It wasn't without its flaws, but the way The Gang's Out of Sight played with perspective and served up a rather unique recipe for puzzles was enough to keep me entertained for its short duration when I reviewed the base game 10 months ago. Similarly, hearing that the developer had a 'final act', if you will, in the pipeline, I naturally became intrigued as to what this expansion would serve up and how it would effectively serve as the curtain call on the second-person adventure.
Yes, yes, I'm using a lot of theatre jargon but for good reason. The Stage Fright DLC for Out of Sight is all about putting on a play that delves into the backstory of one of the spirit children trapped in this twisted manor. It's a short experience that you can roll credits on after just over an hour (making it anywhere between a third or a quarter of the length of the main game) and it offers up three chapters of action where you explore a new wing of the house as Sophie and Teddy, evading Clayton, and gathering the required items to complete the performance.
From a gameplay perspective, we're looking at a very similar setup to the base game, where you work through corridors avoiding mouse traps and other hazards that could alert Clayton to your presence, before then reaching wider rooms where you have to flick between first and second-person perspectives to progress onwards. The same logic applies in that the protagonist of Sophie is blind but she can see through the 'eyes' of her teddy bear, meaning you explore holding the bear close to Sophie's chest for first-person gameplay, before placing Teddy down in specific places to get a CCTV camera-like view that makes the gameplay almost resemble old-school horror projects like Resident Evil, where you see things from afar but can still move the character in three-dimensions while looking down at them.
This premise and the ability to interchange between perspectives is what makes Out of Sight special, as the puzzles and the gameplay is actually rather basic and straightforward, but the perspective changes gives it an extra dimension. Also, it should be said that Out of Sight and this Stage Fright expansion doesn't do a whole lot to challenge the player, as the solutions to puzzles are often quite easy to figure out, with the marginally more complex problems left to the handful of collectibles able to be discovered. Admittedly, this may be an impression from someone who has a wealth of experience in horror games and the kinds of puzzles they present, so less familiar fans may find the puzzles a tad more demanding, but regardless we're not talking about intricate escape room-level complexity here.
Stage Fright, like the main game, is also often at its best when we're left to simply appreciate the atmosphere and ambience of the creepy mansion, which never fails to send a shiver up your spine. However, I do think this expansion lacks the same bite that some parts of Out of Sight offers, as Clayton is a rather poor stalker in this DLC, barely ever posing a threat to the player, unlike his appearance in the core story or how Lady Janna constantly threatens your exploration. More fear, a greater focus on making the player feel unsettled would have gone a long way in Stage Fright, especially since the adventure is over quite quickly, meaning it doesn't have the same time to set up memorable and bigger moments where more is on the line.
Still, for a short adventure that you can experience without even needing to have played the main game and that you can snag for less than £5, the Stage Fright DLC for Out of Sight does enough to entertain. The way this game plays with perspective continues to engage and the atmosphere is suffocating enough to hold your attention, even if it would benefit from a more aggressive and proactive villain. Ultimately, it's a fitting curtain call for this interesting horror adventure.
