The Mad House
It’s now over ten years ago since Red Barrels developed and released Outlast and after a superb sequel they have returned to the franchise with a new twist. Instead of the single player focused previous games, The Outlast Trials is a fully fledged multiplayer experience which has without doubt been designed with playing with friends in mind. On the surface, the aim of the game is simple: you and up to three other players team up and try to escape the horrors you find within. Solve puzzles, complete objectives and run for your damn life-just some of the absolute chaos that occurs within this wonderful game. The game begins with classic Outlast– a grotesque cutscene showing your character being kidnapped by orderlies and doctors. From there, you create your character with a fairly robust system of customisation tools. Once you have kitted out your ‘patient’, it’s time to take on the tutorial. This perfectly encapsulates what you have to achieve in this game to survive. You are taught all the basic and advanced mechanics, whilst being on edge as enemies hunt and track you. I found this tutorial to be wonderful as it reminds you what Outlast truly is, and that is survival horror. Being a multiplayer focused game, the developers could have made the tutorial co-op but I think it works well solo as it forces the player to understand the stakes at hand before relying on friends.
The story in The Outlast Trials is deliberately vague and mysterious. It is a prequel to the previous games, now set in 1959, with the world at the height of the Cold War. The Murkhoff Corporation has taken extreme measures to find test subjects, such as taking the homeless off the streets. It’s a strong start for the story but as with a lot of multiplayer games, the gameplay takes precedent and the narrative is pushed to the side. The story is there for the player to find if they want, discovering notes and files hidden in the levels that give the backstory. Upon completing the trials, a single player trial unlocks which serves as an ambiguous and mysterious ending. This is welcomed as the game itself launched in early access last year, showing the clear focus by the developers to add and innovate over the years. I liked the handling of the story and the narrative as most players will not be playing for a rich story and in-depth narrative. I think Red Barrels have managed to balance the fine line between story and gameplay.
The Hub Of Wonders
Upon completing the tutorial, you arrive at the ‘Sleep Room’ which serves as the games online hub. Waking up in a bed and exiting my room, I felt nervous and terrified, but when I entered the main hub area I became blown away. Within this hub are situated random players online, allowing you to partner up with players to face the madness. But it’s the detail I love here. Want to have a game of chess against a random player? Or arm wrestle someone? Yes, these are real online minigames on offer; they’re small touches but ones that are so welcome. From this moment, I knew the developers had poured love and care into this game. Along with the minigames, the hub also serves as your customisation base for your player character and their inpatient room. Decorating your room with disgusting and outright weird ornaments and showing them to other players created unique and hilarious moments for myself and my friends. Who doesn’t want a bowl of teeth on their desk?
The hub itself also serves as the progression and upgrade base. You can gain abilities such as making no noise or powering up one of four rigs. These rigs act as the four gameplay styles. Do you want to tiptoe your way around and see where enemies are approaching? Then use the rig that lets you see through walls. Or if you want to be the player who acts as the bait, you can use the stun rig to temporarily halt the monsters that chase you. Be the team medic using the healing rig or use the blind rig to help confuse the enemies- the choice is yours. These rigs keep the game feeling fresh and offer different avenues to explore. It’s important that the gameplay is fun in cooperative games like this, and The Outlast Trials does not disappoint.
Co-op Chaos
As someone who is definitely not a horror fan, I thought I would hate this game but I truly had an absolute blast. Gameplay is fairly simple: sneak your way around one of the five main trials across unique locations and complete the tasks at hand. Gather equipment and health to survive and find everyday items to help stun the enemies which roam furiously around the level. It is a simple gameplay loop but it’s such damn fun to be exploring these wonderful trials with your friends. Getting chased feels thrilling and intense, with the look back over the shoulder option when running a particular useful technique. Movement and traversal feel smooth and natural like the previous games and easy to pick up for newcomers of the franchise. The trials themselves are both amazing and grotesque. Whether it’s going through an abandoned amusement park or sneaking through an old police station, this game has nailed the bizarre and vulgar tone Outlast is known for.
The objectives found within each trial are both brilliant in design and absolutely disgusting at times. Having to literally carve up a human attached to a cross with my friends is something unfortunately that will stay with me for a long time. There are other disgusting and downright sick moments found within the game but that is what you sign up for when you play Outlast, and fans of the series wouldn’t have it any other way. The way in which the game uses Outlast’s classic psychological horror ensures that the players fear levels are vital to surviving. Get too scared or induce to many chemicals and you’ll have a fully fledged skinner man chasing you that only you can see. My absolute favourites are the evil versions of yourself and friends that can suddenly appear. These alternate versions of yourself attempt to hurt and scare you and this addition truly leaves every player on edge, wondering who is a friend or who is a foe. The only downside to the game is the lack of levels as only five are available at launch but hopefully more will be added overtime.
What makes these levels special is the enemy design. Each level has the standard grunt type enemies who roam particular parts of the map, and these alone are scary in their own right. However it’s the bosses and special enemies that steal the show. Hearing the elevator siren go off near you or your friends is something like no other, as you know a special enemy is appearing and you have to make yourself scarce. Enemies like the wonderfully twisted Mother Gooseberry appears with a drill puppet for a hand or the wicked police officer Leland Coyle violently roams the police station with an electric baton. These two enemies in particular cause you absolute chaos as they can appear virtually anywhere in the trial which constantly means you are on your toes. Foes hiding in barrels can leap out at you causing hilarious and terrifying jump scares for you and your friends. Seeing a big hulking monster strolling past the bed me and my friends were hiding under, was a personal favourite of mine! An incredible achievement by Red Barrels in gameplay design.
Beauty In The Horror
The Outlast Trials oozes horror through presentation and sound. Each trial looks stunning, with their twisted aspects that help make every location unique. Blood spatters are vibrant and unnerving, whilst bodies and body parts are deliberately grotesque and outlandish. Lighting is also key in this game with the return of the iconic night vision goggles and I’m happy to say it does not disappoint. Rooms look beautiful in night vision and nightmarish when not lit up. But it’s the design of the levels that truly blew me away. Ample hiding spaces, escape options and routes at your disposal in every room; The Outlast Trials has nailed map design to a tee. Enemies look horrifying and are truly stuff of nightmares. The way they have been designed and animated to roam the maps so wonderfully, is perfection in enemy design. I am blown away by the presentation and design of this game.
In addition, the sound design in this game is top notch. It’s crucial in this genre for sound to play its role and it certainly does. Hearing a grunt lumber their way round the corner to you is spinetingling and unnerving but serves as the audio cue for the player to alert them to danger. Crunching over broken glass is brutal and effective whilst smash doors never sounded so good. The voice acting of the named enemies is also wonderfully done; it is downright terrifying hearing Mother Gooseberry laughing manically as she chases you. Music plays a subdued role in this game, but that is intentional as silence is your ally in this game. In the single player prologue and epilogue, the music ramps up to a nail biting score. Its use during chases also really exacerbates the players’ fears and tensions. A perfect horror experience.
Verdict
The Outlast Trials is a masterpiece in blending cooperative gameplay with the disgusting outrageous horror of the iconic series. Gameplay feels both exhilarating and terrifying, creating unique moments for me and my friends that I will remember for a long time. Whilst the game doesn’t have a memorable story to tell, its characters and enemies are truly unforgettable. Stunning presentation and design help to keep me coming back for more and a fairly robust progression helps to create longevity. I just wish I could experience the trials again for the first time. See you in the madhouse.
