Red Barrels’ Outlast is due for the PlayStation 4 next month and will be available for free on PlayStation Plus. However, as the game’s Trophy List has been revealed [4 Bronze, 2 Silver and 2 Gold], many have questioned as to whether it isn’t a tad on the empty side.
Former Sony UK developer Kenny Linder, who worked at BigBig Studios, has commented on the same. When compared to Resogun, which has a Platinum, Linder stated that, “Again, the game has complexity, online co-op, leaderboards, different ships. If someone could say exactly what Outlast has to it, it might be easier to talk about.”
After it was explained that the game is more about atmosphere and is overall quite linear, Linder stated that, “That sounds like it falls into “Small Scope Game” by Sony, so will would have the smaller Trophy set.”
Some feel that the game should have had a Platinum Trophy, but as Linder says, “It doesn’t work like that, it’s dependent on game size, you can’t give any game a full Trophy set. The game must be quite short/small, hence the base set.”
Hotline Miami was also given as an example of a small game that can be Platinumed but Linder responded that, “As a developer myself I can say it’s not down to the developer, the game has to fit into the criteria set by Sony. I’ve not played Outlast so I don’t know how big the game is, but Hotline Miami has a fair amount to it.
“Reasonably decent sized main game, lots of different weapons, different ways to play the game, in-depth ranking system etc. Outlast might be a much simpler game, perhaps more like Limbo or Thomas Was Alone in complexity. And by size, I didn’t mean download size!”
Finally Linder clarified that Sony indeed has no input on how many Trophies third party developers implement in their games (as is the case with Contrast, which has 21 Bronze Trophies). “Sony do not have input on what developers put in their games (besides a few no brainers), but there are rules regarding Large and Small scope games.
“There is also basic maths that you use to work out how many Trophies you can have in a game, and limits to how many of a certain Trophy type you can have (linked to the maths part). I would go into it further, but nobody seems to be listening anyway.”
Does any of this take away from the fact that Outlast is an incredible game and you shouldn’t be worried about what meaningless accolades you pick up from it? Not at all but we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
