wish i could have seen the ending to this game luckily my friend @Baunga stream for me
actually kinda solid
I always got this idea as a kid that the greatest thing a single-player game could aspire to was to be multi-player. Crash Bandicoot? Get Coco in the mix too. Mario 64? Get Yoshi off that dang roof and let's chill together. Modding and the internet have made my terrible little kid ideas possible and the results are that it's... fine? Any number of mods that let you have Mario and Luigi on screen at one time are a cool novelty but something is almost certainly lost in that leap from curated, individual experience to virtual cat-herding wish fulfillment session. Enter: The Outlast Trials
So yes, worse video game in some ways. But to some extent, I'm just happy Red Barrels is still making things. Outlast is one of my favorite horror games of all time but Outlast 2 really missed the mark for me. Anytime a sequel fumbles, I get nervous that we may never see the IP (or even the studio) again. Instead of dying out, Red Barrels said "alright let's do a weird one" and I love that (even if it isn't a 5/5).
The Outlast Trials has no right to work as well as it does. I mean, this franchise is known for constant quiet tension shattered by explosive moments of disgusting horror. And yet here I am with my dumbass friends taking turns throwing bricks at a horny cop with a cattle prod. I could see that being a real problem for some fans of the series but in execution it's a blast. For what it's worth, the game is fundamentally built on an almost arcade-ified version of the Outlast formula that can be played entirely solo. In that way, it probably is objectively worse than its predecessors. But get a few friends in the mix and suddenly you're running around a carnival haunted house together just howling and yelling the whole way.
At the end of the day, the game's solid and even better with friends. The true achievement is managing to take such an intimate experience and turning it into an amusement park ride while keeping some level of quality. Do I want this to be the future of the franchise? Absolutely not. But I hope it effectively funds a true Outlast 3.
So yes, worse video game in some ways. But to some extent, I'm just happy Red Barrels is still making things. Outlast is one of my favorite horror games of all time but Outlast 2 really missed the mark for me. Anytime a sequel fumbles, I get nervous that we may never see the IP (or even the studio) again. Instead of dying out, Red Barrels said "alright let's do a weird one" and I love that (even if it isn't a 5/5).
The Outlast Trials has no right to work as well as it does. I mean, this franchise is known for constant quiet tension shattered by explosive moments of disgusting horror. And yet here I am with my dumbass friends taking turns throwing bricks at a horny cop with a cattle prod. I could see that being a real problem for some fans of the series but in execution it's a blast. For what it's worth, the game is fundamentally built on an almost arcade-ified version of the Outlast formula that can be played entirely solo. In that way, it probably is objectively worse than its predecessors. But get a few friends in the mix and suddenly you're running around a carnival haunted house together just howling and yelling the whole way.
At the end of the day, the game's solid and even better with friends. The true achievement is managing to take such an intimate experience and turning it into an amusement park ride while keeping some level of quality. Do I want this to be the future of the franchise? Absolutely not. But I hope it effectively funds a true Outlast 3.
never would i think we would get a multiplayer outlast game, this is a lot of fun but get's a little repetitive here and there. now all they need to do is make a vr outlast to end it with a bang
Sympa à plusieurs
I loved Outlast and Red Barrels, but this game gets extremely stale if you don't queue with randoms for some variety, would've rated this higher but the use of AI really broke my trust and support for them.
I beat this game, THAT LIL BITCH @wooper_stan19 has nothing on me.
Frustrating as fuck in single player. Pretty repetitive. The police station levels are the only ones I can say grew on me in any way, even though I’m not a fan of Coyle (or any of the enemies for that matter…).
An underrated horror experience!
Outlast Trials is not Outlast 3, nor should it try to be. It's a different take on the franchise, jumping in on the trend of making every game multiplayer so you can convince friends to play with you (generating more revenue). Despite this, it does not lack content and everything feels crafted to near perfection. The tense experience that Outlast usually provides also comes packaged with Trials.
