Outward

Outward
N/A
Metacritic
73
Steam
72.873
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$11.99
Release date
17 May 2022
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
73 (19 727 votes)
Recent
68 (223 votes)

No remarkable journey is achieved without great effort. Outward is an open-world RPG where the cold of the night or an infected wound can be as dangerous as a predator lurking in the dark. Explore the vast world of Aurai, embark on memorable adventures alone or with your friend.

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Outward system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows 7 (64 Bit) / 8 (64 Bit) / 10 (64 Bit)
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-750 or equivalent
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GTS 450 or equivalent
  • Storage: 15 GB available space
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Lello
Lello

Outward is what happens when you take the tactical mentality of Dark Souls combat, pair it with the gear-only progression that makes Monster Hunter so challenging, and pair that up with hardcore survival mechanics that you either see in games like The Long Dark, or on more challenging settings for mods belonging to classic RPGs such as Morrowind or Oblivion.

As such, it's learning curve is steep and it's 00s-era RPG charm is worn on it's chest - This game will not respect your time; Rather, it'll make you appreciate the value in the little bits of effort you make. It's far more realistic in regards to it's power crawl by making the investments into better armor, the effort into crafting your items, the risk versus reward when searching for treasure feel worth it every time.

It's definitely going to be frustrating to get used to buffing before difficult fights with pre-crafted foods and a potion or two, but once you've managed that alongside your carry weight, you're in for an experience that will keep you on your toes in a unique and engaging world.

If you're into RPGs that take up your time, give it a shot. If you're unsure, bring a friend along! Remote Play Together also works on Outward. Struggling? There's some great quality of life mods to help. The game might make you live it's life experience, but you can tailor that experience however you wish.

Defintely give this a shot.

アイラブフィギュア69
アイラブフィギュア69

very fun with friends aids to play solo very not fun buy to play with others only reason im not recommending is because i didnt get the definitive edition i think because i own the base game and the sorobbean dlc and not the other one required pretty stupid imo the definitive should be free for just owning the game thats how metro exodus did it

Kaldae
Kaldae

My partner and I picked up this game to play together. We did not do the tutorial or look up anything about the game in advance. Within 10 minutes of leaving the first town we stupidly ran into a bandit camp and got killed + taken captive. Fought our way out only to die again and get teleported to a random location. After an hour or so of hysterical laughter about how bad our playthrough was going, we relented and did the tutorial + reset the game. We have now completed 3 runs, tried so many different armour/weapon combos, and come back to the game at least every 6 months! Magic in this world is so fun and engaging, and melee combat feels punishing. Even my strongest characters can be killed if I make a mistake, and I love that! This game won't be for everyone, but if you love a true adventure game, I recommend you give it a try, especially with a friend in Co-Op!

Rabid Jawa
Rabid Jawa

With the gift of hindsight I can say that this game is tedious more than anything. 90% of your time is sprinting across a mostly empty and too large map. The rest is managing survival meters and doing janky combat with bad controls. Don't really want to play it again. Even coop didn't make it much more enjoyable.

Brad
Brad

This game is a total gem. Solo is alright but with a buddy this game is unforgettable. Just play it.

molovian
molovian

A very difficult game with bad systems and no map marker for your current location so you have to learn each map and many of the places you have to find are out of the way so it is hard to even stumble on them and you rarely know where you are at. I found myself aimlessly running around and not enjoying trying to find places. Combat is clunky and that makes the difficult combat almost impossible without cheats. Rather light on the quests also, not much to do in the world than run around and maybe fighting a monster or two and maybe finding some repetitive loot. Magic is also so difficult to play that the moderately interesting magic system wrecks you. The classes are interesting but not worth it when it comes to actual gameplay and there is no payoff for more skills and no leveling up, aka at max ability I felt incredibly weak, at best, against basic monsters let alone bosses which were impossible. Occasionally there are moments where you think it will all work out only to find that it won't without alot of tediousness.

ZarekTheWolf
ZarekTheWolf

DO NOT DIE. If you die too many times in Chersonese you will be "escorted" to town..... to have any money you have stolen from you. AND DO NOT LEAVE THE INN ROOM TO BRING YOUR FRIEND THEIR BAG YOU WILL GET YOUR LOCKED INSIDE AND HAVE TO PAY ANOTHER F$^%ING 25 SILVER TO OPEN IT.

Despiser
Despiser

At first I was put off by lack of a player position marker on the map. And there are a few rough spots, like it's not abundantly clear what quests have timers, although the timers are pretty generous in time allowance. It can be intimidating switching weapons while an enemy is charging.
The loot system is awesome and keeps you constantly searching for better gear. It can be quite rewarding. Clearly devs put a lot of care into systems in ways that are not immediately clear but become so as play progresses.

Slushie King
Slushie King

This is probably one of mine and my wife's favorite games. I feel like this game shines the most in multiplayer, but solo it is fun too. It has a difficulty curve, but it is totally worth it. Even when you die, there are additional story bits to get out of the game. I was having an issue with screen tearing, but with vsync enabled from the settings menu, there were no longer any issues.

Master Shake
Master Shake

I did not enjoy too many aspects of this game. I feel like it is geared toward someone who can invest days at a time into a video game. No fast travel, still no horse... The combat is not entertaining at all. Game felt incomplete or rushed.

Ascenscion
Ascenscion

I love this game, however it is very slow when your trying to learn how to play. I enjoy the difficulty curve and the environment so it's fine for me but might not be for you. The music is some of my favorite, its very fantasy like and epic.

The Prospector
The Prospector

Outward follows its own vision for an RPG, a spicy strategy in today's market, making design decisions that that first glance may seem counterintuitive, but work together to achieve something special. This game is targeted at an older audience and thus incentivizes us to play slower, look around more, read more, and play more methodically and thoughtfully. Ultimately it transformed the way I played RPGs and has become one of my favourite games of all time.

Initially, like most, I fought the game. I complained about bag space, skill slot space, tough/cheap enemies, long distances without fast travel, etc. Truly, what I hated most was not being able to pick up all the loot I want. Money is hard enough to come by! But weirdly, as I played, something started to change. Now that I constantly had to throw away items for bag space, I started reading item descriptions more, looking at weight/money ratio, how the item looks, what I might need it for in the near future. And as I did this I started to develop a more personal relationship with the items I was carrying. I knew each and every item in my pack, what it was for, when I would need it, what I might replace it with. Somehow the devs found a way to deepen my love for loot. My other annoyances followed a similar pattern. e.g. many will tell you combat is souls-like. I also used to say this and it's true on the surface, but really it's a shallow comparison. In Outward preparation for a fight is king, reflexes and reading animations is secondary. Anyway, the short of it is, don't be hasty. Like me, you might end up loving something you might have hated.

Shoutout to the 4-part (now only 2-part) review by Ratatoskr on Youtube.

Peace

Saig.ua
Saig.ua

You should play only in co-op as the game clearly was planed to be expereinced with partner.
Solo play is possible but pretty difficult as Outward giving you just a bare minimum of information and let you into the wild.
- Atmosphere is greate, minimalistic and remands me of old school RPGs with no hand holding - Morrowind, Arcanum, etc.
- World is interesting but after 15-20 hours of gameplay you realize that it's pretty much hollow just for you to pass trough your journey.
- Traps are interesting but clearly overpowered, Developers should have limited spaces where you can plant your traps to doorways or some other specific places. You can literly turn any place in a minefield in a few minutes to cheese trough some tough fights.
- AI is satisfying. Different creatures fight each other if met in a proximity, people dodging the arrows using shields, magic etc.

I say take it with a friend on a discount and you'll have grate time exploring some wierd "glowy" world together

kf7hawkward
kf7hawkward

Outward is a cool game but has a lot of flaws so ill give a tldr, run down of the basics then my thoughts at the end.

tldr walking sim, hard combat, good graphics, the survival aspect is obnoxiously annoying. high replay ability, bad technicals and yet still fun. wait for a sale and use mods (if you can get them to work). Tip: If you name your character "Code Sonic" there will be an option in the settings menu to turn on/off super speed, so do your self a favor.

Basics of the game
The biggest attractions to the game are exploration and combat. There is no leveling system like every other rpg, you instead "level up" by finding trainers and buying skills from them as well as your weapons and armor. There are some skills that everyone can buy and "break through" skills that you can only learn 3 of, this makes progression and building your characters fun and interesting and encourages multiple play through's. If you want to use magic you are going to have a rough time getting started as you have to travel through a dungeon and then sacrifice your health and stamina to unlock mana and it is best to be conservative when doing so as with most things there is no going back. When you die you get put in a random scenario, die to much and it puts you inside the areas town (helpful to know so you don't have to walk across the map). There is no fast travel, mount or way to quickly travel other than your feet. There are a few factions in the game with an ok story and hidden rewards for each one so researching them before hand is recommended. There is a good amount of weapons and play-styles and you can get any weapon type right at the start of the game. Before you leave town you can talk to the guard in front of the gate and he will teach you a skill for the weapon you have equipped for free (note if you have your weapon sheathed or noting in hand he will teach you "rage" instead of the weapon skill). you can then talk to him again and buy the 2h sword skill for 50 silver. There is food water, sleep, temperature and weapon/armor deterioration requirements in the game as well as a massive crafting system.

my thoughts
Before you even start to play the definitive edition know that you can not use the short cut. you have to launch the game from your steam library and select the definitive edition every time. other wise it will default to the vanilla game or three brothers dlc.

The survival aspect of the game is very intrusive to the flow of the game you will be opening your menu to eat and drink about every 5 minutes. There is a passive skill you can get that will reduce this but still annoying even for a survival game. If you dont sleep you will lose max health and stamina but get a bonus to mana. the backpacks are a large part of your adventuring ability as everything has weight and you will quickly find your self over encumbered. with a constant need for food and water the myriad of potions a tent and what ever else you need to carry you can not go around picking up every weapon or piece of loot you find and will need to be very selective on what you bring and pick up.

The combat is dynamic and challenging with lots of variation in weapons, skills and different builds. that said it is usually a waste of time because you only get the loot from enemy's and no exp or any progression for winning the fight. The only time you should ever really fight anything is if you have to or if you need materials from them. if you swing, run, block, dodge to much you lose max stamina. get hit to much and lose max health not to mention most enemy's will kill you in one to three hits. If you don't sleep you lose both. This is where food and potions come in giving a variety of buffs. The typical combat for a strong enemy has you in the menu applying 20+ buffs dropping your backpack so you can dodge with out "fat rolling" hitting the enemy once or twice if your greedy, walking in a cycle around them waiting for them to swing so you can hit them again.
There are some bags that don't restrict your dodge bout they have a very small carry weight and some can't attach a lantern. There are only 8 slots for you to assign to your hot bar and it in my opinion is not enough as you will have to be opening the menu to apply all of your buffs, eat, drink, lay traps exc. For obvious reasons most of this should be done before combat but having to open the menu and go through all the skills and activate everyone. one. at. a. time. is obnoxious when they are all scrambled together with no order. having the option to sort the skills for passive/active skills or for more hot bars so you can put skills/items you commonly use in one place without going through a menu would be an extreme improvement.

The Dungeons are typically a pitch black labyrinth with twisting corridors, ememy's, traps and loot. a lantern is essential to navigating them. as well as a good sense of direction from the player. not much else to say here.

the Visuals, Sound, Immersion graphics are great as long as you have v-sync on. music is fine for about 5 minutes then the two tracks get old. Immersion is very good if not for having to be in the menu every 5 seconds...

