, this hideous apparition come out from her and -it goes without saying- i have to take a magical picture of him too. Actually, the ghost is harder to deal with because he moves and attack fast. I have to imply both of them at once because he attacks by ramming me over. Also the ghost can move through wall because -you know- he's ghost which makes him intangible to any physic surface. Once in a while, the ghost returns to possess Henny again and i have to defeat her again before deal with him again. Kind of annoying, for first boss fight. Also for some reason, there's lumps of bloody dead bodies in this lobby which can only be seen through my phone camera.
Finally i can fell the ghostly schmuck and Henny fall over with her backside up. I take this embarrassing picture so i can use it to scam her. :P
I'm out of school's building. So there's only fence between me and freedom. I get to see our school's nameplate. Arwana is Indonesian for Arowana (Osteoglossinae) fish. While Sirnaraga is real name of a cemetery in Bandung City. Or it could be combination of word "Sirna" and "Raga". "Sirna" means disappear and "Raga" means (physical) body. Thus Sirnaraga could also mean "disappeared body"! That's not creepy at all. [Light Sarcasm]
Then i meet schoolkeeper in the middle of sweeping ground. He kindly open the front gate for me and clean the mess that those rascals done. Sniper_thanks02.wav
Then Linda goes to his room and crying. Linda had a harsh day getting bullied very badly. Poor Linda. I don't think dealing with ghosts affects her badly. The girl probably beat a ghost for breakfast or whatnot.
Then the game shows some part of city and title reappears. I have lots of comments about this place but i will tell them about it later.
After some rough waking up, Linda backs to her feet again and ready to go to the school again. Hopefully, she will have a better school day than yesterday. She refuse to go outside of her room unless she went to toilet first to tidy herself up. Now she looks better and with sock and shoe on. Wait the freaking minute! Who's in right mind to put sock and shoe inside of toilet?
Yeah, sure. I want to believe that my cat is a witness to UFO sighting. Nevertheless, i like this poster.
This flat is pathetic. They can't even afford table to put television properly. That plastic chair is just bad furniture to put television on it. There's no cartoon show sadly. There's only news about number of stressed and crazy people is skyrocketing and social department feels overwhelmed with that. Spoiler: It's because of the snake mentioned on previous story. The news is in Indonesian, by the way.
But forget that crisis because there's lots of kitties on second floor! :3
I want to take picture of that group in the end of corridor.
What the freaking hell? There's Kuntilanak near the group of cat. You better not bring harm to the kitties. Soldier_sf12_taunts15.wav
Then i get knocked by Landlady with plastic dipper because i want to take a picture too close to her. While smacking her dipper, she said "Bangor maneh!" which is "You naughty!" in Sundanese. Some said that landlady here is reference to Kung Fu Hustle, an action-comedy movie directed by Stephen Chow and i can see that.
At the front gate of our flat, there's Kim who lost one of his shoe because a cat steals it. If i can return it to her, she will give me her backpack. This is the first optional quest. You can help her or just goes straight to School, leaving her shoeless for eternity.
Then i get killed by speeding motorcyclist. I cross the road on zebra crossing for God's sake! A harsh commentary by Digital Happiness about motorcyclist in our country. I mean it's close to in real life that our motorcyclist tend to be speeding gits that ignore everyone safety and traffic rules. All they care is just arrive to their destination as fast as they can. Also, they either don't have driving license or have illegal one obtained by bribing the bureaucracy. Worse is, most of them are underage that are too soon to learn about traffic user's responsibility! Or even worse than worse is, some of them won't hesitate to drive in wrong way just for the sake of making shortcut.
So i restart at checkpoint (which is in my room) and manage to cross the road without getting hit by any speeding bastard this time. I meet this little girl in scout uniform that claim to be professor Mona and she's researching Urban Legend around. If i take picture of that painting of lady in green, Mona will take notice on what i can do with my phone camera and ask for my help to take picture of Urban Legend that i probably encounter.
These paintings in the line
immediately reminds me of Braga Road. One of tourism spot in my hometown
Bandung.
Back when i was in a degree program of Ocean Engineering, i pick some social course from outside of our faculty. One day, our group is tasked with interviewing people on Braga Road.
I believe i was on the roadside
with that line of paintings in this photo. It's way in the back there, you have
to take my word for it. It goes without saying that i have good memories about
Braga Road.
I search for that naughty cat and i stumbled upon this alleyway with stall of (illegal) DVD which is reference to Pasar Kota Kembang Bandung which is not far from Braga Road. This security used to work at my school and rumor said it's built on ancient burial ground and there's paranormal activity there. Because of that, he quits being security there. Have you watched Night at The Museum, sir? Your experience is kind of similar to that movie but scarier. Maybe.
