DreadOut is an Indonesian indie survival horror game, developed by Digital Happiness for the Microsoft Windows platform. The first version of the game was officially released on the 3rd of April, 2013. The game is notable for being set in Indonesia, pulling inspiration from Indonesian mythology, and the development team residing in said country. DreadOut was a commercial success, having over an estimated 100,000 units sold on Steam, with reviews of said game having a "Very Positive" reception across over 4,000 reviews given by users on the platform, and enjoying an international player-base, which is a rarity among the Indonesian game development scene.
Description[]
Official Description[]
“ | When a group of high school students went astray from a field trip, they came across something totally unexpected. A town long forgotten trapped in a peaceful state of slumber. What they did not realize was what lurks within. And what seemed like an innocent stroll turns into disaster as the secluded town reveals its dark and terrible secrets. The presence of sinister forces from beyond their realm of existence.
It all comes down to Linda. She will experience stirrings of unfamiliar powers, emerging from within herself. These new found abilities might just be the only way she can save her own life and those of her friends. |
” |
–Dreadout Official Website |
Characters[]
- Linda Meilinda - The protagonist of the story and one of the high school students trapped in the abandoned village. She is shown to possess some supernatural powers.
- Shakira "Ira" Irawati - Linda's best friend.
- Shelly Angelia - A 'sassy' high school girl.
- Doni Maulana - A fun-loving high school boy.
- Yayan - A smart high school boy.
- Mariska "Siska" Gandasasmita - A kind and thoughtful teacher of the high school students.
Enemies[]
See More: Ghosts
- Ghosts - Specters haunting the abandoned village. They will attack Linda if encountered.
Plot[]
Act 0 - Prologue[]
In the Demo/Act I Prologue, a sleeping Linda wakes up in a rocking chair. Looking around, she finds herself in a dark room, where the player is given a chance to walk around and get used to the controls.Hearing her phone ring, she goes to retrieve it. She finds it on the floor and Linda finds that Ira was calling her. Answering her, Ira 's panicked voice asks for Linda's location, but then morphs into a demonic message. The phone switches to the Camera and Linda finds that she sees a Kuntilanak through the lens, which causes her to jump back in shock. Looking around, Linda begins to look for a way out. The player is once again given control and must walk towards the door to exit the building.
Outside, she sees Ira in the distance, but approaching her causes Linda to have a massive headache. Linda wanders through the town, haunted by the kuntilanak she had seen earlier. After finding out how to defeat the ghost with her camera, it leaves her alone. With her phone, she finds a hole in the wall and finds herself in a different part of the village . She enters a house where a Locusts begins to bother her, but she manages to get rid of it after she takes a picture of it.Linda then enters another house and finds a dead end with hanged bloody teddy bear in the room. Returning where she came, she finds Ira standing at the end of the hallway. Ira asks why Linda is here and the player is given a choice of what to answer.
Either way, it causes Ira to run off upstairs after telling Linda to follow her. Linda finds her facing a corner on the top floor. With Ira refusing to turn to her, Linda turns to leave, but then Ira morphs into a kuntilanak and "kills" Linda, which gives the player the first experience in the Limbo. After waking up from the apparent death, Linda hears crying and goes downstairs. Linda finds Ira crying, claiming that she couldn't leave the village. Ira then tells Linda she was the only one that could leave and that she needed to leave. She gives Linda the keys to the exit of the village.
Linda then goes outside, entering a graveyard and being attacked by two Pocong. Upon defeating them, she spies a set of three candles. After taking a picture of them with her camera, a battered and bloody body falls down from the sky and reaches out for her.
Linda then awakens, realizing that it was just a nightmare and finds Ira staring comfortingly at her in the car next to her.
Act I[]
Linda, awoken, is frightened after she experiences a strange dream (as seen in the demo). She is greeted by Ira, who smiles comfortingly at her. On the way home, the group ends up at a broken bridge. While Ms. Siska ponders on whether to find a way across or to go back the way they came and find another way, Doni finds a way to the other side and runs off. The player then has the decision to go ahead with Doni to explore the town or stay with Ms. Siska, Shelly, and Yayan at the entrance and explore the school with them. Ira will follow Linda in whatever decision she decides to make.