In conclusion this is an inde game a good one too. The massive open world had a metric ton of things to find and do and it can be fun especially if you have someone to play with. After Elden Ring i really wanted to love this game. It is still a good game and comparing the to is unfair but there are things that seem to deliberately hamper this game. only 8 slots is not a feature, having to run for 20 minutes to get to the next location only to have to go all the way back is not a feature these kind of things are annoying limitations. Thank fully there are things like Wemod and mods that can fix most if not all of the issues. now if i could just get them to work...

ultrasoul1998
ultrasoul1998

This game is really great and very immersive. The graphics aren't the best but the game nailed a true survival rpg game with its harsh weather and environment and it's actually a fun experience. I'm quite satisfied with the combat. It's all about preparing and learning when to engage and attack. It's truly a great experience to behold and the way the game doesn't hold your hand and just lets you learn the ropes makes it a lot better. You learn from your mistakes and you use all the advantages you can use. Actions and decisions made on quests and adventures are irreversible and sometimes can result in negative consequences.

I highly recommended to play the game as it is without using any guides for your first play through, it gives you a really immersive experience.

9/10!

Dankey Kang
Dankey Kang

A worthy game that starts out... artificially more difficult because you have the bare minimum. However, this game heavily rewards exploration, boldness, and a bit of preparation. The ultimate quest for cool gear and just seeing what's out there. It's very immersive, almost to a fault... there aren't any shortcuts to get to places and it remains to be seen if there are ways to increase your movement speed... but this game is full of surprises, so who knows?

Outward utilizes crafting very well, to where you're on the hunt for items rather than simply using your silver coins, although silver is an option if you've somehow found a lucrative method. 9 hours in, there is much to be discovered, but the first impressions have been good. This game is definitely easier with coop and will break the tedium if you're a less patient player. Some will enjoy the process of going on long journeys, camping, preparing for survival needs and deadly encounters, being overly cautious of a new area and its many foes... others will benefit from coop to speed up efficiency and accumulate wealth/items more quickly. It's all up to you. I wasn't sure at first, but you really get a feel for the game mechanics and the difficulty decreases with experience - your own experience. There is no leveling system per se, but rather skills to learn/find or buy from various trainers around the world.

Definitely try it out. There's a lot to the game, definitely play the tutorial first. Also, buying the definitive edition gets you two games. To access the newer version of the game, always open it from the Steam client.

Thomas
Thomas

I like it. It's fun, hard and I like how it doesn't hold you're hand like must games do now and days. Great when playing with friends or families and you can mod the game to your liking

D3AD LETTER
D3AD LETTER

The game starts off weak. The character creation is lame, with minimal way to customize your character and even then the faces are just plain ugly and weird. The battle system is clunky and leaves much to be desired. It might just be me but I couldn't find any way to access a map, so you have no idea where the f*%k you're supposed to be going. I stopped playing a couple hours in because it was just super weak imo. Really disappointed because I was looking forward to this based on the trailers and previous reviews but just don't...

Lazarus
Lazarus

You may instantly regret buying this game, I did at first. But its got that certain magic to it. Lots of character. It's so enchanting 10/10 much love for this one

McDiezel
McDiezel

Fun game with an interesting leveling system, fun enemy designs, and a consequence based "death system". The most important thing to me is that it fills the player with a sense of adventure, no fast traveling, you might have to camp out, traveling between maps requires supplies for the journey. This kind of thing helps immerse the players with the world. Bring friends if you can because it becomes far mroe fun.

There are drawbacks though- combat is serviceable but clunky, the story is a bit dry, and it was made by french Canadians. Still worth $40

Dreamsprite
Dreamsprite

Very intense and honestly for any layman, pretty hard. But if you want a challenge, then this game is for you.

JBrownn8
JBrownn8

Short: Very fun and challenging game. Takes some time to get used to, but it is a very unique and rewarding experience. Highly recommend purchasing.

Long: This game embodies the phrase rags to riches and captures what being an "adventurer" would really be like. You start off barely capable of fighting off a hyena to eventually going toe to toe with the strongest enemies the game has to offer. The beginning of Outward is brutal. You will struggle with every fight and managing your health, stamina, and inventory space will be a big hurdle early on. You will have to learn to prepare for each journey by utilizing various buffs that come from food, water, spells, and potions. You will need to take fights slow by analyzing your opponents for openings and utilizing traps or ranged attacks to create an advantage.

The early game revolves around making money to afford new skills to strengthen your character. The price of these skills may seem unachievable at first, but as you improve, the money will follow. The main quest will have you running all over the world, so take some time to stop in the various cities and purchase new abilities. There will be down time during the main quest and this is your opportunity to explore the world. Take the opportunity as this will nearly always result in more money and new gear. I would recommend completing one of the three vanilla quest lines, then the antique plateau, and lastly caldera as this is probably the most logical approach to enemy difficulty scaling.

Overall this is an incredible game. Definitely an experience I would recommend. Is it a perfect game? No. My personal dislikes include the amount of time spent running and the hard cap of 8 quick slots. These are manageable though, and should not sway your purchase of the game. I promise you the positives absolutely outweigh the negatives.

BonkBonk
BonkBonk

Makes sure that you won't be able to decide if youll enjoy it or refund it. Very very slow progression. "Leveling" is tied to in game currency, you dont get XP from killing things. You get a scrap of leather, bones, and if youre a lucky a piece of meat. All of which sells for 1 silver. Skills start at a minimum of 50 silver. Good skills 100s or even 500. Wouldnt be so bad but killing things are tedious "bc souls like" No youre not souls like, you have shitty combat system toned players ability to fight and slapped "souls like" because you couldnt be bothered to make a good one. Everything hits like a truck, your sword you spent 50 silver on does 5 damage to a wolf. Even the sword that costs 100 silver does 5 damage to the wolf. You have to travel and fight through a dungeon, good luck if youre on hardcore mode, just to be able to use magic. Then you have to sacrifice max hp for mana. Then you have to have the correct weapon to use certain spells. And no a mage staff, runic book, or anything magic related. Nope a fucking torch or lantern that breaks after 3 spells, so make sure you load up on wood and cloth but remember you still need space for all the food, bandages, ammo, and loot to sell because youre going to need to stock up on things you dont know how to craft. Dont dont buy this game. Grueling away in a PVE game because its "hard" does not make it good. Its lazy creators who cant be asked to make an engaging game to play so they rely on the "souls like" aspect to lure in players and then fall back on sunk cost fallacy to keep a player base. Absolute shit. 13 hours in and not once did I say wow this is fun.

spiritreaper11
spiritreaper11

Why I dislike this game:

Clunky combat with gosh awful controls.
Magic is just awful and not rewarding for the effort it takes.
Progression just does not feel rewarding and I still felt weak.

Overall its just a tedious and tiring game to play that does not feel rewarding for effort invested into exploring.

Ace of Spades
Ace of Spades

It's a Walmart Bargain Bin version of Skyrim. They had fantastic ideas but the graphics are poor, game play is clunky and the world is mostly empty. I had hoped they would improve the game over time but nothing truly noteworthy has ever been accomplished. I don't even remember how much I paid for it but I wish I hadn't. It's not fun and I have yet to manage an entire hour worth of the game. By this point, I never will. It's back shelved to collect digital dust and to be forgotten.

Majestic
Majestic

This game is an adventure! The combat system might seem difficult but it gets so much better once you get the hang of it... and then you will realize how complex the combat system actually is. The story is also really good and your decisions will affect way more than what you might expect.

kpanafan
kpanafan

I'm in love with this game. I've only played 40 hours in the last 4 days, but I'm head over heels.

I want to play it every day, explore its every feature, its world, know how everything works and how it ticks.

I revel in every difficulty, and celebrate every difference it has from other games, because of my love for it. Each one is just an opportunity to strengthen my love for it more, as each conflict is overcome.

I want to marry it, make love to it, have a house and kids with it, tell all my friends about it, upvote all the positive reviews and hate comment on all the negative ones.

I want to compare every other game in my future and my past to it. The only ex who can measure up is Morrowind, and the only reason I don't play that anymore is because I've fully experienced my love for that one already.

Somebody help me. I'm co-dependent on this game until it's done having its way with me.

Underhook
Underhook

Wonderful game ruined by awful TAB targeting system.
Survival elements = interesting and not a chore
Crafting elements = intuitive, useful and rewarding
Magic system = clever and fun to use
Exploration = really fun, lots of hidden dungeons and things to see. I was only on the 2nd map.
Monsters and enemies = very cool, varied and fun to find the best ways to beat them.
Combat system = complete rubbish. Why? Getting your character to face the way you want isnt easy or quick in this game. So, they provide us with a TAB (press TAB key) targeting system that locks onto the target and keeps you facing them. Unfortunately it has the following wrong with it.
1) The targeting system lock us into a set distance which is about 2 or 3 body lengths from the enemy, we can move further away, so, if you want to back up to drink a potion etc, you cant unless you un-target them 1st, run, drink the potion, then target them again (you have to be looking at them to target them) which is difficult as they may have moved behind you or who knows where.
2) The targeting system is awful when you are faced with multiple targets. The system is designed so that a quick move of the mouse to the left makes the enemy to you left your new target, move the mouse to the right and the enemy to your right is now the target. This can result in you unwillingly changing targets and turning to face a minimal threat whilst being pounded in the back by the real threat. Also, see 1 above. If the enemies are on all sides, you can back up through them to get them all in front of you.
3) Now this might just be me? Often there is lag between when you press TAB to target somebody. Also, sometimes the game does not seem to register the key press. So, in battle you urgently need to target the enemy, so you press TAB, nothing happens so you press it again. BUT, it was just lag so now it targets the enemy and then un-targets them again.
4) A big "no no" in combat games is to give enemies "special advantages" that the character does not have access to. This is the scenario that made me uninstall. I talk to a wizard enemy (who has 2 warriors who will also join in) who I tell that I am here to kill them. They wizard "OK, lets fight". Next thing I know is I'm looking at a blank wall, then I get hit with a spell that causes the wizard to reappear. So apparently the wizard had time to cast an invisibility spell and I did nothing, not only that but they must have disappeared whilst I was looking directly at them and still I did nothing and arrive in combat not even knowing why they are not in front of me. The wizard then backs out of range much further than the tab targeting system would ever allow me to. I try to strike but get hit with another spell whilst the other 2 goons start hitting me in the back and I die. Sure I could replay the fight again (although it will take me about an hour of game play to heal and get back there) with the knowledge that a spell is on the way and I can start moving sideways as soon as the conversation finishes etc. BUT, if you have one rigged fight, you probably have many of them and I dont have the stomach for that BS. Pitty, it wrecked an otherwise great game.

crpgnut
crpgnut

So, this game needs mods to be any good at all imo. Just some doofy decisions on backpacks, encumbrance, magic use, etc. Also co-op is broken in that the plot only assumes a single character as the hero/protagonist.

ChorionicRain
ChorionicRain

Seems incomplete, Most of the game seems empty, from enemies to NPC interaction. Alot of running around of empty landscape. Wish this game had real backing.

Blessing
Blessing

Fun but challenging survival RPG that's reminiscent of older titles like Runescape and Morrowind. Good replay-ability as well, but if your going to be doing multiple playthroughs I suggest dropping a debug.txt file in the directory so you can increase your movement speed (it's a bit of a walking simulator, which is good for some people but as you can see it's pretty time consuming)

Geruu88
Geruu88

Played with my brother.
I didn't have high expectations, but I liked it.
Maybe the graphics are a little more old-fashioned

ShadowRam
ShadowRam

The combat and gameplay in this game is clunky and way too difficult/punishing.

There is no difficulty slider/options.

I do not recommend this game if you want a casual co-op experience with your kids or SO

The Gunship Calypso
The Gunship Calypso

This game is amazing if you have the ability to learn the combat system. It is not easy but once you get it its amazing.

ZεЯ0
ZεЯ0

youre constantly expecting their to be more content in the next area, but its so dry and repetitive.

