The Outlast Trials

The Outlast Trials is good because Outlast was good. This is a creepy horror experience with all the dashing about and horrific mutants I loved about the first one, and I’m going to find myself coming back to it more often than I care to admit. It feels like The Outlast Trials is riding the coattails of the series, using the same tricks and scares instead of effectively innovating on the formula. I had a good time, but I leave it unconvinced Red Barrels even knows what made the first game such a sleeper hit.

The Outlast Trials does something a little different with the survival horror genre and gets a lot of good mileage out of its Fallout-meets-Saw aesthetic. It's not always exactly what you'd call fun though and there are questions over the variety of it in its launch form but we grew to like it a lot.

The Outlast Trials definitively manages to differentiate itself from the previous titles. It achieves that be becoming a coop game without losing its horror elements in the process. Its repetitive nature may be the one major shortcoming, nevertheless, fans of the genre should not miss it.

The Outlast Trials isn't a bad game, thanks to a dose of blood and violence. The emphasis is placed on the multiplayer experience, who undermines the enjoyment for players accustomed to solo playthroughs.

The Outlast Trials is an example of a beloved series trying something new, and for the most part it works. The trials themselves are enjoyable, with huge maps to explore, memorable psychos to avoid and enough spooks and jumpscares to keep you entertained for a long time. The game is made, and works best, with multiple players in mind, and while that does take away from the overall horror, what replaces it is a barrel full of laughs as you watch your friend get ripped out of a locker and smacked with a big stick, and that’s good enough for me.

Ultimately, The Outlast Trials finds itself in a bit of an awkward spot. It doesn’t quite hit the mark as a single player game, though playing alone is where the true horror lies. Play it with others, and while you’re likely to have more fun, it comes at the expense of atmosphere and scares. For many though, repetition is likely to be the biggest issue with The Outlast Trials; sneaking around in the dark is only fun for so long, after all. Still, that’s not to say this experiment is a total failure — it has a lot to offer for those who do find enjoyment in its grotesque endeavors.

A good multiplayer experience, which still needs some refinement and which goes a little too far in penalizing solo players.

The Outlast Trials is a fun, but flawed addition to the Outlast series, trading in the original titles’ claustrophobic horror for in-your-face multiplayer mayhem. The title’s core gameplay loop offers a thrilling challenge and high replayability, delivering plenty of trials for fans to sink their teeth into across its Core, Advanced, and Ultra Programs, with immersive audio-visual elements that deliver on all fronts. Unfortunately, The Outlast Trials' balancing issues, unjustified gratuity, and complete lack of scares may leave some players disappointed. Fans of the Outlast series will likely find plenty of reasons to explore and overcome the Murkoff Corporation’s various testing facilities, as the title offers enough challenge to keep them engaged. However, for general horror audiences, and those new to Outlast, The Outlast Trials may struggle to live up to the legendary reputation of the series’ original entries.