Note: This article contains spoilers including the story and ending of Outlast 2. We will also be mentioning Outlast and Outlast: Whistleblower.
If you were brave enough to finish Outlast 2 back in 2017, you’ll know just how confusing the game was. It genuinely makes the ending to Little Nightmares appear as clear as day. If you managed to get through the first game in the series, then you should be aware that Outlast uses collectible documents and recordings to tell its story.
That being said, it doesn’t matter how much attention you paid to Outlast 2, it’s very easy to overlook vital pieces of information used to understand the plot. This is why, upon completing the game, many curious players ran straight to their computer in order to figure out what the hell they had just witnessed.
If you’re looking to grasp what exactly happened in Outlast 2, we’ve got all the latest details you need to comprehend what occurred in the game. While most of the story remains open to interpretation, we’ve covered the most important theories, explanations and details you may have missed so that you can understand what may have happened in Outlast 2.
Outlast 2 Plot and Story Explained
Similar to Doki Doki Literature Club, Outlast 2 is a psychological horror that takes place in the same universe as Outlast and Outlast: Whistleblower, right after the events of the Mount Massive Asylum Slaughter. Only this time, you follow different characters and a different plot.
In Outlast 2, players take on the role of Blake Langermann, a cameraman working with his wife, an investigative journalist known as Lynn Langermann. Together, both characters venture on a journey to investigate the murder of an unidentified pregnant woman in rural Arizona.
The frightening adventure begins with a helicopter ride where Blake wakes from a nightmare about Jessica Gray, an old friend from 4th grade who sadly committed suicide. Frightened, Blake discusses the details with Lynn before recording an intro for their news report regarding the murder.
Things Start to Go South
Without warning, there’s a flash of light and the helicopter engines suddenly fail, leading to a crash that causes Blake to separate from his wife. As any good husband would, Blake begins a search in hopes to find Lynn Langermann alive and well.
As he attempts to find his wife, Blake runs into the helicopter pilot skinned and pinned to a tree, something that clearly didn’t happen as a result of the crash. This is where things begin to go west.
Shortly after, Blake runs into some bitter villagers who are out to kill him. Whether you escape or not is completely up to you as the player. As you attempt to escape, you’ll notice another flash of light that paralyses the villagers.
But why hasn’t the light affected Blake Langermann as it did with the villagers?
Down the Rabbit Hole
By now, it’s apparent that the bright light may not affect Blake as it does with others. Or does it? Not long after the flash, Blake reunites with his wife in a chapel. As to be expected, Blake wishes to know what happened to Lynn, but she understandably refuses to discuss what occurred.
Clearly in a state of shock, Lynn has been captured by the violent religious cult leader known as “Papa” Sullivan Knoth, a reason she’s keen to leave the chapel immediately.
Knoth, Christians, and Heretics
Prophet Knoth claims that he had previously inspected Lynn’s womb and came to the conclusion that she is pregnant with Blake’s child, who is apparently the antichrist. Obviously confused, Blake begins to question what really took place before escaping the chapel.
Knoth decides to send out his followers, the Christians, to find Lynn Langermann and kill her before the child is born. As Blake and Lynn attempt to flee the church, Lynn suffers from stomach cramps, causing Blake to become more anxious.
Eventually, the couple run into the Christian search party before a rival cult known as the Heretics join them. The Heretics eventually kill off the Christians before kidnapping Lynn, causing the couple to separate once again.
This time, Blake is left alone in the woods. Despite the trouble, Blake manages to escape the remaining Christians, but before you know it, there’s another flash of light. Albeit, this one’s a little different. This time, the bright flash prompts Blake to have a strange hallucination (or flashback).
In the flashback, Blake finds himself in the Catholic school he attended in 4th grade, the one where his friend Jessica committed suicide. Once the flashback is over, Blake meets with a friendly villager known as Ethan who wants to protect Blake from the other insane people.
Ethan Saves the Day… For a Couple of Moments
Finally, one sane person in Outlast 2! Ethan explains how the murder of the unidentified pregnant woman the couple is investigating was his daughter named Anna Lee. He continues to explain how his daughter was raped by Knoth who got her pregnant.
