The Outlast Trials Is Getting A Huge Update With A Horrifying New Villain

After hosting several smaller events earlier this year, The Outlast Trials is getting its first major post-launch update. Project Lupara is a free update coming on July 16 that adds a new roguelite mode, as well as a new map, missions, abilities, cosmetics, and another villain at the center of it all, who is likely to become as haunting as Mother Gooseberry and Sergeant Coyle. Several quality-of-life changes are coming with the patch, too. Here's everything you need to know about The Outlast Trials' Project Lupara.

New villain, map, and missions

The centerpiece of the update is Franco "Il Bambino" Barbi, the son of a New Orleans mob boss, with proclivities as disquieting and deranged as this series has become known for. Red Barrels studio has gone and given the "infantilized" Il Bambino a shotgun, which makes for a unique threat that the other melee-focused Big Bads of the game don't have.

Tying into the mobster via the game's story, the new Docks map will host a new Trial (main mission), as well as several MK-Challenges (shorter side missions). The game's final mission has also been given a makeover. It remains a solo experience, but now escalates in difficulty as you continue to release Reagents (player characters) into the world--essentially Prestiging your character. A new ending can be seen when you manage to escape, too.

A fifth cooldown ability, collectively called Rigs, is also being introduced to the game in the form of The Barricade. This is a denial-of-entry maneuver that blocks off pursuers and forces them to bash down the blockade, giving Reagents some precious time to perform a task or widen the gap between their shoulders and a killer's reach.

New roguelite game mode - Escalation Therapy

Alongside all of this comes a brand-new game mode, Escalation Therapy, which acts like a rougelite endless mode that gets increasingly more difficult as players progress through its twisted Trials. Each mission includes different variables, such as increased damage or more traps littered around the map, so no two playthroughs are ever the same.

Players are tasked with surviving as many as Trials as they can, with permadeath eventually resetting them back to the beginning of a new run. Loadouts will also be empty to start a run, demanding players create something like a sensible build as they progress through the Trials and obtain buffs.

New live-service metagame

The Outlast Trials is designed as a living game, and with Project Lupara, it's getting more telltale signs of that intent in the form of daily and weekly challenges, as well as new Catalogs, which act as the game's battle pass-like cosmetic rewards path.

Two new Catalogs will be there to kick off the update. The Standard Catalog, "A New You," offers a collection of previously available cosmetics as well as some new ones, while a paid Deluxe Catalog offers a host of even more new cosmetics. Players progress through Catalogs by obtaining Stamps, and new daily and weekly challenge systems are designed to tie into this new metagame. The Catalogs also never expire, so players won't need to complete them in a set amount of time.

Difficulty options and more

On the quality-of-life front, The Outlast Trials is getting difficulty options for the first time. Four difficulties--Introductory, Standard, Intense, and Psychosurgery--will be available for players to choose from. This should help ease some players into the game's intense missions, while giving veterans of the Murkoff Facility a more brutal challenge if they're into that.

The Programs menu has also been revamped and matchmaking will now group players based on their difficulty settings. Loadouts can be altered in the shuttle before heading into any mission, too, and if players fail a mission, they can opt to restart it right away rather than needing to head back to the lobby first. Lastly, the max player level has been bumped up to 70.

The shared social space in the facility is also adding a new attraction to go with chess and arm wrestling. The Stroop Effect Test, based on the real-life delayed reaction people have when viewing conflicting stimuli, will challenge players to correctly select the color of a word when the word itself spells a different color. It's another low-stakes way to pass the time while you wait to form your group and load into a mission.

A new DLC pack is coming to the store, too. The Exotica Pack adds four new skins, several new profile icons, and a range of personal items for players' private cells for $20.

For players deeply invested in the lore, another free comic book is coming to the studio's website. You'll find it here starting on July 12. It tells the backstory of the latest Big Bad.

Limited-Time Bambino event

To introduce the new villain and other features coming with Project Lupara, The Outlast Trials will kick off the update with another limited-time cosmetic event. For four weeks, Il Bambino will appear in various Trials when players are loading into the event from the mission selection screen. Depending on the mission, he will be there not in place of but alongside Mother Gooseberry or Sergeant Coyle.

At the midway point of the event, the Trials featuring the game's latest enemy will be updated, so players who have experienced a lot of the event in the first two weeks will get a fresh take in the back half.

The Outlast Trials Project Lupara update arrives on July 16 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.