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 walkthrough takes you from your first session to endgame content. Each phase has specific goals, priorities, and milestones. New to the game? Start with our beginner's guide first.
Quick Progression Summary
| Phase | Area | Focus | Build | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Start | Police Station | Rig abilities basics | X-Ray scout | 1-2 hours |
| 2. Early | Orphanage | Sanity and psychosis mastery | X-Ray scout | 3-5 hours |
| 3. Mid | Fun Park | Night vision battery drain + gear | Stun controller or X-Ray scout | 5-10 hours |
| 4. Late | Courthouse | Build optimization | Stun controller | 5-10 hours |
| 5. Endgame | Toy Factory | Min-max | Stun controller or Solo objective runner | Ongoing |
See our maps guide for detailed area breakdowns.
Phase 1: Getting Started (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.
Level/Difficulty: Introductory to Psychosurgery Key Rewards: Kill the Snitch completion, 2 release tokens
What to Do in Police Station
- Learn Rig abilities. Every Reagent carries one of four Rigs: Stun, Blind, Heal or X-Ray. Spend your first session getting comfortable with this.
- Pick X-Ray scout as your starting build. See our builds guide for why.
- 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.
- Acquire your first equipment upgrade: Bottle or whatever's available.
- Clear all main content before moving on.
Phase 1 Checklist
- Understand Rig abilities fundamentals
- X-Ray scout selected and functional
- Police Station main content cleared
- Ready for Orphanage
Phase 2: Early Game (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.
Level/Difficulty: Standard and above Key Rewards: Cleanse the Orphans completion, Gooseberry counterplay practice
What to Do in Orphanage
- Work on Sanity and psychosis. Darkness, Skinner Man hallucinations and certain hits drain your sanity bar. This system becomes critical from here on.
- Farm for Bottle if you haven't already. It's the key upgrade for this phase.
- 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.
- Complete all objectives before pushing to Fun Park.
- Consider whether Stun controller might suit your playstyle better than X-Ray scout.
Phase 2 Checklist
- Sanity and psychosis integrated into gameplay
- Bottle acquired
- Orphanage fully cleared
- Ready for Fun Park
Phase 3: Mid Game (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.
Level/Difficulty: Standard to Intensive Key Rewards: Grind the Bad Apples completion, 2 release tokens
What to Do in Fun Park
- Master Night vision battery drain. Goggles are the only way to read unlit corridors and they burn battery continuously while active. This unlocks a new layer of gameplay.
- Start working toward Brick. It's the best equipment and becomes accessible around now.
- 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.
- This area is the main skill check. If you can clear it, you're ready for late game.
- Start investing in Prescriptions and Amps for the tactical depth you'll need going forward.
Phase 3 Checklist
- Night vision battery drain mastered
- Brick acquired or in progress
- Fun Park fully cleared
- Ready for Courthouse
Phase 4: Late Game (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.
Level/Difficulty: Intensive and above Key Rewards: Multiple trial completions, lockpick route knowledge
What to Do in Courthouse
- Finalize your build. You should be running Stun controller or X-Ray scout with optimized gear.
- Brick should be your primary. If you don't have it yet, prioritize getting it.
- 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.
- Release tokens optimization starts here. Small improvements compound into massive advantages.
- Farm this area for the resources needed to push into Toy Factory.
Phase 4 Checklist
- Build fully optimized
- Brick upgraded to max
- Courthouse fully cleared
- Ready for Toy Factory
Phase 5: Endgame (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.
Level/Difficulty: Intensive to Psychosurgery Key Rewards: Endgame token farming, late Prescription funding
What to Do in Toy Factory
- Toy Factory tests everything. Come prepared with your best build and gear.
- 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.
- The endgame loop: run Toy Factory, optimize gear, push harder content.
- Experiment with Solo objective runner for a fresh take once you've mastered the standard builds.
- This is where Release tokens mastery separates good players from great ones. See our tips guide for advanced strategies.
Phase 5 Checklist
- Endgame content on farm
- Best-in-slot gear acquired
- Toy Factory fully cleared
- Ready for challenge content
Common Progression Mistakes
- 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.
Key Tips for Smooth Progression
- 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.
For more advanced strategies, see our tips & tricks guide.
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 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
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