If Linda chooses to wait and observe the entrance with Ms. Siska, Shelly, and Yayan, they will arrive at the entrance of abandoned village, with the name of the village scratched out. Ms. Siska then decides to round everyone up and return to the car and back home since Doni had run in ahead afterwards. The group explores the town while trying to find Doni, where they finally meet up in front of an abandoned school.
If Linda chooses to go ahead in with Doni, he will briefly comment on how the village was abandoned, but nothing particularly special happens.
They approach the school, where Doni and Yayan run in to explore, followed by Ms. Siska and Shelly. Meanwhile, Ira and Linda sit on a bench outside while waiting for the others. Ira reminisces on the time she met Linda, much to Linda's displeasure and annoyance. After a sum amount of time, the two realize the group inside have been gone for too long. They then meet up back at the entrance, where Ms. Siska realizes that Yayan has gone missing. The group re-enters the abandoned school to look for Yayan, failing to notice Ira 's sudden strange erratic behavior.
Abruptly, darkness consumes the school and Linda suddenly finds herself alone in the dark and locked inside the school. Linda makes her way through a hallway where she finds the keys to the exit around a Babi Ngepet's neck. Avoiding the rampaging boar demon, she heads upstairs where she encounters a Sundel Bolong at the end of the hallway. After taking a picture of it's back, she defeats it, allowing her to continue on to search for the keys. Later she locates a locked closet, which she deems suspicious, and she decides to look for the key to unlock it.
After a clue from a mysterious photograph she had taken near the top of the collapsed stairs, she locates the closet key on the bottom floor and returns back to the closet and unlocks the door. Linda then enters an eerie room filled with mannequin heads with wigs and scissors hanging from wires. Upon approaching, the doll in the crib in the corner, she is attacked by the Scissor Phantom, who nearly cuts her head off using a large pair of scissors. Trapped in the room with the furious phantom, who believed that Linda was threatening it's 'child', Linda is forced into a grueling battle against the angry spirit. After defeating the Phantom, it drops a pair of scissors. With the scissors, she goes to cut the rope of the Babi Ngepet 's neck after finding it asleep in one part of the school.
Linda goes to the exit to unlock the door so she can escape, but is blocked off from going to the entrance using the other hallway or using the stairs by an invisible force. She is suddenly pulled into an endless hallway with a Demit Lorong coming closer and closer to her position, no matter where she runs. Using her IrisPhone she manages to find a hidden door in one of the hallways and escapes before the ghost can get to her (if the player fails to go through the hidden door before the Demit Lorong comes, Linda will be killed and transported to the Limbo. After being revived, the player is then given a chance to go through the hidden door to escape the endless hallway.
Finally making it to the exit, she is suddenly knocked down by the Mysterious Lady in Red, who blocks the entrance with a sticky white substance. Linda runs away, going through various corridors to escape her, ending back at the exit again. The Lady then sends Locusts to attack Linda, disarming her from attacking using her camera, but Linda makes her way back to the exit again. One more time, The Lady throws rats onto Linda, where the young girl is disoriented from moving correctly. Linda makes it back, seemingly defeating the Mysterious Lady in Red with her camera.
Linda finally unlocks the Exit, looking frantically around before shutting the door and possibly making her way to escape. However, a mysterious ghost appears in the entrance, looking menacingly at the camera before the words 'To be Continued' appears.
Act II[]
Linda frantically escapes the school and finds herself in a courtyard; however after walking around a bit, Linda realizes that she was boxed in by the walls around her. After a moment of wandering around aimlessly, she is attacked by Tuyuls. She attempts to fight them off, but they overwhelm her, taking both her red bag and her phone. The Tuyuls escape with both objects and Linda goes to try get them back.
While on the way to find the tuyuls who took her bag and weapon, Linda comes across Doni. She attempts to talk to him, but Doni knocks her away. Realizing that her friend is posessed, Linda frantically scrambles away. After a brief chase through the village, Linda manages to block off her posessed friend by hooking an umbrella in the door so it would hold him back. Arming herself with only an umbrella, Linda tries to find a way to escape. Before a few moments, she is attacked by Doni again, who has caught up with her. After hitting him with the umbrella she escapes into a train station.