Rockstar 06
Rockstar 06

wife and i love playing this game on our off time. it's a good balanced game for couples that's enjoyable

mungojeri
mungojeri

They tried to make a 'realistic' anti-Skyrim RPG but it's just tedious. No fast travel even between the cities, yet you can outrun everything and there are no surprise attacks meaning exploring isn't dangerous just boring. And while we are on it the maps are mostly empty other than dungeon entrances, the only random encounter are with groups of two (2) enemies at a time who always fight you and ignore anything else. The survival mechanics hardly require any effort since you are going to eat and sleep anyway (to restore hp/repair stuff etc) and temperature management is fairly easy. The crafting system is fine but basic, the only problem is that consolidating all of your materials in one place means schlepping them across 3 maps to your house. So fun. Also for a survival-themed RPG you can't build things and camping outside is ill advised since you will be attacked in the morning, and all of your stuff left outside disappears in a few days. But do you know where it won't disappear? If you leave a backpack full of stuff, pitch a tent, and light a fire right in the center of any city they will be totally understanding of your hobo status and nobody will touch your things- so realistic!

I think this game could have been good, the settings and lore are interesting and the three main quest lines are good (but also like 2 hrs each, basically you spend hours and hours grinding a character just to beat the quests in no time and then you have to start all over) however as an RPG the game fails. The side quests are disgracefully bad fetch quests and errand quests with barely any reward. The ability progression is super confusing and there are so many bad options that you don't know are bad until you try them... and then have to reroll you character that you screwed up. The combat is really bad. If you want to win this game on easy mode here is what you should do: get a weapon with knockdown, eat a 12 course meal and drink all 30 types of potion, cast every buff possible on yourself, then just start swinging. You can beat every boss with this strategy! It's so realistic!

There are so many places where this game misses the mark, and overall it is just not very good. Maybe there is a reason people liked Skyrim other than the dragons?

Tophat Ghost
Tophat Ghost

This game is great for anybody that likes slow paced methodical combat and survival mechanics. Its got good RPG build variety and really unique magic combos where skills casted one after another will change their effects. Highly recommended.

Though pro tip for new players: This is not Dark Souls, do not try to play it like Dark Souls. This is a survival RPG first and an action game second. Take it slow and plan before anything major.

Heysues
Heysues

After 130+ hours, I feel obliged to help new people understand this game better.

Outward is a difficult game. It makes sure to add complexity and difficulty into every aspect of the game.
However, it is an absolute blast especially once you get the hang of it.
The game gives you tons of exploration into all its different mechanics and its content. Don't be too scared to die and fight SMART. (Traps / enemy stability / enemy elemental weaknesses)

I wanna make a few recommendations.
1- >>>>>
2- Don't stick to the starting map for way too long. You can make more money simply looting in other regions.
3- Make use of monsters. You can drag a powerful beast to do all the killing for you early-mid game C:
4- Money money money = more passives and more skills = fighting gets more fun. This is the biggest way to notice a difference in your fighting capability. Focus on gaining skills first before you even begin doing faction quests.
5- (Cooking energy giving food items + hydration) is super important early game.

Don't wanna make this any longer. Absolutely love this game.

Learn to tame it and you'll have a great time.

the wretched
the wretched

This game is one of the best co-op experiences I've ever had. It takes me back to the design philosophy of Morrowind but you get to bring a friend along for the ride. Absolutely loving it so far and plan to play it a lot more. Not for people who shy away from a challenge.

balletkira
balletkira

Okay so it starts out truly miserable, you SUCK. But then something completely magical happens and you have to really work to get good at not sucking. It's like the first 20 hours are labour to get ready for the next 100 hours of joy. Honestly, a cannot recommend this game enough.

HighElf42O
HighElf42O

amazing game, feels like tabletop d&d and dark-souls brought together. can be extremely frustrating, but is also extremely satisfying when you finally overcome the challenge. there are no map markers, no followers/companions (there is a 2 player co-op which makes it slightly easier), 95% of your character stats is based on gear, and most quests are time sensitive (in game time/day). its you (a nobody with almost nothing) against a hostile unforgiving world.

Lousy Chameleon
Lousy Chameleon

Constant death. Don't think you can swing more than once at a time or you get messed up, but be prepared to block 2-3 attacks in a row. The time to have the character reset from a swing to a block is insane.

Franzu
Franzu

Challenging but rewarding, knowing the know hows of the game as you make mistakes and do countermeasures feels rewarding, plus magic in this game feels so good, albeit looks simple but feels great being doing combinations to cast spells is a breath of fresh air, also your choices matter xD .

Anonymous
Anonymous

Me super fun game. Got it to play with my boyfriend and he is now a magic user and i am the cook! Aspects for every kind of player. Visuals are not that great but game play definitely makes up for it.

WokOnLeesBack
WokOnLeesBack

Aaand there we have it. I have decided to stop playing this for awhile.

Why?

The game has that old school perhaps skyrim or more like oblivion feel to the exploration but it is very time consuming.
I never played fast travel with the other games so the slow exploration is enjoyable. Seeing the landscape was pretty enjoyable and trying to survive and slowly avoid confrontation with unknown creatures was fun. Combat is clunky and I don't really play souls-like games but I think that adds to the enjoyment of the challenge. Like running up to a bad guy and dropping your bag as if sh-- is about to go down. That feeling of that feature is pretty cool.

What ultimately killed it for me:
- .
Nothing is really organized in your bag. Loot is great, it's fun to try to sell stuff. But it's just not organized. You get one stash in your house to horde your items or your bag hits encumbrance really quickly having you to run back.

- .
Loot variety is not much but there are quite a handful of perishables, and you think you might be able to craft them but the recipes can having burn through loot just trying (of course you can look online and kill the curiosity side of game play but that's why it's so annoying. The recipes are too complex or too inconsistent that you feel like you have to rely on it or rely on quickly finding recipes just to make use of all the loot you horde)

-
This is honestly a big one for me for games that emphasize awe-inspiring environment and worlds. I wish I could add more manually on my own. For a game the relies on epic visuals through epic exploration falls really badly on epic sounds. Like, I youtube nature sounds just to give the environmental immersion.

-
You'll see a hill and think you can shoot or scout from there but you're stuck trying to roll around or run up it while burning your stamina to only realize that obvious hill is not meant to be climbed. While other mountains can be traversed unrealistically if you know where to climb.

-
Night or day, the 5 interactable NPCs just sit there while 50 random npcs pace up and down the street. Again, no immersive sounds to the chatter. Not even footstep sounds. Just... lifeless NPCs that look cool walking. Despite it being completely pitch black, raining, or a bright beautiful day.

-
This may be a silly one but in the trailers, loading screen, and all, you see npcs and the player just sitting by the fire, chilling. Again, for a game the emphasizes epicness with the lonely campfire in the wilderness, I want to be sitting by the camp. You have to apparently add a textfile to the game folder, to open up the debug capabilities which then give you hotkeys to poses (and self-suicide).

Wow, that was a bit more negative than I thought.

Recommend?
Where's that 'meh' button we all need to recommend a game...?

err.... it's a game I'm putting down for now. So, I may pick it up later when I have more time to dedicate to the inventory management and bulkiness of it all. But I can't spend an hour hunting to only bring back meat that I don't know how to cook and just sell for pennies and get mentally exhausted from playing.

But I may play it again. But for now. I'm calling it quits.
Hope that helps.

Oxy
Oxy

The Random Spawning After Dying Is Terrible. First Of All You Cant Tell where you are in the map, so when you respawn after dying you are completely lost. there is no indication of where you are in the map so you have to keep track where you are at all times. second i dont like how you lose ya armor if you die as well and some iteam you have collected. the game is hard enough to play with having to be prepared at all times to fight monsters and be able to survive the weather conditions ETC... dont make It so hard to where the game get frustruating to play it was fun at first but then became a drag to keep playing and not fun after dying in a new domain and being lost for hours trying to find a way back home.

Makeesis
Makeesis

I've only played for 9hrs at the time of writing. I'm enjoying it not jumping on Youtube to spoil the fun... Some things are janky but you get used to it.

Durabol
Durabol

I am a 52 year old father, probably one of the oldest people playing. I am a single father to my son, who is now 14. My son recently started playing and in less than a week, he had already played for over 20 hours. This was terrible for me because it was already hard enough for me to spend time with my son, as he is always out with his friends or just watching videos on Youtube. So I decided to make a Steam account and get this game to see if I could maybe play alongside him. I loaded into the game and started playing but I was stuck on what you where supposed to do. I asked my son for help, and together we spent hours playing . I loved it as it was the best time I had spent with my son since my wife had died. Steam has ever since brought me and my son closer again, and now we actually spend time together outside the house as well. reminded me that there's fun to be had in everything, and it has brought both my son and I many happy memories.

Eclipxe
Eclipxe

Phenomenal game. Unique elements, diverse and changing story, and a cool (but hard) combat system. Rewarding, fun, and actually cool. One of those games that make you say "Okay after i get to the city im logging off" and then 12 hours go by..lol. My only regret is not buying it sooner.

PraisetheSun92
PraisetheSun92

This game is 8/10 if playing solo and 9/10 if playing co-op with friends. There is a Raid Mode mod which lets you expand the co-op for up to 10 players instead of the default 2. This game really nails the sense of exploration and survival in a souls-like fantasy world. There is a huge emphasis on travelling the world, and there is no fast travel. The mechanics of eating, sleeping, temperature, potions, catching diseases, magic, etc all work together to make an engaging spin of the souls-like game. Magic is limited at first but opens up with more unique options later. This edition comes with 2 dlcs, so there are 6 open world zones to complete. The main quest depends on which faction you choose, and it was cool having friends choose different factions to get more variety in quests.

homem de bem
homem de bem

Bought the game back when it wasn't "Definitive Edition" and now I'll have to buy it again if I want the "definitive edition".
Something funny that happened is that I paid the 150 silver coin ransom for my stuff before the 5 days went, but they took it anyway and I lost both my stuff and the money. Game's broke as hell, and that is literally the first quest in the entire game. Combat is also really clunky. Do not recommend.

WhySoCereal
WhySoCereal

One of the few games that gets close to what i feel when i play Gothic. Not many games can do that for me. Simpy love it and currently play it coop, which works just realy well.

HonestGhost
HonestGhost

An extremely rough gem of a game.
You are a nobody with a heavy debt on your family name. After a boat adventure gone south you are left with nothing but missed debt payments. The village head buys you some time to pay it back and you're forced to take on the life as an adventurer.

My pros:
+ No class system, you can learn skills from any trainer in the world. You can specialize in three of the trainers to learn more skills from those three.
+ The world is intriguing and unique in design.
+ The game doesn't hold your hand and let's you figure out things for yourself.
+ Challenging in a way that feels extremely rewarding when you figure out something that works.
+ Loss doesn't mean death (unless you're playing hardcore mode). Instead it gives you defeat scenarios which can lead to very interesting story moments. Like being taken as a slave and having to escape.

My cons:
- While the world is intriguing. There is often a lack of substance to many of the locations outside of it being a dungeon for loot.
- Travelling the world is painfully slow while also lacking in interesting challenges. Most of the time will be spent running from one place to the other.

