- "You can't see me. You can't..."
- ―Imposters
Imposters are antagonists in The Outlast Trials. They are Specialist Ex-Pop who will disguise themselves as other Reagents, taking upon their appearances to trick them into a false sense of security, before stabbing one of them with a knife and departing from the Trial almost immediately. During normal Trials, Imposters only appear when playing co-op Trials or when certain Variators are active, and are meant to encourage players to stick together in a group and pay attention to their surroundings.
With the addition of the Player versus Player game mode, Imposters become playable as the opposing team to Reagents in Invasion. In this game mode, Reagents are permitted to infiltrate ongoing Trials as Imposter Reagents, and are tasked with stalking and killing all Reagents present.
Background[]
The Imposters are former General Ex-Pop that have been assigned latex masks from the Murkoff Corporation to imitate the appearance of Reagents, enabling them to seamlessly integrate into a group unnoticed and forcing Reagents to trust no one but themselves. Apart from their masks, Imposters are also left in Trial environments naked, being forced to scavenge clothing from corpses to outfit themselves. They also craft small knives from whatever materials are available, often using shards of glass or bits of metal sharpened against stone.
Characteristics[]
Similarly to the Pusher, Imposters will periodically emerge from various Ex-Pop Insertion Gates as the blaring alarm signals their arrival. Imposters will randomly mimic one of the Reagents present, perfectly imitating their appearance. Imposters will patrol the Trial area looking for a Reagent while mimicking their movements. Once they spot a Reagent, they will slowly approach them rather than chase them outright in order to lure them into a false sense of security.
Non-playable Imposters[]
From distance, Imposters could be observed to be fake by watching their behavior, where they will pause their movements and look around a bit aimlessly. Once they are within medium range, they will attempt to mimic player behavior by crouching, using voice wheel communications, pinging, and giving a fake item. Once Reagent gets closer to the Imposter, they will pull a knife out, lunge at their target, and stab them repeatedly in the torso. When an Imposter encounters a Reagent inside a hiding spot, they will pull them out before stabbing them. After this, they immediately exit the Trial via the insertion gate. However, when they encounter a downed Reagent and still have not pulled out a knife, they can perform an execution on them.
There are various cues to identify an Imposter. They tend to openly roam around the Trials' environments even when the hostile Ex-Pop are within their vicinity and the traps ignoring them, which can easily give them away. Players must also pay attention for the extra player suddenly appearing in their HUD. Imposters may try to encounter the Reagents they are imitating through their outfits and usernames, giving the Reagent an immediate alert to avoid them. However, No Player Names variator can also remove the Reagent's ability to check their username but not their outfits unless more than two Reagents in the Trial equips them. The X-Ray rig can be somewhat useful for spotting a potential Imposter but they are completely indistinguishable from real Reagents, as they are not highlighted with visible skeletons like an Ex-Pop. The Imposter cannot break a barricade rig in a single hit like the Reagents can, and will be highlighted as an enemy after breaking it with Incoming Warning upgrade.
When encountering a potential Imposter, verbal Reagents should attempt to communicate using their voice chat radio and listen to how their teammate responds with voice chat, as the Imposter's radio will also produce the same voice of the Reagent that they are disguising as. When Reagents are non-verbal or do not use voice chat, they should respond using non-verbal gestures that are difficult for Imposters to replicate — typically by interacting with the objectives, using a rig, and throwing or dropping an item.
Much like the Pusher, the Imposters leave after a short period of time but they can still quickly attack any Reagent that tries to intercept their path to the shuttle unless they had failed their lunge grab, disoriented, or hit by throwable items. Imposters can be prevented by maintaining distance until they leave after a short period of time, throwing any items at them, kicking them off a grabbed teammate, disorienting them with rigs, or intentionally make them miss their lunge grab. If any of these actions are performed, they will be forced to leave the Trial.
Unlike most Specialists, Imposters can spawn even while the Pusher or Pitcher is still present. However, when Jaeger appears, she completely prevents them from spawning until she leaves the trial. Additionally, Imposters cannot appear in trials where the Prime Time, Franco Barbi, More Pushers, More Pitchers, or Jaeger variators are active.
Under normal circumstances, Imposters cannot appear when there is only one Reagent present in the Trial. However, the More Imposters variator allows them to appear in solo Trials and more frequently in co-op. When the Trial is invaded, they will be replaced by Imposter Reagents controlled by real players. However, when Imposter Reagents have left during the Trial, the Non-playable Imposters will return to the Trial once more.
Imposters Reagents[]
Unlike Non-playable Imposters, Imposter Reagents are controlled by real players. They can only appear in Invasion or any other game modes only if the Reagents have consented to having their Trial invaded by them through Global Invasion options.