After a grueling cat and mouse game with Doni, she finally manages to escape into a train car, only to be cornered by Doni. A mysterious ghost chokes Linda, first through Doni, then with it's own hands. After Linda nearly dies from choking, she manages to escape into the next car, where derbis manages to protect her from the Ghost and from Doni. While watching the derbis falling, the Ghosts posesses Doni again, only to crack his neck, killing him, in which Linda cries in shock over her dead friend.
Linda miserably gets up with a heavy heart, trying to keep herself together, despite the fact that she couldn't save her friend. After walking a short distance, Linda collapses, obviously depressed over Doni's death and unable to continue. She falls asleep for a short moment before a mysterious hand grabs her wrist waking her up. It is revealed that one of the deceased corpses in the train car has woken her up, giving Linda the opportunity to use the SLR, an abandoned Camera. Standing up, Linda hears the sounds of her IrisPhone taking pictures and goes to retrieve it.
Turning around, Linda finds the Tuyuls playing once again with her bag and phone near the exit of the train car. She chases the Tuyuls away with the SLR and goes to retrieve her belongings. Before she could exit the train car, the Tuyul boss appears and after a brief fight, Linda retrieves both her bag and her phone and exits the car.
She enters a cave and exits the other side, only for the sun to rise, much to her surprise. Linda stumbles upon a seemingly safe heaven with other women around and a watchful guardian above keeping watch. After sensing a supernatural vibe, Linda manages to solve the puzzle regarding the three candles and when it suddenly becomes night again, Linda knew something was wrong. A path opens up and Linda walks across it, finding the supposedly benevolent guardian floating in front of her. Taking a picture of the guardian, it reveals itself to be the Pocong Radja and a Boss Battle ensues. After a grueling battle with the Pocong, Linda is picked up by the creature. Doing nothing, LInda watches the Pocong Radja perish and she gets up, only to be confronted by the Mysterious Lady in Red. Despite her efforts to defeat the Lady in Red, Linda is soon overwhelmed and sent to the Limbo.
Linda wakes up to find herself in a different place from where she passed out and decides to follow the path. After a moment or two of walking, Linda stumbles upon a Medical Firm, where she hears crying. She observes a strange bulk of clothing that is crying, but is elated to find out that it was just Shelly, who had hidden herself away. Shelly is elated to find Linda and immediately hugs her, quickly asking for the whereabouts of her friends. With Shelly talking too fast, Linda finds herself unable to answer the question and hears mysterious footsteps approaching.
Linda puts herself between Shelly and the mysterious footsteps, ready to defend her friend and nervously awaits the newcomer. A hand appears in the doorway and Linda prepares to defend both herself and Shelly, only revealed to be Ms. Siska, who is injured. The teacher briefly states Linda and Shelly's name and collapses, leading to Shelly and Linda helping Ms. Siska recover.
Ms. Siska later asks Linda to find Ira. Leaving Ms. Siska and Shelly in the Medical Firm, Linda finds and chases Ira, who's still possessed by the "Third Sister", into a room in an abandoned small house. There, Linda has a conversation with the possessed Ira in which Linda tries to get the Third Sister to let Ira go. The conversation will determine Ira's fate, If Linda says something which upset the Third Sister, she will kill Ira.
The Third Sister, who refuse to let Ira go, claimed that Linda knew nothing about her best friend and that it was pitiful that she didn't even know her phone number. Linda is able to prove her wrong if the player inputs the right phone number found in Act 0. However, it The Third sister still doesn't want to let Ira go and she attacks Linda and make her unconscious. Linda soon awake, still inside the house, but unable to re-enter the room where she had conversation with the possessed Ira. Taking a Mansion Key given by the Third Sister (even though the conversation ended with Ira's death, the Key will still be there).
Returning to the Medical Firm, Linda finds Shelly is already killed and Ms. Siska is nowhere to be found. After mourning Shelly's death, Linda heads to the mansion and encounter the Second Sister again. After defeating the ghost in the mirror hallway, Linda faces the Second Sister after she attempt to open a main door in the first floor. After defeating her for second time, Linda now can enter the door which lead her into a room with a big mirror with fake reflection in it. In the "duplicate room" Linda finds a key which can be used to open the dress room where she will face the Second Sister for one last time.
After eventually defeat the Second Sister, the mirror in the room will be broken, revealing a secret room which lead Linda into Lady In Red/the First Sister's room. There, while Linda sitting in front of a mirror, The First Sister approaches her from behind, taunting her. Linda then dragged by her own reflection (possibly made by Lady in Red's power) in to the mirror.
