Messiah General Tips and Scenario List

[Stargazer14096]

Hi all! I just got the plat for this yesterday, and one of the things I did was create a play-by-play list of the entire game's sequences so that I'd never forget what came next. Figured I'd share it here, along with some tips I have for the particularly tricky sections of the game, and hopefully they can help someone else get the plat too! This list was written with reference to the video linked in the PSNProfiles Trophy Guide, and as such, I've also included timestamps for each section so you can easily jump anywhere you need to.

 

General tips:

• Map your sprint to L1 instead of L3 (classic control scheme in options). Mashing L1 is easier than mashing L3, and will help ensure that you're sprinting when you need to. MASH L1 DURING CHASE SEQUENCES.
• Fiddle with your TV/monitor's display setting and max out everything (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc). This will amplify any light in-game, and as long as an area has even the tiniest bit of light, you'll be able to much more easily navigate your way through without having to use NV.
• For those pesky jumps that can potentially kill you, you're really gonna need to practice your timing and get used to it. I find that I tend to jump earlier than I should, so I make a mental note to delay my jump a bit.
• I guess it goes without saying, but don't pick up any batteries. You won't be using them anyway, and having them on you just makes it possible to accidentally reload your camera, which of course we don't want.
• A small tip, but helpful nonetheless. Turn on "reduced head motion" and "no fail QTEs" in the options. There's this one QTE after the third N&L encounter, right before you're buried alive, where you have to wiggle the right stick. I've died there once for no apparent reason, so enabling no fail QTEs will prevent this from happening. I can confirm that they don't void the Messiah trophy, as I got it with both settings enabled.

 

Reference video:

 

Chapter 1
intro - 1:01
crash - 5:00
first Marta encounter - 7:50
2 goons - 9:12
chapel prison (forced NV) - 10:00
water village - 15:33
school (go outside) - 16:14
Ethan (bandage) - 17:05
cornfields - 22:47
barn - 23:40

• Enemies may spot you as you're crossing the beam at the end, but don't panic. They can't actually do anything to you, just keep walking

caves (no prone, u-turn 2nd half) - 26:55

• There's a jump when you initially enter the cave that can end your run if you mistime it. This jump is finnicky and weird and it will kill you if you're not prepared. Practice it a lot

restore power to elev - 30:02

• I don't follow his path exactly when walking up the hill. I just take the main path instead of going left and up the fence. But be careful if you do this, you need to be fast, otherwise an enemy may come out of the rightmost house and spot you.
• Practice this section a few times too

school (music box) (forced NV) - 33:17
cult chase 1 - 35:14
hide under bed - 36:36
cult chase 2 - 38:20
Marta cart (bandage) - 40:57

• Marta can behave unpredictably every now and then, despite the relative consistency of the strat in the vid. Make sure you slide into the hole in the fence. If you miss the slide, Marta will likely reach and kill you.
• The jump from the cart to the wall is finnicky too, don't panic if you miss it the first time. If you're lucky you can still recover.
• Practice this section a lot

chapel (confessional) - 43:41

• There's another potentially deadly jump here in the watchtower, similar to the one in the caves previously, but in my experience this one is a bit more forgiving. I've never died here. But worth noting anyway

cornfields 2 - 49:00
water mill - 50:00
Marta hook (bandage) - 51:24
school (hangman jumpscare) (forced NV) - 54:55

 

Chapter 2 - practice this entire chapter a lot
Bridge, locusts (forced NV) - 58:33
syph village, puke, slash enemy - 1:01:45

• If the slashing enemy gets you, that's ok. Just run up until you climb the ledge and start shimmying. Use a bandage once you're shimmying

N&L 1 (hide behind trees) - 1:03:02

• Ensure that the tree is between you and N&L AT ALL TIMES (i.e. you shouldn't be able to see their character model). This will ensure that you won't get shot. Wait for them to really approach your side of the tree, and run in the opposite side (if they approach from the right, run from the left, and vice versa)

school (computer, last safe school section) - 1:03:56

• Open the bathroom door here, we'll need it in the next school section

Crfxn - 1:04:56
N&L 2 (hide in water 30s / until flashlight turns off) - 1:12:15

• DO NOT stand up until the flashlight turns off. You'll have more than enough breath to survive

school (first lethal demon encounter) - 1:13:00

• Trigger the first demon encounter by walking backwards into the hall, facing the hall you came from. Use the light from the bathroom as a visual guide. The moment you hear the audio cue of the jumpscare, start sprinting. This saves you some time as you no longer have to manually turn around
• After the phone call, don't start sprinting right away. Only start once you reach the hall with the bathroom.

