Look Outside (2025) Video Game Review – An Unsettlingly Bleak Masterpiece of Indie Horror

Posted on by Liz Griffiths

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Some horror games want to scare you. Look Outside wants to crawl under your skin, settle in, and remind you of just how fragile you are — and it succeeds beautifully.

This isn’t just another pixel-art “retro horror” release. Look Outside feels like a lost classic, the kind of eerie, rough-edged RPG you would have discovered on a dusty cartridge, wondering if you were even supposed to be playing it. It builds an atmosphere that oscillates constantly between suffocating dread and quiet, existential bleakness. Sometimes the horror is overt — grotesque imagery, creeping tension, monsters you shouldn’t be able to name — but just as often, it’s the silence, the emptiness, and the crushing weight of hopelessness that get to you.

Unlike many modern indie horror titles, Look Outside is a true RPG, not a lightly disguised visual novel. There’s a rich sense of agency here, both in how you approach exploration and in how your character develops. The game doesn’t hold your hand; in fact, it practically throws you into the deep end right off the jump. Systems and mechanics aren’t spoon-fed to you, and there’s a bit of a learning curve early on — but that’s part of what makes Look Outside so rewarding.

In Look Outside, you play as Sam, one of many denizens of a rundown apartment building. You don’t know much about the world outside the building, other than the fact that something has happened, causing anyone who looks outside to be transformed into horrifying and grotesque creatures. You don’t know who to trust (even the houseplant in your room seems a bit suspect) or where to turn (were the halls always this long and dark?), and your main objective seems to be to survive the horrors that lurk within the building’s walls. Beyond that, it’s up to you how Sam progresses through the days. Is your Sam a lone wolf, or does he find others to team up with? Is he more diplomatic, or does he shoot first and ask questions later? The game gives players no shortage of choices to make and paths to follow.

Every choice matters, often in subtle ways. The relationships you form with your party, the order in which you tackle objectives, and even seemingly insignificant actions, like what video games you play and what you make for dinner, can ripple out into unexpected consequences. It’s the kind of game that begs to be replayed, not just to see different outcomes, but to better understand its world — and maybe, if you’re lucky, escape it intact this time.

If you’re looking for cheap jump scares, this may not be your game. But if you want a horror experience that challenges you, unsettles you, and lingers long after you close the window, Look Outside is an unforgettable descent into the dark. It goes beyond its compelling visuals and bizarre cosmic horror story, forcing players to ruminate on their own morals, mortality, and what they would do to survive. It’s a deeply atmospheric, cleverly designed horror RPG that rewards patience, curiosity, and multiple playthroughs, not for the faint of heart, but an absolute must-play for those who want something hauntingly different and deeply unsettling.

Look Outside (2025) is available to purchase on Steam here.

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