As with Lynn, Prophet Knoth wanted Ethan to open up Anna’s belly in order to kill the unborn child. Fortunately, Ethan lied to Knoth, giving Anna enough time to run away.
Although the police report claims that Anna had a lot of mercury in her blood and died from strangulation, her murder remains unsolved.
The pair head to Ethan’s home where he lets Blake hide out in the basement. Soon after, an old cult member known as Marta enters the house and murders Ethan with an axe. Luckily, Marta is unaware that Blake is in the basement. At some point, Blake quickly escapes from the house, avoiding more search parties on his journey to the chapel.
Back to the Chapel
Inside the chapel, Blake notices a man named Josiah who is restrained to a wheel with his eyes missing. Why is he being tortured? Because he won’t reveal where Lynn Langermann is hiding.
As Blake hides in the confessional box, he watches as Prophet Knoth tortures Josiah’s spouse, Mary, right in front of his eyes. Josiah eventually gives up Lynn’s location in an attempt to stop the torture. Needless to say, instead of freeing them, Knoth kills both Jasiah and Mary.
From the conversation, Blake learns that Lynn is being held hostage by the Heretics in the mines. Blake is now determined to rescue his wife. On his way, Blake has another hallucination of the Catholic school. These visions become grimmer and more frequent than ever before.
Nick & Laird
After the vision, Blake finds himself in the camp of Nick and Laird who label Blake the Sculled Messiah.
As this is the case, Laid wants Blake to be reborn by recreating the crucifixion of Jesus. To do this, he nails Blake to a cross before leaving him to die.
Shocked, Blake attempts to escape by ripping his hands from the cross. While attempting to escape the camp, Blake is caught in a fence where Nick and Laird capture him once again. In order to finish the rebirth process, the pair bury Blake alive. As to be expected, Blake escapes once again. What a surprise.
As Blake once again gets away, Nick and Laird are killed by yet another religious cult known as the Scalled. At last, Blake finds a boat and makes a raft used to ride down the river. As he sails on the river, his visions worsen.
This time, Blake has a vision of swimming at the school. Blood begins to spray from the showers, flame detectors and toilets before it begins to rain blood outside. It’s like the Slayer song come to life. These visions become more common as Blake finally reaches an elevator that leads to the mines.
Into the Mines
Much like everything else in Outlast 2, the elevator is faulty, causing it to break and plunge into the abyss. Does Blake die? Absolutely not. Once again, he survives the accident uninjured.
Once inside the mines, Blake meets Val, the leader of the Heretics, and her followers. Given the Heretics want Lynn’s child, they attempt to kill Blake in order to prevent him from taking his wife away.
As Val chases Blake across the mines, Blake accidentally skids into the Heretics’ camp where he finds Lynn strapped to what appears to be a table. Val stumbles upon Blake and grabs him to prevent him from getting close to Lynn.
Final Vision
Next, one of the most important visions occurs. In the vision, everything that happened to Jessica is revealed alongside the reason as to why Blake is being possessed by such horrifying flashbacks.
In the vision, Jessica and Blake are seen messing around in the kitchen storage room after school hours. Blake confesses to Jessica that he really likes Lynn, causing her to become fairly jealous considering she is clearly interested in Blake. On their way out of the storage room, one of the teachers known as Father Loutermilch catches them.
Since it’s a Catholic school, Jessica is called into a classroom before being questioned. Father Loutermilch is an intimidating and threatening teacher who scares Jessica, which is exactly why she asks Blake to come with her. Blake follows Jessica into the room before he’s told to go home.
As he leaves, he hears Jessica screaming. Like any friend would, Blake goes back into the room to find that the teacher has beaten Jessica unconscious. The violent vision finished with Blake holding Jessica’s body. The beating, as well as the fact that Blake did not love her, could be what caused Jessica to commit suicide.
