You wanna play a game?

I didn’t play the original Outlast games, but I know they are horror games that uses a night vision camera and dark to evoke scares. The first two games were single player but it was with The Outlast Trials that I became interested. Outlast Trials trades in single-player for co-op, that will see 4 vict—er patients running through trials for the shady Murkoff Institute. Players will be able to create their patients from a whole bevy of customizable options before being dumped into the hub area in the hospital.

Players will awake in their room and walk out and will see lots of other patients in the lobby. Personally, I love games that have these interactive lobby systems, as I walked down the stairs to the main area I saw a group of players around a table. I was delighted to see that people were watching two other players play a game of chess, and at a nearby table players were arm wrestling. It was nice to know that there was some respite from the terror that awaited me. Also in the hub area are vendors where players can purchase tools and upgrades to help them survive the trial ahead.

MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99

So, what are these trials anyway; well just like it sounds they are the levels that players will play through. Right off the bat, I can tell you that you will get tired of these maps and objectives. There just doesn’t feel like enough variety for a game that requires grinding to upgrade your characters. One of the first trials is to kill a snitch who is going to squeal to the cops. Outlast Trials can be played solo or with up to 3 other players, after everyone is shown a briefing video that gives hints about how to solve the trial the room is filled with gas. Once the players awaken, they are given tasks to complete in order to even get to the snitch. The first map has players sneaking into a police station, now what makes Outlast different from say Dead by Daylight is the killers are AI driven.

It’s a rather smart AI that is supposed to adapt to players in order to make each map feel dynamic a different. Each area of the map is patrolled by a larger, I guess monster that went from a crazy cop with a penchant for electricity and a night stick to a giant naked guy who will gorilla beat you to death while his tree and two apples swinging right at eye level. The whole thing just felt like it was trying to be outrageous honestly and thus wasn’t very scary once seeing the creatures. Honestly the real fear happens as players aimlessly navigate the pitch back environments, searching for items or tools to advance.

This is where I found the most fun, sneaking around and trying to avoid random crazies throughout the maps, reaching inside guys chests to find a key ala the Saw movies, stuff like that was cool. Once the large enemies find you though they will chase you down in order to kill you, its really easy to lose them though. A few jukes here, locked doors there and players can double back and finish what they were doing. And if you are playing with friends, its easy to have a few of them kite the monsters while the others handle the objectives.

All in all I expected more from this horror game. My nephew has raved about how good the first two were and even though this has been in EA on PC for years I was eagerly awaiting the console release. Sadly, The Outlast Trials just didn’t live up to the hype for me. With monsters that didn’t really feel scary, and maps and objectives that just start to feel repetitive really quickly, I can really only recommend this one for the real Outlast fans.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.