The Outlast Trials

The game hasn't been released yet, but a closed beta was available at the end of October, which I checked out.

I didn’t really like it, although the first impressions were bomb, after all, the new part of Outlast. But after completing the training solo demo, the multiplayer main part of the game begins, and if not the entire atmosphere collapses, then a considerable part of it certainly does. Outlast has been famous all its life for its atmosphere of complete loneliness in the midst of madness, but here you are not alone, there are four of you. No, of course you can play it solo, but it’s practically impossible, the entire gameplay is designed specifically for co-op.

In addition, now you can fight: throw bricks and bottles at the reptiles, you can even lay mines, and this is already completely crazy.

Well, in general, many new mechanics have appeared, but the old jokes also remain. Such integral things in the series as night vision, though now not with the help of a camera, but through special glasses firmly attached to the character’s head. Well, the release, without which it is impossible to imagine Outlast, also remained, and even increased.

But the storyline has suffered, now there are only some tests, charismatic bosses in locations and notes - the only thing that somehow explains what is happening.

So far, only one location is available - a police station, or rather a training ground filled with decorations in the style of an American cop department. I really liked her design, the mannequins alone are worth it. Especially a police girl with a burnt, literally, fifth point.

And it seems like the game is designed for online, that is, for replayability, but so far it doesn’t smell like it, everything is linear as in a solo game, and + the match lasts 40+ minutes, so there’s no way to go through this more than 3 times desires.

Therefore, I have real fears that the game at the top of the Steam charts will not even last three weeks, however, the developers themselves probably understand this, so they are in no hurry to release the game into a full release, and it will probably spend a couple of years in early access . I think that during this time the developers will be able to significantly improve the game.

Personally, from the very beginning I didn’t like the idea of ​​turning an exclusively single-player project into a multiplayer one. It would be better if Red Barrels did not carry out dangerous experiments and continued to create exclusively single-player horror films, otherwise these unjustified risks could ruin the studio and the series as a whole.