The Outlast Trials

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The Outlast Trials
The Outlast Trials cover.jpg
Developer(s) Red Barrels
Publisher(s) Red Barrels
Director(s) Alex Charbonneau
Producer(s) Charles Ayotte
Programmer(s) François Cournoyer
Writer(s) J. T. Petty
Composer(s) Tom Salta
Engine Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
ReleaseMarch 5, 2024
Genre(s) Survival horror
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

The Outlast Trials is a 2024 first-person psychological survival horror video game developed and published by Red Barrels. It serves as a prequel to both Outlast (2013) and Outlast 2 (2017) and revolves around test subjects who are involuntarily recruited in a mysterious Cold War experiment.

Contents

First announced on October 2019, the game was originally slated for a release on August 2021, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [1] A closed beta was available from October 28 to November 1, 2022, until it was finally released via early access for Microsoft Windows on May 18, 2023, and fully launched for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on March 5, 2024. The Outlast Trials received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics.

Gameplay

Like its predecessors, The Outlast Trials is a first-person survival horror. While the game supports four-player cooperative multiplayer, players can also complete the game in a single-player mode. The player must complete several objectives while evading enemies; a secondary objective can be completed to obtain a bonus to the player's grade, received at the end of each trial. The game also features six distinct abilities players can select and use during the trials. These abilities include seeing items and enemies through walls, healing other players within an area of effect, placing smoke bomb mines to blind enemies, throwing a device to temporarily stun enemies, or placing reinforced barricades on doors to slow down pursuers. [2]

The player has access to a pair of night-vision goggles that allows them to navigate dimly lit areas. The goggles need to be regularly recharged with a scarce battery resource. Players can pick up various tactical items, such as anti-psychotic drugs, lockpicks, and healing items. Bricks and glass bottles can be either thrown to distract and lure enemies away from the player, or they can be thrown at an enemy to stifle their attacks and incur a short stun period. Despite this, stealth remains as the preferred way to progress through a trial, as outright combat is not an available option. In the early game, players are limited to carrying up only three items at a time, with an additional inventory slot unlockable to players later in their progression. [3]

Plot

In 1959, at the height of the Cold War, the Murkoff Corporation begins a deceptive recruitment program and summons volunteers who are then kidnapped and transported to the Sinyala Facility in Arizona. Referred to as "Reagents", the subjects are forced to undergo an "Initiation Trial" where they are involuntarily proceeded surgically to have night-vision goggles screwed on their head and meet the facility's director, Hendrick Joliet Easterman.

As Easterman directs them to destroy their own public and private records, the Reagents complete the trial by avoiding psychotic failed test subjects, known as the "Experimental Population", also referred to as "Ex-Pops". Reagents are then allowed to access to the "Sleep Room", where they listen to Easterman's radio broadcasts and reflect between trials. They also meet engineer Cornelious Noakes, nurse Emily Barlow, and various Sleep Room denizens while assisted by a fellow Reagent named Dorris, who no longer partakes in the trials and instead provides contraband goods to other subjects. The trials the Reagents undergo become increasingly dangerous as they are forced to go against the "Prime Assets", Ex-Pops that hold dominion over the trials' themed environments. Notable Prime Assets include disgraced children's television series' host Phyllis "Mother Gooseberry" Futterman, sadistic ex-police sergeant Leland Coyle, and depraved drug-dealing gangster Franco "Il Bambino" Barbi.

After completing the trials, Reagents who are deemed ready can participate in a "Release Protocol", where they must complete a final trial before being released to the world. During the trial, they are also assigned documentation with new identities before being given a code word through tuning multiple frequencies. After they open a final door to escape, Reagents fall into a dark infinite space where they walk on water as they approach a glaring light in the distance.

Endings

The Outlast Trials features several endings that depends on the player's choices and if they have completed all the trials.

