The Outlast Trials Interview – Red Barrels Intends To Establish Second Team

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The Outlast Trials has led to a fascinating journey for Red Barrels so far, and the team is slowly kicking things up a notch with each new piece of content.

Story Highlight
  • The Outlast franchise made the jump to live-service with The Outlast Trials.
  • It offers the same horror experience that fans have come to love, but Red Barrels is expanding the game with each new update.
  • Our latest interview discusses the challenges of this approach and more with the studio’s co-founder.

The Outlast Trials marked the beginning of a new era for Red Barrels, one that would explore a unique combo of live service and horror gaming. Through its co-op gameplay, bone-chilling terrors, and ever-evolving content, The Outlast Trials promises a horror experience like none other.

The latest update enhances this experience further, offering a new rogue-lite mode and a new killer that comes at players with a deadly firearm. To discuss the ever-evolving state of this live-service horror offering, we recently spoke with Philippe Moran, the co-founder of Red Barrels.

During our interview, we went over the latest update, Red Barrels’ evolution as a team, and plans for the future.

YouTube video
Can you briefly introduce yourself and The Outlast Trials’ latest update?

Philippe Morin: I’m Philippe Morin, co-founder and designer at Red Barrels. The latest update is a big one. We’re basically starting a season structure with lots of new stuff and improvements. Among other things, it has a new Prime Asset, new environment, new mode (Escalation), etc.

How have players reacted to Project Lupara and the new Escalation mode?

Philippe Morin: The reaction has been very positive. We’ve seen a big bump in terms of engagement and concurrent players. We get a lot of love from fans, and we feel privileged. We always listen to players’ feedback, and we will keep on improving and refining with each update. 

When you reflect on The Outlast Trials from its early access days to the full release and now a major update, what are your thoughts on how the game has evolved?

Philippe Morin: It’s been really satisfying to see the game evolve. I’ve been making games for almost 26 years, and it’s the first time I play a game I’ve worked on just for the fun of it. Considering we started working on Outlast Trials 7 years ago, I never expected this to happen.

Our team is amazing and they’ve been able to create so much content and new features in the last year, the future is looking bright. People tend to forget, but we’re a small team. 

We were 10 on Outlast, 20 on Outlast 2, 45 when the early access of Trials shipped, and we’re currently 65. We’ve grown, but we’re still significantly small for the kind of game we’re making.

Your latest prime asset wields a gun, and ranged weapons are brand new to the series. How do you one-up something like this in the future?

Philippe Morin: Ask me in a few months…

What, in your opinion, is needed to make a great horror game?

Philippe Morin: Total commitment and very little compromise. You gotta love scaring the shit out of people. 

What do you think about the current state of horror games, both in terms of AA/indie and AAA games?

Philippe Morin: The landscape has changed a lot since we released the first Outlast. There’s a lot more horror games on the market. Players have a lot more choices these days, which is a good thing, but it’s a lot harder for game developers to make their games stand out.

I honestly don’t pay too much attention to trends. We focus on the games we want to make and hope enough players enjoy it. I think if you pay too much attention to what others are doing, you risk losing your focus and derailing the whole project. 

I’ve seen it several times in big studios. Some dude gets a promotion and wants to justify his job, so he comes up with an analysis showing Project X is heading in the wrong direction and the team must do a 180, bla bla bla… 

We started Red Barrels to avoid those frustrating situations.

You’ve also shared a roadmap for The Outlast Trials. How challenging has it been for the team to work on a live service project that already has a roadmap out there? Does it become stressful compared to the days of Outlast being a single-player series?

Philippe Morin: Yes, it’s been a big adaptation. A lot of us must change our mindset. We’re used to shipping a game, taking a break, and then slowly starting the conception phase of a new game. But with Trials, it feels more like a marathon… a very long one. So, we must find a balance between what needs to be done and keeping the creative juices flowing.

When the team initially considered making a multiplayer game, was a free-to-play approach given any thought?

Philippe Morin: No. It was never part of the conversation. Our focus was to make the best cooperative horror experience we could.

We’ve seen cases where successful live service games switched to the free-to-play model after release. Could you see that as a possibility for the Outlast Trials?

Philippe Morin: Never say never, but currently, it’s not an option on the table.

With The Outlast Trials being as successful as it is, how will this impact the development of Outlast 3 since Red Barrels is a small team? Do you think fans will have to wait longer than expected now that resources are being poured into the live service elements?

Philippe Morin: We’re growing the studio so we can eventually have a second team. I can’t give dates or make any official promises. As a small team, we can’t do it all, and we must pick our battles.

For a live service title, to what extent do the player counts dictate a developer’s next move apart from the fan feedback?

Philippe Morin: It definitely becomes an important parameter of the equation, but it doesn’t pinpoint the source of problems, even less the solutions.

What are you most excited about when thinking of future content for The Outlast Trials?

Philippe Morin: Now we have the foundations of the game. We can focus on creating cool content and bring back a lot of ideas we’ve had along the way but couldn’t do yet. We always saw Outlast Trials like a universe in motion, and I can’t wait for people to see what we have in store for them.

Would you like to share any final thoughts?

Philippe Morin: It’s been a long and bumpy ride, but I’m proud of the team and the game.

The Outlast Trials
The Outlast Trials Is Just Getting Started

Following this update, Red Barrels is already preparing for future content. The Outlast Trials experience will evolve with new trials, rewards, game modes, and enemies moving forward, ensuring that players always have something new to look forward to.

Whether it be solo or in a group with your friends, Red Barrel wants to keep you terrified at all times. Moving forward with this goal, the studio has massive ambitions to fulfill. We wish the team the best of luck on this journey, and we would also like to thank co-founder Philippe Morin for taking the time out of his day to conduct this interview.

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