Back to the Mines
When Blake finally wakes up, he finds himself in the mine once again. The Heretics chase him to the exit of the mine where he meets with Lynn. How she got there is still unknown. Reunited, the couple escaped the mines by running through the woods. As they attempt to hide from the powerful storm, Marta, the lady who killed Ethan, shows up with a plan to kill them both.
Whether it was the storm, luck or a religious reason, the cross from the church falls down and impales Marta. At last, Blake and Lynn can make their way to the church. Inside, Lynn sadly dies giving birth to her child. As Blake holds the child in his hands, he blacks out once again.
Predictable, I know.
Final Scenes
Once Blake wakes up, Knoth can be found sitting on a bench next to him. He goes on to say how he killed all of his Christian followers before instructing Blake to kill his newborn baby by crushing its skull with his heels. Gruesome.
The Prophet Knoth then commits suicide by slitting his own throat. Now that everyone is dead, Blake heads down to the market square where he finds all of the corpses.
The last vision in Outlast 2 takes place here in the square. In the vision, a girl that appears to be Jessica can be seen in the school kitchen with a bruise around her neck. The girl says a prayer and Outlast 2 ends. At this point, we still don’t know what happened to Blake or his newborn baby.
Outlast 2 Ending: Is the Baby Real?
Upon finishing Outlast 2, many fans questioned whether or not the baby is even real. Given that Lynn Langermann went from pregnant to popping out a seemingly healthy child in only a matter of days, it makes sense as to why someone would question the baby’s existence. After all, this isn’t The Sims 4: you don’t just squeeze out a perfectly healthy child within just a few days.
Before passing away possibly as a result of complications during childbirth, Lynn’s final words to Blake are: “There’s nothing there.” But what does that mean? Could Lynn be referring to the afterlife? Or could she be referring to the baby that she supposedly just gave birth to?
As both Blake and Lynn attended a Catholic school, it only makes sense as to why some fans believe that she is speaking of the afterlife. What did she mean when she said there’s nothing there? While we cannot be certain, one logical explanation could be that Lynn realized the guarantee of an afterlife was false as she drifted into darkness.
The second idea is that Blake is having another hallucination and the baby is not really there. With that being said, many fans don’t believe the latter.
This is due to the fact that Knoth acknowledges the baby’s existence, albeit, he could have also been affected by the radio tower signals. While it seems unlikely that so many people can have the same vision at one time, this is Outlast 2 we are speaking of, so anything is possible.
What’s Wrong With Blake?
A question you’re probably all dying to know is: “What on earth is wrong with Blake Lagermann?” Why is he having strange hallucinations of his past life in Catholic school? More specifically, what’s causing the hallucinations to occur in the first place?
At the very beginning of Outlast 2, Blake wakes up from a nightmare about an old school mate known as Jessica Gray. Shortly after, a dazzling white light causes the helicopter to crash, separating Lynn from Blake. Following this event, Blake experiences more frequent hallucinations regarding Jessica and her suicide.
Based on a document found known as “Old Traveler,” we understand that the bright white light could be caused by the previously mentioned microwave signals coming from the radio tower. Certain files also mention how the signals mess with Blake’s brain, which in turn, causes him to hallucinate. This could also explain why the people of Temple Gate have turned so harsh.
As you dive deeper into the game, you’ll see Blake experience more powerful hallucinations, one including a demonic creature believed to be Father Loutermilch. This makes sense considering Loutermilch was a violent teacher known for beating Jessica.
Conclusion
Outlast 2 is a game that had us all wondering what on earth we had just witnessed. For this exact reason, we decided to compile all of the latest details you need to understand what happened in the game. Although most of the story remains open to interpretation, allowing you to make up your own ideas as to what happened, we’ve covered the most important details you may have failed to recognize while playing Outlast 2.
After all, most of us were too busy trying not to crap our pants. If you have any theories as to what happened in Outlast 2, feel free to let us know in the comments below! We’d love to know what you think.
If you’re looking to go on a brand-new, frightening virtual adventure, then you may be interested in learning about the best horror games currently on the market. In our list, we’ve included some of the most terrifying horror games out there, games that feature a gripping storyline and jump scenes that will make your heart race as if you were truly there.