When The Outlast Trials entered early access in May 2023, it was clear that one of the most memorable single-player horror stories of the past decade had taken a course toward co-op. And although the project has moved in the direction of session horrors, fortunately, this is not another faceless Phasmophobia clone, which are already flooding Steam. The meeting with the audience was mixed: some were delighted with the new concept, while others were frankly disappointed.

Our video reviewer was cool about the game at the time and gave the verdict “Passable”. The main complaints were boring gameplay, excessive grinding, weak atmosphere of fear, and a content-poor start. And now, almost a year later, there is a release that should show how the project has grown in 10 months.

The Outlast Trials Free Steam Account

The transition to a cooperative format did not deprive The Outlast Trials of any connection with the previous parts, nor the dark plot, nor the ability to play alone. Here again appears the sinister corporation Murkoff – an old familiar to all fans of the series. According to the plot, the hero himself signs up to participate in its “experiments”, which can hardly be called ethical even with a big stretch. As a result, he finds himself in the role of a test subject, locked in a giant complex, where each test is a fight for survival and sanity.

Trials are divided into main missions – the so-called “programs” that move the plot forward – and side quests, called MK scenarios. In appearance, they resemble some kind of creepy theater of the absurd. You are offered to execute an informer in an electric chair, saw off the legs of a priest, beat a judge with hammers or arrange a nightmare for a pervert – with a fiery ending. All these scenes seem to have been torn from a psychopath’s dream and staged with the expectation of maximum shock.

But behind all this is Dr. Easterman, the main ideologist of the experiment. He regularly gives “logical” explanations for everything that is happening, but in reality his speeches are more like a stream of confused, contradictory thoughts. Sometimes he says that children deserve to be saved from oppressive mothers and priests, sometimes – that they themselves are hopeless and subject to reprisals. Fortunately, there are no real children here – only dummies. Although the moral bar is still lowered to the bottom.

Ultimately, it all comes down to one thing: Murkoff is trying to break a person. Destroy his morality, erase old beliefs, burn out memories. “Leave the past, discard everything unnecessary, become free!” – these slogans do not leave the screens while you go through all this horror. The goal is not just survival, but turning the hero into an ideal subordinate, a puppet ready to serve the interests of the corporation. Or those who stand behind it. And you can find out who they are if you dig into the secret documents hidden on the levels. Or reread Juby’s old notes, where she told what Murkoff is really doing.

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The Outlast Trials Plot

The Outlast Trials does have a plot, although it’s not presented head-on. There’s an introduction, there’s an ending, and in between, a series of challenge programs, each of which feels like part of a single story. The mission decorations are meticulously designed: each location is unique, meaningful, and stylistically consistent. But sometimes the abundance of visual “meat” is overwhelming – especially when you come across hanging limbs or piles of torn bodies for the umpteenth time. Red Barrels, as usual, doesn’t look for easy ways: they either shock you or simply crush you with “visual noise.” Sometimes, they do both at the same time. And the missions here are appropriate – nasty, dark, and turned inside out. Pushing carts with children’s dolls into a fire? Yes, please. Getting keys out of ripped-open bellies of corpses? Easy. Pouring chemicals into orphans’ food or throwing bloody organs at targets at a carnival? Welcome to your nightmare.

Yes, even I, a person who grew up on Marilyn Manson’s videos, sometimes feel that the game is going too far. But damn, how masterfully it is made! Each location – be it a police station, a church, an amusement park or a toy factory – is designed with imagination, with a consistent style and frighteningly well-thought-out symbolism. The mannequins here are almost separate characters – in one of the levels, for example, half-naked dolls in monastic robes roll along the corridors of an orphanage, as if they came from the stage of a cheap cabaret.

A separate song – local enemies. The most memorable is a lustful cop with a baton, whose image seems to be specially assembled from all the most disgusting things that a sick imagination can give birth to. But even he pales in comparison to Mother Gooseberry, a former children’s show host turned old woman with a nasty little duck with a spinning drill inside of her. She uses the drill to maim and kill, all the while speaking to her “pet” as if it were alive, in her voice, like a ventriloquist in a daze. These scenes are both terrifying and hilarious, especially when the goofy-voiced duck declares, “We just want to wake up the kids!” “Then do some coke!”

