The Outlast Trials will get a major update on October 21 at 10 am ET that introduces a new permanent PvP mode called Invasion Experimental Therapy and returns the Program Geister limited-time event. The announcement, posted on the game’s Steam news page, outlines new roles, matchmaking rules, in-game shop additions, and a Twitch Drops special.
Invasion lets players choose between two roles. Reagents try to finish Trials with their equipment and Rigs active, while Imposters pretend to be Reagents and attempt to kill them before objectives are completed. The mode is available from the Terminal in the Sleep Room and supports solo play and groups of 2, 3, or 4.
Imposter deployment rotates during a Trial rather than sending every Imposter in at once. Each deployed Imposter has a roughly two-minute timer while inside a Trial and will be stunned to death if they do not return to the insertion gate in time. When an Imposter dies or returns, the next one in line is sent until the Trial ends, all Reagents are dead, or all Imposter lives are exhausted. The number of Imposters active at once depends on group size: one Imposter for 1–2 Reagents and two Imposters for 3–4 Reagents. Players can also toggle whether Imposters hear victim voice calls in the pause menu.
Progression for Invasion will scale with how much you play. Early runs use a smaller pool of Trials and no Ex-Pop Specialists. After 11–50 matches, more Trials are added, and above 50 matches, the full Trial pool and Ex-Pop Specialists come into play. Matchmaking prioritizes invading Reagents who are using the Invasion program, but will fall back to other programs if needed. A global invasion option unlocks at Therapy Level 30 and can be turned on or off in Privacy Options. Imposters can buy upgrades from Barlow the Pharmacist in the Sleep Room; the update lists a variety of Imposter Chems such as Imitate, Slash, Stab, Lurk, Pursuit, Breach, and Vault to change attack, movement, and stamina interactions.
The Program Geister event returns the same day and runs until November 18 at 9:59 am ET. Players can earn Event Tokens by completing Trials and Geister tasks and spend them in a three-page limited-time Catalog. Variators from last year return, including extract organ samples, hallucination effects, extra NPC Imposters, hidden player names for specific modes, and more aggressive enemies in selected Trials. The update also introduces two new MK-Challenges: Beguile the Children and Investigate the Minotaur.
There are a few other system changes worth noting. Easy Anti-Cheat will be added with the October 21 update to combat cheating in the new PvP mode, and the game will gain an in-game Store offering a Blackmarket for outfits, past Event Catalogs, DLC access, a Daily Murkoff Box, Murkoff Coins, and a gift on first Murkoff Coins purchase. Twitch Drops support will be available through the Main Menu once the update goes live so viewers can link accounts and earn rewards by watching participating creators.
If you want more reading on Project Geister and its past runs, we covered an earlier chapter here. The Steam announcement also links to the Easy Anti-Cheat documentation for background on the anti-cheat solution about Easy Anti-Cheat.
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