Reagents will be notified that their Trial has been invaded by them through the alarm and their names revealed through the notifications. They will monitor the invader cameras to find or watch the Reagents through the Trial. Once they are ready to invade, they are given fifteen seconds to prepare before they can be deployed to any available insertion gates around the map, but they can choose to start immediately. Once they arrive through the insertion gates, they are deployed without blaring alarm signals to avoid alerting Reagents, unless they heard the gates being opened nearby. When Reagents can see their teammate usernames, it will be automatically removed as Invasion starts even when the No Player Names variator is not present.
Imposter Reagents are given three unique attacks they can use against Reagents:
- Quick Slash - It allows the Imposter to swing their knife, dealing one and a half health bars of damage, while also restoring the Reagent's stamina and granting an adrenaline effect. After a successful hit, the knife is placed on a short cooldown before it can be used again.
- Stab - It allows the Imposter to charge their knife for several seconds at the cost of reduced mobility. If a Reagent is caught within range, they are stabbed through the torso that deals two health bar damage before killing them instantly unless the attack is interrupted by a bottle, brick, or a nearby teammate. However, if the Reagent has only one health bar remaining when they are stabbed, they will not be prompted to use bottles or bricks, resulting in a guaranteed death unless a teammate intervenes. If a teammate is late interrupting the stab before the instant kill is completed, then the Reagent is instead left in an incapacitated state.
- Hiding Spot Attack - Imposters can use the hiding spots and peek like real Reagents. When Reagent gets close, they will be given an option to pounce them and deal quick slash damage. Unlike Quick Slash and Stab attack, Hiding Spot Attack is not affected by the knife cooldown, Reagent victim cannot use their throwables to stop the attack, and provide both adrenaline and stamina restore effect. Like regular Ex-Pop, they can also check or pull out Reagents using a hiding spot and deal quick slash damage. Hiding Spot Attacks can only be interrupted by another nearby Reagent.
When a Reagent is in the incapacitated state, Imposter Reagents can make a decision to execute them or continue hurting other Reagents that might try to rescue their teammate. When Reagent kicks an Imposter to rescue their teammate, it will not affect their stamina despite not having the Hard Kick or Stay of Execution Prescriptions.
Whenever deployed into a Trial, Imposters are placed on a two-minute timer and will be shocked to death if they do not return to an insertion gate in time. If an Imposter incapacitates or executes a Reagent, their timer is reduced to 25 seconds (30 seconds with the Retreat Chem), prompting an immediate retreat. Imposters are also forced to retreat when a Reagent enters confined areas, such as during cutscenes in Drill the Futterman. After an Imposter retreats or is killed, the next Imposter must wait a base cooldown of 30 seconds before deployment. Each full health bar lost adds a 15-second penalty to this cooldown, while death results in a total cooldown of one minute and thirty seconds. This rotation continues until all Imposters run out of lives, the Trial ends, or all Reagents are killed.
Each Imposter Reagent has two lives. When an Imposter loses all their lives, they will permanently stay in the cameras. When the Imposter Reagent team has lost all their lives, they will automatically booted off of the trial and the Reagents will be notified that an Invasion is over. Depending on the number of Reagents present in the Trial (not necessarily alive), Imposter Reagents are deployed one at a time for 1–2 Reagents, or two at a time for 3–4 Reagents. The Imposters can take turns when being deployed into the trial but will skip turns of those who lost all two lives. Once the main objective is completed, all four Imposters will be deployed, or fewer if there are fewer Reagents present.
Deploying from the insertion gates will also give Imposters a synthetic sense that lets them see all Reagents in their exact position for few seconds, allowing them to setup an ambush or catch up with their opponents. Reagents can also be revealed through other means such as making loud noises, triggering a Screamer and completing main objectives. While Imposter Reagents cannot directly interact with the trial objectives, they are often more disruptive to Reagents' progress than most Ex-Pop since they are controlled by real players. When the Reagent gets pinged by the invader cameras, the Reagent will be notified and their ping icon allows them to be easily tracked by the Imposters on the hunt. Reagents can try to destroy the cameras using throwable items and rigs to prevent them from pinging, but Imposters will still have access to its camera and give information through voice chat.
With certain Chem, Imposters can have an ability to hold fake items instead of a knife to fool Reagents. However, they cannot hold certain items like the Rig Recharger, any Boosters, the Master Key, and any Rigs. When an Imposter attempts to give a fake item or use voice communication, experienced Reagents can easily identify it by observing the lack of information in chat notifications and missing icons from the Regroup and Ping commands, all of which are indicators for Reagents that it is not their teammate.
