The Outlast Trials' early playtests went poorly: designer says six-year development took 'a f**king long time' and 'a s**t-ton of prototypes'

Red Barrels co-founder Philippe Morin told GameSpot that turning the vague idea of a co-op Outlast game into an early access-ready release took six years and "a s**t-ton of prototypes." The team went too far chasing systemic, random design and infinite replayability before returning to something that felt more like Outlast. A seemingly shippable build was produced within four years, but poor playtests sent the team back to the drawing board.