9.0NOT ALONE IN THE INSANITY
**SOUND/AUDIO 10/10**
This is one of those games which it is a GOOD-BAD idea to put your headphones on. Sometimes I'm not sure if what I heard was something I really did hear or "is my mind playing with me" kind of times. Often, I think it's one of the tricks this game plays on you. Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing as the game will look for one way or another to keep you on your toes. "Did something just walk behind me?" Maybe. "Is someone walking in the hallway?" Who knows.
**VISUALS 7/10**
The atmosphere is heavy. Most times, if not always, I just saw darkness but with the help of the trusty night-vision glasses, you'll be able to see in the dark just fine (up until you run out of battery). The stages are designed well with the overall visual effects of the atmosphere and props that add to that creepy factor in the environment - like "what the hell happened here" kind. Alhtough, I'm sorry. But I had to give this a 7 because of how it affected my eyes in the 3 hours we've been playing the game - it's realistic in the sense that you do feel what the character is feeling. It's not to say that the visuals are terrible, but it affects my want to play the game again (for longer hours) due to the eye strain it guaranteed afterwards.
**INTERFACE 10/10**
I love how there aren't much floating indicators on the screen which gives you more room to see the environment around you. The occassional action buttons do show only when you're near an interactable so you need not to worry about your vision being obstructed by these guides. Forewarning to those starting on the game, I did experience a lag on some action buttons so do check it before you get serious on your run. This isn't something that couldn't be resolved by restarting your game.
**GAMEPLAY 8/10**
Having first played Outlast 2 (for a good 30 so minutes), it pretty much feels similar to the other Outlast games with the plus having companions and being able to defend yourself in some way this time around. But despite having a friend play with you, it doesn't necessarily make the game any easier. You still need to get creative, be witty and quick on your feet. Minigames which make you nervously giddy to complete. Finishing these minigames are punishing too as to not encourage you to get too reckless when solving them since they do eat up at your health. It's another one of those, if you don't die from one thing, it'll most likely be another thing. We found ourselves dying to losing our sanity which affects other traits that we have - you'll begin to run around franticly looking for medicines and antidotes which will most likely bring you to your demise.
**CONCLUSION 8.75/10**
I do find myself holding my breath in real-life (like that will really do any good to concealing my character's location). In essence, the Outlast Trials is still a stealth game - having to rely on crouching, hiding and distracting the enemies for you to be able to carry out the tasks on hand. Tasks can be daunting especially when you don't know how far into it you really are - it is a guarantee that you will be finding yourself doing trial and errors in almost any stage you jump into. Overall, still feels like a very Outlast kind of game. Happy they added mutliplayer to it now so you don't have to suffer in the darkness alone.
