Outlast

Freelance investigative journalist Miles Upshur receives a mysterious email alleging inhumane experiments at Mount Massive Asylum. He travels to the remote hospital and enters its ruined halls, hoping to uncover the truth behind the rumors. The atmosphere is oppressive as he starts his dangerous investigation.

Miles discovers the facility in chaos: staff lie dead or mutilated, and deranged inmates known as variants roam the grounds. The corridors are ransacked and the environment hints at terrible experiments. The scale of the horror becomes clear as Miles presses deeper.

A dying Murkoff unit officer warns Miles that the variants have escaped and control of the facility is dangerous. He reveals that the main entrance can be unlocked only from the security control room, tying Miles’ escape to a specific location. The warning heightens the urgency of his mission.

Miles is suddenly ambushed by Chris Walker, a massive variant who knocks him unconscious. The attack abruptly derails his progress and plunges him into a perilous stretch through the hospital. He fights to survive and continue his investigation.

While incapacitated, Miles meets Father Martin Archimbaud, a self-styled priest who claims Miles is his apostle. He sabotages Miles’ escape by cutting power to the entrance and injects him with an anesthetic. He also shows Miles footage of the Walrider, the mysterious entity blamed for the hospital’s ruin.

Miles regains consciousness in a decaying cell block filled with catatonic and demented patients. He must navigate the oppressive space and find a way out, starting a dangerous trek through increasingly claustrophobic sections of the asylum. The environment confirms the depth of the hospital’s corruption.

He escapes into the sewers, but is pursued by Walker and two cannibalistic twins. The chase underscores the constant threat from both monstrous mutants and the facility’s hidden terrors. Miles continues moving toward the deeper, darker parts of Mount Massive.

Miles is captured by Richard Trager, a disturbed former Murkoff executive. Trager amputates two of Miles’ fingers and threatens further mutilation, showcasing the brutal cruelty within the hospital. Miles endures the torture and seeks an escape from this brutal ordeal.

Miles retreats to an elevator and, in a fierce struggle, crushes Trager to death between the floors. He uses the elevator to descend further into the facility’s concealed depths, leaving the body behind. The descent ushers him toward the facility’s deeper revelations.

Miles reunites with Father Martin, who urges him to go to the hospital’s chapel. The priest’s guidance signals a shift from mere survival to confronting the asylum’s ultimate mysteries. Miles follows the path toward the chapel as part of his ongoing quest for the truth.

In the auditorium, Miles learns that the Walrider was created by Rudolf Wernicke, a German scientist brought to the United States after Operation Paperclip. Dream therapy and nanites are described as part of a broader attempt to fuse consciousness into a single entity. The scene ties the horrors to MKUltra-era experiments.

In the chapel, Miles discovers a crucified Father Martin who hands him a key to the lobby elevator and urges him toward freedom before immolating himself. The priest’s sacrifice embodies the theater of manipulation and ritual at the heart of the asylum. The key becomes crucial for Miles’ next leap toward truth.

Miles uses the lobby elevator to descend into a subterranean laboratory where the full scope of the experiment unfolds. The environment shifts from psychological horror to a tangible, biochemical evidence of the Walrider’s existence. The laboratory represents the literal heart of Mount Massive’s secrets.

Walker is killed by the Walrider as Miles confronts an aged Rudolf Wernicke, who confirms the Walrider’s nature as a nanite host controlled by Billy Hope. Wernicke orders Miles to terminate Billy’s life support to destroy the Walrider. Miles completes the act, but the entity then possesses him; the PMU arrives and guns him down as the screen fades to black amid screams.