Buggy but novel game that many will despise
OUTWARD is a game many are going to utterly despise, but quite a few will find enjoyment in its buggy but totally novel gameplay. Outward will make you feel neither powerful nor indestructible, instead making you feel like a scrappy underdog in a world full of constant threats to your life.
Outward is an open-world RPG that is decidedly more brutal than its contemporary peers. The game takes combat and exploration to the core, doing away totally with the concept of ‘fast travel’ and tasking the players with keeping their characters alive within the confines of some fairly brutal survival mechanics. Keeping alive in Outward is no small feat, with separate meters for thirst, hunger and tiredness constantly looming over whatever task you are currently trying to complete.
The art direction and environmental variety in Outward, while extremely dated looking, actually does manage to convey a bit of charm. The game’s sprawling landscapes can indeed be beautiful under certain conditions, but the inclusion of such a large variety of environments does wonders in helping reduce that certain fatigue that comes exclusively from games with overly-homogeneous location design.
Outwards combat is particularly egregious, making for one of the very few RPG’s where the enemy encounters are significantly more difficult at the beginning of the game than the end. Often battles at the beginning of the game will be won through sheer luck and tedious perseverance. Making matters worse is Outward’s baffling stamina meter that seems to deplete almost instantly in many situations, taking far too long to return to a usable amount.
Where the combat does get interesting is in the admittedly clever magic system. Upon learning four runes, you can input different combinations of runes to cast various spells. The system injects some desperately needed variety into the combat and one can’t help but wonder what some heavyweight developers could achieve should they emulate the system in their game (Bethesda, please).
Outward is a time best spent with a friend, so you both can laugh at the many, many bugs and terrible design choices, while still having fun in a large sandbox world where the story is so thin you might as well make up your own.
Overall, it is hard to recommend Outward in its current state. Truly a game for masochists.