The Outlast series is one of the most disturbing and terror-inducing productions in gaming history. A big part of what makes this the case – apart from the immersive environment, eldritch lore, and eerie soundtracks – is the petrifying cast of villains Red Barrels employs. Here we’ll discuss 10 of the best (or worst) villains in the series. Spoilers ahead!
Laird
A twisted individual who acts as one of the main villains in Outlast 2, Laird is the leader of a cult that believes crucifying you, the protagonist, is the only way to rid them of their physical deformities. If that isn’t repulsive enough, he even pours his blood down your throat to confirm you as the messiah and chases you down recklessly while mounted on one of his followers. In addition, he also believes that your camera is some form of modern Gospel; it just keeps getting worse.
The deformed leader of The Scalled
Laird is the perfect representation of the religious-based horror that Outlast 2 aims to target. He shows how religious fanaticism can lead to horrifying consequences. When I was eventually captured by Laird and hoisted up on a cross to be ‘crucified,’ it was one of the most disturbing and terrifying moments in the game for me as the nails were hammered into me, and I could only scream out in agony. Needless to say, I was a relieved man when I managed to escape from the cross and flee Laird and his deranged cult.
The Twins
The first thing that catches every single Outlast player off guard about these guys is the fact that they are completely nude. What then adds to the apprehension is that while they might appear otherwise completely deranged, they discuss the violent monstrosities they will do to you like two neighbors talking about the weather. These acts include ripping off and eating various parts of your body.
At least they give you a headstart
A key distinction from the other villains in this list is that they pursue you together in their chase sequences. This shook me to my core quite a few times as when I would see one twin in front of me, I would quickly turn around to go the other way I came, only to find myself in the palms of the other twin, who would then shred me to bits. This sure added an interesting – albeit terrifying- twist to the game. It was also off-putting to see that they treated you like a plaything, even giving you a head start before chasing you down.
Leland Coyle
He is one of the main villains in The Outlast Trials. An extremely violent, psychotic police officer who roams the corridors of the facility equipped with his electrical baton, Leland Coyle, will stop at nothing to dish out pain, and he will enjoy it. He sees punishing people as a form of justice for their ‘sins’ and does this in the most gruesome way possible by electrocuting them to death.
I’d stay away from that baton
What makes him a truly terrifying character is the fact that he is so real. Leland Coyle isn’t a deformed monster like Chris Walker or Laird; he could be that one police officer you know down the street. Pretty disturbing right? I think that’s exactly what Red Barrels is trying to accomplish with this new character in their latest entry.
Frank Manera
A highly deranged individual with a depraved inclination for flesh and blood, Frank Manera, along with Eddie Gluskins, was one of the primary villains of the Outlast: Whistleblower DLC. While perhaps not as unsettling as Eddie, Frank’s thirst for cannibalism scared the living daylights out of me.
Get sawed or cooked alive? Pick your poison.
He chases you down, drenched in the blood of his victims. When he eventually catches you, he considers the idea of cooking you alive in a furnace instead of just slicing you open with his demonic buzzsaw. Yikes! While you do eventually manage to escape him, the thought of being locked up in that furnace will haunt you for the rest of the game, or at least it did for me.
Father Loutermilch
Louthermilch is a disgusting paedophile in Outlast 2. He is one of the primary antagonists of the story and features heavily in the school segments experienced by Blake in his hallucinations. It’s clear he is responsible for something traumatic during Blake’s childhood that still haunts him to this day. Later, we discover that he murdered his friend Jessica. The vile Father Loutermilch is a manipulative individual who coldly murders Jessica and stages her death as a suicide.
The demonic priest
While Father Louthermilch was terrifying as it was, it was the demonic form he took later on in the game that truly made him a menacing character. A bloodied monster with a twisted, elongated tongue, I nearly got a heart attack while running in the dimly lit corridors of the school building. Unlike most of the other villains in this list, what set him apart was the fact that he wasn’t outright evil; instead, he posed as a pious priest, concealing his vile nature behind a facade, which was represented in Blake’s hallucinations as his demonic form.
Mother Gooseberry
Mother Gooseberry, a prominent villain in the newly released Outlast Trials, is one of Red Barrels’ most aberrant and twisted inventions. From her appearance, it’s clear she has been put through gruesome torture at the facility; her skin is bleached white, the top of her scalp is burned off, and the ripped skin of her face is concealed with a sort of mask, which someone has stapled onto her flesh.
Someone needs a skincare routine.
What makes her so terrifying is her split personality. While chasing you, she will cycle through these personalities, where in one instance, she is the caring Mother Gooseberry who refers to you as her child, and in another, she is Doctor Flutterman. In this state, her voice changes to a shrill, eerie tone that will chill you to the bone. She is also incredibly violent and carries a drill in her hand which she uses to rip inmates’ faces into smithereens. It’s safe to say she isn’t the ideal motherly figure, and you’ll want to avoid her at all costs if you seek to survive the trials.
