The Outlast Trials is a first-person co-op survival horror game set during the Cold War. It focuses on players being used as test subjects in brutal mind- control and brainwashing experiments run by the Murkoff Corporation.
Core premise
In the story, you play as a “Reagent,” a kidnapped civilian forced into a program of psychological and physical experiments called Project LATHE, designed to erase your identity and “rebirth” you as a new person. The trials are staged in large, recreated environments like rundown police stations or orphanages, all inside a Murkoff facility where failed subjects have become violent and deranged.
Gameplay basics
The game is played from a first-person perspective and can be done solo or with up to three other players in online co-op. You have no conventional weapons, so you survive by sneaking, hiding, running, and using limited tools like night-vision goggles, bricks, bottles, and gadgets to distract or slow enemies.
What you actually do
Each “trial” is a mission where you complete objectives—like finding items, starting generators, flipping switches, or escorting targets—while avoiding or outsmarting roaming enemies and traps. Finishing trials progresses your “therapy,” unlocks harder variants and new programs, and ultimately moves you toward a possible “rebirth” and release… though the game questions whether you will be sane or unchanged if you do get out.