N&L 3 (fun times, cactus) - 1:15:04

• Practice this section a lot. Most RNG-dependent part of the entire run

buried alive - 1:18:42
zombies - 1:20:35
N&L 4 (rope) - 1:21:45

• There's another potentially deadly jump at the tower, but again I've never died to this one. If you get hit once while retrieving the rope, don't stop and heal, as you won't have time. Just stick to the outlined path and hope for the best 

school (roof, bandage) - 1:23:52

 

Chapter 3
Lake, head to raft (don't get stuck in trees) - 1:28:08

• Another potentially deadly jump here

Raft, paddle until horizon vanishes - 1:30:42
Wave, SWIM BACK TO RAFT! - 1:32:22

• If you're too slow to swim back to the raft, YOU WILL DIE

continue paddling until you get thrown off raft - 1:33:06
return to raft, push down log - 1:37:26
keep paddling until raft breaks - 1:38:36
avoid heretics - 1:41:09
school (pool, sprint at the 2nd encounter) - 1:41:20

• Ensure that you're sprinting in the 2nd encounter. The demon here is very fast and will get you if you're even a bit slow

 

Chapter 4 - practice this entire chapter a lot
enter facility (bandage) - 1:44:04
friendly jumpscare - 1:45:40
school (chat, demon chase in stairwell) - 1:46:14

• Use the walk backwards technique to trigger the chase

reenter facility - 1:48:50
heretic chase 1 - 1:49:12

• Use some NV at the start. Ensure that you make the first right turn after the stairs. Practice this section a lot

school (library maze) - 1:50:47

• DO NOT RUN INTO THE DEMON WHEN HE FIRST SPAWNS UPON ENTERING THE LIBRARY. Just let him disappear. He's harmless from afar, but if you go near him HE WILL KILL YOU.
• Use this map: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=948191898. The correct aisle to run down will have a pillar on its right as well as a smaller bookshelf on the floor.
• Be generous with NV here if you're not used to it. Use the walk backwards technique for the last encounter.
• Practice this section a lot

a moment of chill - 1:54:52
heretic chase 2 (2nd cart) - 1:55:48
school (bathroom song) - 1:57:11

• Be quick! Ensure you're sprinting the entire time. Don't open the bathroom doors, just crawl/slide under them

a bit of clunky platforming - 1:59:42

• Ensure that you properly shimmy through the one gap. I've seen videos online where the game potentially glitches and Blake just falls to his death instead of hugging the wall. Take this part slow

heretic chase 3 (180 after slide) - 2:00:25
heretic chase 4 (elevator switch, 2 bandages) - 2:01:12

• Ensure that you slide across both of the floor gaps, especially the second one. If you crawl instead of slide, YOU WILL DIE.
• When you jump down to a platform near the end, you can rest for 3-4s to recover some stamina.
• Practice this section a lot.

 

Chapter 5 - practice this entire chapter a lot
descend into mines - 2:02:25
heretic encounter (hide in crevice, enter from right, exit to left when enemies are in right side) - 2:05:40

• Use the walk backwards technique to trigger the initial chase.
• The main goal here is to get the heretics to enter the room you went into, clearing the way for you to run through the main corridor. Be patient here, and wait until the mic is strong to the right.
• Exit the opposite side from where you entered, and run for it. They will despawn upon reaching the cart

cart puzzle, careful with crawl after (can fall into bottomless pit) - 2:08:08

• I once had a practice run where I just fell through the ground when crawling in the dark hole. Idk what caused it, but just in case, take it a bit slow here.
• Feel free to use some NV to make sure you're still going in the right direction

Val chase - 2:12:37

• Once you drop down the gap early into the chase, you're already safe. The actual chase is very short. So you can take your time navigating the rest of the corridors 

Val switches - 2:13:10

• There is a potential visual glitch where the wires will still be live after disabling both switches. If this happens, don't panic. It is purely a visual glitch, and the wires will be safe to cross despite it. It's a good thing, in fact, as it'll make it easier to find the exit.
• There's another nasty jump at the end here, and this killed me a lot in my practice runs.
• Practice this section a lot

cart puzzle - 2:15:30
Val chase 2 (crawl) - 2:17:20

• Use NV to make sure you're going in the right way. Don't get stuck, as that will spell death

pool head to fire - 2:18:15
school, Jess walk - 2:21:12
cult chase after Val death (180, NV) - 2:26:35

• You're safe after falling through the hole

 

Chapter 6
Marta. Fuck Marta - 2:29:25

• Wait 1-2s before moving to make sure she doesn't cut you off

 

Hope this can help someone. Best of luck to those attempting the plat!

Edited October 13, 2021 by MDSP777

[JoaLoft]

These are valuable tips for brave souls who want to obtain that ultra-rare platinum trophy!

