The Handrawn Horrors of ‘Look Outside’ [Monster Mania]
Monster Mania is a monthly column celebrating the unique and varied monster designs in horror gaming.
A game that “was made in a lab based solely on my interests” is the highest praise I can give a video game. It is an endorsement I reserve for games deserving praise for qualities outside of the generic laud of “fun factor, scariness, graphics, etc.” No, the “lab-based” horrors I am referring to are games utilizing and blending niche and beloved genre elements. Games that, through their ingenious use of influences, mechanics, and, dare I say, vibes, make for an experience that is not only very in line with my horror sicko interests but are representative of their creative’s passion for the singular world they have crafted.
That’s all made abundantly and horrifyingly clear from even the opening moments of Francis Coulombe’s macabre masterpiece, Look Outside.
If you tossed the cosmic horror vibes of John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, Rob Bottin’s disgusting practical work from The Thing, the highrise setting of Lamberto Bava’s Demons II, and the turn-based RPG mechanics of EarthBound into a blender and pulsed the hell out of them, you would end up with the delectable horror smoothie that is Look Outside.
A mysterious cosmic environmental anomaly is causing people who look out their windows to change into horrific monstrosities. Fortunately for the player, they have yet to look out their window, making them one of the lucky few. Less fortunate are your numerous, now changed, neighbors roaming the building, standing between the player and the precious resources needed to survive. I could easily spend thousands of words speaking to the game’s stellar survival horror mechanics, writing, and punishing but rewarding 90s RPG mechanics. But we’re here to talk about monsters, something Look Outside delivers in bloody spades.
The subgenres of cosmic and body horror share a similar issue that Lovecraftian works face: mainstream misinterpretation or misuse. Just as Lovecraftian doesn’t always equate to fish people and tentacle monsters, cosmic and body horror doesn’t just mean sprouting tentacles or growing second heads. Something that Coulombe understands perfectly well. Boasting 150 hand-crafted monsters, Look Outside‘s assortment of freaks abides by the core tenets of cosmic and body horror creatures: undefinable. While I will describe various stunning monster designs players will encounter, the variety of designs lacks familiarity with one another, making it hard to have a general understanding of monsters other than, you know, being consistently disgusting.
The first monster the player encounters is a next-door neighbor, who immediately seems….off. After a brief dialogue, the neighbor turns to reveal they are carving a wound into their belly. Lovely stuff. But our first glimpse into the body horror influence is when a massive eyeball protrudes from their abdominal wound. But even before sprouting another eye, the player learns that monsters retain some of their former selves. This isn’t always profound, but it does display that shifting point in the psyche of someone who has changed. They may not always look it, but a form of their former selves remains. However, this initial taste of the game’s horror is essential for two reasons: Players are given their first look at Look Outside‘s fantastic SNES-era artwork, and the monsters’ first form is not their final one.
Much like Carpenter’s classic The Thing, the titular monster constantly evolves. Because of this, it is undefinable. As players are not shown Look Outside‘s anomaly (despite being able to look out the window at any time, effectively ending the game), we settle for its abominable offspring that fill the complex, offspring created in the entity’s twisted vision of life.
Most interestingly is that Look Outside‘s bestiary frequently takes on new deadly forms during combat. At the outset of combat, there is a notable distance between the player and enemies. As monsters approach, they come more into the light, revealing their initial designs. “My, what big teeth you have” and such. But it is during the midst of combat, when monsters have taken damage, that they can begin to change.
During one combat encounter, a monster wrapped in a massive coat approached and attacked me. After a round or two of combat, the monster opened its coat, revealing a stomach full of eyeballs. These inevitably retracted from its stomach, now serving as both weak points and individual enemies that could attack along with its host.
Not all of the monsters faced are just random, one-off freaks, as some pockets of monsters can have narrative ties to one another. For instance, there is a section of the apartment early that concerns a family befallen by the entity as a result of their young daughter changing and biting a family member. The result is that the family now suffers from the horrific affliction of sprouting numerous teeth both inside their mouths and all over their bodies. While there is a design theme that the entire family abides by, the placement of teeth mutations and their deadliness in combat is unique to the individual. The tragic nature of this particular family of apartment residents unfolds in their dialogue as they relay the series of events that lead to their human form’s demise.
The deeper players venture into the catacombs of the apartment complex, the more depraved the monsters the player will encounter become. This provides a greater variety of monsters to discover, but also reflects the apartment complex’s ecosystem. Freakishly large flesh-eating rats, botanical bastardizations, and sludge biohazard mutants patrol the lower levels, showing how it isn’t just humans that are susceptible to the entity outside the confines of the building.
For a game all about survival, the prospect of surviving Look Outside doesn’t inspire much hope for the future. Will the entity ever disperse? Can those who have already changed revert to their human form? These are questions for the player to find the answers to themselves, but in the meantime, if you’re as keen on ever-evolving and increasingly disturbing monster designs, there is no other game like Look Outside.
Categorized:Editorials
