An A+ in The Outlast Trials is a loss-control problem, not a speedrun. Completing the therapy and its displayed secondary objective supplies the foundation of the grade. Damage, incapacitations, deaths, abandoned teammates, sanity loss, and repeated trap mistakes pull that result down. Small positive actions can repair a slightly messy run, but they are not a license to turn a safe escape into another chase.
Evidence and version checks were frozen on July 24, 2026, after the Season 7: Project Boneyard update and the July 22 hotfix. This route applies to the normal Evaluation Report at the end of a Trial or MK-Challenge. Invasion 2.0 has separately rebalanced scoring, and Escalation leaderboards use total run time as a tiebreaker; neither should be used to infer the grade rules for an ordinary therapy.
Read the evaluation as a budget, not a list of chores
Community testing of the hidden score consistently places four events at the top of the decision tree: finish the therapy, finish the secondary objective, avoid losing a Reagent, and avoid repeated damage. That creates a much simpler route than trying to perform every positive action shown on the final report.
Use this order when two opportunities compete:
- Preserve completion. An unfinished therapy cannot be rescued by using extra items.
- Close the secondary objective. Posters, gifts, rats, schematics, samples, or a seasonal task may occupy this slot. Read the current objective panel rather than assuming every Trial uses posters.
- Prevent the expensive mistake. A hit, incapacitation, death, or abandoned teammate matters more than one missed battery or throwable use.
- Take safe positives. Disarm a door trap, use a needed item, open a locked container, perform a cooperative move, collect a document, or make a successful Rig play when the route already passes it.
The hidden score also limits how many times a repeated action can contribute. Emptying every shelf and spamming a Rig after the useful cap wastes time and may create the damage that costs the grade. The exact numerical table is community-observed and can move with patches, so the visible Evaluation Report in the current client is the final authority.
Choose the difficulty that leaves room for one mistake
The best A+ attempt is not automatically the highest available difficulty. Choose the version of the Trial whose objective route you can describe before entering: the major rooms, the final interaction, the likely shuttle path, and at least one dark reset area between them. Higher threat only helps if the additional pressure does not turn every objective interaction into a forced hit.
Season 7 added three loadout presets. Use them as failure-specific kits instead of ranking every Rig on one permanent tier list:
- Search preset: X-Ray supports a player who repeatedly misses the secondary objective, containers, or safe movement information.
- Control preset: Stun, Blind, or another interruption tool belongs on routes where a stationary crank, push, carry, or final interaction attracts an Ex-Pop.
- Recovery preset: Heal suits groups whose clean route breaks through chip damage or a rescue attempt rather than navigation.
A Rig earns value when it prevents a deduction, completes an objective window, or saves another Reagent. Activating it into empty space merely to create a positive line on the report is weaker than keeping it ready for the next fixed interaction. If a Rig Recharger appears, spend the current charge on a real problem before using the refill.
The current Hint System can also display an objective clue and visual marker through the Display Objective control. If that control appears to do nothing, check whether hints were disabled in Settings before assuming the Trial is bugged.
Divide the map into objective passes
Do not make a separate full-map sweep after the primary objective. Search while the route naturally opens. Divide the team and the map into three passes:
- Entry pass: note the shuttle, the first safe dark pocket, locked containers, and any one-way drop or door that will change the return route.
- Objective pass: search the rooms unlocked by the current task before carrying the objective forward. Each player calls the secondary count after a pickup so the group does not duplicate a corridor.
- Exit pass: check only the short branches beside the return path. Once the secondary objective is complete, an unexplored distant wing is no longer automatically worth the risk.
In solo play, use the same structure as a loop. Clear one side room, return to an anchor, and then move the anchor forward. A landmark can be a lit security desk, a trial-specific machine, a numbered door, or the last objective object. “I am somewhere near the main hall” is not a route state; “the locked container is behind the second security desk, and the next dark room returns to the objective” is.
Protect the grade from the expensive red lines
The end screen may list many events in red, but they do not carry equal weight. Treat them in this practical order:
| Failure signal | What it means for the route | Correction on the next attempt |
|---|---|---|
| Death or teammate abandoned | The group protected the objective or exit timer instead of the run | Regroup before the final trigger and name the rescue carrier |
| Incapacitated | The chase had no reserved Rig, throwable, or reset room | Stop spending both hands on loot and keep one escape tool |
| Repeated damage | The route keeps crossing patrol space or forcing unsafe interactions | Change the approach, not just the healing supply |
| Sanity loss or psychosis | Gas, trapped containers, or a Pusher is being treated as harmless delay | Carry an antidote when the next sector has no clean reset |
| Door, floor, sound, or environmental traps | The lead is moving faster than the team’s information | Slow-open doors, inspect the frame and floor, then ping the safe side |
Do not deliberately enter psychosis, take damage, or trigger a trap just to create a later recovery action. Surviving psychosis, healing, and using an antidote can all appear as positive actions, but the initiating loss and the risk of a second failure remain. A clean ledger is more reliable than attempting to exploit an unverified point exchange.
