Red Barrels created one of the more prominent new horror franchises when Outlast came to PC and consoles in the early part of the decade, and after a more expansive sequel, released a couple of years ago, the developer is returning to the game’s universe with a very different kind of horror.

The Outlast Trials is a co-op experience set during the Cold War, where up to four players will help each other through some presumably horrifying experiments.

There’s not a lot of information beyond that at this time, and the game is in the early stages of production, but David Chateauneuf, Red Barrels co-founder, mentions that it isn’t a proper sequel to the previous titles, just set in that universe. Chateauneuf is also keen to let Outlast fans know the team ”is hard at work creating a new experience that will bring fear and anxiety to millions of players, whether they go through the experiments alone or with friends”.

The first promotional art has been unveiled too.

Outlast as a series is one of the biggest new horror game franchises of the past ten years. It shot to fame as YouTubers embraced reaction-based Let’s Play videos on horror games, and Outlast found itself thrust into the limelight.