Red Barrels took the Outlast formula into co-op with The Outlast Trials, which left Early Access on March 5, 2024. You play a Reagent, a Cold War era test subject processed by the Murkoff Corporation inside the Sinyala Facility and pushed through therapy sessions that are really survival gauntlets. You never get a gun: your entire kit is one Rig, a few throwables, and night vision goggles that eat batteries.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best builds, equipment worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Rig abilities
Every Reagent carries one of four Rigs: Stun, Blind, Heal or X-Ray. It recharges on a cooldown and is your only active power, so the Rig you pick decides whether you control fights, spot threats or keep the squad standing.
Sanity and psychosis
Darkness, Skinner Man hallucinations and certain hits drain your sanity bar. Empty it and psychosis warps your screen and audio cues until you find an antidote or reach a lit safe area.
Night vision battery drain
Goggles are the only way to read unlit corridors and they burn battery continuously while active. Batteries sit in fixed spots on each map, so tapping the goggles on for two seconds at a time stretches a charge across a whole objective.
Prescriptions and Amps
Prescriptions are permanent upgrades bought between Trials that raise stamina, inventory slots and battery life. Amps are three equippable modifiers layered on top, adjusting things like footstep noise and item spawns.
Release tokens
A full Trial pays 2 release tokens and an MK-Challenge pays 1. Tokens gate your Therapy sessions and your eventual release, which makes them the progression currency that actually matters.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our The Outlast Trials combat guide.
Builds Overview
| Build | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stun controller | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| X-Ray scout | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Heal anchor | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Blind trapper | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Solo objective runner | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our The Outlast Trials builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Equipment Guide
| Equipment | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Brick | Thrown blunt object that staggers an Ex-Pop for a moment and can smash a window or a fragile lock from range. | Breaking line of sight when a Grunt has already spotted you and your Rig is on cooldown. |
| Bottle | Throwable noisemaker. | Clearing a patrol off a valve or terminal you need to hold for several seconds. |
| Lockpick | Single use tool that opens locked doors and cabinets without a key, cutting long detours out of a route. | Fast routes through the Police Station and Courthouse, where locked shortcuts are everywhere. |
| Antidote | Cures psychosis on the spot and restores sanity, ending the screen distortion that makes tracking enemies almost impossible. | Psychosurgery difficulty runs and any map where the Skinner Man keeps appearing. |
| Night vision goggles | Battery powered vision in total darkness. | Basements, vents and the unlit halves of every Program Genesis map. |
Brick: Thrown blunt object that staggers an Ex-Pop for a moment and can smash a window or a fragile lock from range.
Bottle: Throwable noisemaker. Landing it away from your position pulls patrolling enemies toward the sound instead of toward the objective you are working on.
Lockpick: Single use tool that opens locked doors and cabinets without a key, cutting long detours out of a route.
Antidote: Cures psychosis on the spot and restores sanity, ending the screen distortion that makes tracking enemies almost impossible.
Night vision goggles: Battery powered vision in total darkness. Nothing else lets you read an unlit room, and no enemy is blinded by you using them.
Full breakdowns in our The Outlast Trials weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Police Station | Introductory to Psychosurgery | Kill the Snitch completion, 2 release tokens |
| Orphanage | Standard and above | Cleanse the Orphans completion, Gooseberry counterplay practice |
| Fun Park | Standard to Intensive | Grind the Bad Apples completion, 2 release tokens |
| Courthouse | Intensive and above | Multiple trial completions, lockpick route knowledge |
| Toy Factory | Intensive to Psychosurgery | Endgame token farming, late Prescription funding |
Police Station: Home of Kill the Snitch, the opening trial of Program 1: Rule of Law, and Sergeant Leland Coyle's hunting ground. Tight cell blocks and a heavy electrified theme punish anyone who sprints blindly.
Orphanage: Program 3: Tough Love opens with Cleanse the Orphans, where you turn children away from Mother Gooseberry's teachings. Long sight lines upstairs, cramped dorms below.
Fun Park: Program 2: Murder Rides begins with Grind the Bad Apples, routing you through the park to the Root Canal. Open midway sections leave you exposed between rides.
Courthouse: A vertical map stacked with locked chambers. Its trial list runs from Vindicate the Guilty through Destroy the Evidence, and lockpicks pay for themselves here more than anywhere else.