Development

In December 2017, Outlast 3 was announced though no time frame or target platforms were confirmed. [4] During this announcement, Red Barrels said that because they could not easily add downloadable content for Outlast 2 due to its structure, they have a smaller separate project related to Outlast that will release before Outlast 3. [4] Red Barrels also described the game as a "TV series"; the development team of the game had around forty people. [5]

The Outlast Trials was teased in October 2019 as a prequel to both Outlast and Outlast 2 around test subjects for the Murkoff Corporation in a mysterious Cold War experiment. Red Barrels co-founder David Chateauneuf said "the proof-of-concept is now complete and the game's team is now in development mode". [6]

Marketing

On December 4, 2019, Red Barrels released a teaser image of the game. [7] On June 13, 2020, a teaser trailer was released, announcing a release for 2021. [8] However, it was announced in August 2021 that the game has been delayed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [1] To help pass the time, Red Barrels released a series of "Behind The Scenes" videos on their official YouTube channel. [9] A closed beta for the game was available from October 28 to November 1, 2022. [10] While the game was only confirmed for Microsoft Windows, the game would also be released for undisclosed PlayStation platforms "in the future". [5] On March 10, 2023, it was announced that the game would be released in early access on May 18. [11] On December 8, it was announced that the game would leave early access on March 5, 2024, and also launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. [12]

Reception

The Outlast Trials received "mixed or average" reviews from critics on all platforms, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. [13] [14] [15]

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References

  1. 1 2 Fenlon, Wes (August 26, 2021). "Here's our first real look at Cold War horror game The Outlast Trials". PC Gamer . Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  2. ↑ Delanley, Mike (November 3, 2022). "The Outlast Trials Isn't What You Expect, But That Might Be A Good Thing". GameSpot . Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  3. ↑ Moss, Gabriel (October 28, 2022). "The Outlast Trials: First Level Preview". IGN . Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Barnett, Brian (December 7, 2017). "'Outlast' Coming to Switch, 'Outlast 3' Confirmed". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on December 31, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  5. 1 2 Morin, Phillipe (September 3, 2021). "The Outlast Trials "is like a TV series", offering new challenges for players and developer alike". PlayStation Blog . Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  6. ↑ Brown, Fraser (December 4, 2019). "'The Outlast Trials' is a 4-player survival horror set during the Cold War". PC Gamer . Future plc . Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  7. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (December 4, 2019). "The next 'Outlast' game will be multiplayer". Polygon . Vox Media . Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  8. ↑ Red Barrels [@TheRedBarrels] (June 13, 2020). "Survive alongside friends or dare to face the experiments by yourself. Your freedom ends in 2021. Welcome to the Outlast Trials" (Tweet). Retrieved June 25, 2020– via Twitter.
  9. ↑ Red Barrels (June 8, 2022). "The Outlast Trials - Behind The Scenes". YouTube. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  10. ↑ Gosling, Austen (August 23, 2022). "The Outlast Trials will be playable in October in closed beta". Polygon . Retrieved August 24, 2022.
  11. ↑ Romano, Sal (March 10, 2023). "The Outlast Trials launches in Early Access on May 18". Gematsu. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  12. ↑ Romano, Sal (December 8, 2023). "The Outlast Trials launches March 5, 2024". Gematsu. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  13. 1 2 "The Outlast Trials for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  14. 1 2 "The Outlast Trials for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  15. 1 2 "The Outlast Trials for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  16. ↑ Delaney, Mark (March 4, 2024). "The Outlast Trials Review - Immersion Therapy". GameSpot . Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  17. ↑ Gould-Wilson, Jasmine (March 4, 2024). "The Outlast Trials review: "A thrilling compulsive experience that will shatter every nerve in your body"". GamesRadar+ . Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  18. ↑ Northup, Travis (March 4, 2024). "The Outlast Trials Review". IGN . Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  19. ↑ Croft, Liam (March 4, 2024). "The Outlast Trials Review (PS5)". Push Square . Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  20. ↑ White, Lucas (March 4, 2024). "The Outlast Trials review: Unalive Service". Shacknews . Retrieved March 4, 2024.
  21. ↑ Raynor, Kelsey (March 4, 2024). "The Outlast Trials – review: SAW, MKUltra, and sheer shock value combine to make Outlast as horrifying as ever". VG247 . Retrieved March 4, 2024.
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