Developer Red Barrels adds four-player co-op to Outlast with the latest title in the horror franchise, The Outlast Trials, coming in 2021. The original Outlast released in 2013 to rave reviews, aweing audiences with its stunning visuals and uncompromising focus on pure horror. The game was an early success in the "hide-and-seek" school of survival horror, where enemies could not be confronted directly and needed to be avoided through stealth mechanics.
The series's signature night vision aesthetic persevered through a downloadable content expansion to the original, as well as in its full-fledged sequel, Outlast 2, which expanded the world and honed its story into a more tightly-driven narrative experience, though it received more mixed critical responses. It's been over three years since the launch of Outlast 2, and a provocative new sequel was just shown off at the PC Gaming Show.
Set to the forgotten 1958 doo-wop track, "Is It Just A Game by Buddy & the Fads," the PC Gaming Show trailer for The Outlast Trials depicts a group of scientists conducting experiments on a bound captive, drilling a set of night vision goggles into their head before sending the poor soul into some sort of test chamber with other unwilling victims. While devoid of gameplay footage, the pre-rendered trailer does hint at the new gameplay hook of The Outlast Trials: four player co-op.
It's still unknown just how multiplayer will work in The Outlast Trials, but the story of the game revolves around Cold War-era experiments in mind control, so there's a chance allies may be tricked into becoming enemies as stages wear on. Likewise, whether or not the game will follow a linear progression or feature bespoke levels is unclear. Many elements of The Outlast Trials are still shrouded in mystery, but if the horror prequel can live up to the legacy of its predecessors, developer Red Barrels surely has another hit on its hands.
Adding multiplayer to horror video games is a tricky proposition. While critics and audiences tend to adore Resident Evil 5 for its co-op action emphasis, most agree it's not a particularly scary video game. Likewise, Dead Space 3 is considered the nadir of its franchise for abandoning its horror roots. The Outlast games are championed for their hardcore horror sensibilities, and the developer has to be aware that adding multiplayer to the formula may diminish the terror of the franchise. Can they find a way to integrate multiplayer while remaining as absolutely terrifying as its predecessors? Audiences will find out for themselves in 2021 when The Outlast Trials releases on PC. Previous Outlast titles released on Consoles, but so far, only PC is has been confirmed for the new game.
Source: PC Gamer