Horror is one of the most representative genres in the video game industry. Having the opportunity to control a character who has paranormal events happen to him, has to face otherworldly dangers, or is simply pursued by a murderer who’s trying to end his life, generates incredible tension when it comes to getting behind the controls. There are many illustrious sagas that have triumphed throughout history such as Silent Hill or Resident Evil, but one of them has emerged as the most popular in the modern era.

Since the release of its first installment, Outlast has been a title that has managed to impress players with its approach. Back in the day, it offered something radically opposite to what videogame fans were familiar with: Playing in the dark through a video camera, where the camera's battery was crucial to not having to grope your way forward. Its cool mechanics and the universe it introduced the player to, based on the MK-Ultra project that took place during the Cold War, was terrifying. This is something they want to continue in the new game.

Terror that crosses the reality barrier

Red Barrels, the developers of Outlast, tried their hand at something different with the sequel to the first title. In it, a cult was tasked with making things difficult for the player in his quest to rescue his wife, who’s been kidnapped. However, it lost some of the public's interest, as despite maintaining its gameplay mechanics, the storyline fell into some of the clichés that are typical of the genre. That's why, with their new release, they wanted to go back to their origins.

As a result, Outlast Trials returns to that Cold War setting, where the stories that are told produce colossal terror. The CIA's so-called MK-Ultra project was secretly conducted at the Allan Memorial Institute, a psychiatric hospital in Quebec, Canada, with the aim of modifying the behavior and memories of patients through experiments that could be considered torture. This is where the Red Barrels team comes in, recreating some of these experiments within the game to generate dread in the player.

Despite its main focus on multiplayer, Outlast Trials also has a story to tell so that all the players who entered its universe with the first installment can discover what happened prior to the main events of the game. As such, it delves into a patient who volunteers for these experiments, though unaware of their cruelty. Therefore, his mission will be to escape before it's too late. In this struggle for survival he’s not necessarily alone, as he can count on the help of up to three additional patients to achieve his goal.

Terror in company: Cooperation or Betrayal?

Fear often leads the mind down the wrong path and to unimaginable extremes. That's what Outlast Trials aims to do by including cooperative mode, inviting players to join with other users in an attempt to escape the cruelties they're being subjected to. With the classic mechanics of the saga, which are running and hiding without being able to use any weapon, Outlast Trials is presented as a videogame in which strategy is essential to getting out of this hell alive.

The great peculiarity of Outlast Trials is its performance in missions, each one carried out in a totally different environment, such as a prison or a police station. Through them, you can find various puzzles to solve that will help you mislead the killers or find the exit, all while trying to maintain stealth and cooperation with the other players at their maximum. However, the only survival that truly matters is one's own, so betrayals to avoid capture and endanger another player are also an acceptable option.

The gameplay experience is similar to that of a horror-themed escape room. The tension is constant, and at all times, you have to perform distraction tasks in the face of the enemy or solve a riddle in order to advance through the labyrinthine map until you find the exit. That's why the conception of Outlast Trials as a cooperative videogame is so important, as playing alone causes the game to lose the magic of that original idea and turns it into a deflated title that’s missing the collective tension of trying to escape together from the continuous threats.

Outlast Trials is a perfect idea for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC gamers to experience similar feelings to other games like Dead by Daylight or Phasmophopia, but with the essence of the Red Barrels series. The backstory of Outlast's story, with everything that could have happened in the MK-Ultra project, is a shadowing one, allowing you to put yourself in the shoes of someone who could have gone through the creepy experience.