An early access release date has been announced for the highly anticipated multiplayer survival horror gameThe Outlast Trials. Developer Red Barrels seeks to try a new experiment in theOutlastuniverse with its upcoming four-player game. Players can work together cooperatively to survive the horrors of the Murkoff Corporation’s latest horrifying experimentation. It seems Red Barrels is hoping to do some experiments of its own, withThe Outlast Trials' going into early access relatively soon.
Up until this point,Outlasthas been a single-player franchise of nightmarish survival horror games.Outlastlaunched in 2013, introducing players to theMurkoff Corporation’s experimentson violent asylum inmates.Outlast 2introduces yet another Murkoff experiment, this time leading to the rise of a murderous cult. Red Barrels has since decided to takeOutlastin a different direction, leaving behind campaign-driven single-player horror games in favor of something new.
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The Outlast Trialsiswhere Red Barrels wants to take its horror franchise next. Each “trial” will feature between one and four players working to complete tasks, avoid monstrous enemies, and survive to escape. The gameplay is designed to be repeated, perhaps like a live service game. It’s not entirely clear how long-form progression and storytelling will work, but that’s what players can expect to find out whenThe Outlast Trialsofficially launches in early access.
In a trailer released on Friday, Red Barrels confirmed thatThe Outlast Trialswill be arriving in early access starting May 18. The trailer unfortunately reveals very little in terms of gameplay, instead focusing on clips of the game’s voice actors delivering horrific audial responses. It certainlyconveys the atmosphere ofThe Outlast Trials, at least. The trailer also appears to confirm early access will be coming to both Steam and the Epic Games Store, so PC gamers will have a choice between the two.
The Outlast Trialshas been in development going back as far as 2017. At the time, Red Barrels described it as a “smaller separate project” made becauseOutlast 2wasn’t designed to be expanded with DLC. The scope ofThe Outlast Trialshas obviously grown since then. Red Barrels previously said it wouldwork onOutlast 3after this project, but those plans may have changed.
Despite what may appear to be a live service-like structure,The Outlast Trialshas been previously confirmed to not be a free-to-play game. As such, even though Red Barrels is asking fans to “volunteer” forThe Outlast Trialsearly access, it’ll likely be a premium purchase. More information is certain to be shared between now and launch, so keep watching Red Barrels' social media channels for the next update.
The Outlast Trialsreleases May 18 in early access on PC.
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