Definitely not a game for everybody, but a very interesting experience for those who do align with it.

fae
fae

Super fun game, especially if you like designing builds. If not, you can find a lot of information on YouTube and the wiki. There is a lot of replayability as you can only join one faction per character. I recommend starting with the Blue Chamber collective but don't sleep on the Soroborean Academy if you have the DLC. The only thing I wish was better was multiplayer, it seems like this feature was just an afterthought. However, it is still really fun to play with a friend and I recommend it on your first playthrough! Don't give up, it's supposed to be hard : )

Villager
Villager

wake up on beach, grab band-aid
sleep, wake up in house

mortgage is up, shoulder big stick
leave town through tunnel, smack trogdor

slap band-aid on beach man, earn brownie points with his mom
join the Blue Man Group, bury face in Mama Rissa's booba
no longer homeless

10/10 game, would make beetle tea again

woodenpillow
woodenpillow

NOT HAPPY SO FAR... buggy and glitchy... crashes repeatedly under Windows 10. I bought the game based on reviews and gameplay videos but so far it's unplayable. Scene changes chug so slowly or crash so I have dropped resolution to minimal 'potato level' and it looks like a bad 2000 era 3D game. Wished I had bought it on sale... I guess I will wait until the developers optimize or update in the future. Uninstalling.

fotzlapen
fotzlapen

My first experience was painful and ended in a rage quit. But something about it kept drawing me back. The music, the atmosphere, the challenge of having to become good enough to play it. And then when you finally are good enough it feels like you have earned it. The story lines are both enchanting and clever and not at all what I expected. I love this game. I think given time, you would too.

bonk chonk
bonk chonk

its a fun little adventure game. a bit buggy and clunky at times. could use more game features though... maps feels a bit empty.

Bronan
Bronan

Was janky and hard but kind of fun. 30 hours in I died from said jank and my backpack never spawned again. Tried everything... all gone. Can't recommend a game that steals that much progress with bad design. Would refund if I could.

Magic Man
Magic Man

A true rpg adventure game with interesting survival mechanics and an engaging magic system. This game offers a hardcore experience for people who enjoy a stern test and rewards preparation and exploration.

I thoroughly enjoy this game and have plenty of areas left to visit but am a little disappointed with how few quests there are and, with how unique the world and setting is, there is little lore to be found or learnt in game.

A must play for those who enjoy playing survival mode in Skyrim.

ModestDemon
ModestDemon

The game's skeleton is promising but in practice the game is way too punishing. Even in the first hour or two of the game, the difficulty scale is ridiculously unbalanced. Anything we've passed by that looked interesting to check out ended in 20+ deaths. With a partner it's not so bad, but solo you lose a lot every time you die.

Christopher_C
Christopher_C

Excellent RPG survival game and very modable. The final touches were clearly a labor of love for the development team. Well Done!!

iKing Fable
iKing Fable

It is clear that this game has great ambitions but it is absolutely terrible when it comes to its execution. The game simply has no emotion, no heart, and no soul.

The developers of this game have no concept of mathematics or economics, as their in-game damage system and in-game stores are designed in a way that ensures that enemies will be boring and overwhelmingly tanky whereas items and skills in the shop (which is directly linked to progression as there is no leveling system) are nothing more than a lackluster and dull grind.

This game has a great shell but is completely empty inside. The story lacks any depth and there is no reason for anyone to care about any of the copy-and-paste characters that are mentioned. Overpowered enemies, a terrible economy, and the absence of many quality-of-life features just makes playing this game feel like a chore. If anything is clear from my hours of gameplay, it is the fact that the developers DO NOT play, test, or love their own game. Of course, if you play Outward for yourself and you'll see what I mean.

Sled Head Quadruped
Sled Head Quadruped

TDLR; IMO the devs shouldn't just do a bad job and then say it's an "expert level survival game". They already have a loot return mechanic. Why aren't quest items exempt? Permanently losing quest items on death is dumb.
Siege weapons at Helms Deep were less clunky than the interactions in-game.

OH MAN! If you can get past the clunky movements and adjust to the most unreasonable pre-mapped controls (that someone must have struggled to complicate so thoroughly), then you may survive long enough to discover that every single enemy is supremely lethal and all of them have a chance of just taking quest items right out of your bag on death.

Anyway: Food spoils in your inventory (faster than Conan Exiles)
All weapons do basically nothing. There is a map but no marker on it so I just i'll just stay lost forever. Hollow Knight did it better, take a lesson 9dot.

You start playing and an NPC tells you YOU HAVE 5 DAYS TO GIVE US MONEY OR WE TAKE YOUR HOME.
THEY TOOK MY HOME! Jesus Christ Devs, read the room! You know how messed up the housing market is right now!? Why would I pay you to create a complicated fantasy for me where I ask you treat me like my bank!? Do you smell toast??

Anyway, died 3 times in a row which took 6 days in game. Lost my home, oh well, there goes like the first 30 min of gameplay. This game is so bad I just can't believe it.
So now I can't access all my tools,crafting etc. that I (stupidly???) put in my stash so I could GO ADVENTURE IN THIS ADVENTURE GAME.

Not all food heals you but I did find a single recipe that does heal me so that's... inconsequential because i'll never play or allow a family or friend to play this awful game.

IMO the devs shouldn't just do a bad job and then say it's an "expert level survival game". They already have a loot return mechanic. Why aren't quest items exempt?

Luxiel
Luxiel

It takes a certain kind of player to like this game for what it is. You need to be curious, daring, cunning, and have some foresight to truly thrive, especially in the beginning. Be offensive. Try things. Learn from your failures. Lure and kite. Eat things that give you the edge before combat. You're a seemingly tiny person facing things twice your size with weapons and claws the size of your body--of course you'll take some major damage if you get hit and didn't plan ahead.

The key to enjoying this game is forgetting about min-maxing, forgetting about achieving the next thing, and forgetting about getting there fast. You've gotta enjoy the journey, the music, the sunrises and sunsets, and the atmosphere, because that's where the a lot of the game is.

Could it be more? Absolutely, I've got quite a list of frustrating things, but the developer team is small. And for what it is, I find the environments and lighting gorgeous, and exploring is pretty much always rewarding. Relic equipment is sick and makes you feel strong, but being careless even at the end-game can get you killed at a moment's notice. You aren't a god, or even anyone special for that matter (you spend at least half of the game looking homeless) and the game makes sure to remind you.

shamuslovesony
shamuslovesony

Large world to explore, fun plots and quests, multiple plot directions, fights are tactical and not just hack n slash!

WasabiOverdose
WasabiOverdose

Outward is one hell of a game. about 70%good, 30%bad. 100% oldschool rpg.
this may not be for you, if you are looking for a hack&slay or like fast-paced rpgs.

the game wont help you. there is no minimap, no quest markers, no blinking from miles away to see interactables. if you happen to find a lever in a ruin in the forest, there will be no message as to what it does. every decision will alter the gameplay and the story.
re-/actions are logical (you are burning, so you need to douse yourself in water. or "this stonegolem is made of stone, so venom wont harm it at all.")
there are hundreds of different weapons, hundreds others of armors. you will have to compare your equip with each other for the various circumstances as there are stats that are hindersome or dont even matter for the upcoming tasks. it's not like most games, where you get a steel helmet with 2 stats. armor and durability and thats it. it still is a survival game, so you need to think about these aspects, too.
you dont have to follow a straight path in quests, most quests have different outcomes depending on how you want to go about them. peacefully, head first, slaughter everyone, it's your choice. but depending on your choices, your rewards will also be different.
playing solo or solo hardcore is more difficult, because death is quite crippling. on normal there's no permadeath. but you will lose your stuff on occasion. unique weapons and bosses dont all respawn, neither can you respec. once you made your choice you will have to live with it.

walking simulator.
sometimes you might need a specific item from a specific npc in a specific region. there are no vehicles. and certainly no fast travel (except some merchants who can bring you to a totally random city, reset every 3 days). there are pots and elixirs that give you +20% speed. but they are extremely rare or really expensive if you dont know how to craft them. but there is other equip that can help with that (master trader boots. still wear them in lategame)
thank god for the auto-walk.

high replay value.
as there are tons of different styles of playing, weapons and possibilities of combining skills and also personal legacy chests that upgrade the items put in for a future twink of yours, the replay value in outward is exceptionally high.
there are the following classes: archer, berserker, mage, sorcerer, wl, rogue, tank.
Jk. there are no fixed classes. mix up all you want.

i wanna go on an adventure!
the game is right for you, if you:
+ like survival games with survival aspects like hot/cold, hunger/thirst
+ like to play games with illnesses/ailments and their cures
+ dont need much help to orient yourself
+ think in patterns and can deduct
+ like to prepare for battle and timed combos rather than Just press MB1
+ like to collect unique equip even if that means to go through the horrors of mazes and puzzles
+ like to have a fantastic OST (enmerkar forest)
+ dont care what your char's face looks like, because you will never see it again after character creation.=P
+ like to play co-op (2 player or 2 player splitscreen)
+ like combining things out of curiosity
+ like fantasy rpgs with a slap in the face of realism
+ go about stuff tactically and strategically
+ like immersion. (everything has weight. even money or the bag you transport it in.)

the game is not for you, if you:
- are a hoarder in rpgs
- need help and highlighters to find stuff
- need completely read out dialogues for immersion (it's mostly text)
- only play graphically up-to-date games
- "lets try X". fail. "lets not do that, then." (no save points, no quick save)
- like fast-paced games and battles
- are dependent on journal entries, bc you can only play every few weeks. (there are next to none)
- need a tutorial
- get easily annoyed by failure (many monsters can onehit you, most 2-3hit.)
- have the attitude 'upgrades will only happen, if the new item is 50% better'
- need your char to be in a fitting or beautiful set
- freak out if minor bugs happen (monster attacks/can be attacked through doors)
- need to quickslot 20+ items/skills. there are only 8. choose wisely.

Sidenotes/tipps:
Magic is op. magic plus knowing how to dodge things is op+.
obsidian/meteoric pistol will break the game as you keep your foes burning until they die, without exception.
if facing a difficult enemy in coop, use aggro-pingpong and kiting.
learn to dodge and always have alternative gear with you, you might have to change it mid-fight.
get the definitive edition as it adds a lot of stuff quite handy in early game without unbalancing.
there is no unspec/respec. not even for a fckton of money. what's gone is gone for good.
there are no skillpoints, leveling, attributepoints.
selling item A is 5g, buying item A is 200g and there's nothing that unbalances that.
different merchants have different sell/buy rates. (f.e. cacti in the desert are cheap, but expensive in the snowy mountains)
first 20 hours you will be scraping every last bit of gold/silver. after 50 hours you will drown in gold. after 80hours you will be penniless. merchants are scarce outside cities. dont take everything with you and learn to organize.
crafting and remembering how to craft things will make a lot of money.
before leaving cierzo equip a weapon and burak will teach you a skill for free for said weapon. (2h axe/halberd is the most practical)
there are many hidden secrets. so go to the corners of the world, maybe there is a hidden item, chest or npc.
if you die, that doesnt have to be bad. trial by error, it will enhance your experience and make even small victories feel deserved and fulfilling.

Conclusion
Outward is a game not meant for the mainstream player and certainly not for the casual player. it caters to a niche of players who like to play games that have no EasyFromTheGetGo-setting. having said that, once you understand how the game is meant to be played and understand the battle patterns, it's as easy as stealing a lollipop from a child (without it noticing).
it can hook you to play for hours and hours, but you have to understand it first. took me 12 ingame hours in solo until i had found the right playstyle for me. i'd never have thought, i'd play this game more than 300hours or have more than one char. and i still die sometimes or make mistakes from which i cant recover. but man, there's just so much content, dungeoncrawling and different skills. finding the right coop partner is difficult, tho. i urged a few handfuls of friends with whom i played a lot of mmorpgs, jrpgs, rpgs and actiongames with, both in my youth and now, but only 1 was capable and persistent enough to give it a go and excel.
it has become one of our favorite games.

if you read everything, hats off to you. hope it helps.

manchu_bob29
manchu_bob29

The situations in this game are either laughably easy or insanely difficult; there's no in between, means of progression, or modification through settings to make it enjoyable: sink or swim. The combat system is overly complex, requires the reflexes of a 12-year-old, and doesn't have any way to adapt to play styles beyond the proverbial mom's basement-dwelling gamer who has no other interests in life beyond the keyboard and mouse...

