Look Outside

[b]Look Outside[/b] [b]Developer[/b]: Francis Coulombe [b]Publisher[/b]: Devolver Digital [b]Introduction[/b] ========== This game surprised me like no other game ever has. I found it randomly on Bluesky, from a post by the developer. I have no idea how that post got onto my feed (maybe a repost by a follower?) but I'm glad it did. I think it was some pixel art the dev had made, and the style and incredible detail of it drew my eye. Looking at his profile I found a Steam Store link to the game, and at the price it was asking I couldn't say no. $10 is an absolute steal for this. Look Outside is a horror RPG, where you play as Sam - a normal guy in an apartment building just trying to live his life. At the beginning of the game, Sam wakes up and is greeted by his neighbor from a hole in the wall. Apparently this building is in a state of much disrepair. The neighbor suggests you go look outside your window. You can go look if you want, but that's the quickest ending you can get (and an achievement). If you wait a bit though, the voice will finally say "wait...no, don't look" as crazy things have been going on outside of the building. Your neighbor goes on to say that they heard that whatever's going on should pass in about 15 days, so your major goal is to survive inside the building for 15 days, without looking outside for any reason. Okay, cool. Neat premise that presents a huge mystery that piques your curiosity. It drives you to WANT to know what's outside, and if you did look and catch that fast ending, you'll definitely want to learn more. For the remainder of this review, I will do my best to not spoil anything. [b]Gameplay[/b] ========== Look Outside features a pretty simple gameplay loop. Sam wakes up every morning and is presented with several choices. He can cook food, play video games, do crossword puzzles, or muster up his courage and explore the building. You're free to do whatever you please, even if you just want to stay in the apartment. But you won't learn anything that way. Occasionally while in your apartment, you'll hear a knock at your door. Looking through the peephole will give you a little preview of who is at the door, but it's greyed out, ambiguous. As a general rule I'll advise you to exercise caution with answering your door, however this is one way to recruit new characters to live with you and join your party, which makes exploring the building easier. Stepping out of your apartment is where things get interesting. As the days pass, more and more rooms in the building become available to access, and you are free to go explore. Each room has a general theme, and you'll quickly figure it out. You'll meet interesting characters as well as enemies. You'll find items and equipment to help you survive. You'll find food and other items to help keep Sam's spirits up, which do have an effect on his overall well being. When you're done exploring, you should return to your apartment to rest and get a chunk of EXP based on how long you were out. This is shown with a gauge at the bottom of the screen as you're exploring. The longer you're out, the more danger your in, and the more EXP you get. Stay out too long, and powerful terrifying enemies begin to appear. Be careful!! When you finally engage in combat, you'll find it's a very simple turn-based system. You choose actions for your party, and then those actions (as well as your opponent's) play out. Each character you recruit has their own special abilities that makes them stand out, but not all are created equal. However, a full party is better than Sam being alone to face the horrors of what awaits him. Depending on your choices, you'll end up at one of several endings. If you paid attention during the game and explored everything you could get to, you may have deduced what's going on outside, and that revelation is at the center of every ending. Therefore, I will not say here and spoil it for you. You'll have to play and discover it for yourself! [b]Graphics[/b] ========== I've watched some of the dev's streams, where he works on the art of this game and one of his other projects, and I have to say he's one of the best pixel artists I've ever seen. He nails the vibe of the game perfectly with everything he draws. The designs are interesting and creative, and they just ooze charm. I was super impressed with the work he did on this game, and the attention to detail and dedication he's shown really shines in this game. Bosses are where you'll be impressed the most. Also terrified. Very terrified. And maybe grossed out, as there is a lot of body horror in this game. It's extremely well done though. [b]Sound and Music[/b] ========== I absolutely love the soundtrack for this game. It's perfect. It easily sets the tone and vibes for everywhere you go in the apartment building. Whether that's making the player uneasy or cautious, or trying to invoke fear, anxiety, or even panic. It's top-notch. I always say that the soundtrack of a game is more than half of the immersion. One of my favorite tracks is "Vacant". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtPScDUKO-o Another is "Ride to Hell", which is actually a boss theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV7aw2irkFI Speaking of, that boss was the most amazing and memorable experience!!! I'll never forget how that fight, this music, and the writing for it made me feel. [b]Performance[/b] ========== I had zero issues with this game, and it ran perfectly. No crashes, no frame loss, no input lag, nothing. I played full screen and with a controller, which was plug n play and worked perfectly without any tedious setup. Being an RPG Maker game, I don't foresee anyone really having any issues running Look Outside. [b]Final Thoughts[/b] ========== I am SO glad I stumbled upon this game. It was one of the best gaming experiences I had in 2025. I'd rank it in the Top 5 of games I played last year, alongside Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Kingdoms of the Dump (which Francis also worked on!!!), Expedition 33, and Visions of Mana. If you like RPGs, or horror games, you need to try out Look Outside. For the price it goes for, you really have nothing to lose! [b]Final Verdict:[/b] ========== A Must Play

