It hasn’t been a perfect ride for the Red Barrel’s Outlast series. The first was hailed as a wonderfully horrific experience where we could explore a mental institution like a reporter. The second rebuts the inspiration for films like “Children of the Corn” and has us hiding in North American cornfields. The sequels feature more strongly religious cults and hunting scenes. However, its gameplay mechanics didn’t impress everyone, which led to a lot of trial and error. The Outlast: Trials skips all of that and puts us chronologically before the first game.
You are a homeless/nameless character and you choose your appearance at the beginning. Your character has undergone horrific experiments and you have been unleashed into the world with your psychiatrist as your only friend. He’ll talk to you constantly, guiding you between quests. You’re stuck experimenting in a huge warehouse surrounded by other newly built structures designed to resemble a small town. Then the test subjects are released and you and up to three additional friends are released in this crazy world.
It’s clear that The Outlast: Trials is designed for four players. While the narrative is layered, it’s clear that this is best enjoyed with other people. To load into a level, you need to enter one of the four turnstiles, or sit in one of the four chairs. So it’s probably not surprising that my time playing the game was marked by a lot of replayed and reused levels for so-called “experiments.” You choose a mission, your gear, and can then jump into the level and complete the mission of your choice based on the parameters you set earlier. In terms of gameplay, it differs slightly from its predecessor without losing the identity Outlast is known for. You can slowly open the door, and if you are spotted, enemies will chase you, horror is everywhere.
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What I found frustrating was the well-established artifice in the genre. In an early level, you have to infiltrate a police station and kill a witness. You start shooting him, the power goes out, and now, you now have to figure out how to get into the basement and repair, refill, and restart the generator. Often you can see the goal and the end of the mission right in front of you, but you have to run a marathon around the goal before it’s all done. It works better with several other players because the extra player can carry more items, solve puzzles together, and complete the level more easily. If you’re on your own, you retain more of the horror elements, but you still don’t have the focused narrative with the established protagonist that you’ve had in previous installments of the series.
The mission was carried out very smoothly. In terms of gameplay, there are many similarities to its predecessors. This time you don’t have a camera, but are given night vision goggles. You can use found batteries to recharge these when the energy runs out, but you need to conserve resources. The story does a decent job of selling its themes and connecting them to the series’ narrative. I won’t reveal anything, but if you want to learn more about this universe, there are some good ones to be found. I especially like the world design, as the environment is broken, destroyed and lived, it reminds me of a recent city scene with violent riots. You can also find artifacts and collectibles to add to the effort. There are not only bosses and enemies on the map, but also people who want to be alone. While the map you move around represents buildings and other stuff, Red Barrels does a great job with the environment.
The question remains whether this is really what fans of the first and second installments are looking for. Some aspects of the game, such as the series’ identity and visual design, are similar to its predecessors. The layout, mission design, and level design are reminiscent of Dead By Daylight, Last Year: The Nightmare, Back 4 Blood, and Phasmophobia. It’s a drastic change in genre between Dawn of War and Dawn of War II, which are largely the same. This is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, I prefer the latter to the former. I had a lot of fun avoiding enemies, dodging monsters, and making my way through levels. It’s always good to have abilities that make this easier, e.g. you can choose an ability before you start that will allow you to push down barricades faster, or make your escape easier. At the same time, I miss the more precise style of the mainline games.
However, there is now a hub where you can return between missions. Your base camp is a cell in a mental hospital/institutional ward. There are beds, rooms and some characters from which you can buy things. Here, you plan with your allies, test your gear, and buy what you need. I’m curious if it wins people over. Ironically, I have no doubt that this will be a test for the eventual third game, but, I want to stress right now, I prefer horror games. Good co-op modes usually involve single-player compromises, and that’s no different here. For example, the immersion suffers a bit when you have to choose quests, maps, find players in lobbies, etc., instead of immediately using cutscenes and new levels.
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Even though it’s focused on co-op, I like the design of the world, the characters and sounds are great. The universe is also generally still interesting. However, I found that the horror wears off quickly, and despite the good variety of enemies, you often feel exposed. When you’re with a friend and go through the same level multiple times in a row with different missions, the level of fear is slightly lessened. At the same time, it does a great job. You get competent voice acting, solid graphics, good art direction and pretty good gameplay. There are technical flaws, the artificial intelligence needs polishing, and these are the things that the developers are working on. However, it doesn’t have a 1.0 release yet, because here we get an Early Access release.
However, I wouldn’t recommend playing The Outlast: Trials on your own. If you want to try something new with a few friends and happen to like Outlast, I recommend checking it out. However, cosmetic things like painting your cell and other things didn’t really appeal to me, despite the fact that the options are plentiful and there are plenty of things that can be unlocked with the currency you earn after quests.
The conflict between the series’ legacy and this new step is palpable. I’m torn between being excited about new things on the one hand, but on the other hand, the levels can’t handle the number of times I’m being asked to complete them. It gets too tiring. While I’m more of a horror flick, I know a lot of people who like to deal with scary things together, which can be fun. At the end of the day, it’s a competent foundation, and more work needs to be done during Early Access to make the 1.0 release as good as possible.
If the developers manage to fix some of the issues I encountered, add more content, and polish their work, it might end up with a higher rating. But, for now, I’ve been entertained, but not impressed. Some aspects are good, some aspects are flawed. It’s something to keep an eye on if you have a group of mates and want to play something unpleasant. I left the Early Access version hoping it would become a stable multiplayer spin-off. My rating is also somewhat justified because it was created for a different audience than the first and second editions, as I quickly realized I wasn’t as involved with it as its predecessors.