Let's see what they sell. The most noticeably CD is "Finding the Memo" which obviously parody of Finding the Nemo. "Acay" means drooling so i don't think a movie about someone drooling and sleeping soundly is interesting.
If i opened a music instrumental shop, this shop would be it. Because i'm not good at reading music note or whatnot, thus the shop name is "Buta Nada" which means (music) note blind. Then there's parody of some electronic good's brand. OH is parody of LG, i presume. Paranormal is parody of Panasonic. Samsul is parody of Samsung. Yamahmud is parody of Yamaha, obviously.
I find the cat who stole Kim's shoe and she shrills in high pitch tone which is not good sign. This street sweeper kindly tells me not to take the shoe by force because the other day she (the cat) bite someone's finger and amputation have to be done. Yikes!
The street sweeper also tell me that the cat fond on "Pecel Lele" dish. I can't just lure her with cheap salted fish, huh?
I know exactly where i can find the Pecel Lele stall/camp because i watched some playthrough video before. It's beyond the alleyway where i found the old security and the (illegal) CD stall. I think Sundanese Salad refers to Lotek which consist of bean sprout, asparagus bean, cabbage, and water spinach then they're served with peanut sauce. Below "Ibu Anni Putra" (which is the name of the franchise's owner) is small words "Pasti Mahal" which is translation of "guaranteed expensive". Why would anyone search for expensive food? They must be lunatic with high ego that's higher than Eifel Tower.
It doesn't stop there. You see alignment of animal (and a piece of ham) at the bottom part of the tent? From left to right, there's 1) Ayam tiren, which is chicken that died yesterday (tiren = mati kemaren = died yesterday). There's uproar around 2010 about chicken meats that sold significantly cheaper than in market. They're sold to restaurant, food stall, etc. They're cheaper obviously because they're not fresh, usually died yesterday due to sickness and they're processed with Formalin chemical so they looks fresh. 2) Bebek matic, is more or less is Automatic Duck which is very common type of motorcycle in Indonesia. 3) Nila Kumis, is moustached Nile Tilapia. 4) Wagyu import, is the famous imported beef from Japan that's well known for its great quality. 5) Naga Muda, which is young dragon. First, dragon is not real. Second, how can you obtain a meat from FREAKING fearsome Dragon?
Ok. I can ask the hawker for Pecel Lele. He gave it to me in two portion and they're free! That's because he has crush on the street sweeper. He also asks me to tell that it will be nice if she smile more often. Yeah, sure. Whatever.
Pecel is gravy sauce made with grounded peanut. Lele is airbreathing catfish (family: Clariidae Bonaparte). Pecel lele is pretty common in here, it's also relatively cheap. But let me tell you a secret. I seldom eat Pecel lele. There's only 1 or 2 occasion that i ate pecel lele, in my entire life.
There you go, you haughty girl! I
retrieve Kim's shoes with no problem. Time to head back to my flat.
I know some cat's behavior but i didn't know that they take a leak on shoe. You have my sympathy, Kim.
So i get the backpack as promised and there's nothing else to do other than go to school. With your phone, you can access Bike Taxi that can take you to important places in the game. This is like the most realistic Fast Travel feature in gaming history. For now, there's only my school as travel destination.
So here we're back to school. There's Mr. Mamat asks me about last night accident but i reply with "I don't know" and he's satisfied with that. Luckily, Buray the schoolkeeper keeps his mouth sealed about last night. Let this be secret forever.
Oh, right. There's these gooks. They remember that event last night but they don't like it so they keep it secret too. However they don't like me either. Well, to hell with you!
You can find and take a picture of evidence regarding Indonesian urban legend. For example this graffiti of Mr. Gepeng's phone number. However you can only take a picture of it if you talked to Mona the little girl in scout uniform (that can be found in the street painting vendor) and agree to help her find evidence of various urban legend.
About Mr Gepeng: it's said that he died in elevator accident. If you call number 7777777, he will contacts you and tell you to pick a money bag in random toilet. If you pick it, Mr Gepeng will take your soul as payment.
Look at those bastard scheming to prank me. This school is bad for Linda, for sure.
Then there's this gits claiming to be Anti Linda Social Club. What's wrong with this school? There's so many student that bully Linda. This clearly contradict with what written on the banner at the front : "To create and educate students with good moral and high integrity". This is big failure on the school's part!
The reason why those students bully Linda is they blame her for the death of her classmate in first game but that's not true. She's also victim and that justification is clearly wrong. I say the blame should be on the teacher, Miss Siska and she's nowhere to be found...yet.
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