The Outlast Trials does what it tries to do wonderfully. The difficulty scales nicely; at first, objectives feel daunting, but as time goes on, they start to feel a lot more intuitive. It's also great to jump into with friends-the challenge of chasing high scores adds some real competitive teeth to the experience.

While the fear factor does tend to dissipate over time as one becomes accustomed to the gameplay, there are still many scares to be had in The Outlast Trials some 85 hours in—Skinner Man is still scary with his little jump scares.

That being said, some of the decisions regarding things like weekly rotations and catalogue systems by Red Barrels do raise an eyebrow on my part. It'll be interesting to see how these features evolve moving forward. Overall, The Outlast Trials is a thrilling co-op experience that keeps me coming back for more.