 

If I may, I'd like to add a few of my own which I posted in a previous thread over two years ago:

 

• Conserve most of your battery for chapter 5 in the mines. You'll need it. As long as you have at least 50% battery power left when you descend into the mineshaft, you should have nothing to fear.
• Use in-game light sources to navigate most of the environments, to conserve your battery optimally. This is related to the previous pointer.
• Use your microphone to locate enemies in times of uncertainty. This was a lot harder in the pre-patch versions where the difficulty was still significantly higher and your microphone drained your battery too, but in this case: exploit that microphone whenever you want to. It could end up being your saving grace.
• Conserve stamina for the right moments. It seems tempting to rush through every environment non-stop, but Blake will need to catch his breath often. And if you end up exhausted at the start of a chase sequence, chances are huge you will not survive. Conserving stamina is the difference between life or death.
• Know the game inside and out. Practice sections on Nightmare difficulty first. This is pretty self-explanatory: having full knowledge of what comes next and how to deal with the situation at hand is key and helps to anticipate and plan ahead.
• Keep collecting bandages. In some cases a regular NPC (or if you're very lucky like I was, a main antagonist), could hit you and you'll survive but you'll be wounded, meaning you'll be slower and in mortal peril. Make sure you keep collecting bandages in case you end up in a similar situation.
• Stay calm, and keep a level head. Perhaps the biggest tip of them all, and an ostensibly stupid one, but nevertheless one that could save your entire run. Outlast 2 has a fantastic horror atmosphere, with impeccable audio design, meaning you could end up panicking during certain parts or when something doesn't go according to plan. Stay calm, remember where you need to go, and handle accordingly.

 

TLDR: Conserve most of your battery power until the mines, manage your stamina, an extra bandage or two wouldn't hurt and practice, practice, practice.

[Stargazer14096]

Actually, I did a bit of testing, and it turns out you can be very liberal with your battery use throughout ch1 until halfway through ch2. When Nick and Laird steal your camera during the crucifixion section, it doesn't matter how much battery it has left. I let them steal it with the battery already in the red, and still got it back with about 75% (tested on Insane difficulty of course). So if you really need it, feel free to use quite a lot of NV up until then. But yeah, of course the tips you added are also mega useful as well  at the end of the day, it's really gonna come down to practice, practice, and more practice. And definitely stay calm, don't let the game throw you off. Insane difficulty just seems a lot more intimidating than it actually is. As long as you keep a level head, it's very doable.

[JoaLoft]

On 1/11/2021 at 4:38 AM, MDSP777 said:

Actually, I did a bit of testing, and it turns out you can be very liberal with your battery use throughout ch1 until halfway through ch2. When Nick and Laird steal your camera during the crucifixion section, it doesn't matter how much battery it has left. I let them steal it with the battery already in the red, and still got it back with about 75% (tested on Insane difficulty of course). So if you really need it, feel free to use quite a lot of NV up until then. But yeah, of course the tips you added are also mega useful as well  at the end of the day, it's really gonna come down to practice, practice, and more practice. And definitely stay calm, don't let the game throw you off. Insane difficulty just seems a lot more intimidating than it actually is. As long as you keep a level head, it's very doable.

 

I never even realized the battery resets to a fixed amount once you retrieve the camera from Nick and Laird. How does that translate into the lore? Nick and Laird put in a new battery out of kindness?

 

Even if you can use the initial battery more, I find it could only come in handy in a few small spots such as the ducts in the school or the cave with the "heretic temple".

 

Still: that does favor players who are having more difficulty navigating via the natural and external lighting sources!

[harsly]

I'm gonna hijack this thread to share the "strategy" I'm currently using. It's working wonders (but you need two consoles).

 

I'm playing my Messiah run on PS5. When I get to a harder part of the game (the library maze which always gets to me, king of the hill, mines...) I open up the game on PS4, play the section that is coming next on there, then after a few consecutive successful attempts on Nightmare I switch over to my PS5. It totally takes away the tension that is (at least for me) a common reason for my failed attempts.

 

Do note that when you start the game on PS4 you will be booted from the game on PS5, but when you close the game on PS4 and open it again on PS5, the game will resume from where you left off.

[TheBlaskar]

The guide i was watching didn't mention waiting 1-2 seconds before going... so, yeah

[FlakMaximus]

On 15/02/2023 at 10:46 PM, harsly said:

I'm gonna hijack this thread to share the "strategy" I'm currently using. It's working wonders (but you need two consoles).

 

I'm playing my Messiah run on PS5. When I get to a harder part of the game (the library maze which always gets to me, king of the hill, mines...) I open up the game on PS4, play the section that is coming next on there, then after a few consecutive successful attempts on Nightmare I switch over to my PS5. It totally takes away the tension that is (at least for me) a common reason for my failed attempts.

 

Do note that when you start the game on PS4 you will be booted from the game on PS5, but when you close the game on PS4 and open it again on PS5, the game will resume from where you left off.

I managed to complete the messiah run in the exactly the same way.

Several consecutive successful runs on ps4 then switch to ps5 then rinse and repeat until the end of the game step by step

[lukeyboy8767]

I just want to add 54:55 - you can do this bit without nightvision. To do so, just keep running up and down the hallway, after a minute or two Blake will 'take damage' and the door opens to continue. You are in no danger at all though