when does the outlast trials take place

The Outlast Trials is set in the early 1950s , during the Cold War-era experiments at Murkoff’s facility. The game’s setting is a dystopian MK- Ultra-style research environment rather than a modern timeline.

What that means

• It takes place before the events of the main Outlast games.
• The story centers on Murkoff using secret human experimentation.
• The vibe is deliberately retro: industrial, institutional, and cold-war paranoid.

In plain terms

If you’re asking “when” in the story timeline, the answer is the 1950s.