Stonehart
Stonehart

My favorite part is when an NPC tells me not to go somewhere or I'll get my ass kicked, and then I go there and I get my ass kicked.

Hunter Este
Hunter Este

Honestly, I don't get the appeal.
Too many clunky systems, too slow to get around, it's such a slow burn with a very generic story.
Combat is not enjoyable, just stressful.
I gave it a good try (almost 30 hours), tried playing with magic, tried sword/board, tried 2H heavy armor, just blah.

Anonymous
Anonymous

This game is a gem. It's not a AAA game so it does have some few rough edges, but it more than makes up for those with a ton of well-implemented systems and original ideas that make it stand apart from most of what I've seen. From the very unique but still fun to use magic systems to the mix-and-match approach to classes. The DLCs added a lot more on top, all in all this is one of my favourite games.

Ninjapilot10
Ninjapilot10

Genuinely fun game. plays like a combination of dark souls and monster hunter with an open world.
Game's at its best when you don't know much about it. Combat's a bit clunky but i'd say it's more about finding out attack patterns. I love this game but it's definitely not for everyone.

Leeroy
Leeroy

Great game made better by the dlc's. Tons of build variety and loads of things to explore and do. The 3 brothers dlc can get grindy but if you're smart you can make due. Tons of challenging bosses and dungeons to explore. Worth the buy especially if you catch it on sale.

Ekam
Ekam

Love the game, Hate the controls.

Great potential in Co-op but Lack of Co-op (that's why your game does not grow fast enough. And yes, I know it is difficult to build). Your next DLC should be companion and allow to summon creatures for help.
Please fix your controls and allow us to have more access to skills. This game have lots of skills but not enough of quick slot.

Supa-Kitsune
Supa-Kitsune

Relaxing reasonable exploration.

stevecronin
stevecronin

A fun old school style RPG that doesn't hold your hand. Glad folks are still making games like this.

lucklanslord
lucklanslord

It a very good game with interesting progression system with soul like action combat but male combat need polishing

dwergenman
dwergenman

Combat combat mechanics are shit. Sense you can die in 2 seconds, it's important that it works.

Kemobuch
Kemobuch

TLDR: Outward is VERRRY rough around the edges and requires a lot of tolerance. The game has a great amount of content to play through if you have a lot of free time on your hands, but various mechanics/design choices can be very infuriating at times. You are expected to apply yourself and develop a general comprehension of some of those mechanics(damage types/resistances against mobs, timed quests & their consequences on failure, etc.), but the hints/tips toward these concepts are limited and unreliable at best. If you are alright with either looking things up (lightly) or putting up with the aforementioned, then the game is worth your attention.

Starting off with the issues

===Unclear/Lack of proper engagement for learning basic mechanics
Assuming that the general playerbase does not come from the perspective of seek & applied game knowledge as very commonplace, the way this game handles teaching these design concepts is poor and often vague. Take learning damage types for example. The two opportunities to learn about damage on the starting map is the wandering Wendigo and a dungeon with a weapon imbue item for the enemies inside it. In the former--the beast wandering the map--players should in theory learn that attacking with fire, prior to or after engaging with it, as effective. The various ways players might bypass this experience may be to cheese kill(trap spam, baiting), not having fire damage items to begin with, prioritize selling for coins over item consumption at the very start of the game, and avoiding the beast entirely. Compound these issues to the dungeon mentioned earlier and it is pretty obvious which choice I made during my first few play throughs(or maybe I am just bad at videogames). And other games usually don't type counter with a color match, this case being purple against purple thing.

The game also has some minor issues such as passing out from overheating without warning; the fact that getting a cold or damaged from low temperatures is mentioned but not the same way with high temperatures was very misleading. If either overheating got the same warnings or those warnings from experiencing cold temperatures are removed so that both extremes are equally interpreted as bad, then maybe it would have been clearer to understand. Losing hardcore to this was pretty infuriating.

===Timed quests & consequences (excluding the first one) could use a lot of work
Hints to timed quests are extremely vague and may not be understood until after their consequences are realized on your first play through. The result is a system that places emphasis on a binary brutality where the entire experience feels lost by means of messing up somewhere along the quest line or remaining ignorant until something really bad occurs.
Another system to point at that handles the consequences better is something like in Sunless Seas/Skies where the player's actions don't always lead to the worse outcome possible, but instead makes each run different and unique by what is lost/acquired by the various choices being made. There were better choices, but at least they were not always a split between the best and worst outcomes possible(except being dead). Looking up these quests in Outward is an option, but that seriously puts a damper in the raw game experience.

Apparently there is a quest line that gets triggered while you are at a certain progress in an inn. It is a very ODD place to trigger a quest line when majority of the player's businesses are done within the main town, sleeping outside on a bedroll included. The main story also deals with it, but the design choice to put it somewhere out of sight and out of mind is something I can't wrap my head around.

===General improvements if they ever revisit/make another open world
Make hardcore more hardcore. Possibly a save system for normal to give room to test game mechanics? Better inn functions, better inventory sorting, clearer tips/bread crumbs to point players towards certain objectives. If there are brutal consequences to be expected by the player's decisions, engage with them semi-actively; not passively. You don't have to hold the player's hand, but more dialogue isn't going to hurt.

===Everything else I enjoyed
Lots of exploration, fresh combat experience with a medium level curve to understand, a very nice magic combat system. A semi-functional timed objective system to participate in the story and not as a god grinder(or just explore before you reach the timed quests). A semi-functional learning curve to figure some things out yourself.

Overall not bad enough to vote no, but also has a lot of glaring issues that limit me from voting yes. If this review ever changes, you'll know why.

Davadar
Davadar

I really wanted to like this game. The concept is absolutely fantastic. However, the game is simply not an enjoyable experience. And to get the "get good" argument out of the way. I have played and highly enjoyed The Long Dark. Another game with only auto saving, crafting, exploring, fighting enemies stronger than you and that also outnumber you, as well as surviving cold, thirst, hunger, sleep, illnesses, etc. With that out of the way, let's get into it.
Try to play for the story, and you will quickly go up against things beyond your limits. So you would then assume that running around fighting to loot items and trying to grow stronger is the way to go. Again, nope, you will die. Even the most basic of enemies are simply suicide missions with your minimal starting gear. Alright then, if I can't follow the story. And I can't fight basic enemies. I will run around exploring and seeing what the world has to offer. Except that it has nothing to offer. Everything is empty with nothing to interact with other than the occasional enemy and gathering materials. Maybe you just need to spend some time gathering for a while. But now you need tools to gather, and good luck finding those. And even if you do manage to get the tool(s) you need, the amount gathered is so minimal it is nearly pointless. After all this, it really feels like the game just simply does not want you to play it.
Keep your money and time, and save yourself from this headache. Just walk away from this game. And continue looking "Outward" to other games.

Grimdogx
Grimdogx

Outward is a truly charming experience, If you look down there you'll see people desperately complaining about this games difficult and the timed quests, but the truth is the game is exceptionally simple and only as difficult as you make it.

There's many different ways to approach combat, you can attempt to bullhead yourself through pure melee but most things can't be beaten easily via that method until much later in the game, so early on you'll need to rely on hit and run tactics, traps, ranged combat, turtling, you name it.

In time however despite having no real RPG level mechanics you eventually grow in skill as you learn more abilities whether by training or questing or by simply mastering the basic mechanics of the game.

The basic mechanics you are given is supplemented by gear with unique abilities, potions, unique tools, etc. Meaning you have a huge number of ways to go about confronting your enemies. The game also features a prominent crafting system that allows you to create more unique gear, potions, and tools, the use of all of these things are what will allow you to truly control the battlefield, though there will always be something ahead that will challenge you.

People like to complain about Outwards "Timed Quests" but most of these timed quests have literally tens of days to complete, the very first has around 40 ingame days while each day ingame takes around an hour to pass, it's a non-issue and they only start if you pledge yourself to a faction.

You are very explicitly told "Do you want to join us? if so you'll have to accept our responsibilities" and while the game does want you to eventually join a faction there's no time limit on doing so.

Outward feels like a blend of Souls and Fable, it's quite unique and surprisingly enjoyable, if you want to be able to conquer the game right out the gate this game is not for you, but if you are willing to use everything at your disposal you will find quite the hidden gem here.

morgage freeman
morgage freeman

Anything is fun with two players. Wish I could jump.

ThePupsWeLuv
ThePupsWeLuv

The game has potential but sadly everything being on the same GCD ruins it for me. Dying to not being able to block after a combo attack is garbage game design. If you like games like this then more power to ya. Its a 100% nope for me.

Mâjoric
Mâjoric

The game is just terrible...

Aesthetics are ghastly. Everything looks so shit.

Combat sucks. Morrowind has better combat by far...

Voice acting, environment, lore, all shit. Utterly uninspired and boring.

Boring boring boring

Don't buy

gender ender
gender ender

I hope you like walking, walking, and walking! Seriously though, I get that the premise is you're a nobody who has to do things the hard way but... are horses extinct? Theres a man with a covered wagon in Cierzo, but he has nothing pulling it. How tf did he get there? Is it the giant birds? Why can't I have one? If you buy this GET MODS.

Dark Entity
Dark Entity

if you like henging out with you're best friends on games then this game will be GREAT for you!!

Ouro
Ouro

DO NOT DISTRUST THE WALKING MECHANICS.

The game forces you to walk for a reason. The game forces you to navigate using your surroundings for a reason. The game limits your carried weight for a reason.

I have NEVER learned the layout of an open world game so quickly as this one, nor have I had as much fun traversing one, because no open world has presented a similar open frontier posing a true, dynamic challenge. Planning out my adventures is necessary due to weight limits and player needs, but is never enough. Every time, something would happen along the way TO or FROM my intended location, some distraction which inevitably became what every single journey I took was defined by. When I would dip into a random previously unexplored sub-area only to dip back out due to my bag being full or supplies low, I would remember exactly where it was due to having to carefully pay attention to my surroundings in order to navigate past it in the first place because there is no minimap.

Playing this game made me stop using minimaps in any other game I play, by the way. I am sick of them now, and have seen the better way. I didn't realize how often in games that have them I just hold forward and make minor mouse adjustments while staring at the top corner of my screen as a way of getting around, completely ignoring world design and avoiding enemy encounters by seeing them only as obstacles to be walked around.

Game lacks polish for sure, and I sure don't play it for the story, but people who complain about the travel mechanics are (to me) missing the entire point of the game. Its an adventure game where you set out from your home town with nothing, it's SUPPOSED to be grueling. Otherwise it wouldn't feel meaningful. It's truly difficult for me to put into words the sense of scale, immersion, and emergent difficulty one feels from exploring a hand-made map with lots of mystery through a set of mechanics which innately tricks you into memorizing the layout, thereby truly feeling a PART of the world you are playing in.

dante's bitch
dante's bitch

This game looks like a ton of fun, but it just isn't. The game play is really clunky, there isn't a real tutorial, and it's unreasonably hard. Would not recommend.

QuesterDamii
QuesterDamii

So what can I say about Outward. It is very pleasing to the eyes. The music is great as well. Combat is like Darksouls and Necropolis. Bad guys are strong and seems like your not getting anywhere at times. the lands can be unforgiving with the cold and heat so don't jump in thinking that its gonna be a breeze. This is very much a survival game. Gotta eat, drink, stay warm and dry, cook food and boil water so you wont get sick and contract a cold or worse. you can play couch co-op and online co-op and that's a plus in my book. I like the downed events that take place when your defeated in battle or just get hammered but the map or sick. You could be saved by a random traveler, a demon or a ghost or the closest town, but you can also be taken by bandits and sneak around to reclaim your things or work your way out by bribing the guards. I'm still learning to be patient in this game and 26 hours is not enough to learn this game for a carefree gamer such as myself. All in all I give this game a rated score of 8 out of ten Scrolls of Tribute. Also ten out of ten fun points for deaths by bird leaving the town starting off. Thanks for reading this and have a safe day : )

Cadner
Cadner

I spent like 50 hours trying to figure out why it wouldn't let me join my friends via online. Turns out that the DLC's don't actually come with the definitive edition, which is required to play multiplayer. Other than that it is a wonderful game, just disappointed that it is falsely advertised.

