Something’s been in the air lately and it’s clear that it’s not love. No, this is the unmasked stink of death at the hands of the nefarious Murkoff Corporation, which fans of the Outlast series will remember as the same entity who completely mismanaged Outlast 1’s Mount Massive Asylum and built Outlast 2’s eerie radio towers. The vile experiments continue – and I take that for granted – in the terrifying first-person survival simulation The Outlast Trials, finding the best ways to unsettle you. I had an extremely tense experience playing the tutorial and level one on an ultra-wide monitor in a dark room, but if you don’t want to go it alone, you can now take three of your friends with you first in a series. As such, Trials is potentially the next great cooperative horror survival game.
The first two Outlast games revolved around the evolving story of an investigative journalist uncovering a dark mystery, but in this Cold War-era prequel you play as a prisoner racing for your life in a Squid Game-like race to survive several heady trials. . That’s why The Outlast Trials sees you trying to outdo, scavenge, and outsmart your fellow prisoners, who are often violent and severely disfigured; that makes them so scary when they jump out of lockers and nail you to the floor in classic jumpscare fashion. .
These fears are certainly more in line with American chainsaw horrors than some of the darker, more psychological horrors one might expect from a Silent Hill game, for example. However, The Outlast Trials does commit a bit, with excellent sound and level design that radiates eerieness even if you can’t hear the screams. Fields are often difficult to differentiate without using your night vision goggles, which can run out quickly and can only be recharged with a scarce battery supply; this makes it suitable to use night vision only when absolutely necessary. On the other hand, outdoor lighting is both a blessing and a curse as long as you can only hide effectively in dark areas, and since you’ll never be able to fight your opponents head-on, using stealth to your advantage is an absolute must.
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It’s great that you’re given a very limited amount of inventory space – three slots in total – which means you’ll have to constantly think about what items to carry to support your playstyle. Outlast Trials competently balances the inventory and equipment customization system that can change the scale of your own playstyle in a certain direction, changing your relationship with the items you choose to prioritize in your inventory. In my own preview, I experienced the Police Station level in Easy mode, which meant that the map was scattered with healing and anti-psychotic items, batteries, and locks. In more challenging modes, these items will likely be less, making everything a much more cerebral battle for survival.
The good news is that there are many ways to get rid of them all – if you’re smart. You’ll never be able to swing a weapon against your greedy attackers, but as mentioned earlier, unlike the perk system fans that Dead By Daylight is used to, you can use a plethora of different perks and mods to give yourself an edge. In my own demo at the first level of Trials, I chose the X-Ray rig that temporarily gave me the ability to see through walls and see in the dark without draining my night vision battery, and that was much less of a hassle with the fairly long standby time, the lack of battery receivers. This was just one of the few gear available to choose from to start with, and the others seemed equally viable. However, itemization seems to go much deeper. There’s a full menu dedicated to customizing and putting together a loadout with a few different factors, and I’m excited to see how deep the strategic interaction of The Outlast Trials is.
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Once you’ve finished surviving – or if you don’t survive – you can always return to the center area. This seems to depend heavily on the progression of the story, but it’s also where you’ll meet up with other players and enter Trials’ co-op multiplayer mode. According to developer Red Barrels, fans of the series can meet returning characters in this central area, but the distinguishing feature here is the ability to customize your character with special loot and gear you unlock throughout the game. You can even decorate your personal cell to show off to your friends, or you can sit and enjoy casual arm wrestling between sessions.
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