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.
These tips go beyond the basics. They're the strategies experienced players use to play more efficiently, the hidden mechanics most people miss, and the optimizations that compound over a full playthrough. If you're just starting, check our beginner's guide first.
Essential Tips
1. 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
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.
2. A fully upgraded Stun Rig holds an Ex-Pop or a Prime Asset for about 7 seconds
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.
3. Leland Coyle disables your Rig for 30 seconds when he lands a hit
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.
4. Franco Barbi fires at consistent or loud noise in the dark
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.
5. Antidotes cure psychosis outright
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.
6. Prescriptions are permanent across every Trial, so buy stamina and inventory capacity before spending on cosmetics
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.
7. Trials pay 2 release tokens and MK-Challenges pay 1, but MK-Challenges are much shorter
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.
8. The four difficulty levels are Introductory, Standard, Intensive and Psychosurgery
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.
9. In a group of four, assign one Reagent to X-Ray purely as a spotter
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.
10. Hiding under a bed or in a locker resets enemy search behaviour, but only if you broke line of sight first
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.
Advanced Strategies
Build Optimization
The difference between an average build and an optimized one is massive. See our builds guide for full breakdowns.
For Stun controller (A-Tier):
- Focus on Rig abilities combinations for maximum output.
- Core gear: Brick
- Stat priority: Offensive stats first
For X-Ray scout (A-Tier):
- Versatile approach that handles any situation.
- Core gear: Bottle
- Stat priority: Balanced stats
Mechanic Interactions
Understanding how The Outlast Trials's systems interact is where the real optimization lives. Our combat guide covers this in detail.
Rig abilities + Sanity and psychosis: Every Reagent carries one of four Rigs: Stun, Blind, Heal or X-Ray. Combined with Sanity and psychosis, darkness, skinner man hallucinations and certain hits drain your sanity bar.
Night vision battery drain + Prescriptions and Amps: Goggles are the only way to read unlit corridors and they burn battery continuously while active. When paired with Prescriptions and Amps, prescriptions are permanent upgrades bought between trials that raise stamina, inventory slots and battery life.
Release tokens scaling: 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.
Equipment Efficiency
| Equipment | Best Use Case | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Brick | Breaking line of sight when a Grunt has already spotted you and your Rig is on cooldown. | Thrown blunt object that staggers an Ex-Pop for a moment and can smash a window or a fragile lock from range. |
| Bottle | Clearing a patrol off a valve or terminal you need to hold for several seconds. | Throwable noisemaker. |
| Lockpick | Fast routes through the Police Station and Courthouse, where locked shortcuts are everywhere. | Single use tool that opens locked doors and cabinets without a key, cutting long detours out of a route. |
| Antidote | Psychosurgery difficulty runs and any map where the Skinner Man keeps appearing. | Cures psychosis on the spot and restores sanity, ending the screen distortion that makes tracking enemies almost impossible. |
| Night vision goggles | Basements, vents and the unlit halves of every Program Genesis map. | Battery powered vision in total darkness. |
Location Efficiency
Police Station (Introductory to Psychosurgery): 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 (Standard and above): 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 (Standard to Intensive): 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 (Intensive and above): 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 (Intensive to Psychosurgery): 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.
Mistakes Even Veterans Make
- 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.
Pro Quick Tips
- 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.
- Start with X-Ray scout, switch to Stun controller when ready
- Invest in Brick above everything else
- Clear areas in order: Police Station → Orphanage → Fun Park → Courthouse → Toy Factory. See our maps guide
- Rig abilities + Sanity and psychosis together are stronger than either alone
More The Outlast Trials Guides
- The Outlast Trials The Outlast Trials Overview
- The Outlast Trials Best Builds
- The Outlast Trials Tier List
- The Outlast Trials Walkthrough
- The Outlast Trials Beginner's Guide
- 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
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