The Outlast Trials isn’t just a horror movie. It’s a deliberately insane, sometimes absurd horror ride that’s hard to tear yourself away from, even when you’re feeling really creeped out.

Gameplay The Outlast Trials

Everything here is literally imbued with the spirit of the previous parts – both enemies and locations regularly refer to what we have already experienced in previous games in the series. And the gameplay itself has remained true to tradition: it is still a dark, brutal and ruthless horror, where the main thing is to hide and survive. Dark corridors, closed rooms, claustrophobia – your best friend is a flashlight, and reliable shelters are cabinets, barrels, boxes and beds. But you can’t relax: if the enemy notices how you huddled in a secluded corner, he will climb there – he will get you himself, without embarrassment. Usually the only way out is to run. But, as before, stamina is limited, and this time the authors went even further, making survival even more brutal. There are tripwires and mines everywhere, and in some shelters there is already someone. Moreover, these inhabitants are not at all happy to be neighbors: they fly out, knock you to the ground, and only a sharp press of the buttons (QTE) saves you from death.

Sometimes a closed door blocks your way. To break through, you have to pound on it, wasting precious seconds and strength. And it happens that a deadly trap is hidden behind the door – as soon as you open it, a cross is driven into your chest with all its might. Even ordinary boxes with consumables like first aid kits or batteries are dangerous:

• they may contain a trap or a poison trap;
• poison causes hallucinations and undermines reason;
• if you do not take the antidote in time, the character falls into psychosis.

In this state, the entire image becomes insane, like in a Prodigy video – with jerks, flashes, interference. An illusory monster, very reminiscent of Keith Flint, begins to hunt you. The only way to escape is to run away or inject the antidote in a timely manner. In short, it’s better not to make noise. Crawl on your haunches, don’t step on glass, don’t run straight ahead and don’t stick your head out. But it’s extremely difficult to do: there are plenty of enemies, they patrol key points and always appear “on time” – exactly when you’re out of battery, without a first aid kit, or busy solving a puzzle like a safe with evidence in the courtroom or setting up a radio.

And at the end of each mission, when you’ve almost gotten out and are rushing to salvation – a transport capsule taking you back to the Murkoff labs, she appears at the exit. The Goose. Sometimes not alone. Sometimes in the company of other monsters.

Leveling, Grinding, and Rebirth in The Outlast Trials

Now the player no longer looks like a helpless victim thrown into hell for survival. As we complete the trials, we earn special coupons that can be spent in a gloomy prison complex on power-ups, blueprints, and useful gadgets. Blueprints are essentially bonuses: for example, accelerated regeneration, the ability to slide, or even resistance to attacks. And from the gadgets – an X-ray scanner that allows you to see enemies through walls, blinding mines, healing gel, and electric shock devices that stun opponents.

Many of these tools can be upgraded. For example, an improved X-ray not only highlights enemies, but also shows traps and useful items. And a pumped-up electric shock not only knocks out opponents, but also activates mines or even heals allies. The higher the level of your character, the more powerful upgrades become available. Experience points required for leveling up are earned for participating in and succeeding in trials, depending on the final rating.

Of course, not all upgrades are equally useful — many players ignore some of them. Moreover, trials can be completed without them. But this does not change the fact that The Outlast Trials has a grind — and it is significant. You will have to farm coupons, gadgets, amplifiers, as well as money that is spent on arranging your room and buying new clothes or cosmetics.

Grinding is especially important for obtaining rebirth tokens. Having accumulated the required number, you will gain access to the final trial — the first “reset” of the character, after which a new branch of tasks called “Program X” will open. These are the same missions, but with new conditions: more powerful enemies, fewer consumables, more traps, and limited space for maneuver.

After three rebirths in “Program X”, “Program Ultra” will open — a real meat grinder, a kind of endgame. Enemies are more aggressive, traps are more deadly, items have longer cooldowns, inventory is reduced, and players have their names and information about each other disabled. Welcome to the real nightmare.