Chris Walker
This hulking beast of a man is perhaps the most intimidating villain on this list. Chris Walker’s appearance is enough to scare anyone to their wits. His eyes are a beacon of madness, his body a protruding mass of flesh with ugly veins popping here and there, and there is not a trace of hair on his head, perhaps due to the experimentation performed on him at the asylum. His story is an interesting one, as documents reveal that he is supposedly trying to eliminate any potential hosts for the Walrider, who eventually causes his untimely demise.
You better run.
The chase sequences involving Chris Walker made me experience the pure terror one faces when chased by a bloodthirsty predator who will stop at nothing to feast on my flesh. The incredibly violent animations upon being caught by him greatly troubled me, as he would rip off my character’s body in various, increasingly gruesome ways. Chris Walker is the face of the first Outlast game, and it’s easy to see why.
Doctor Trager
This guy reignited my childhood fear of doctors. One of the main villains in the first Outlast game, Doctor Trager, had a very short segment before his untimely demise, but perhaps the most memorable one, for all the wrong reasons.
The first thing that instantly struck me was Doctor Trager’s ghastly, skeletal silhouette. A walking bag of bones, covered in blood (which I doubt was his own), and wearing nothing but an apron. He was essentially an embodiment of a walking corpse, one that had personally seen the horrors of the asylum and was ready to inflict them upon his next patient (read victim).
I think I’ll skip this appointment.
The cunning doc poses as an ally while you are being chased by a horde of insane inmates in the Mount Massive Asylum, but once he has you where he wants you, he beats you to a pulp and ensnares you to a wheelchair. He then proceeds to mock your deplorable situation, even giving you a peek at freedom through the open door of the asylum, and really makes you think, “so close yet so far.” As he takes you to his makeshift torture chamber, you get a taste of what to expect from the tied-up victims of the doctor, who are gagged and screaming out in pain from the torture inflicted on them. Watching these scenes as I was helplessly restrained gave me an impending sense of dread and disgust. Red Barrels perfectly set up the horror that would soon come.
As he methodically paces around his chamber while you helplessly watch on, you just know he is going to do something to you with those awfully sharp tools hung on the wall. And that’s precisely what he does; with a large pair of cleavers, he mercilessly cuts off your fingers as you scream in unbearable agony. The most disturbing part is that Doctor Trager feels absolutely no remorse; he enjoys this punishment, which, for me, makes him one of the most terrifying villains in the Outlast series.
Eddie Gluskins
One of the main antagonists in the Outlast: Whistleblower DLC, Eddie, is a deranged individual with disturbing desires. Due to a traumatic past, Eddie becomes a serial killer, who, once confined to the asylum, begins to hunt down other inmates, brutally castrating them with a buzzsaw in order to make them his ‘bride.’
Would you like this guy as your groom?
The encounter with Eddie Gluskins was highly unsettling. He had the nickname ‘The Groom’ within the asylum due to his dreadful tendencies. While he chases you down, he disturbingly refers to you as ‘darling,’ which really unnerves you. When he eventually captured me, it was a traumatic experience being helplessly restricted to a table, much like Doctor Trager, and waiting for the impending doom of the buzzsaw. But thankfully, it turned out differently than the encounter with the doc.
The example of Eddie Gluskins perfectly shows how the asylum accentuated the already fractured personalities of the test subjects, causing them to inflict terrible torment upon their fellow inmates. Even when you eventually kill him, his last words are, “We could have been beautiful.” Chilling, isn’t it?
Marta
For me, this is the most harrowing villain in the entire Outlast series. Clad in dark, tattered overalls and a hood over her head stained with the blood of her victims, she stands at an intimidating height, wielding a deadly makeshift pickaxe that resembles the shape of a cross to strike terror into her prey. One of the main antagonists of Outlast 2, Marta’s primary role, was to seek out any threats to the Testament of the New Ezekiel and torture them to death, and this included you.
Pure terror.
My first encounter with Marta scared me to my wits because before I saw her – I heard her. She was muttering verses or incantations in an eerie voice that chilled me to my bones and which I would hear in my sleep paralysis for quite some nights after. Her chase sequences were perhaps the most frightening in the series, both due to the haunting soundtracks that accompanied them but mainly because when you looked over your shoulder, you would see a bloodthirsty figure of doom with a weapon of death, her overalls flowing behind her like the grim reaper himself.
It’s safe to say that Red Barrels nailed character design with this one. With her nightmarish appearance, blood-curdling voice, and menacing stride as she chases you down, few other characters petrified me quite like Marta. Her demise was also one of the most memorable in the series, as she was impaled by a cross that supposedly was sent by some higher power.
Conclusion
That’s about it for this list of the Top 10 Villains in the Outlast series. While some may disagree with the ordering, there’s no doubt these are among the most terrifying characters – not just in the Outlast series – but in gaming history. Each of them brings a varied dimension of horror to the games, whether psychological, physical, or even just jump scares.