Linda then regains her consciousness and find that she has returned to the abandoned school. From here, Linda has two choices: enter the school to battle Lady in Red and Demit Pintu or leave the school and escape the town. The choice will determine her fate at the ending.
Ending 1: Wrong Turn[]
Linda escapes through the Village exit, running frantically away from the village. Eventually she runs into some police officers, who were presumably looking for her missing group after failure to return home from the field trip. Exhausted, Linda reports to the officers, who decide to send her home via one of the patrol cars.
On the way home, the Mysterious Lady in Red suddenly appears in front of the car, causing the patrol car to crash, leading to the death of both the police officer and Linda.
Ending 2: The End is the Beginning is the End[]
Linda collapses and Ms. Siska comes over, holding a strange bundle and has a strange wound on her neck. She whispers something in Linda's ear before walking away. While she is walking away, it is revealed that the baby she is holding is actually a baby snake. Upon realizing so, Linda feels sick and throws up.
Sometime later, Linda is shown to have somehow escaped to society, now having shoulder length hair instead of her ponytail and a completely new attire. She walks along the streets of a city listening to something on her headset, seemingly controlling the people she passes by. Linda stops at a bus stop and looks at the camera, taking off her head set where she slightly winces in pain. She open her eyes and Linda stares at the straight ahead, her skin growing paler and her eyes glowing red.
However, if Linda manages to prevent Ira's death, instead of listening to the ending music, it is revealed that Linda is actually listening Ira's voice mail, having listened to it at least 2208 times, supposedly to suppress her new powers. Ira tells Linda that it was their turn to be keepers of the darkness. Realizing that her powers were leaking and she was subconsciously controlling the darkness in other people, Linda opens her headsets, accepting her fate as the new Lady in Red.
Voice Actors[]
Cast | Role |
---|---|
English Voice Actors | |
Heidi Tabing | Linda Meilinda |
Amber Lee Connors | Shakira "Ira" Irawati |
Jill Harris | Shelly Angelia |
River Kanoff | Doni Maulana |
Justin Briner | Yayan |
Dahlia Lynn | Mariska "Siska" Gandasasmita |
Nick Landis | Babi Ngepet |
Amanda Gonzalez | Sundel Bolong |
Scott Frerichs | Scissor Phantom |
Curtis Arnott | Demit Lorong |
Indonesian Voice Actors | |
Ochi Rosdiana | Shakira "Ira" Irawati |
Natasha Wilona | Mariska "Siska" Gandasasmita |
Gameplay[]
- Main article: DreadOut (Game)/Gameplay
The player controls Linda, a high school student with some supernatural powers. The player is equipped with modern gadgets, such as a phone or camera, as the only way to fight the ghosts. When switching to use the Camera, the game will switch to first-person point of view. The camera also functions as the prime way to solve puzzles, which can only be seen through the camera. Linda can also interact with certain objects around the game.
Depending on what Linda is close to, there will either be a Red or Blue Vignette. A Red Vignette will tell the player that Linda senses a hostile ghost nearby. She will also switch from a normal stance to a more careful and hesitant one. When there is a Blue Vignette, it means that something or someone of importance is nearby.
There are two different type of damage that Linda can experience: Mental and Physical. When a ghost attacks Linda mentally, Linda will hold her head with her hands as if she has a headache. When being attacked Physically, she will usually be knocked down/back. Depending on how the strong the ghost is, the mental and physical damage may vary.
Battling is conducted by how well Linda can snap a picture of the ghost. When Linda is close enough to the ghost to damage it, the camera screen will glitch, which will prompt the player to take the shot. Ghosts in the game usually have a weak spot, which can only be seen through the camera. Depending on which type of ghost it is, the weak spots may vary and is usually tied in with the lore behind the ghost.
Videos[]
Official Trailers[]
- Main article: DreadOut (Game)/Trailers
Gallery[]
Artworks[]
- See more, DreadOut (Game)/Artworks
Trading Cards[]
- See more, DreadOut (Game)/Steam Trading Cards
Trivia[]
- The letter "O" in DreadOut vaguely resembles the Ouroboros symbol in Greek Mythology. Ouroboros represents self-reflexivity or the idea that something constantly re-creating itself.