Underground Lab

The Underground Lab is a large research facility owned by the Murkoff Corporation and hidden under Mount Massive Asylum, the primary setting of Outlast and its DLC Whistleblower.

History
The Murkoff Corporation, led by the ex-Nazi Rudolph Wernicke, built a huge system of laboratories underneath the shut down psychiatric institute Mount Massive Asylum. They used the laboratories for research towards the creation of the Walrider, a god-like creature solely composed of nanites whose sole purpose was to prove nothing was supernatural, as under the motto of Wernicke. In their research, they found out the Walrider could only be active if it had a valid host, and a human could only be formed into a host via a series of inhumane experiments that mentally and physically break all who undergoes it. The Murkoff executive Jeremy Blaire then had the asylum reopened and used its patients as unwilling test subjects to undergo the host validation. Almost all failed, and the outcome was an army of violent, criminally insane, and almost super-powered psychopaths called the Variants, who overthrew the asylum in a riot.

Outlast
The Underground Lab is the eighth and final level of Outlast. Miles Upshur, an investigative reporter, is trapped in the midst of this chaos, and is forcefully taken to the labs by a rigged elevator. He goes through a huge almost tunnel-like hallway with shiny clean floors and ice-like walls before entering the main desk splattered with the blood of Murkoff soldiers. A journey through many hallways later, Miles is attacked by Chris Walker, however, before the latter can finish his killing, the Walrider viciously rips the Variant apart and saves Miles from a brutal death. Later, Miles finds Wernicke himself who was thought to be long dead, but was kept alive by the Walrider's only host; Billy Hope. Wanting himself, Billy, and the Walrider to end, Wernicke begs Miles to shut off Billy's life support, effectively killing all three of them. Miles does so, but the Walrider fuses with Miles, leaving the broken man to hobble out of the Underground Lab. However, he is gunned down by a group of soldiers headed by a near-to-death Wernicke, but the screen goes to black before Wernicke exclaims Miles has become the host and several gun-shots and rips are heard.

Whistleblower
The Underground Lab returns as the first level in Whistleblower, Outlast 's prequel and later overlapping sequel. A moral Murkoff software engineer named Waylon Park secretly rebels against his evil corporation by sending an email to Miles Upshur to investigate and expose Murkoff's actions. During this, Waylon is paged to the main laboratory to program the main console. After doing so, and being scared by the upcoming Variant Eddie Gluskin, Waylon is forced to leave, where he returns to his room to find that the executive are aware of Waylon's rebellion before knocking him out and forcefully putting him into the Morphogenic project to become a Variant.

Trivia

 * The Underground Lab as a climatic level is considered disappointing by most fans, due to the fact most of the game takes place in a dark, dirty, and poorly maintained mental hospital before having an extremely brief and sudden environment change at the end in a bright, clean, and well-kept government facility.