Turn every chase into a route decision
A chase damages the grade when it has no finish condition. Before a long objective animation or heavy carry, identify two escapes: one for an ordinary Ex-Pop and one for a threat that changes the light rule. Darkness and crouched movement help break ordinary sight, while a Night Hunter makes a bright area more valuable. A Berserker reacts to sound rather than offering a normal visual stealth check. The correct escape is therefore a property of the threat, not the nearest doorway.
Keep enough stamina to cross the last open section. Sprinting at the first voice line often leaves no burst for the doorway, vault, or dark corner that actually breaks pursuit. Close doors when it buys separation, but do not stand at the handle and let a teammate run into your block. During a carry objective, the unburdened player should open the next door and inspect the floor before the carrier commits.
Pouncers turn careless hiding into damage. Listen before passing close to lockers, bins, trunks, and other hiding spaces; a noisy occupied hiding place is not a safe reset. Door frames deserve the same attention. Slow-opening a suspicious door gives the player a chance to identify and disarm its trap instead of converting a routine transition into sanity loss and noise.
Spend items for a result, then preserve the exit tool
The evaluation rewards many useful actions: successful Rig use, disarming traps, opening locked containers, using batteries and medicines, distracting or striking an enemy with a throwable, rescuing allies, and performing cooperative moves. Build these into the route without farming them.
- Use a battery when it restores a real night-vision deficit; do not blind yourself before a dark objective just to consume it.
- Throw a bottle to move a patrol away from the objective, not at an enemy who is already leaving.
- Reserve a brick or bottle for an interruption, rescue, or shuttle approach once the final phase begins.
- Open a locked container when the team has a safe few seconds and a use for its contents.
- Disarm traps on the shared return route. A trap in an abandoned side wing is not worth reopening the search.
Make co-op rescues part of the plan
Co-op creates scoring opportunities through cooperative moves, revives, trap rescues, and enemy interruptions, but it also adds the severe possibility of leaving a teammate behind. Assign responsibility before the final objective:
- Objective player: performs the carry, push, crank, tune, or other required interaction.
- Control player: watches the active approach and spends the first Rig charge.
- Route player: opens the retreat and calls the next anchor.
- Rescue player: keeps the throwable, healing option, or syringe needed when the clean plan fails.
With two players, combine objective and route while the second player controls and rescues. With three, let the route player double as rescue. The labels are temporary; they exist so that a downed Reagent does not attract three identical reactions while the objective is abandoned.
Do not scatter for the last secondary item without a reunion point. State the pickup count, the sector being checked, and the return anchor. If the searcher is chased, the rest of the group should protect the anchor instead of running toward an unknown corridor. The searcher can then reset and return to a stable team.
Recover a bruised run without gambling the completion
One small mistake does not automatically destroy an A+ attempt. If a sound trap triggers or the player takes a single hit, first stabilize: break pursuit, heal if needed, confirm the secondary objective, and continue the known route. Safe positive actions along that route can offset minor deductions.
The recovery changes after an incapacitation, death, or abandoned teammate. Those are large enough that an A+ becomes uncertain, especially if the secondary objective is incomplete. Do not respond by collecting every loose object in a hostile wing. Finish the therapy cleanly, study the report, and decide whether a repeat is cheaper than risking the completion already secured.
Use the report diagnostically. If it shows repeated damage, change the route or control timing. If it shows sanity loss, inspect doors, containers, mines, and Pusher encounters. If it shows few positive actions but no major negatives, add safe Rig uses, documents, containers, or trap disarms next time. Fix the first expensive red category before trying to increase every green category.
Stop searching before the final interaction
The moment before the final objective changes the risk profile. Patrols may converge, an exit phase may begin, and a quiet search can become a forced sprint. Pause before committing and run this audit:
- The secondary objective is visibly complete in the current objective panel.
- Every living teammate is present or has a named return route.
- The group knows which door, corridor, or shuttle path is the exit.
- At least one control tool remains available.
- The player carrying a special objective item is not also expected to lead the chase.
Standard Trial time is not reported by the community scoring tests as a direct grade penalty. That means a controlled pause is usually cheaper than a rushed hit. The exception is a mode or variator that explicitly adds a timer, and Season 7 Escalation leaderboards separately use time to break equal peak records. Read the mode rules on the terminal before applying the normal A+ route.
The dependable A+ loop is short enough to remember: complete therapy, close the displayed secondary objective, prevent the large deductions, take safe positives on the route, regroup before the final trigger, and use the Evaluation Report to change one cause on the next attempt. Murkoff can hide the number; it cannot hide which decision made the run unstable.
Sources & credits: Game identity, AppID 1304930, Red Barrels attribution, release metadata, supported modes, and the four untouched 1920×1080 JPG screenshots were verified through the official Steam store page. The July 24, 2026 version boundary, Project Boneyard systems, Hint System, loadout presets, Escalation timing rule, and Invasion scoring warning were checked against the official Red Barrels patch notes and the July 22 hotfix. Evaluation priorities and route decisions were reconciled across readable community scoring guides and verified walkthrough references; exact hidden values are treated as patch-sensitive community observations.