Some tools that Reagents use provide unique effect toward Imposters. Throwing bricks at Imposters or their cameras will use both of its charges. Amps such as Evasive Maneuver and Strong Arm will not work on Imposters; the Self-Revive and Last Chance amps will not trigger its effect if its done by the Imposters; the Noise Reduction amp makes it difficult for Imposters to track the Reagents; and the Cacophony amp can fool Imposters into believing they see a Reagent making loud noises instead of a thrown item. Rigs such as Stun only have its effect work when the Imposter is very close to the explosion radius, Blind's smoke after activation will not stun or disorient them, whereas Barricade can still force Imposters to bash multiple times and Jammer's Corrupt Enemies upgrade can make them vomit.
The Imposter Reagents have an ability to use hiding spots and ambush Reagents like Liliya Bogomolova and Pouncers. Unlike Pouncers, Imposters using a hiding spot makes them immune to any damage from stuns and throwable items even with the Anti-Ambush prescription. However, they can still be detected and forced out with the Jammer Rig's Corrupt Enemies upgrade.
Reagents using hiding spots does not prevent them from being detected through synthetic senses, camera pings, or by noticing their body in desks, barrels, or lockers. Reagents are highly advised to not use Invisible amp as it only prevents them from seeing them peeking but not when their body is clearly visible in certain hiding spots.
Unlike Non-playable Imposters, Imposter Reagents can still be chased down and harmed by an Ex-Pop. However, the Ex-Pop will immediately switch targets from Imposters when they see the real Reagents. They cannot be pounced by Pouncers, chase Scapegoats away, disturb noise-sensitive Ex-Pop like Screamers (unless its on physical contact) and Berserkers, or become targeted by the Jaeger. Imposter Reagents are also immune to any traps, but can also interact with garage doors, one-way blocked doors, and remote-controlled gates. They can also disarm traps that had been rewired by the Jammer Rig like how Reagents do, such as crouching to avoid door traps and maintaining distance to trigger the explosive duck bombs without taking damage. Despite their Ex-Pop privilege, the mannequin doors will not automatically open for them but they can trigger alarm doors and summon the Ex-Pop, which may become beneficial for them if they stay permanently like in Shutdown the Factory.
Imposter Reagents have up to four health bars and can be killed like real Reagents, but they cannot use healing items and the Heal Rig instead damages them. While Imposters remain a significant threat as an Ex-Pop, experienced Reagents can pressure or repel them using throwables and offensive rigs, which can damage and stun Imposters. However, if Reagents repeatedly use tools against an Imposter in rapid succession, the damage is reduced by half and stun durations become increasingly shorter. However, the damage from bottles, hearts, and an Ex-Pop is not affected by reduced damage effect. When an Imposter's health becomes low, they will be forced to make a decision on retreating to an insertion gate to recover their health or risk continue hunting. When an Imposter gets interrupted while they grab or ambush Reagent from hiding spots, executing, or slashing to down a Reagent, it will deal an additional damage if it is done with throwable items or rigs, but not kicking. Despite having better night vision battery lifespan and have running speed that matches their opponents, Imposter Reagents have incredibly poor stamina regeneration and loud exhaustion breathing that makes them easier to track when they are nearby and Reagents could often kill them when they have their rigs and throwable items prepared.
When there are two Imposter Reagents invading at the same time, they can perform cooperative moves like bashing double doors, long jumps, and opening garage doors. Depending on their cooperation, having multiple Imposters nearby means they can coordinate in disrupting the objectives and potentially reduce their chances of dying to Reagents preparing to use their resources on them.
Imposter Reagents are also affected by environmental hazards such as Permafrost and Chemical Areas found in trials like Poison the Medicine and Poison the Cattle. Imposter Reagents can also suffer increased damage from traps and Ex-Pop if certain Variators are active but their overall speed and damage will not be affected. Since Imposters cannot be induced by Psychosis gas, the Pusher will simply ignore them since they cannot be gassed, but the psychosis effect from mines and door traps will deal damage instead.
Additionally, Imposter Reagents can still appear while the other Specialists like Pusher and Pitcher are present in the Trial. They can also still spawn when trial variators use special enemies like More Pushers, Jaeger, or Prime Time. When the trial is invaded, they will replace the role of the Non-playable Imposters. However, when Imposter Reagents have left during the Trial, the Non-playable Imposters will return to the rotation and hunt once more.
Story[]
The Outlast Trials[]
Imposters appear in every trial when multiple Reagents are present. They will spawn near players and slowly approach them. If they get too close, they will pull out a weapon and try to grab the Reagent, assaulting them and dealing sizeable damage before exiting the Trial.
