Hey all, KinkedNitemare here once again with a horror game review! My friends and I got the chance to play the Outlast Trials Beta by Red Barrels and here are some of my thoughts on the whole experience.
Let’s talk about the good because for me there was a whole lot of good to talk about. The feel of this game embodies the first 2 games of the franchise, the prequel and the first game. We’ll not be discussing Outlast 2 for, I feel, very obvious reasons. That being said you walk into this game set in the cold war era feeling the old-timey yet oddly technologically advanced world of Outlast and become part of the experiment experience from the very moment you start the game.
The “training”/tutorial is also part of your assimilation to the program and frankly is as creepy and off-putting as an Outlast game has ever been. The opening sequence sets the scene for the rest of the game and almost flawlessly puts you into the co-op area once finished. To be clear, you are an experiment and you are in a science lab but you do get your own room and you can decorate it!
Room Tour: https://clips.twitch.tv/CuriousStrangePonyDAESuppy-FYpUVSCIJekM8RUv
Once in the labs, you can either join randoms or have your own group go into the first experiment. Outlast trials are one huge morality test for your character. Not that you get an actual chance to choose but it is clear that erasing your past and participating in these trials it will push the boundaries of right and wrong to the extreme. And you get to do it with your friends!
If you ever thought being chased down by one of the big bads in the original games was terrifying now you get to do it while also trying to accomplish goals to be able to leave the trial. Pressure is an understatement, it’s more like anxiety-filled chaos as you avoid traps, big bads, and even other players trying to kill you while you try and work together with your friends/group to get out of the trial alive.
Without giving away too much what Red Barrel has done with Outlast Trials has given people who both enjoyed the game and/or couldn’t get through the originals because they were so intense a chance to experience that with friends and I think it has so far translated well into a co-op horror experience everyone should look forward to trying when it is fully released.
Rating: 5/5 Nitemares
Triggers: Blood, Gore, Jump Scares, Enclosed spaces, Darkess, Mature subject matter
Release date: TBA
Add to your wishlist here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1304930/The_Outlast_Trials/
Full play through: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1653838341
Real Women of Gaming 