Biggest Questions about The Outlast Trials

The Outlast Trials is less than a week away and many people are eager to get early access to the game on PC come May 18th. For those who had access to the closed beta, this will be an opportunity to see what the developers have changed, while newcomers will get the joy and horror of experiencing the trials for themselves. The minds behind Red Barrels have given us quite a few insights into what to expect through their social media pages, but there are still many answers that need answering. Let’s discuss some of the biggest questions out there and what could potentially happen during the trials.

Question #1: How many maps will there be?

The biggest question that has weighed on the minds of a lot of players following the closed beta is how many maps would exist in the game. In the closed beta, there was only one map that players could play. While there was a good deal of randomization between all of the difficulty levels and how players accomplished things, there are still worries about how fresh things will be.

The trial selection menu did seem to show that there were about five maps that could be played. However, could there be more maps in the future for holiday events or some sort of DLC in the future? Right now, we have no idea as Red Barrels are keeping things close to their chest at the time being.

Question #2: Will there be microtransactions?

Microtransactions are the filthiest concept in gaming right now. They have been the downfall of many games for just how excessively certain companies have used them. They have also been extremely profitable for other companies despite the immense backlash. Having played the closed beta, I would suspect that this game will have microtransactions, at least for cosmetics.

This means that there may be certain gear or room decorations that can be acquired quickly with real money. However, I do not believe that there will be any sort of cosmetics or decorations that are locked behind using real money and that everything will also be purchasable through in-game currency you earn by going through the trials. This could change in the future, but it all depends on what the price is for the game.

Question #3: What will the game cost?

The question of the cost of The Outlast Trials has remained a surprisingly hush-hush topic. Despite the fact that the game is releasing into early access for PC in just a matter of days, there has been no price point put out for it at this time. This means that we will likely get no idea until the actual launch date. With it coming to PC in early access before going anywhere else, it will also be interesting to see if the game changes prices when it gets fully released on all currently announced platforms.

A typical game heading into early access would start out at a lower price, but most games that do early access come from first-time developers, which is something that Red Barrels is not. If they do decide to change the prices, it will be interesting to see if there is any sort of backlash from the console communities considering that they weren’t given the option to play an early access version of the game.

Question #4: How much of a role will the ‘Trial Shopkeepers’ have on gameplay?

The developers shared on May 4th that there would be three NPC characters that would act as shopkeepers of sorts. These ‘Trial Shopkeepers’ are Cornelius Noakes, Emily Barlow, and Dorris. Each shopkeeper will have different things to trade as well.

Cornelius will sell Rigs and upgrades for them, Emily will provide prescriptions that can enhance abilities, and Dorris deals in Amps which currently remain a mystery. Much of this content, including the characters, was not included in the closed beta. These characters represent a potential way of spicing up gameplay in a way that could expand the experience. This could also indicate that there will be more variables that the trials could throw at us, which would give each trial attempt a more unique taste.

Question #5: When will the game fully release/go to consoles?

As of the time of writing this, there has been no official announcement as to when the game will go to full release and go to consoles. These two things should occur on the same date since the developers continue to talk about them in the same tweets. There is no easy way to tell when this full release will happen and that is mainly due to how they are treating the early access phase of the game.

On the game’s Steam page, the developers state that “It all depends on the feedback we get. Our goal is to release the full version as soon as we can.” This means that the game could get a full release in a matter of a couple of months or even a year. My bet would be that the game will get to full release near the end of Q3 2023 or at the beginning of Q4 2023. This way, the game can be around for people to play during Halloween.

Are you all excited to become Murkoff’s newest test subjects? If so, leave a comment below about what you are most looking forward to within the trials. If you would like to get a refresher on what the closed beta was like, I would suggest checking out the article I wrote about my experience during the closed beta right here.