Quaxo
Quaxo

Boring, clunky, buggy, and just unimpressive. Supposedly a complete game, but it sure doesn't feel like it. Feels more like an early beta.

Zetobyx
Zetobyx

ive had my eyes on this game since launch but wanted to wait for GOTY on sale.. i wish i could refund it. it's boringly tedious. the combat isnt good. i fought as safe as i could and was still just trading hits/getting hit during my windup. buffs/food before every fight just to get destroyed faster than it took to put buffs on. then running back to that fight to do it all over again.. and again. it's not even Dark Souls difficult, it's just ANNOYING difficult, and i love the challenge of the souls games. you cant do anything without food buffs, and if you die a lot like i did, then youre just wasting the food. so then you spend a good bit of time gathering/crafting food for the next adventure, where youll die quicker than the food buff lasts.

slow, boring, tedious, annoying, not fun.

Apollodorus
Apollodorus

I really enjoyed the first 50 hours of this game. I really wanted to like this game. Otherwise I wouldn't have put 80+ hours into it.

The first 3 Regions were fun. I liked unlocking new abilities. I liked fighting bosses and was excited for more.
I liked the progression. But eventually the novelty faded.

But the late game was just more of the same. The novelty of the hardcore travel mechanics got old very quick.
You are severely limited by your class. Experimenting with builds is just punished since a lot of abilities do significantly better as a combination of the same class abilities.

I'm not new to the hardcore survival genre. And often ask for more of a challenge. After 50 or so hours, it's just tedious.

grimmolt
grimmolt

It's a good game. Not your average RPG but totally worth the experience.

Morgan Krane
Morgan Krane

2 player rpg sounds good on paper. This aint it, fam.

Nyrus
Nyrus

Reminds me alot of the original Gothic. Great game if you like the challenge, taking things slow and planning your every move. 10/10 for me

Daekosh
Daekosh

Great co op single player rpg - if you like crafting - survival game with difficult fights this is a great game to dive in. However its not a sandbox so don't expect to build places

zmr540
zmr540

This game is the worst RNG RPG I have ever played. The first unavoidable thing you have to do is collect 150 gold in 5 days. Doable on the surface, but as soon as you venture out of the safety of your starting town you are liable to be ambushed by hyenas, or bandits. Neither of which scale to your level. All enemies begin with substantially better gear than you and the game is brutally punishing should you 'die.'

The inability to save means that you are always running a super high risk of losing all of your shit to RNG. Oh and dont plan to be able to learn which enemies spawn where. Its 100% random.

This is a game which punishes its players early and the hits never stop coming. Until an actual save feature is implemented save your time and sanity and pass on this one.

Not worth the headache.

Tactical Sandwich
Tactical Sandwich

This game is amazing. It is a hidden gem in the gaming world. The combat is very thought-provoking.

leitio877
leitio877

If ya like RPGs that don't instantly elevate you to god status, this is for you.

leviticusx
leviticusx

I absolutely love how little hand-holding this game provides and how aware of exposure you have to be.

@00ExZiLeon88
@00ExZiLeon88

Well how do i have to say . Very Interesting and facts that this game is gr8 to recommend to other . If any ppl who love adventure game with crafting & killing mob , i`m sure u guys will love too. My 2-thumb up delv game. Well done guys :)

Jimmy Jumbo
Jimmy Jumbo

Got Clobbered by a trog. living in squalor. have no home.

funk
funk

DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.. if you are not the immersive type of gamer. This game requires incredible fortitude and perseverance. I feel like the majority of the mixed reviews for this game are from people not getting what they expected. This is not a bad game, but you may be pretty bad at it.

You need to learn about the lore, you need to learn about status conditions, you need to learn about weather affects, you need to learn about diseases, you need to learn about magic, you need to learn about your enemies. There are challenges in every turn of this games playthrough.

If you decide to play this game, remain patient. Do not give 1 hour of attention to it and expect a Skyrim experience. You will fail A LOT at the start, but information is out there to help you overcome. Once you get the hang of certain things, and know what to carry on you to negate certain things, the game becomes a lot more accessible.

o2 jayJay
o2 jayJay

Amazing Game! only 13.7hrs in and I already have a bone fang sword! TY for making such an awesome game!

FuzzyDemon
FuzzyDemon

fights are very unforgiving to boot. game based on skill with no level system. game is great if you are looking for a good challenge with no real direction on where to go. only con is the map has no marker. so you will need to use your brain and remember your way.

derpdeathlord
derpdeathlord

It's wonky, and dying can be VERY frustrating. But, once you get over all of that, it's a great game. If you're used to the grind of Soulsborne games, then you'll love this game!

Indica_Angel
Indica_Angel

I waited a long time to get this game, kinda put off by the reviews. But since it was on sale. I was finally tempted enough to buy it. However after an hour I refunded this pos.

1) The graphics seem much nicer in the trailers. They seem old and frayed once really in the game.
( and no not my comp- My rtx plays everything beautifully.)
The game just has an old feel to it, may be what some want, but my character is not very formed and ugly.
( take valheim- the characters aren't very formed but they are still cute) -- not the case here.

2) the play-together or play with friends is a joke. My sister and I tried for an hour to play together with no luck.
We play everything together, 7days to die, ark, valheim even old games. to NOT have it reliably working at this day and age
is just NOT acceptable.

3) fighting in this game is just not fun, it's clunky and just no.

I play a wide variety of games from ark to borderlands and resident evil, all are significantly different and I was hoping to add this game to the list of successes but I just cannot. -- Not even on sale.

Asuchri
Asuchri

Don't buy this game. It is unpolished soulless garbage that needs another 5 years of development before you can call it playable. Outward is a walking simulator taken to the extreme. You would have more fun going outside and walking for the rest of your life than traveling to one city in this game. If you were looking for a way to torture yourself to needless ends, then you're in the right place.

Auguless
Auguless

TLDR: Fantastic exploration based souls like RPG. It has an in depth magic system that makes combat a challenge for mages without being overpowered. Melee can still feel a little clunky in edge cases but feels much better since this definitive release. Most issues I had with the game were fixed with the patches and updates preceding the definitive edition. But overall I have had a great experience since the release of the definitive edition. Thank you devs and keep up the great work!

BREAKDOWN:

As we go through my experience please note that these are relatively minor gripes and things I feel would marginally improve the experience. I would not have put 300+ hours in a game if I was having a bad experience with it.

Visuals:

This is where the game shines; the visuals in the game are stunning. Landscapes have a variety of environments and weather events; which, gives new appeal to older areas plus there is fantastic lighting and immersive scenery. This is great as you will find yourself walking through the same areas multiple times. Note this game has little in the way of fast travel so you will be walking A LOT.

Some breaking of terrain and minor cracks do still happen though.

I would like to see some idle animations of your character checking gear, looking behind them, checking out the environment, & touching plants (if close enough) would make your character seem like they are actually living in the world.

My issues with the visuals are mainly with the characters base models, not the armor sets those are great, just the basic models. Very limited customization with only 2 body types: male/female; and, only a handful of preset faces per race. The eyes of your characters are devoid of any expression or movement whatsoever and this is a little immersion breaking.

Audio:

This is the area of the game I feel needs the most improvement and considering the definitive edition is out I don't have much hope. Prime examples are that most melee weapons sound the same when swung. A tiny machete has the same sound as a mighty war hammer where when you would swing something heavy you would expect a deeper thrum as your character follows through.

Same with the contact noises. There are only a handful of noises that you hear as your character connects with a swing again not changing with the heft of your weapon. Those sounds are hit cloth, hit metal, hit flesh, hit wood, hit stone.

The sound of heavy armor is pretty grating to listen to over a longer walk. Regardless of which set you have it always sounds like your armor is made of tin cans.

Some skills don't even have sound effects yet. Cleanse for instance does not and I recommend something visceral and painful sounding would fit the bill considering what it does.

Casting hexes sound like you just hit them with a fireball spell. I feel that whispers or ethereal chanting on contact would be better.

Mechanics:

Combat:

With the release of definitive I feel that a lot of my gripes with the games mechanics have been fixed and it feels a lot better now. Through updates and patches the mechanics are pretty solid.

Magic is more in depth than most other systems and feels balanced without being too overpowered. My only wish is that you wouldn't stop completely while casting basic spells, I think your movement speed should be reduced to a walk but not completely stopped.

Hexes are often very visually disruptive and can make it difficult to get a good read on what an enemy is doing.

Buff and de-buff timers would make it easier to tell when to engage with the enemy. There are symbols in the corner of the screen but they don't show any type of countdown or color gradient, the only way to get a count down is to go into the characters status menu.

Melee combat feels good with the changes to protection allowing your character to take a few extra hits. This allows you to really punish a misstep by your enemy without having to be overly cautious about being caught out yourself.

The only issue I have with melee combat is the flow between basic combat and skills. Take the swords basic attack and the “Puncture skill” for instance. If you swing the sword once your character swings from left to right and the follow through takes the sword slightly behind the character. If you start the puncture skill the animation takes the sword from s similar position (behind the character) into a swift jab slightly upward accompanied by a sound effect. Ideally you would be able to go seamlessly from a right swing into a puncture but you cannot you have to wait for the swing animation to completely end before activating your skill with A popup that says “! You cannot do this now”

Same with the war hammer and the Juggernaut skill. The Juggernaut skill is an empowered swing from left to right if my next basic attack would have been that exact same motion so I don't understand why I can't seamlessly activate this skill.

Progression:

While having only a few skill trees to pick from may seem limiting at first, once you look into armor sets, weapons, and enchantments that can compliment your build you will be crafting your next intrepid adventurer before you know it.

Main quests bonuses and rewards are fairly balanced and a great addition to your character as you play through the game. Different bonuses and rewards depending on your engagement and urgency while playing through a quest gives more life to the game as it feels as if your characters choices matter.

Survival:

I have found that basic survival mechanics eat, sleep, drink and manage temperature is a great immersion technique for a game and makes your character feel more human. Similarly to magic I just wish your character could move while drinking water or health potions. For those who don't like these mechanics there are even skills that can help marginalize this so it wont interrupt your game play too much. However the benefits of food cannot be overstated and can really give you an edge.

More minor gripes:

More Playable monsters would be cool ex. Pygmy giant, miniature golem, friendly immaculate, and pearl bird. I would like to see an npc to train monster players this would help expand on these and give your monsters a bit more customization.
Considering the release of definitive edition now gives you earlier access to some weapons I think that the Soroborean trader should able to take you to multiple places.

Conclusion:

I cannot stress enough that any issues I have expressed are minor. The main take aways are a few more animations or animation cancellations would go a long way in making combat feel more polished. Some audio improvements would make adventuring feel more immersive. Being able to move while casting basic spells or drinking water would improve flow. This is a good game in my opinion and I would recommend it if an exploration based souls like RPG is what you are looking for. (note there may be fixes for all of this in the modding community but I have not looked into it and I have no idea if there is a healthy modding community)

pprrzzmm
pprrzzmm

Timed combat, walking up and down to a city to regen, and low valued loot compared to traders prizes. I cant enjoy it

Jeepster87
Jeepster87

I bought this game so the developers didn't starve to death. It is so ugly that beer doesn't help it. It might appeal to someone but I just couldn't bring myself to continue it.

