The Outlast Trials: Release Date, Trailer, Gameplay, and News

Developer Red Barrels is working on a new Outlast game called The Outlast Trials. It’s not quite what you’re expecting, either.

“Whilst not a direct sequel to the other critically acclaimed Outlast titles in the series, The Outlast Trials will be set in the same thrilling universe: more precisely, right in the middle of the Cold War era,” Red Barrels said of the new sequel in a press release. “The Outlast Trials will allow players to face the horrors of the trials by themselves or cooperate with up to 3 other test subjects. After all, it’s always better to shit your pants with some friends!”

If we had to guess, though, we’d say that this will likely be a more intimate horror experience that is similar in scope to the original Outlast title in the sense that it will see you try to survive the horror of a particular facility. We’d love to see the game’s co-op mode serve as a kind of horror version of Portal, but it’s a little too early to say whether or not that’s what we’re going to get out of this. 

“We are proud to reveal the title and the first image of the game to our great community and fans,” said David Chateauneuf, Red Barrels co-founder. “Our team is hard at work creating a new experience that will bring fear and anxiety to millions of players, whether they go through the experiments alone or with friends.”

It’s good to know that Red Barrels is returning to the Outlast universe. The original Outlast is one of the most important and overall great horror experiences of the modern era. Outlast 2 suffered from some missteps, but it still left us with the general impression that Red Barrels knows how to craft truly memorable horror titles.

Red Barrels said back in December 2019 that it had “been working on developing the title for months and is now ramping up the production process,” so we’d expect the game to be pretty far along at this point. The studio also promises to focus on “content creation, variety… and gore” this time around.

Here’s everything else you need to know about the game:

The Outlast Trials Release Date

The Outlast Trials will arrive in 2021. The game is currently only confirmed for PC.

The Outlast Trials Trailer

The first teaser for The Outlast Trials is about as gruesome as you’d expect. Watch the terrifying and gory footage, which premiered at the 2020 PC Gaming Show, below: