GamesRadar+ VerdictThe Outlast Trials is a diabolical parade of terrors, riffing off the cult series to provide a chilling online multiplayer PvE experience that doubles as a prequel. With new maps and missions added as it leaves Early Access, Red Barrels makes a strong opening case for its live service horror game – but has yet to prove how this nightmare will keep us coming back for more than a one-off dose of shock therapy.TODAY’S BEST DEALS$9.50at Green Man Gaming$20.99at CDKeys$39.99at Humble BundlePros+Gore-geous maps and enemy design+Multiplayer component enables strategic or silly approach+Solo gameplay offers a true Outlast experienceCons-Push for replayability feels forced-Single player mode needs rebalancing
GamesRadar+ Verdict
GamesRadar+ Verdict
The Outlast Trials is a diabolical parade of terrors, riffing off the cult series to provide a chilling online multiplayer PvE experience that doubles as a prequel. With new maps and missions added as it leaves Early Access, Red Barrels makes a strong opening case for its live service horror game – but has yet to prove how this nightmare will keep us coming back for more than a one-off dose of shock therapy.TODAY’S BEST DEALS$9.50at Green Man Gaming$20.99at CDKeys$39.99at Humble Bundle
The Outlast Trials is a diabolical parade of terrors, riffing off the cult series to provide a chilling online multiplayer PvE experience that doubles as a prequel. With new maps and missions added as it leaves Early Access, Red Barrels makes a strong opening case for its live service horror game – but has yet to prove how this nightmare will keep us coming back for more than a one-off dose of shock therapy.
TODAY’S BEST DEALS$9.50at Green Man Gaming$20.99at CDKeys$39.99at Humble Bundle
TODAY’S BEST DEALS$9.50at Green Man Gaming$20.99at CDKeys$39.99at Humble Bundle
TODAY’S BEST DEALS$9.50at Green Man Gaming$20.99at CDKeys$39.99at Humble Bundle
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
$9.50at Green Man Gaming$20.99at CDKeys$39.99at Humble Bundle
$9.50at Green Man Gaming
$9.50at Green Man Gaming
$20.99at CDKeys
$20.99at CDKeys
$39.99at Humble Bundle
$39.99at Humble Bundle
Pros+Gore-geous maps and enemy design+Multiplayer component enables strategic or silly approach+Solo gameplay offers a true Outlast experience
Gore-geous maps and enemy design
Multiplayer component enables strategic or silly approach
Solo gameplay offers a true Outlast experience
Cons-Push for replayability feels forced-Single player mode needs rebalancing
Push for replayability feels forced
Single player mode needs rebalancing
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Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.
When I think of all the horror games out there that might be best suited to an online multiplayer spin-off, Outlast would not have topped my list. Its grisly psycho-terrors and heavy themes are hardly what I look for when unwinding with friends after work, and I credit Outlast 2 with at least a handful of my recurrent nightmares. Perhaps it’s the fact alone – that it shouldn’t work as well as it does – that makes The Outlast Trials such a delight.
FAST FACTSRelease date:March 5, 2024Platform(s):PC, Xbox Series X, PS5, PS4, Xbox OneDeveloper:In housePublisher:Red Barrels
FAST FACTS
Release date:March 5, 2024Platform(s):PC, Xbox Series X, PS5, PS4, Xbox OneDeveloper:In housePublisher:Red Barrels
Release date:March 5, 2024Platform(s):PC, Xbox Series X, PS5, PS4, Xbox OneDeveloper:In housePublisher:Red Barrels
As a co-op game, The Outlast Trials is as chaotic as it is challenging. As a horror game, it more than delivers the bloodcurdling, stomach-dropping, wince-inducing gore and violence you’d expect from developer Reds Barrels. That being said, the game has yet to sell me on its most controversial element – and, no, I’m not talking about feeding animatronic orphans some guy’s sawn-off legs.
Pay to slay
(Image credit: Red Barrels)
The Outlast Trials being a live service game is not inherently a bad thing. The fact that microtransactions will most likely play a part in The Outlast Trials going forward does not bother me in the slightest, particularly when so many cosmetics, items, and other decorations can be unlocked in-game. But it’s no secret that live service titles can be very hit-or-miss these days – if a community is going to come together, it’s often because of a clear commitment to future evolutions and a core gameplay loop that benefits from repetition. That’s where The Outlast Trials has me concerned.
