The Outlast series has to be one of the best horror games around, the original game and its sequel selling well over 15 million units, as well as raking in 64 million dollars. To say it’s been well-received is an understatement. Yet, as implied by the developer Phillipe Morin, Outlast 3 looks to be a departure from the original series.
Speaking at Berlin’s Quo Vadis conference (via Gamesindustry.Biz), Morin explained that in spite of his desire to do “something completely different”, the success of the Outlast series is difficult to overlook. He is well aware of how loved the series is and, with this in mind, Red Barrels’ next game will be “a departure” from its previous ones. But don’t fret Outlast fans — it’ll be set in the same overarching universe.
Outlast has scared the pants off us since it debuted back in September 2013, and while the sequel’s only been out for a year, that too has managed to leave us crying into our mother’s shoulders. There were times where we looked back and wished we’d known a few things before we had started the game, and there were times when clutching your friend and screaming was the best part of playing.
To put it bluntly: Outlast has given fans more than a fair few of fantastic memories. The fact so many people love it is a pleasant surprise for Morrin: “If you’d told me a year ago that the project we’re currently working on was going to be our next thing, I would have said, ‘Nah, I don’t think so’.”
He also mentioned the difficulty of making a game that satisfies players as well as creating something that pushes them forward as creators. “In big studios, they can say, ‘If you’re burnt out we can always give the IP to a different team’,” he said. “But that’s not the case here.”
Fortunately, we feel that Morrin doesn’t quite feel burnt out with Outlast just yet, but we’ll be eager to see where his and Red Barrels’ new ideas will take the series in the future.