Susus Agustus
Susus Agustus

amazing multiplayer experience. you have to play it with friends

MrBadger97
MrBadger97

I see this game getting a lot of hate, criticisms from clunky combat/ugly world/empty world/harsh dying mechanics. I'm not defending bugs and issues, some of the criticisms have been because multiplayer is broken and they should absolutely be fixed, the fact they aren't at this point is a little ridiculous. Since we can give negative reviews for "it's a good game but just not for me.", I'll leave this positive because "I don't play multiplayer so it's not my problem."

Jokes aside, this game is nowhere near as difficult as some people make it out to be, just like with any souls-like it takes a varying amount of familiarization and practice to be any good at it. I love the timed quests, and I personally feel it adds a unique level of world continuity, I'm not the center of the universe but I can still change things that are happening in it and I think its a really cool concept. The more you play, the more you learn about when things happen the easier they get, and eventually it gets to the point where it just becomes a part of any new playthrough.

Combat is fine, it's fast paced, it's calculated, and it can be avoided if you're clearly outmatched. "I keep dying and losing all my stuff/getting put in a prison." don't go to those places anymore, Vendavel fortress is not somewhere you want to be going super early in the game, try scoping out the nearby caves first, getting yourself some stuff to sell, buy a decent weapon you feel good about using, and when you're ready you can graduate to raiding Montcalm. Thrusting yourself against more than one enemy early game is just asking to get your ass kicked.

We're all entitled to like or dislike things for whatever reason, but this game deserves for you to give it a chance, there is way more depth than some people are letting on and I personally think some of it is unfounded.

Perfect? No, it would take a lot of work to make this a near perfect game, but I still think it's really good for what it is, and I hope this doesn't get abandoned for other projects.

chudo98
chudo98

Good game. Learning curve is kind of high.

loxidon420
loxidon420

love it one of the best games i ever played

Zenmaster Swede
Zenmaster Swede

Quite possibly one of the best split screen games I have ever had

Enthyos
Enthyos

A fantastic game in every sense, gives the player a sense of immersion rarely found these days, in a unique and quite original world, with soundtracks that get stuck into your mind.
Multiple factions to chose from, the world is full of secrets and surprises, a rather deep crafting system and many many good moments to be had!
Very few negatives to say, the combat system is rewarding if you are patient and plan your moves in advance.
Worth the buy! (Thing that i get to say rarely these days with all the unfinished and unpolished games out there)

Volkovyi
Volkovyi

If you find that a game that is not player-friendly, lacking in standard quality-of-life video game functions, a level of openness that makes for unclear direction, unclear maps, clunky movements and awkward combat, wildly ugly player characters, is "challenging" and "difficult" then sure perhaps you will like this game. If you think a game should have a level of standard usability for its players and then the challenge comes from the gameplay, not the interaction of the game, then this game isn't for you. Like it's not for me. I want the challenge to be a fight, or survival, or whatever, but not navigating maps and menus and even trying to figure out what even is the mission or where its logged.

This was a "quantity over quality" type of game, played it for a friend, half the time the multiplayer did not work or even deleted my characters and I had to start over to join my friend. I didn't like it.

AtomicSamuri
AtomicSamuri

I only have 15 hours into this game but feel like this game is no fun. The combat is so clunky and poorly designed IMO. For instance, you are fighting 2 people and have one targeted and the other guy is just beating your face in. the tab targeting sucks and to land a strike on an opponent you are almost guaranteed to take damage unless your holding block with shield which reduces your stamina. I bought the upgraded stamina and movement speed to see if it helped but I'm just not having fun. Maybe I am spoiled to the smoother combat of games but dang I feel like it's almost unplayable. I can understand the game immersion with no player marker and having to carry different sets of gear for different climates but good grief. Just my two cents. Maybe some people will enjoy it but I am not one of them.

Blorp
Blorp

If you want a game that drops you into an unforgiving world, doesn't take your hand, with that old-school janky feel, then Outward might be for you. Especially fun with friends.

cloud_ctrl
cloud_ctrl

It's a game made for gamers, not people who want their hand held through a power fantasy. My chief criticism is that the environments look a bit barren, usually, though sometimes they can be quite beautiful despite their simplicity. If you're seeking a game with a challenging learning curve, a real sense of wild exploration, and rich RPG elements, you have found a game with those things. If you're less concerned about the graphical elements and more concerned with gameplay mechanics, and if you don't mind having to figure out how things work on your own, you will probably enjoy this quite a bit.

It's not a perfect game. It seems like it was limited by budget and engineering talent. Despite this, the core game design is so good it outshines its flaws. I do recommend this game.

『 B U B B Y 』
『 B U B B Y 』

MID GAME WISH I COULD REFUND THIS TRASH

Axe_James
Axe_James

Outward has some of the best co-op and character builds I've experienced thus far. If you're looking for a 3rd Person, Open World, 2 Player Co-Op Souls-Like game, then you've found it.

But be prepared to get kicked around - you're not heroes, you start as pathetic villagers. The game isn't exactly like Dark Souls in that everything doesn't really have a pattern. You'll be bound to run into things you simply cannot defeat by normal means (light attack spamming or panic rolling).

Play resourcefully, use buffs, use cheese tactics, use magic, use traps. That's what it's all there for.
But most of all - explore the vast world (with a friend if you can) and let your inner loot goblin take over.
And don't be too afraid of dying, the death scenarios just spice up the game that much more.

M U S E
M U S E

Utter absolute garbage trash game. The world is empty. Combat system is so garbage and awful. Pick 2 items and you are encumbered. No Fast Travel system. 99% of the time you will be running back to base to drop items. Tried with mods. Game got less trash but still very trash. DEFINITELY NOT A SOULS LIKE GAME. I'd rather play barbie dress up games than this.

StinkyMustardBoy
StinkyMustardBoy

I love this game. As someone who is always looking to scratch the Skyrim itch, this game really does it for me. Alot of the charm reminds me of Runescape. Its tough, but really rewarding once you get the hang of it. Get the DLC's as well. They really fill out the game in a much needed way.

thelittleicebear
thelittleicebear

Great RPG!
challenging but the magic system rocks!

UmMeat
UmMeat

The first trailer song sold me from the beginning this shit lowkey fire

stopsign
stopsign

I can't really recommend this game unless you are willing to deal with very high difficulty and losing your stuff all of the time, there is a lot to love about this game but this isn't for me and I don't think that most people would enjoy this

Foobar
Foobar

The game feels good and immersive, something I've been looking for a long time in open world rpg games, however I bought this to play with a friend online, only to find out that the multiplayer function is broken. I can't join him, he can't join me, we've looked up solutions to our problems only to be met with obvious answers we had already tried, not to mention that if we were to play together, only the host is able to complete quests, which means you'd have to repeat the quests by alternating the hosts... so if you are looking for co-op experience, you should try splitscreen instead.

I hate medic
I hate medic

Outward is like... Dark Souls 2 meets Two Worlds. Wait, why are you leaving? No wait here me ou-

In all seriousness, this game is amazing. It's a modern love letter to old school RPGs that does NOT play much like a modern game. It's got cruft. It's got frustration. But it also has a real triumph to it like you don't see too much anymore, at least not in a non-contrived feeling way. I'd say this game is best played with the following conditions:

- Play with a friend 100% of the time
- Expect it to be difficult and maybe even a little bullshit. Plan your encounters and actually use buffs and traps
- BE PREPARED
- Try things, don't get FOMO like I do and wait until the last second to make a big decision. You can always have a second playthrough
- Let yourself get immersed. Things mostly make sense in an intuitive way
- Take your time. There is a whole lot to do and a whole hell of a lot of mechanics to learn
- Play the tutorial, it's actually pretty helpful since the game is so dense (although you don't need to play it right at the beginning, just play it eventually)

I like comparing this game to the Dark Souls series, but not for it's combat which it only resembles on a surface level. More for the feeling of being dumped in a dangerous world with little if any hand holding. The recipe system is mostly intuitive. You can also buy recipes, which I recommend. Magic is pretty good, consider it. I'm definitely forgetting a lot, but if a local personal immersive RPG with action combat and MMO-like encounters appeals to you, do it, and convince a friend to do the same. Even the $40 full-price tag is worth it for me and I'm a frugal stickler.

Draeka3
Draeka3

Played for hours and randomly died for no reason (not starving,not thirsty, not too warm nor cold, not killed by enemy) and in a stroke of luck... died a definitive death and had to restart the whole game.
Started a second character, had a ton of fun... until a part of my bedroll or maybe a torch was remaining on/in ground in front of my character. Had to quit the game to fix it. Continued a bit but eventually stopped for the day. Came back to it the next day... stuck in an infinite loading (had trouble loading a handful items)...

The definitive edition is just not working properly and needs fixing.
Fission mailed.

I'll try again if it's ever patched. I'm too disappointed to restart a third time using the standard version.

Ideas : 8/10
Execution RNG/RNG... rolled a critical fail

I have better stuff to do... like playing a game that works properly. I don't know, maybe it'll be the only game in my library i didn't finish and i might consider having a go.

Cap'n_Rocko
Cap'n_Rocko

Hardcore game with an old school vibe. It is very nostalgic and offers a beautiful world to explore. Sword combat isn't that great imo but the magic is very interesting and fun to dive into. Only feature that i REALLY wished the game had was a shared storage chest in the player houses OR mounts to get to other zones faster. I really enjoy not having fast travel but it gets old pretty quick having to walk for hours between houses to find the gear you need. I guess its part of the adventure? Either way, it was really a bummer to find out that stash chests arnt shared between houses and is the main reason I don't play the game more often. I still recommend the game to players but would advise to pick it up on sale

Goofyalmond
Goofyalmond

It is very well made, especially considering how few were among the dev team

WeseltonDW
WeseltonDW

This game is a lot of fun! I've never beaten it though because I keep starting over and creating a new character. One of the things I really like about it is that there is no XP. You get stronger simply by getting better gear and getting better at the game. The combat is souls like and can be extremely difficult until you know what you're doing.

However, there are a couple things about it that might turn you off:

* This game is meant to be played with a keyboard and mouse. I tried using my Xbox Elite controller, but there is no way to swap the triggers and bumpers, even with the Steam controller configuration. This is really frustrating because they have dodge and block set to the bumpers, and you activate your skills using the triggers. I could have lived with this, but then I discovered that you cannot switch between locked-on targets using the controller.

* You will spend a lot, and I mean A LOT of time walking. The maps are HUGE and cities are miles away from each other. This a feature of the game. You're supposed to spend a lot of time in the wild. Camping and living off the land are part of the game. That being said some people may not have the patience for this.

Donovan
Donovan

So, with going on 200 hours in the game so far, I think it's a fair time to leave a review.

TL;DR, 100% recommended. The game can be a bit rough around the edges, but it's a true diamond in the rough in every sense of the phrase and doesn't deserve a lot of the negative reviews it receives. 10/10 in my book

I remember when my friend was first showing the game to me by streaming it on Discord. He'd barely gotten his hands on a prospector's backpack and was excited for his lantern to hang in front of his character instead of behind them. He was still in Chersonese at that time, and decided to pop into a cave, where he promptly died.

I recall I bought the game when it was on sale, and the DLCs during a later sale. I absolutely remember my first two or three hours in the game playing with him. Terrified of everything, afraid to go 2v2 with bandits, running like a little bitch through Conflux Mountain in search of mana and praying I didn't run into anything terrible. I remember getting mana, then deciding to go down the ramp I'd seen, only to come face-to-face with the Tuanosaur, and proceeding to run away like a little bitch again. I remember how great it felt when we finally took down the Gold Lich, and when I finally finished my quest line with the Holy Mission.

