Highlights

  • Prepare for a terrifying co-op experience with The Outlast Trials, set for release on March 5, 2024, offering a prequel to the series.
  • The Outlast Trials introduces a class system, allowing players to choose unique abilities and upgrade their Rigs for a more personalized gameplay.
  • While Phasmophobia has captured fans' hearts, The Outlast Trials offers a fresh take on co-op horror with new gameplay mechanics and progression systems.

The horror video game landscape is looking better than it ever has before. The Resident Evil franchise is back up to full strength, delivering excellent remakes and mainline entries consistently. Silent Hill looks as though it's ready to make a comeback. And 2024 already has an impressive line-up of innovative new horror titles just waiting to be unleashed on the world. And that's not even mentioning the impressive multiplayer horror titles that have managed to stay afloat for years now, titles like Phasmophobia.

Released in early access back in 2020, Phasmophobia took over the horror video game scene for quite a while, with its intense co-op paranormal investigation gameplay being a joy to both play and watch. But while Phasmophobia has continued to receive updates over the last few years, many fans are now ready to move onto something new, but something that still scratches that same co-op horror itch, and March 5 might bring fans exactly that.

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Phasmophobia Fans Should Be Excited for The Outlast Trials' Upcoming Release

The Outlast Trials Offers Another Horrifying Co-Op Experience

Set for a full release on both PC and consoles on March 5 2024, The Outlast Trials is the third installment in the Outlast series, a franchise that's widely believed to be home to some of the scariest video games ever made. Taking the series in a few new directions, The Outlast Trials serves as a prequel to the first two entries, taking place during the Cold War, and throwing players into a bunker filled with all manner of horrifying experiments, mutants, and morbid tests.

Much like Phasmophobia, the main hook of The Outlast Trials is its four-player co-op gameplay. While Phasmophobia sees players attempt to identify a specific type of ghost, The Outlast Trials has players making their way through an underground facility, avoiding monsters, and completing certain sets of tasks. Something that Phasmophobia and Outlast Trials share is the importance of items. While the former requires players to use walkie-talkies to maintain contact with one another, and items like incense and crucifixes to complete side objectives, the latter relies heavily on the player's night-vision goggles, along with healing consumables and items like lockpicks.

The Outlast Trials Offers Some Real Depth in its Gameplay

One big difference between Phasmophobia and The Outlast Trials' co-op gameplay is the latter's class system. In Phasmophobia, every member of the team is given the same resources at the start of a game, and all players have the same abilities. In The Outlast Trials, each player chooses one of four distinct classes. Called "Rigs," these classes grant players unique powers, ranging from the ability to emit a healing gas around the player to the ability to see through walls and even stun enemies.

These Rigs can be upgraded throughout the game with the resources that players find on each Outlast Trials run, granting various bonuses such as an increased area of effect or a decreased cooldown. The Outlast Trials also grants players a skill tree in the form of "Prescriptions," where upgrades range from new abilities such as being able to throw a bottle to escape a Pouncer's grasp, to simple stat boosts like increased night-vision battery life. While Phasmophobia's gameplay has plenty of nuances, its progression systems have needed a refresh for a while now, and it's something that The Outlast Trials is offering.