The Outlast Trials Co-op and Monotony Issues

The Outlast Trials can be completed alone, and the first hours really convey that feeling of anxious loneliness and fear familiar to fans of the first two parts. It’s serious: one mission can take up to an hour, the tension keeps you on your toes, and the slightest mistake can cost you your survival. But over time, you come to understand that the trials are essentially the same. Everything comes down to a vicious circle: hide, run, turn on the switch, turn the valve, slip away from the same monster that wanders near the points you need. And now fear gives way to a tired “well, this is all over again.”

Co-op makes the passage a little easier and much more fun. When one player distracts a psychopath, the other calmly synchronizes the radio waves or looks for a way further. And in general, when there are four of you, the atmosphere changes – chaos, screams, panic and, of course, laughter are added. Someone gets lost, someone screams in the voice chat, someone dies in the middle of a laugh because they “ran the wrong way.” Yes, it helps, it revives and amuses. But it doesn’t really look like fear.

There is also a downside: due to uncoordinated play, someone from the team can ruin the rating of the entire group – which means that leveling up will slow down. In addition, you simply don’t have time to notice some of the horror details – the atmosphere dissolves behind the fun and running.

As for the content – we would definitely like to see more of it. Yes, the release version added a fifth full-fledged mission and about a dozen short simulations. But even they are essentially the same tasks, only with a slight variation. In one mission, you roll a cart with creepy dolls, in another – you just tear off their heads and throw them into a shredder. And so all the progress: you dilute something, drag something, synchronize waves, run along pipes and wires in search of switches and valves.

Even if these are different decorations, in essence, you are doing the same thing. Apparently, that is why many players, finding themselves in the hub, do not rush to the terminal to select a new mission – they prefer to hang out at the arm wrestling table or play a couple of games of chess. Yes, yes, there is such a thing here – and for many it is almost a favorite part of the game.

Is The Outlast Trials worth playing?

Yes, The Outlast Trials has the typical features of the genre – repetitive tasks, mandatory grinding and loss of horror when you play the game with friends. But in fairness, it should be noted: these are problems not only of this game, but of the entire genre. The project has already formed its own audience, and, judging by the ambitious plans of the developers, it will only grow. With the release of the final version, it became clear that the authors are not standing still – they added new tasks and missions, rebuilt all three programs so that they became more accessible and logical, and the grind – a little less intrusive. I was also pleased that the improvements and devices in the game received a good rebalance, and in the Murkoff complex there were dialogues with NPCs. Well, of course, it is worth paying tribute: the visuals and sound in the game are at a high level.

The idea of the game is interesting, the atmosphere is gloomy, in some ways even perverted – you can feel the signature style of the series. But, no matter how strange it may sound, something is still missing. Perhaps, those very unique mechanics that made projects like Phasmophobia or Dead by Daylight cult. In the latter, for example, you can become a monster hunting other players — Trials doesn’t have this, and it’s noticeable. The game quickly gets boring alone, and in co-op the scary effect fades away — especially when four of you are sitting in a dungeon and… playing chess. Funny? Yes. Creepy? Not quite.

What we liked:

• detailed setting and monster design;
• brutal, atmospheric and gloomy presentation;
• interesting idea of experiments;
• ots of improvements and customization;
• unusual activities like arm wrestling and chess.

What let us down:

• not much content yet;
• monotony is felt pretty quickly;
• grinding is noticeable, especially at the beginning;
• the horror effect is lost, especially if you play with friends.

The Outlast Trials System Requirements

How to play The Outlast Trials for free on Steam via VpeSports

Imagine waking up in a dark laboratory, where everything is saturated with fear, and the walls are filled with screams. No one asked if you wanted to participate. There are no rules, no guarantees that you will survive until the morning. Only trials, broken minds and a constant feeling that someone is watching you. This is not a game in the usual sense – this is The Outlast Trials, and they are already waiting for you.

We have done everything so that you can immediately immerse yourself in this madness. No confusion, no complicated steps. Just register, log in – and a free Steam account with an activated game is already waiting for you. Yes, you heard right. Everything is ready. Come in and survive.

After everything you have experienced – do not remain silent. Share what it was like: which monsters got closest to you, at what moment you just wanted to turn off the game … It is important for us to hear. Leave a review – even if it is written with trembling hands. If you don’t see it right away, check if it needs some editing. After moderation, we’ll send you a confirmation by email.

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