I feel like we barely scratched the surface of the content in Soroboreans, and never even set foot in Three Brothers, and I can absolutely agree that the combat in this game is, as stated above, rough around the edges. But if you're willing to look past those minor flaws, and actually learn to take advantage of them, or learn to work around them, it's rewarding. There's such a variety of builds and skill combinations that this game offers that I've rarely seen done in other games. I can also agree that the world feels somewhat empty, and after your fifth time through a region, it can begin to grow tedious.

That said, once you've gotten to that point, I wouldn't fault anybody for enabling the debug menu to double the player's movement speed just for the sake of running back and forth between cities (Which shouldn't really be needed much anymore since the stash is now shared between all player homes). The debug menu also gives you a history of saves for each character you make and play, which can help alleviate some of the issues of "Well I didn't know I only had so many days to complete this quest" or "I went somewhere I shouldn't have and got killed"

Jbals
Jbals

Good game if you don't have any other games to play

HansZeFlammen
HansZeFlammen

Outward is basically death stranding + darksoul.

GrimmWolf714
GrimmWolf714

Despite the fact that the quest chain is relatively short, Outward is all-around one of the most underrated multi-genre games I have ever come across. The lore is decent, the quests are demanding at times, the puzzles are challenging (if you can find them), and the post-game arenas are intense. What keeps me glued to this game though, no contest, is the theory crafting aspect of "specializing" each character. It's still somewhat limited, but the game is still relatively new, and so far there has been steady DLC added about once a year. Thank You Dev team, and please hit us with a new expansion soon!

JayRahq
JayRahq

Pretty good open world RPG so far and can definitely see myself sinking some hours into this gem.

If you're a fan of games like Dragons Dogma, Kingdoms of Amalur or even Fable with a hint of From Software influence then you'll most likely enjoy this.

spazz8263
spazz8263

Im really enjoying the game. its a slow start so be patient. I just wish online play was easier

Anonymous
Anonymous

I purchased this game under false pretense. I took hours to research the combat and builds, and picked one based on videos and game-play.

It was simple: Craft potions for gold.

Use traps and bow dots to meticulously make my way through the content.

Once I bought the game I discovered that both of these mechanics were nerfed.

You can't craft for gold (you must loot items, but you have no bag space to do it). The latest money generation is online: exploit and grind.

2nd DOTs were seen as cheese, when in reality a full grown moose goes down in second from a real life dot.

This is a single player game, not an MMO. the fact that the developers would kill the most commonly used play-styles shows they don't care what the players want. Mods are broken, with no support...so no player fixes.

So I played to the end, built a town, and made an incredible mace build with the highest DPS possible (230 per hit before skills or elemental buffs...Levant quest-line build)...and...In the end the experience was crap.

If you want a good survival game with no hand holding that is actually fun then buy Conan. Varied combat and you can build amazing things...like a sky tram system that you can use to travel high above the terrain from tower to hand-built tower.

Ogma
Ogma

If you're tired of open-world games that are designed like they hate exploration and the very concept of an open world (big flashing quest markers, highly available fast travel, lit up pathways, etc.), this might rekindle your love of open-world games.

The thing that really makes this game work, is the combination of the complex of mechanical systems interacting with each other, and the room the game affords you to make your own mistakes. It's got well-designed, lightweight RPG elements, some fairly serious, comprehensive survival mechanics, and brutal, unforgiving combat, yes, I'm going to say it, not unlike Dark Souls, specifically Dark Souls II. The game gives you all of this, and then lets you go wherever you want and do almost whatever you want, not unlike how Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind did.

Things you cannot do in this game and expect to succeed; not pay attention to your surroundings when out adventuring, not preparing for a trip appropriately (bring weather-appropriate clothing, food, water, a bedroll or tent, and whatever you might need to protect yourself, such as a weapon, or the components for spells), try to pick up every item you see, engage an enemy without preparation or forethought, and generally not take the game and its challenges seriously.

This is one of those games that is made for gamers that I would describe as 'extremely competent,' and rewards problem-solving and lateral thinking in very satisfying ways. Mastery of this game will come with time, with thinking, and with consistent effort. There just aren't enough games like this.

What this game is not: this game is NOT a hard game. The game will push back against you if you try and fight against its systems instead of making use of them, and if you find yourself in that situation, you might have the personal experience of high(er) difficulty, because the way in which you are trying to play the game is not really fitting with the systems of the game.

This game is not a AAA title; don't expect every line to be voice-acted, don't expect bleeding-edge visual fidelity, don't come into this looking for conformity to current trends in game design. You won't find any of that here. The game hits a 'good enough' in all of those categories, enabling the developers to dump all of the resources into the things about this game that really matter, and that was exactly what they did.

This game is DEFINITELY NOT a Dark Souls clone, though one could be forgiven for reaching that conclusion if you saw a few moments of combat in the gameplay and had nothing else by which to judge. Yes there is a stamina bar and dodge-rolling, and a third-person lock-on system, and the combat punishes you for making mistakes, but that is about where the similarities between these two games end. The game is much closer to an older Elder Scrolls title, with a tiny bit of Dark Souls II flavor sprinkled on top, with a significant focus on survival elements.

If you're tired of games that are derivative of Ubisoft work, or games with shallow mechanics that don't actively engage the player's thinking, give Outward a try.

thestone85
thestone85

Awesome game! Only bad part is not being able to jump...

Lustre
Lustre

I wanted to enjoy this game a lot but even in the time it took me to try to learn the basics so I could play with a friend I was put off it. I would die a lot and get permanent debuffs from dying with very little explanation of what to do to clear them (and not resources to clear them with). Dark Souls punishes you but at least you can restart after you die. The death penalties in this game following you is so brutal.
To add to this, I wasn't able to try the weapons that I wanted and found my character looked hideous and there just isn't enough in this game to make me want to get good at it.

Grimmlyswiss
Grimmlyswiss

devs should have made a new store page on this one. i haven't purchased the DEFED at the time of writting this review.

SUNofTITANS
SUNofTITANS

Unless you are a hardcore survival game fan I don't recommend trying this one. Controls are janky and the game is very buggy. You can't delete certain items and they just persist in your world or inventory forever. Gear youve worked hard for disappears without a trace. Overall did not have any fun.

Guizzo Squizzo
Guizzo Squizzo

Se você gosta de Souls-like ou jogos como Kingdom Come, esse jogo é pra você!

FlailsAboutWildly
FlailsAboutWildly

I go out. I go down... I go out, again...

kingdan394
kingdan394

its a fun game playing alone but it can be better if you have someone to play with

Damn.Ninja
Damn.Ninja

Do yourself a favor and research a guide before even playing the game. By the time I did, I was already burnt out from trying to figure it out myself and just ended up quitting.

-Vision
-Vision

Knew this game would be gold when I check the graphic options and it literally goes from potato to ultra. 10/10

Gep is love.

Dave
Dave

Haven't had this much fun in a while! Love the depth

Jeanne Battler Oren of the Truth
Jeanne Battler…

Finally

a game for people who wanted design to keep going in the direction of morrowind and not skyrin

Invest
Invest

Wow this game is really addictive! It is like a hybrid of the Gothic games and probably Morrowind. You have total freedrom of where you go, no ****** quest markers like in Assassins Creed and these other games. And when I shut down my computer I already fantasize about where to go the next time.

But then again the game is really hard in the beginning! And even later some enemies can two-shot you. You need to have food and water with you and also antidote and other stuff.

Let me give you my two biggest problems with the game and also a solution to both:

Problem 1: Stupid carry limit

I love to kill enemies, loot everything of them and then go back to town to make some sweet silver. But damn even with a good backpack I could only carry 75 and that is not a lot. I constantly needed to walk back to town to sell stuff then walk back to the loot then walk back again to the town... it was so tedious and annoying. And problem 2 didn't help.

Problem 2: Stupid stamina, I am always running out of it

So you need to walk a lot in this game but the problem is you run out of stamina fast, especially with heavy armor. It's really annoying. I get why the developers made this. Once I almost died because winter came and I only had my heavy armor on me and stuggled to get back to town. And when I was in heavy armor I needed maaaany minutes to get from point A to B. It was very boring.

With these two problems I almost stopped playing, until I found the problem to my solutions.

Solution to all problems: Custom Weight mod!

So the solution to both problems for me is installing the Custom Weight mod from NexusDB and setting the carry limit of my backpack to 75 x 10 = 750 (you can set it as high as you want).

With enough place in my bag I could finally grab all the sweet loot of every enemy and also keep all food and medicine and traps and everything in my backpack. I was so relieved and happy.

And the problem with the long running distances has also been solved: I bought myself some special hat, clothes and shoes that all had a boost in speed and less stamina consumtion. And because I had enough place in my backpack I could just put my heavy armor in the backpack, put on my speedy clothes and VRUUUUMMM I feel like Sonic the Hedgehog.

So yes now with enough backpack space and enough stamina to run from A to B I know this is not how the developers intended the game to be played but for me at least the game is now 1000 times more fun and I love not need to constantly worry about running back to town to sell stuff.

So if you love adventuring out in foreigh lands, kill monsters and loot stuff and if you are not afraid to spend some hours get into the game and figure out how to fight every disease and when to sleep and everything this game is an absolute gem! Totally recommended.

Oh and a bonus tipp: If you bought the Soroborean DLC you can install the "Soroboreans Dlc Travel Unleashed" mod from NexusDB and the Soroborean merchant in every town will "fast travel" you to every city you like for only 200 silver.

GamerSerabut
GamerSerabut

Get maul by wolves over and over again. Get lost with no bearing whatsoever. Foods and rations getting eaten by wild animals when i was knocked out. 10/10 would venture again.

BeyondLucky
BeyondLucky

i don't know why people say this game is hard, there is no negative to you dying and the only reason people say its hard is because the combat is clunky, slow, and it takes forever to get anywhere. The games fine but honestly overrated in the "hardcore" mentality.

Erathsmus
Erathsmus

I like difficult games, I like RPGs that require planning, I like games that are mysterious or poorly explained, so I decided to play Outward since most of the negative reviews complain about these aspects and I thought it would be fun. It's not actually fun however. It feels like the game is designed to waste your time to cover up the lack of content. Since there's no traditional leveling system, you have to get stronger by acquiring new powers, items, and buffs.

Early game, this usually means good food, the passive skills from the starting town trainers, and unlocking the ability to use magic. But most of the power upgrades require some sort of tedious garbage that isn't actually fun at all.

Want a strong buff to stamina and health? You need to gather specific ingredients to cook the dish you want, assuming you have the recipe for it. Hope you have a cooking station, or you'll need to fiddle with the clunky inventory UI to first chop a tree, then make a fire, then put a cooking pot on the fire...

Want to cast magic? Your mana is limited by how well-rested you are - that's right, you need to be sleep deprived to actually unlock your full mana pool. And restoring mana is another tedious task, you have to eat specific food, usually with fish as ingredients.

You have to make sure to keep drinking water. Don't get hungry! Now you need sleep, so roll out the tent. You have to spend half of your camping time guarding the camp or you'll get ambushed by 2-3 enemies. Oh and make sure you spend a couple hours repairing equipment too, or your gear will break. Don't even try to fight more than 1 enemy at once - attacking, blocking, dodging, even moving all sucks up your stamina and you really only have enough to beat one enemy at a time.

Now slap a weather / temperature system on top of this. And maybe a disease or two. I think I spent more time scrolling through the clunky inventory menu than actually fighting or exploring. It's ok, the world is weirdly empty anyway, so you're not missing much. And if you die, you get some sort of cheesy 'punishment' where you just wake up somewhere else on the map with the game clock advanced by a few hours/days. It just feels weird, like a mod or a beta release rather than a fully fledged product.

You have several easy money farms available as soon as you start the game. I don't think progression in this game is actually difficult, you just have to grind it out. But why bother? It's just not fun