Toy Factory: Added with the 1.0 launch in March 2024. Machinery noise masks footsteps in both directions, which cuts against audio tracking harder than any other Genesis map.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Night vision drains while the goggles are on, not while you are moving, so tap them for a two second look and turn them off. Reagents who leave goggles running are the ones caught blind in the last third of a Trial when every battery on the map is already gone.
- A fully upgraded Stun Rig holds an Ex-Pop or a Prime Asset for about 7 seconds. That is enough to finish an interaction or drag a downed teammate clear, but not enough to cross a large room, so spend it on a specific job.
- Leland Coyle disables your Rig for 30 seconds when he lands a hit. If you carry the team's Heal or X-Ray Rig, keep more distance on his maps than you would against Mother Gooseberry.
- Franco Barbi fires at consistent or loud noise in the dark. Stop sprinting and stop opening lockers while he patrols, because he shoots at the sound rather than at a visual on you.
- Antidotes cure psychosis outright. Carrying one costs an inventory slot you could have filled with a brick, and on Intensive or Psychosurgery that slot is worth far more as the antidote.
- Prescriptions are permanent across every Trial, so buy stamina and inventory capacity before spending on cosmetics. An extra slot changes every future run; a new cell decoration changes nothing.
- Trials pay 2 release tokens and MK-Challenges pay 1, but MK-Challenges are much shorter. If you are farming tokens rather than chasing a specific map, back to back MK-Challenges beat a single long Trial.
- The four difficulty levels are Introductory, Standard, Intensive and Psychosurgery. Higher tiers raise enemy count and aggression rather than adding objectives, so learn a map on Introductory before touching the rest.
- In a group of four, assign one Reagent to X-Ray purely as a spotter. Tagged enemies stay visible to the whole team, which turns blind corner deaths into routed detours.
- Hiding under a bed or in a locker resets enemy search behaviour, but only if you broke line of sight first. Diving into cover while an Ex-Pop watches you do it just tells them where to check.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Running everywhere. Sprinting is loud, drains stamina and pulls Screamers and Franco Barbi straight to you, and almost no objective actually needs the speed.
- Treating the Heal Rig as a revive button. It restores health and sanity in a gas cloud over about 4 seconds, so it works during a chase, not after someone is already on the floor.
- Ignoring sanity until psychosis hits. By the time the screen distorts you are at your worst for spotting enemies, which is the exact moment you cannot afford to hunt for an antidote.
- Hoarding lockpicks for a door that never comes. They are single use and Trials end, so spending one on a shortcut that skips a whole corridor beats finishing with two unused.
- Splitting up on a map you have not learned. Solo objective running is efficient once the layout is memorised and a fast way to feed the enemy free downs before then.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Outlast Trials a sequel to Outlast 2?
No. It is a prequel set during the Cold War, before Outlast and Outlast 2, and it follows Murkoff Corporation's brainwashing program rather than Miles Upshur or Blake Langermann.
Can you play The Outlast Trials solo?
Yes. Every Trial and MK-Challenge can be completed alone and enemy density scales down for solo runs. Groups of 2 to 4 are supported but never required.
Which Rig should a new player pick?
Stun is the most forgiving because it works reactively and buys roughly 7 seconds of escape. X-Ray is stronger in coordinated groups, since tagged enemies show up for everyone at once.
Are there weapons in The Outlast Trials?
There is no combat. You get throwables like bricks and bottles that stagger or distract, plus tools such as lockpicks and antidotes. Every encounter is solved by hiding, running or crowd control.
How do you get released from the program?
You bank release tokens from Trials and MK-Challenges, complete the Therapy sessions between missions, and eventually reach the ending sequence. Trials pay 2 tokens and MK-Challenges pay 1.
More The Outlast Trials Guides
- The Outlast Trials Best Builds
- The Outlast Trials Tier List
- The Outlast Trials Walkthrough
- The Outlast Trials Beginner's Guide
- The Outlast Trials Tips & Tricks
- The Outlast Trials Weapons Guide
- The Outlast Trials Combat Guide
- The Outlast Trials Boss Guide
- The Outlast Trials Maps & Locations
- The Outlast Trials Crafting Guide
- The Outlast Trials Classes & Characters
Similar Games
If you enjoy The Outlast Trials, check out these related guides:
- Phasmophobia Guide: horror game with similar mechanics
- Lethal Company Guide: horror game with similar mechanics
- Dead by Daylight Guide: horror game with similar mechanics
