You play a Reagent in The Outlast Trials, a first-person horror game set in 1959, at the height of the Cold War. The Murkoff Corporation recruits volunteers, called Reagents, through a deceptive program and takes them to its Sinyala Facility, where they are put through a series of trials. Fighting back isn't an option, so stealth is the main way through. You hide, sneak past enemies, and run only when you have no other choice.
A session starts when you pick a trial from the terminal, and you can play it alone or with up to three friends. Each trial is set in its own themed area, where you complete objectives while enemies and traps try to stop you. Your night-vision goggles help you see in dim areas, and throwing bricks or glass bottles can pull enemies away from you when they close in.
When a trial ends, you get a grade, and it earns experience toward your Therapy Level. Leveling up pays out Vouchers. Back in the Sleep Room, you spend them on Rigs from Cornelius Noakes, such as a stun device or area healing. Nurse Emily Barlow sells Prescriptions, which give you permanent boosts, and Dorris sells Amps, which are perks you equip before each run.
- Developer
- Red Barrels
- Publisher
- Red Barrels
- Release
- Early Access: 2023-05-18 · Full Release: 2024-03-05
- Platforms
- Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Game data
Rigs
Rigs are special abilities in The Outlast Trials that players bring into a trial, covering stuns, healing, blinding smoke, barricades, trap hacking and seeing through walls. You buy them from the engineer, Cornelius Noakes, once you reach therapy level 2, and each Rig and each upgrade costs two Vouchers. Each player picks one Rig in the Loadout menu before going in, and it recharges over time, though not under Breaking Point.
Amps
Amps are passive upgrades that give your character a bonus during a trial, such as quieter movement, healing support or a second chance after a fatal hit. They're sorted into Tool, Skill and Medicine groups, and you can bring one from each group into a trial. Dorris sells them in the cafeteria from Therapy Level 10 onward, with new Amps unlocking as you level up.
Prescriptions
Prescriptions are permanent upgrades that Nurse Emily Barlow sells at the pharmacy in the Sleep Room once you reach Therapy Level 3. They come in three tiers, and you must buy all of one tier before the next opens. You pay with Vouchers, which you mostly earn by leveling up your Therapy Level.
Outlast Trials gameplay tips
- Walk around broken glass, since stepping on it gives away your position. Enemies pick up on almost any sound you make, and glass shards turn up all over the trials. Save sprinting for when something is already hunting you, because that's when you need the speed.
- Team up with a second player to open secret rooms. A secret room's door needs two players pressing its pair of buttons together, so you and a teammate have to work as a pair. The room holds rare items, such as boosters for night-vision battery and stamina.
- Finish Murkoff's assigned task before you head for the exit. Each trial and MK-Challenge comes with a disturbing task from Murkoff, and the exit stays locked until you complete it. Find it early so you aren't hunting for the way out at the end of a run.
- Pick MK-Challenges for short sessions and full Trials when you have more time. Trials are story-driven and take longer, while MK-Challenges are shorter therapies set in reworked parts of existing maps. Matching the mode to your free time keeps you from starting a long run you can't finish.
- Check each Sleep Room vendor's unlock level before you save up. Cornelius Noakes opens his Rig shop at Therapy Level 2, Nurse Emily Barlow sells Prescriptions from Therapy Level 3, and Dorris won't deal with you until Therapy Level 10. Knowing these levels tells you what you can buy now and what to work toward next.
- Save your Rigs for the moments that matter once Breaking Point kicks in. Breaking Point turns on at Trial 31 in Escalation Therapy and makes supplies scarce. It also stops Rigs from recharging, so every use counts.