It’s all down to the replayability factor. A typical session of The Outlast Trials takes place in the Sinyala Facility where you, either going solo or working with up to three fellow Reagents, navigate a series of stealth-focussed puzzles across one of five distinct maps, avoiding the aggressive enemies patrolling the space. In typical Outlast fashion, you are largely unarmed and unable to defend yourself without help from purchasable or found tools in the environment. Your character has volunteered to be a part of this devious psychological experiment, and the broader aim is seemingly simple: collect 20 tokens (upped from 10 during the Early Access window, thanks to the addition of new maps and mission types) in order to earn your freedom, with up to two tokens awarded to you upon completion of a trial. Once you free your current Reagent, you take on the role of another, retaining your XP level and any purchased upgrades.
(Image credit: Red Barrels)
Group therapeutics
(Image credit: Red Barrels)
The Outlast Trials therefore presents a pretty bleak premise, one I can’t see myself grinding through in single-player again – despite how much I’m enjoying it all, in that sick sort of way that only Outlast can be enjoyed. That’s because despite how solitary and nerve-wracking the mainline games are, a small comfort can always be found in one fact: that the end to all this horror is drawing ever closer. The same cannot be said for The Outlast Trials. It intends to go on and on, as long as it can – and although the thin smattering of a story available from launch sees players finding evidence to build up a case against the Corporation, I’d be surprised if putting an actual stop to Murkoff is even possible. No Murkoff, no Sinyala Facility. No Facility, no more Outlast Trials.
That being said, The Outlast Trials is not intended to be a single-player experience all the way through. Every facet of the experience, from gameplay to immersion factor, shines in multiplayer. When you’re playing with others, The Outlast Trials becomes a different beast entirely – a different game from the tense, drawn-out terrors of solo play. You can arm wrestle, play a spot of chess, and then gear up to head into one of the many trials or MK challenges; it all feels strangely normal, which speaks to how excellently Red Barrels is able to build atmosphere.
The Outlast Trials is also far more tactical and strategic in multiplayer, especially once each player has picked up a rig to help even the odds and can split up to search for keys, items, or delicious human hearts. It’s such a different experience that the single-player mode feels almost unfairly unbalanced in comparison. You have the same number of objectives to complete, the same number of scarily eagle-eyed foes rubber-banding it back to your last known location, and they all seem to give chase for a lot longer before giving up. This all makes single player Outlast Trials feel like an unofficial harcore mode, if that’s the sort of masochistic thing you’re aiming for, but just know that the already testing difficulty will ramp up and make you question why on earth you chose to do this to yourself in the first place.
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More about the outlast trialsAs if The Outlast Trials couldn’t get any more deranged, the horror co-op game’s big new update adds more tooth guns and lady who lives in the wallsOutlast Trials crossplay settings and how to change themLatestElder Scrolls modders have released a playable part of the ambitious Project Tamriel, which aims to recreate all of the beloved RPG’s regions in MorrowindSee more latest►
More about the outlast trialsAs if The Outlast Trials couldn’t get any more deranged, the horror co-op game’s big new update adds more tooth guns and lady who lives in the wallsOutlast Trials crossplay settings and how to change themLatestElder Scrolls modders have released a playable part of the ambitious Project Tamriel, which aims to recreate all of the beloved RPG’s regions in MorrowindSee more latest►
More about the outlast trialsAs if The Outlast Trials couldn’t get any more deranged, the horror co-op game’s big new update adds more tooth guns and lady who lives in the wallsOutlast Trials crossplay settings and how to change them
More about the outlast trials
As if The Outlast Trials couldn’t get any more deranged, the horror co-op game’s big new update adds more tooth guns and lady who lives in the wallsOutlast Trials crossplay settings and how to change them
As if The Outlast Trials couldn’t get any more deranged, the horror co-op game’s big new update adds more tooth guns and lady who lives in the walls
As if The Outlast Trials couldn’t get any more deranged, the horror co-op game’s big new update adds more tooth guns and lady who lives in the walls
Outlast Trials crossplay settings and how to change them
Outlast Trials crossplay settings and how to change them
LatestElder Scrolls modders have released a playable part of the ambitious Project Tamriel, which aims to recreate all of the beloved RPG’s regions in MorrowindSee more latest►
Latest
Elder Scrolls modders have released a playable part of the ambitious Project Tamriel, which aims to recreate all of the beloved RPG’s regions in Morrowind
Elder Scrolls modders have released a playable part of the ambitious Project Tamriel, which aims to recreate all of the beloved RPG’s regions in Morrowind
Elder Scrolls modders have released a playable part of the ambitious Project Tamriel, which aims to recreate all of the beloved RPG’s regions in Morrowind
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