Outlast Trials… Except the Only Trial Is Being Scared for More Than Five Minutes
When Red Barrels first released Outlast in 2013, it was picked up by every big Youtuber who sat in front of a camera and screamed at the sight of the enemies. Even when the scares were telegraphed so you could prepare yourself, it was enough to make you sit and consider just how much you really wanted to beat the game. It was a game where even as someone watching other people playing the game, the atmosphere was intense, relentless and downright terrifying.
Whistleblower carried the torch and introduced a new antagonist, Eddie Gluskin, who mutilated men in the hopes of turning them into his ‘bride’. We don’t meet Eddie until after run-ins with multiple other antagonists like Dennis, Frank and Chris but the horror remains throughout and only escalates as you uncover the madman’s desires to mutilate the main character.
Then there’s Outlast 2, where we move away from Mount Massive and into the land of fighting cults who plan to impregnate Blake’s wife, Lynn, more about outlast two
Now we have the latest addition to the Outlast universe — Outlast Trials. Currently in early release, the new game allows you, the test subject — or Reagent as referred to in-game — to work through different maps and complete the tasks laid out for you by Murkoff either alone or with your friends. There’s the usual needing batteries for night vision, though this time it is for a pair of night-vision goggles that are fused to your head rather than the standard video camera that fans have learned to love. I’ve sunk a good few hours into the game now, making use of the multiplayer features and whilst there’s a lot of good things that come with this game, there’s also a number of issues. Could this be down to the fact that I’m playing it with my friend in multiplayer? Maybe. But I’ve played every other game sat beside friends because I’m too much of a coward to play on my own.
First I want to take a look at what the good parts of this game are because there are a lot of good things and they all deserve time in the spotlight. Red Barrels is a damn good game producer and even though this is my least favourite entry into the Outlast universe, that doesn’t mean as a whole it is a bad game.
What did you love?
The standard Outlast experience is there — amazing atmosphere, grotesque enemies and batteries placed so you just run out of power before you find the next one. There are ex-Pops around every corner ready to chase you until you find somewhere to hide like a locker or under one of the desks. The level designs themselves are amazing. The Outlast series has always, and still, looks good. Even the first game and its DLC looks good on current gen consoles — something that can be very difficult to do without calling it a remaster or a remake.
If I was playing this game on my own it wouldn’t have been the same experience but I don’t think it would have been a better one. There were so many opportunities to cause absolute chaos for your unsuspecting friends — like finding the enemies and forcing them to chase you right to where you knew your friend was hiding. The screaming and swearing that followed made me laugh so hard that the things I disliked didn’t matter in comparison. This game is the perfect excuse to scare and tease your friends, especially the ones that dislike horror.
At the heart of it, that’s all that matters. Playing horror games with my friends and doing everything I can to scare them whilst also getting a better score than them. The fact that it’s Outlast and I can see the influences from the earlier games just makes it all the more enjoyable.
What did you not like?
My biggest issue with this game is that most of the time I found myself being more annoyed and frustrated than scared. I didn’t want to get back to the hub and have the mean Murkoff man call me an idiot or say that my work wasn’t good enough. Maybe I was just too impatient but after a while I got sick of hiding in lockers and it was easier to just run into the monster and then find a way to get away then it was to be stealthy. The atmosphere of the game was really good during the first part of the tutorial but it quickly dimmed to something that really wasn’t that terrifying. Especially in challenge mode, where there seemed to be no logical way to get around the enemies beyond just sprinting around them and hoping for the best.
Then there was the loss of sanity that turned into my friend randomly appearing and stabbing me, except it wasn’t my friend because they were too busy being stabbed by me on the other side of the map. There’s no real explanation for this that I can find after many many attempts at googling what was going on which is annoying. At first I thought it was to do with the newly added sanity meter that can be affected by one of the new antagonists that appears after the ringing of bells. That wasn’t right, though, because I tried to use one of the antidotes when they appeared to see whether it would help but it wouldn’t let me waste the time because my sanity was full. Perhaps it’s just a way to make sure you’re not spending your life hiding in the dark and not making any progress on the map.
So… should I buy it?
Outlast Trials is one of many coop horrors that I have played recently and, whilst it wasn’t my favourite, it is impossible to deny the fact that listening to my friends scream and hide in barrels definitely made the bad things seem minor.
Even if you’re not a massive fan of horror, the scares aren’t as bad as the single player games and playing it with someone makes everything a little less scary. Now that we’re out of lockdown and moving away from the Among Us phase of our lives, Outlast Trials is the perfect excuse to boot up discord again and arrange a games night with those friends that you haven’t seen in a while because adult life got in the way. Outlast brings in elements of horror in a familiar style that fans of the franchise will adore and new fans will come to appreciate. It’s not 10/10 but it’s close and any excuse to scare your friends should always be taken.
