Choose Outlast or Outlast 2 for a focused, story-led survival-horror campaign; choose The Outlast Trials for repeatable experiments you can tackle alone or with up to three other players. The three games share a universe and a taste for stealth, hiding, and desperate escapes, but their settings and play rhythms differ.
How the three Outlast games differ
| Game | Story hook | Structure and play | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlast | Journalist Miles Upshur investigates Mount Massive Asylum after receiving a tip from an inside source. It launched September 4, 2013. Red Barrels’ official game page. | A standalone, story-led survival-horror experience. Red Barrels co-founder Philippe Morin compared the earlier games to movies. PlayStation.Blog interview, September 3, 2021. | Players who want the original Mount Massive story and a classic entry point. |
| Outlast 2 | Investigative journalist Blake Langermann and his wife, Lynn, follow a case into the Arizona desert. It launched April 25, 2017. Red Barrels’ official game page. | A separate, standalone survival-horror story, also in the earlier story-led format. | Players drawn to a different setting and investigation rather than a return to Mount Massive. |
| The Outlast Trials | Murkoff’s Cold War experiments put players in the role of Reagents, test subjects being conditioned as sleeper agents. Red Barrels’ official game page. | Repeated trials and evolving programs, playable solo or in cooperative groups of up to four. Red Barrels described its format as more like a TV series than a movie. | Players who want repeatable challenges, especially with friends, while keeping solo play as an option. |
Which one should you play?
Pick Outlast for the original story
Start here if you want the Mount Massive Asylum premise and a contained, story-first experience. It is the clearest choice for seeing where the series began.
Pick Outlast 2 for a different setting
Choose the sequel if Blake and Lynn’s Arizona desert investigation appeals more than the asylum setting. Its story is distinct, so the choice can be based on which premise interests you.
Pick The Outlast Trials for repeatable play or co-op
Trials is the match for players who want a recurring program of experiments rather than one continuous standalone story. It supports solo play as well as cooperative PvE for up to four players; it is not multiplayer-only. Red Barrels’ 2024 launch notes describe solo-play adjustments and cross-play across supported platforms. Red Barrels’ 1.0 launch notes.
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What changes in Trials—and what stays familiar
Morin’s movie-versus-TV-series comparison captures the main structural difference: the first two games are standalone stories, while Trials returns players to a sequence of experiments and programs. Its premise shifts from following a journalist through a particular investigation to playing as a Reagent inside Murkoff’s program.
The format changes, but Trials retains core Outlast pressures: stealth, hiding, and fleeing danger. It also adds tools to its repeatable challenge structure. Co-op can make the experience social, but solo play remains available for anyone who prefers to face the trials alone.
Is one of them scarier?
There is no established comparable rating or controlled official comparison that ranks all three by scariness. Which feels most frightening will depend on what unsettles you: the asylum investigation, the Arizona desert story, or the repeated experiments and co-op possibilities in Trials. Red Barrels’ Trials storefront specifically warns of intense violence, gore, graphic sexual content, and strong language; that warning should not be treated as a rating summary for the other two games. The Outlast Trials on Steam.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the games fit in the franchise
Trials shares the Outlast universe but has a different premise and play rhythm from the earlier stories. Red Barrels reported that the franchise had reached “over 37 million players” in an October 31, 2024 announcement about the franchise and its film adaptation. That is a studio-reported franchise-wide figure, not sales or player counts for any one game. Red Barrels’ October 31, 2024 announcement.
Quick Recap
Rank #3
- BECOME A TEAM - Dungeons & Dragons: Trials of Tempus is a cooperative, team-based game for 2-8 players, where rival parties of Heroic adventurers battle to prove their worth and mettle in the ever-changing Battlerealms of Tempus, God of War!
- CONQUER THE TRAIL - To win, you and your party must work together to earn more Victory Points than your rivals by completing Quests and gathering Loot, and finally defeating the Trial Guardian. The party with the most Victory Points wins!
- GREAT FOR GAME NIGHT - Adventurers ages 12+ can team up with up to 8 adventurers around the game table for 30+ minutes, in attempts to defeat the trials laid before them.
- HIGHLY DETAILED MINIATURES - The Standard Edition includes 25 highly detailed, unpainted miniatures. Painted or not, they are ready for the battlefield! Fight mobs of goblins, kobolds, and bugbears. And defend yourself against ogres and constructs!
- GAME INCLUDES - 9 Map Tiles, 4 D20s, 25 Unpainted Miniatures, 1 Rule Book, 344 Cards, 333 Tokens
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