Outbreak: Contagious Memories Review

Outbreak: Contagious Memories tells the story of Lydia who awakens in an abandoned warehouse after being knocked unconscious. As her fellow survivors debate leaving her behind, she takes the lead to find a way out of the city in order to survive this nightmare.

Outbreak: Contagious Memories is a third person survival horror homage to classic early games of the genre such as early Resident Evil and Silent Hill games. You’ll roam around various areas of the city, finding helpful resources such as plants for healing (I wonder where they got that from), weapons, ammo and puzzles to solve in order to progress.

When starting up the game, you can choose playing with 3D controls or the good old classic tank controls for a more accurate experience. Overall, the controls are fine. Although running as been delegated to the right trigger (when not in aiming mode). If you have the reflex to press on the left joystick to run, it switches the game into photo mode… which unnecessary for this game (more on that below).

You’ll come across repair kits that can be used to improve your weapons. You’re also able to craft more ammo thanks to gunpowder and reloading tool. Combat is bad. The knife is utterly useless as enemies can kill you while you take a single swing (yes the health is that low/weak). Shooting is ok at best. I can’t even tell if there’s an auto-aim. It happened maybe like twice out of 30 times where it auto-targeted the closest enemy. Otherwise, she was aiming at the ground for some reason. If you don’t distance yourself from the closest enemy, you’re automatically dead. And yeah, there’s no quick turn.

The game looks…. like a game I guess? Sure they are worst looking games out there, but this looks way too generic and lack the detail of other games in the same genre. PS1 era Resident Evil games had more definition and details compared to Outbreak: Contagious Memories. The developer should’ve focus on fine tuning the visuals instead of inserting a photo mode because I suspect not many gamers shared photos of this game. The voice over work is laughable (worst than having a Jill sandwich) and the soundtrack sounds like a stock (very forgettable) score. It’s decent, but nothing that adds to the ambiance.

So the first problem is the movement. When the protagonist walks, it feels like you’re walking through quicksand. When you run, it feels like you’re drunk. The shooting mechanic is wonky at best, enemies are absolute bullet sponges; even headshots won’t register. At least in RE games (classic and remakes), head shots do more damage. Here? Nothing. Like shooting elsewhere on the body. Oh god the loading times. Pick up a weapon? Loading. Launch a cutscene? Loading. End a cutscene? Loading.

While you can switch between from over the shoulder camera, fixed camera or first person perspective, none of them make the game enjoyable or feels rights. The over the shoulder is way too close to the character, where the fixed camera (unlike games it takes inspiration from) leaves you open to damage because it wasn’t coded by taking into consideration enemies roaming around. There’s also no manual reload meaning you can’t reload anytime you want. So if you have like 2 bullets left in the chamber, you need to waste the bullets to reload to a full clip so you don’t get screwed during your next encounter.

Even if you’re a die hard fan of the genre or classic RE-like experiences, do not waste your money or time with Outbreak: Contagious Memories. While I can certainly appreciate the effort because I’m still a huge fan of the classic survival horror games (the Resident Evils, the Silent Hills and any other similar one offs), but Outbreak: Contagious Memories is borderline unplayable. I’m baffled anyone would find this appropriate to release in this state; it feels like an alpha version. Lots of potential wasted. Easy pass.