Out of Sight preview

There is a trend in horror gaming in recent years, where the role of the survivor is put into the shoes of a child. Which makes logical sense, as even a fully grown man alone in a scary environment is utterly terrifying, let alone a child. But why not add another layer of tension here and have the child unable to see the terrors around them as they try and escape their confines? Why not have their only hope be a stuffed friend who can grant the child vision from their eyes, and thus, a glimmer of hope is presented for escape? 

If this sounds intriguing as a horror fan, then Out of Sight might just be the game for you! Here’s a preview of the upcoming horror title where a cuddly toy is the only hope for a child trapped in a dangerous world.


What is Out of Sight?

Out of Sight is an atmospheric horror, where you play as Sophie, a young blind girl who is trapped within a sinister mansion by her captors. Sophie is able to see through the eyes of a beloved stuffed bear, and together they can escape from the mansion before a sinister ritual is conducted.

As far as horror games go, the setup has all the typical tropes you would see in any B-Horror game or film. But with the addition of Sophie being blind, and her friend Teddy being her eyes, quite literally, this makes for a compelling twist in the horror tale. The goal is to escape, but Sophie must navigate her surroundings, solving puzzles and evading her captors through a mix of first and second-person perspectives, as Teddy can be held to act as Sophie’s eyes in first-person view. But Teddy can also be placed in certain spots around the world to act as a sort of fixed camera, while Sophie interacts and solves puzzles.


A Teddy Bear is always your best friend

Out of Sight presents an incredibly gripping concept for a horror game, with the bear being your eyes, and the perspective changing from first to a fixed camera/second, adding a nice dynamic overall. I like that the bear is Sophie’s eyes and placing him to view the aerial spaces and acting like a fixed camera is cool, but it also added a nice layer of tension switching between the two.

I could sense the benefits and constraints for this concept and so far, it has proven correct. The first-person perspective works as you would expect, just with Teddy’s feet in frame (aww), and the fixed camera working a treat for simply puzzle solving, with room for innovation and new dynamics to come into play.

What I have seen so far for the puzzle solving is a lot of “place Teddy down to get an overview of the room. Move object, move Teddy to a new point, move another object, get the key or lever to move to the next area”. As Teddy is limited in where he can go, it presents an interesting challenge, but also a massive constraint for the camera, and what we can do within a singular space. Unlike old horror games like Resident Evil, where the camera was fixed, but moved, we don’t get a massive overview of the area unless we move Teddy and doing that too many times can become tedious since you have to carry him there and back. So, the developers have gone for smaller spaces with Teddy being fixed in one or two locations for each section. But the main puzzles have been simple, as explained above.

However, a couple of moments which break up the pacing and inject some variety into the concept. Such as a moment where I had to place Teddy down to reach something, and one of the antagonists was making their way into the room. Unable to get to Teddy, I had to get Sophie to safety and hide behind a closed wardrobe door, as the antagonist wandered in and looked around. It was terrifying and worked against the other puzzle moments rather well.

Another section saw me placing Teddy on a moving platform, and I had to keep in his line of sight as I navigated past the other antagonist as she was looking around the area Sophie was stuck in. Again, a great moment that made the most of the concept. Hoping there will be many more of these moments, and maybe even working the two styles together to create expanded lateral segments which aren’t just moving one object after another, without some tension or stakes.

The only section I truly felt the concept didn’t work was a chase sequence, which is seen in many horror games, and normally from the view of the character. In this one, Sophie was seen by one of the antagonists and grabbed Teddy from her hands. Sophie then runs off with the antagonist in pursuit, with Teddy seeing it all. We control Sophie as she moves forward, with Teddy following up from behind her. I appreciate we can see forward and see what is coming up, but we also must wait for Teddy’s view as he’s held by the bad guy, and if we go forward to much, then there’s a bit of catching up to do. Plus, Teddy’s view in the chase did become quite obscured and made my path very difficult to see.

You can turn off the shaking camera effect (thank Jesus, I could turn it off) and this does help. But the slow movement, constant turns and twists, and the high up view of Teddy in the chase just didn’t work all that well. It either needs to be from Sophie, or steady as Teddy (that rhymes!) is on a conveyer belt, or someone is carrying Teddy in front of Sophie, but again, it’s a steady cam approach.

That being said, I do love the concept, and found it so far to add a lot of tension, and a good change in how we could be interactive with the world and solve problems. It works incredibly well for the most part, but it’s all depending on where Teddy is and who has Teddy. The chase sequence was okay, but it was nearly too disorientating for me, and the fixed placement of Teddy could lead to some repetition in puzzle designs, possibly.

But in terms of horror and tension, it worked beautifully.


This isn’t Goldie Locks and the three bears!

As for the vibes and presentation of Out of Sight, it has me invested in Sophie’s plight and her journey to escape with Teddy. What has come out from the story is interesting, as it appears Sophie is one of many children who were trapped in the mansion and sadly met their demise. This does raise the stakes, and ensures that unnerving feeling of dread, as Sophie is truly in danger with her captors roaming around.

While I didn’t see any documentation, there were enough visual and environmental clues that led to a sinister mystery at the heart of the mansion. Spooky sightings of ghostly children, some of them helpful, others not so much, and the speaking of the captors to one another led me to understand what was happening and why it was, for the most part. Whether more will be revealed, I hope so. I don’t expect an underground lab where a virus has broken out, but I do hope more twists and turns are introduced, and maybe a shift to new areas, expanding the mystery and misery here.

And honestly, I absolutely adored Sophie and Teddy, with the voice actor being utterly charming, and her bond with Teddy just being incredibly sweet, that you would have a be a cold, cold b****** to not have a shred or remorse of compassion for Sophie and Teddy.

I like the world, and sense of misery here and doing it all through visual ques and the environment is a nice change from reading countless documents.


Overall first impressions?

My hour or so with Out of Sight proved to be quite electrifying. The concept of seeing the world through a Teddy Bear and controlling a blind girl navigating a dangerous horror environment was utterly dread-inducing and exciting. Sophie and Teddy make a darling pair for a horror game, and I loved the world they were trapped in, feeling incredibly spooky, eerie and Gothically unnerving.

The switch between first person and a fixed second person camera did elevate the tension even further, and introduced a nice twist to puzzle solving, and exploration. There are clearly some limitations present even in the first hour, with certain puzzle mechanics repeating themselves a little too often even in the preview, and the high-octane chase sequence, which we see in many horror games, didn’t work as well as I hoped for.

Still, there is bound to be much more to see through the eyes of Teddy, and for Sophie to do to escape her horrific situation, and we will review the game in full when it releases on May 22nd. There is a demo live for you to play on Steam, and Out of Sight will also launch for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

What worked so far?

Some neat ideas for set pieces and puzzles
I do love Sophie and the bear as characters, and the environment, villains, and vibes are spooky good
The fixed camera does provide some fair amount of limitations

What didn't worked so far?

A lot of puzzles become a bit repetitive, going down the same formula of place bear down, move box, move something else, move bear, pull lever
One chase sequence’s camera was quite annoying and didn’t work all that well
The game wraps up too quickly, and leaves a lot to be desired for expanded gameplay mechanics and puzzles

Overall, it was quite enjoyable, if not a little short, and left more to be desired from the awesome concept.

The publisher provided a preview code of Out of Sight