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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteChoose Outlast or Outlast 2 for a focused, story-led survival-horror game. Choose The Outlast Trials for repeatable experiments you can tackle alone or with up to three other players. All three share the Outlast universe, but their stories and play rhythms are different.
How the three games differ
| Game | Story hook | Structure | Play options | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outlast | Journalist Miles Upshur investigates Mount Massive Asylum after receiving a tip from an inside source. It launched on September 4, 2013, according to Red Barrels. | A contained survival-horror story. Red Barrels co-founder Philippe Morin later likened the first two games to movies. | The earlier solo-story format. | Players who want the original Mount Massive story and a classic entry point. |
| Outlast 2 | Investigative journalist Blake Langermann and his wife Lynn follow an investigation into the Arizona desert. It launched on April 25, 2017, according to Red Barrels. | A separate, story-led survival-horror entry. Morin also compared it to a movie. | The earlier solo-story format. | Players drawn to a different setting and investigation. |
| The Outlast Trials | Murkoff subjects Reagents to experiments intended to condition them as sleeper agents during the Cold War. | Repeated trials and evolving programs, closer to an episodic series than a single movie-like story. | Solo play or cooperative PvE for up to four players. | Players who want repeatable challenges, especially with friends, but still want the option to play alone. |
What playing The Outlast Trials is like
The Outlast Trials keeps the series’ core survival pressures: stealth, hiding, and fleeing danger. Its main difference is the recurring program structure. Rather than following one contained campaign in the same way as the earlier entries, you take on experiments as a Reagent and return for further trials.
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Red Barrels co-founder Philippe Morin described the contrast in a 2021 PlayStation.Blog interview: “If the previous games could be compared to movies, The Outlast Trials is more like a TV Series.” That is a useful shorthand for the different formats, not a claim that the games share the same plot.
Playing alone or with friends
The Outlast Trials supports solo play as well as groups. Red Barrels’ 1.0 launch notes described solo-play adjustments and cross-play across supported platforms. The game is therefore not multiplayer-only; cooperative play is an option rather than a requirement. The notes also said cross-progression was not supported at that time, so that dated detail should not be treated as a guarantee of current progression behavior.
#1 Best Overall
Which Outlast game should you play first?
Choose Outlast for the original story
Start with Outlast if you want to experience the Mount Massive Asylum investigation and prefer a focused, standalone story. It is the natural pick for someone asking for the original Outlast experience.
Choose Outlast 2 for a different setting
Choose Outlast 2 if Blake and Lynn’s Arizona desert investigation appeals more than the asylum premise. It is another story-led entry, not a prerequisite for playing The Outlast Trials.
Choose The Outlast Trials for repeatable play
Pick The Outlast Trials if you want recurring challenges, the option to cooperate with friends, or both. It also accommodates solo play, but its program-based structure is a different fit from the earlier games’ contained stories.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Is one game scarier than the others?
There is no established comparable measure that ranks these three games by scariness. Which one feels most frightening will depend on the player and what they find unsettling; the available evidence does not support declaring an objective winner.
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
Content warning
The The Outlast Trials storefront warns of intense violence, gore, graphic sexual content, and strong language. That warning is specific to the Trials listing; do not assume the same warning applies identically to Outlast or Outlast 2 without checking each game’s rating information.
How large is the Outlast audience?
On October 31, 2024, Red Barrels said the franchise had reached “over 37 million players” in an announcement about the series and its film adaptation. This is a studio-reported figure for the franchise as a whole, not independently audited sales or a player count for any one game.
Quick Recap
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