This is going to be a wall of text, but just in case someone would be interested in my unprofessional take on where I thought the game was lacking at times and why. (contains spoilers)
TLDR: Not a horrible game, don´t condemn it but wouldn´t necessarily recommend. Not as scary as the first one, very repetitive and confusing/boring at times but absolutely has it´s moments.

Right off the bat the environment is drastically different from the first game, which in one way can be quite refreshing if done right. Going from tight narrow hallways and broken down facilities to big open fields in rural buttf*ck nowhere surrounded by mountains is a huge change, that I personally didn´t mind but it definitely didn´t make me feel as scared as I was in the first game. The limited space and closed off nature of the asylum is what made you feel so vulnerable and small, being trapped in an unstable environment like that creates a sense of urgency mainly fueled by primal fear and pure survival instinct. You went from wanting to shed light on what truly happened there, to trying to escape with your life. Surrounded by nothing but unsupervised, traumatized and tortured mental patients and psychopaths, it´s a given that you´ll be fearing for your life. Meanwhile being lost in an urban community makes you feel more like an intruder, although their practices and living conditions are inhumane and hostile, you´re technically trespassing and intentionally inserting yourself into their world, that realistically would´ve felt more open as you TECHNICALLY don´t have to be there or enter it in the first place. Yes you´re looking for Lynn, but if you lost your nerve or hope you could´ve probably hid in the forest, died in the desert or climbed up a mountain to at least escape death by their hands. Meanwhile Miles didn´t really have that choice unless he wanted to be gutted like a fish or jumped out a window. But I guess that does put more pressure on Blake, knowing he could turn away but won´t let himself no matter how scared he is.

I also feel the need to mention how many times I got lost during my playthroughs, when there is this much open space it is much easier to get lost. As someone who always explores as much as humanly possible so I don´t miss anything, I found myself constantly disoriented or unsure of where I was expected to go. What "restrictions" might apply during one section of the game can be exactly what you´re supposed to utilize in another. Found myself stuck in a ridiculously tiny area with only two directions, the one I came from and the one blocked by rubble that previously would´ve meant I wasn´t supposed to be there, only to find that I was supposed to crawl through one of the logs placed horizontally by my feet. Then when approaching a similar looking log in a different area I had to get killed about 3 times before I got the hint that I couldn´t go through it, despite it looking and being presented the exact same way as the first one.

I appreciated the "simplicity" of the antagonists in the first game, cause they didn´t really require much explaination for why they were there or why we should fear them. Chris Walker, The Twins, Richard Trager, Eddie Gluskin etc, all had behaviors and traits that were self explanatory enough for you to kinda get the hang of what they were about, and seeing different sides of them by being put against them in different scenarios really helped build that deeper character understanding. The fact that not all inmates were violent or a threat to you made you feel constantly on edge, but also created some depth to otherwise irrelevant NPC´s. Never knowing whether someone would lunge at you, give you advice, fear you or acknowledge you at all was such a rollercoaster.
Even Father Martin makes you feel conflicted about your feelings towards him, cause despite him putting you in danger by keeping you there, he does seem to genuinely look out for you and the victims of Murkoff.
My issue with enemies like Marta is that I don´t really understand what I am up against, is she human, is she a leader, is she feared, is she respected, does she have any weaknesses? The hillbillies who are attacking you throughout the game are clearly brainwashed and disconnected, which makes you feel for them, but the fact that almost all of them are either hostile or ill intentioned makes it seem like they´re all dangerous people, despite that there realistically should be at least a few people avoiding to participate in your witch hunt who are simply acting out of fearful compliance or ones just generally indifferent to you overall.

You keep reading notes from people who are displeased with their ways of life but never seem to actually encounter any, of course they could be dead or silenced, but the lack of diversity in surface level personality was something I kinda missed from the previous game. It seems a bit weird for old ladies to be bloodthirsty and eagerly wanting to see you hang, knowing that all they get out of it is assault, disease and the senseless murder of their children, although I suppose that is the scary reality of cults, brainwashing and herd mentality. It was also a bit of a shame that nothing more came out of Ethan and the story of his daughter, you finally got to find out what happened to her but their story had some potential in my opinion.

Although we didn´t really get to know Miles in the first game, I personally felt way more connected to him than Blake and Lynn. Because there is a pre-established relationship between these two important characters, it felt like there wasn´t as much importance placed on the audience getting to know them. We have no idea what their relationships look like, how they are as people or how they´ll get through this. I also have a hard time understanding what Jessica´s part in the whole story was, although her story was tragic and intriguing it felt quite out of place, the constant switch between areas personally ruined my immersion a bit.
An explanation of why Blake keeps having these flashback nightmares I guess could be the trauma he might´ve suffered in the helicopter crash, and losing Lynn at the site might´ve also triggered some sort of PTSD where he yet again feels like what is happening to his loved ones is out of his control. Blaming himself for what first happened to Jessica, and how he feels like history is repeating itself. But I still wonder what importance it played in his current situation, maybe the guilt or fear from his past is what gave him the strength to keep fighting?

That teaches us something about Blake, but we still know very little about Lynn, which isn´t always a bad thing, but when she dies at the end I personally didn´t feel much, nor was I devastated that all those horrible things happened to her in particular, cause I felt no personal investment in her as a person.
When Miles dies at the end of Outlast 1 you feel absolutely heartbroken, all that hardship, trauma and pain, all for what? The ending wasn´t the best as we know but you still felt that dread and disappointment of all that hard work lost, and injustice never to be rectified. In the first game your story and experience will get covered up by the government, and knowing that all of this happened right under their noses makes it feel so real. Meanwhile Blake is still in the middle of nowhere in the end, what will he do now, no Jessica, no Lynn, and nothing but the spawn of the anti-christ in the form of a baby concieved through the r*pe of his beloved wife who died a tragic horrible death.

Beautiful visuals, great sound, great graphics.
I am definitely biased and my memory is admittedly a little fuzzy when it comes to all of the details, so feel free to correct me. It is not a bad game and I don´t hate it, but I personally can´t justify spending 30€ on it although it´s not a ridiculous price by any means, you should try it though, you might really enjoy it if you´re into the atmosphere!