Distinguishing real Reagents from imposters can be done by asking teammates to respond, observed whether the traps or Ex-Pop ignore them in plain sight, or looking at their overhead usernames, which always contain misspellings. For example, if their username is "Chris Walker", the imposter may be named "Chwit Wa4kez". In Psychosurgery difficulty, the Imposter's username becomes indistinguishable with the Reagent's username. The Reagents can also evade Imposters by throwing any item at them, attacking or stunning them with rigs, or making them miss their grab. Performing any of these actions will force them to exit the trial.
When invaded by real players through the Invasion game mode or with the Global Invasion option enabled, the usernames become hidden by default even when the No Player Names variator is not present. Unlike regular Imposters, they can be targeted by Ex-Pop and killed when they take enough damage. When they are not hunting Reagents, they will use special surveillance cameras that were specifically built for them to locate their targets. When the same Imposter gets killed two times, they can no longer enter the trial.
Personality[]
Non-playable Imposter Given that the Impostors are intended to look and act like the Reagents into mistaking them for their teammates (until they attack), the impostor's true personality is foggy at best. One thing about them that is illustrated through voice lines is that they remark signs of paranoia and anxiety upon failing to stab a reagent. An example is when they sometimes state "I tried... I promise I tried!", showing that they are worried Murkoff (specifically Dr. Easterman) will punish them for not fulfilling their purpose in the trials. In contrast to this, they show great pride and rejoice in succeeding in attacking a Reagent, likely due to the fact that they know they will receive praise from Easterman as long as they keep it up.
Imposter Reagent Although they are given similar kits like the Non-playable Imposters to mimic real Reagents, the Imposter Reagent can make grunting or exhausted noises while also talking like a real Reagent. Although they are still Reagents that lived in the Sleep Room, they have an obligation to follow Murkoff and Easterman's orders on killing them without hesitation. This behavior is similar to how Reagents executes the Trial Victims despite being explicitly told that they were one of them and also confirmation from one of the documents.
Physical description[]
Imposters perfectly match the appearance of any Reagent in a Trial. Their usernames will mimic those of the disguised player, with minor spelling mistakes (unless the trial has increased enemy type variator) and the items and rigs that cannot be used.
Player death animations[]
Non-playable Imposter
- While near an incapacitated Reagent, the Imposter pins them down and strangles them to death.
Reagent Imposter
- The Imposter grabs the Reagent's right shoulder as they use their knife to stab through the left side of their torso, then stops grabbing as they use their knife to quickly slash through their right side of their torso, causing the Reagent to drop dead instantly.
- From the left side, the Imposter grabs the Reagent's forehead and stabs through their neck eight times, with the last one finished by slicing their throat.
- From the right or front side, the Imposter attempts to stab the Reagent's head, but the Reagent catches their knife instead. The Imposter then punches their face seven times causing them to stop grabbing their knife and lie down before stabbing through their neck.
- From behind, the Imposter grabs the Reagent's head to pin them down and pierce the knife through their neck. The Reagent attempts to hold the knife before the Imposter uses both hands to successfully plunge the knife in their neck.
- From behind, the Imposter pulls the lying Reagent into a back position and stabs through their right hand, before stabbing through their chest six times.
Patch notes[]
October 26, 2023 (Early Access Update #3 / Program Geister)
December 13, 2023 (Early Access Update #4 / Winter Kills)
July 16, 2024 (Season 1 / Project Lupara)
October 29, 2024 (Program Geister)
March 25, 2025 (Under Surveillance)
April 8, 2025 (Under Surveillance Part 2)
October 21, 2025 (Program Geister & Invasion)
October 23, 2025 (Invasion / Hotfix #2)
October 24, 2025 (Invasion Hotfix #3)
October 28, 2025 (Invasion Hotfix #4)
November 5, 2025 (Invasion Hotfix #5)
December 9, 2025 (Project Messiah)
December 12, 2025 (Project Messiah / Hotfix #1)
December 18, 2025 (Project Messiah / Hotfix #2)
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Trivia[]
- In rare cases, Imposters have managed to steal clothing from Sinyala staff, taking on the appearance of scientists or security guards.
- Non-playable Imposters, Night Hunter, and the Jaeger are the only Ex-Pop who wear night vision equipment. However, unlike the Night Hunter and the Jaeger, the non-playable Imposters never use their night vision goggles even in the dark.
- Non-playable Imposters and Berserkers are the only the enemies that cannot trigger chase music.
- With the release of the Invasion game mode, Imposters are the first antagonists in the Outlast who can be player-controlled, and as such, are the first player characters in the series that are able to kill others directly.
- The Jaeger and Imposter Reagents are the only Ex-Pop that have unique chase music.
References[]
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