Outlast Trials is not Outlast 3, nor should it try to be. It's a different take on the franchise, jumping in on the trend of making every game multiplayer so you can convince friends to play with you (generating more revenue). Despite this, it does not lack content and everything feels crafted to near perfection. The tense experience that Outlast usually provides also comes packaged with Trials.
fun with friends and very intense outlast funny funsies. wish there was some more enemy variety tho and more main monsters than just policeman and goose mama. setpieces are great but is kinda fizzed away in the chaos of it all - but it's so funny to look back on this game made me scream like no other. the graphics are amazing and it runs super well. being able to play chess is why 50% of my playtime is spent in the lobby. it can be a wee bit tedious when you get gassed with psychosis juice every five seconds but other than that this is pretty good.
Conceptually, this game could've been awesome. But alas, its terrible, and most embarrassingly, not scary at all. Like holy crap how did they mess that up. This just feels like a sadistic child's fantasy. Boring repetitive gameplay, genuinely disgusting at times, like not even scary but just messed up and gross. This game is very detailed in every wrong aspect, like seriously take a minute to observe all the props in this game. I'm giving this game 1 1/2 because it has chess and arm wrestling, and the player characters have funny voicelines.
One of the most soulless products I have ever purchased. A spit in the face to previous fans of the franchise. Rather than delivering what made Outlast, well, Outlast, Trials instead is a live service monstrosity fit with the usual trappings. Leveling systems, skill trees, classes (???), gear, cosmetics, roadmaps and microtransactions. I had bought under the pretense it was a more story-focused affair with coop elements, but my heart sank as all the soulless slop live service bullshit slowly crawled on my screen.
I could not even enjoy this with friends, the easiest layup imaginable. The AI is dumb as bricks and the mission structure is lazy and repetitive. I only wish that Red Barrels had taken some inspiration from Hazelight's co-op ventures and delivered a strong co-op experience that was reminiscent of the previous title's core values. There are elements here that could work in a story-driven co-op experience, instead, they are squandered for inane tasks or aggravating mission objectives. Additionally, the flow of the game is bizarre as you have 2 separate loading periods, 1 simply flourishing for the mission. It's during these glimpses that Outlast Trials almost parodies its own franchise, with hallucinated enemies shoving their cock in your face or disemboweling themselves in front of you. It's frankly fucking embarrassing. It's as though a completely different company has created this game, there is zero nuance or reasoning for this to occur, and exists solely for the cheapest of shock values. It's just intermittent flashing scenes of violence that your player character is hallucinating before being thrust into another loading screen.
The state of this franchise is disappointing. This game isn't even scary, they couldn't even do that right. I hope Red Barrels got the money they wanted from this blatant cash-grab. If this is the direction of the franchise moving forward you can count me out.
Embarrassing.
I could not even enjoy this with friends, the easiest layup imaginable. The AI is dumb as bricks and the mission structure is lazy and repetitive. I only wish that Red Barrels had taken some inspiration from Hazelight's co-op ventures and delivered a strong co-op experience that was reminiscent of the previous title's core values. There are elements here that could work in a story-driven co-op experience, instead, they are squandered for inane tasks or aggravating mission objectives. Additionally, the flow of the game is bizarre as you have 2 separate loading periods, 1 simply flourishing for the mission. It's during these glimpses that Outlast Trials almost parodies its own franchise, with hallucinated enemies shoving their cock in your face or disemboweling themselves in front of you. It's frankly fucking embarrassing. It's as though a completely different company has created this game, there is zero nuance or reasoning for this to occur, and exists solely for the cheapest of shock values. It's just intermittent flashing scenes of violence that your player character is hallucinating before being thrust into another loading screen.
The state of this franchise is disappointing. This game isn't even scary, they couldn't even do that right. I hope Red Barrels got the money they wanted from this blatant cash-grab. If this is the direction of the franchise moving forward you can count me out.
Embarrassing.