The Outlast Trials proved to me that giving users a free try can lead to genuine interest if the game is good. Last weekend, a friend of mine hopped into the game’s free trial – no pun intended – and after watching him play, I, alongside three others, ended up buying the game.
Developed and published by Red Barrels, The Outlast Trials is unlike its predecessors, offering a less scary cooperative online experience perfect for groups of four friends. It provides a lot of enjoyment and amusing moments without the annoying competitiveness that some competitors choose.
A whole lot of of fun
Gameplay consists of finding clues and solving puzzles while surviving regular incursions of AI-controlled monsters. As you may have guessed, this isn’t a combat-heavy title; it emphasises hiding, running, and using items to distract and stun enemies – anything to avoid direct confrontation. This makes teamwork very important, even though a good player could probably do all the tasks alone.
There is a sort of PVP mode where one player invades the party of others to add a layer of difficulty, but I didn’t give it a lot of time, since I was looking for a stress-free experience. Unlike Dead by Daylight, for example.
The aspect I liked the most is what I like to call the imposters. These are identical copies of the players in your session that come every now and then to try and kill you. They are controlled by AI, and you can only distinguish between them and a real player by the way they act. Also, in the lower difficulties, they carry slightly modified real player names to blend in, which gave us a lot of laughs. Often, someone would come closer to an imposter, thinking he was one of us, just to be attacked. In another instance, a friend complained that I was following him instead of doing my task; guess what, it wasn’t the real me.
Cool customisation
The other aspect I was fond of is the customisation options. If you like games with skins, not those that give you a heart attack after losing $2 billion of value in 24 hours, then you will like The Outlast Trials. You can win or buy a variety of skins for your character and room, including outfits, decorations, and physical attributes.
However, the feature that many players will love, especially newcomers like me, is the Legacy Battle Passes. Unlike many other games which time-gate their Battle Pass to keep you coming each new season, The Outlast Trials lets you buy previous Passes you have missed, like Helldivers 2. This means that you can stop playing as long as you wish without missing anything juicy.
Lastly, the game has a strong replay value thanks to a large pool of maps and varied primary and secondary missions. With a year of content on hand, you are unlikely to be bored any time soon.
Perfect for Halloween
As someone who doesn’t care much about horror games, I brushed over this title when it launched a year ago, since I linked its name to the original series. But when my friend streamed it on Discord, I fell for its charm. And I am not the only one to think so, looking at the very positive Steam reviews. So, if you are looking for something to enjoy during Halloween with your friends, look no further than this game.
In case this isn’t your cup of tea, keep in mind that many developers often put one of their creations free to try on weekends, be it on Xbox, PlayStation, or PC – via Steam and Epic Games Store, you may discover something right up your alley.
The Outlast Trials is available on PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and is currently discounted. Until November 4, you can grab it (at -70%) on Steam for £10.05 / €11.69 / $11.99. A great price if you ask me, even if you only play it for a couple of weeks. Also, don’t feel the need to buy the more expensive Reagent Starter Pack Edition, as it only contains a bunch of skins, unless you like them.
