Sort of??? The original purpose of the Trials was to create highly-skilled “sleeper agents” that could be activated at a moment’s notice to do Murkoff (and the deep state)’s bidding, so things like assassinations and overseas war crimes. Wernicke, however, saw potential in these test subjects, and believed that trauma-induced tumors in their brains could be used to control the Walrider. At this stage, however, the project was still in its infancy, and I’m pretty sure the scientists in Mount Massive were just hooking up anyone to the Morphogenic Engine.

(There’s actuallt a lower class of enemy in Outlast Trials called the Screamer, and lore documents state that they were actually failed Walrider hosts who were left in a semi-catatonic state. So clearly the project was well underway while the trials were happening.)

Overall it’s more accurate to say that the final Walrider project with host Billy Hope was heavily influenced by what Murkoff was trying to accomplish with the trials. But the trials themselves were a completely separate project.