Fantastic RPG with sometimes frustrating level design, but all its positives make up for it. To get the criticism out of the way: I don't like the progression path of Floor 1 -> Landlord's Apartment -> Sewers -> Meat World, it is a wild chain of labyrinthine map designs, each progressively more annoying to fully clear than the one before it. I understand having one map that is a pain to navigate but four of them back to back, that's too much. Everything else about them -like art direction, sound design, enemies, rewarding exploration- that's all fine, I am talking strictly about level design. With that said, that's my only real criticism of LO, everything else could be considered a nitpick. The atmosphere is incredible. Interesting set pieces, scripted and random events, and sound design all blend together to create many creepy scenarios. I do wish the initial sense of mystery you start with -where you don't have a concrete idea of what is going on- could last longer than an hour at most. As it is, the game makes it abundantly clear very early on that what you see is what you get. The art design is fantastic. Lovely pixel art and body horror that is often mixed with goofy elements to lighten the vibe, that makes running into new enemies so much fun. I was so surprised with just how many unique designs there are, it would've been so easy for the devs to just recolor existing assets, bump their stats a bit and call them "new content" like all RPGs do but no, there's a constant stream of unique encounters all the way to the end of the game and I appreciate that. Lots of variety in how you can play, NPCs to interact with and combat that can often be skipped to unlock new companions. immersive features like needs like Hunger and Sleep, there is time management and many different playstyles and goals you can pursue, most of which lead to different quirky endings. You can straight up ignore the apocalypse by waiting out the 15 days in your apartment - just eat, sleep, play video games, do crossword challenges, meet people through door encounters and more. Speaking of variety, here comes my favorite thing about Look Outside - the "fake" endings. Game over screens in Look Outside are quite elaborate, with neat ending slides and narration. There are so many of them that you can run into, even as early as the start of a playthrough. Being a little too curious, giving hugs to questionable individuals, messing with photographers, being taken for a car ride, enjoying crosswords a bit too much, reading things you shouldn't and just so much variety in how your journey can end. The combat is very standard turn-based stuff although I will say, it can be annoying at times. The "Stunned" affliction doesn't even work most of the time, enemies attack and cast skills even through it, especially bosses. It feels kind of cheesy at times when your characters can't do the same. Still, the overall experience is fun. The soundtrack is amazing. Eric Shumaker and Noncollision Obj have done an outstanding job, so much so that I had to look up their other works - for anyone interested, unfortunately Noncollision seems to be a fake alias, the composer opted for anonymity. While I can appreciate Eric Shumaker's bops, Non's tracks lean heavily into theming - Iron Crown, Beautiful but Wrong, Dissociation etc. all have such a unique sound to them that somehow fits their encounters perfectly, very impressive work. All in all amazing game with level design that can be fairly frustrating at times but everything else more than makes up for it. At 10€ this bad boy is a steal, this could easily be double the price and still be worth it.

What an amazing game, this really is a hidden gem of 2025. If you are looking for a JRPG-style horror game, enjoy games such as Fear & Hunger, and polished RPG maker games, then give this one a try. A lot of the horror here comes mostly from body horror and the cosmic horror atmosphere. There is also a lot of survival horror mechanics (if you play on normal difficulty), where you have to manage your resources more, even saving! Like in old Resident Evil games. The pixel art in this game is incredible. What a beautiful art style, which can be quite shocking with the body horror. I loved all the designs; a lot of them are very creepy. There are so many unique creatures and encounters in this game; almost every room has some new-looking enemy sprites. The OST is pretty good as well, and it fits well with the atmosphere. The save system in this game is also so unique. I have not seen anything like this, where you get more rewards the longer you go on without saving. The only downsides I would say are that the battles are very basic, it's your classic JRPG, you have health, stamina (mana), and just attack, use stamina, and heal after battle. But I think the variety of enemies you meet really makes up for it. If you have even a slight interest in this game, go and pick it up without looking up any spoilers; it's a really worthwhile and unique experience.

[h1]Description[/h1] [b]Look Outside[/b] is a turn-based survival horror role-playing game. It was made with RPG Maker but with so many added features and bespoke assets it is genuinely hard to tell. You wake up with a weird urge to look outside... and quickly learn that anyone who does so turns into a monster. You have 15 days to figure out what to do. You can recruit teammates, explore the building, solve puzzles, fight an impressive array of unique and horrifying monsters, play video games, cook meals, craft items, the list goes on and on. Interesting time system: it only advances when doing activities in your own apartment or when discovering a new area. There are 13 different endings depending on your choices (not counting the various premature game overs). [h1]Pros[/h1] [list] [*] Peculiar retro art style with perfect eldritch vibes [*] Excellent retro soundtrack [*] Stellar monster design [*] Huge replayability [*] Clever story with very satisfying plot twists ([spoiler]the final piece of knowledge which you must kill Sybil to obtain floored me because it made sense, was worth the build-up, and tied up most loose ends[/spoiler]) [*] Impressive body horror and cosmic horror content [*] Rewarding exploration, with a ton of secrets to uncover [*] No filler content or petty fetch quests [/list] [h1]Cons[/h1] [list] [*] Punishing difficulty even in the easiest mode (Explorer) [*] Steep learning curve unless you use guides [*] Bleak atmosphere, sad events, and mostly horrible endings, YMMV [*] No map system when rarely has the need for one been felt more intensely [/list] [h1]Verdict[/h1] Look Outside is a gift that keeps on giving. If you're into JRPGs, survival horror, or retro gaming, you owe it to yoursef to play this gem. At full price (10€) it's a total steal. On sale... what are you waiting for?! [i]Look outside... it's beautiful.[/i]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ love this game. i picked it up and couldn't put it back down. the art is gorgeous with some seriously creative monster designs, and the overall experience of exploring the apartment, unlocking new areas and discovering the secrets in each dungeon, was so fun and absorbing. i recommend going into this as blind as possible.

我说这游戏太牛逼了，所有人要是没玩过这日子简直是白活了。42块钱能有那么多的剧情、画面、音乐、地图内容和多周目的冲动，我说值了，简直太值了。 简直是天才来的能想出那么多怪物的模样，都好萌好涩情啊我实在是太喜欢了，每个npc都很有特点，大家都好萌！？恐怖氛围也很给力。好想要美术设定集，出了一定强力支持！！！ 虽然我现在只有一周目不过[spoiler]鼠宝宝好萌虽然我没有带着它，莱尔你是男同吧？！那么想亲山姆，西比尔和珍妮也好萌好喜欢你们TT……牙齿小孩没招募到，敲门事件也没遇到战神，二周目我试试。情书那个，钻眼睛里好惊艳啊好喜欢，虽然你是不是骗了我！欧内斯特我还不知道怎么招募但是老头你也很萌。地下室停车场有点恐怖了，我真的能打得过吗！？不过我好像还是有很多npc没有遇到过……[/spoiler] 好想见到访客啊，访客快来地球吧等你❤️

Amazing art, story, dialogue, writing, insane soundtrack, and easily the best depiction of cosmic horror i've ever seen in any form of media. 10/10 would look outside again

作为一个非RPG爱好者（曾有过打RPG游戏睡着的经历），本是冲着游戏克系的美术设计购入的，肢体变异和不可名状的怪物配上完美的像素画风看得人太爽了，好涩情......打了几个小时后才发现这游戏惊人得好玩且异常耐玩，能让人沉浸到世界观设定中，某些交互选项更是让人看了不得不感叹一句“神人山姆”（褒义）。人物设计也好可爱，但是敲门事件还是太随机了，好多NPC都没碰到，为什么大家不能都来当我的翅膀！一周目打完了感觉还有好多事没做，15天还是太短了。 总之就是太好吃了，不知道为什么越吃越饱.jpg

It truly goes beyond just being a hopeless game. There's sooo many morbidly wholesome moments, and depending on the type of player you are, it's so easy to become almost maternally attached to every little character you encounter. LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS GAME <3

I played this game for 3 hours & I already love it. There are many reasons why I love it, but I wanted to point out how cool it is to have a game where you can be stinky if you don't shower & you can keep cockroaches as pets. I rarely see quality games with elements from my life-style. But please, allow us to save more regularly. I had to restart day 2 at least 6 times & I was on the verge of losing my mind.