Outward Reviews

Nine Dots Studio’s survival and exploration-focused RPG Outward launched a week or so ago. Back then we got a chance to check out a couple of early reviews for the game, but now we get a more complete picture. However, if you were expecting some form of critical consensus, you might end up disappointed, since Outward looks like quite a polarizing title. Have a look:

Rock Paper Shotgun Scoreless:

I am not incredibly enthused to fight more baddies in Outward. I’m not that excited to speak to more of its cardboardy NPCs. I’m not looking forward to getting up from my chair to do some light cardio while I wait for my character to warm up by a campfire in the middle of a snowstorm, so I don’t get diseased and have to trek to the nearest village for a herbal tea and sleep for a day before I’m healthy again.

But that travel, maaaaan. It absolutely nails it. If you’ve ever sold nearly everything you own and bought a plane ticket to somewhere that sounds cool, if you’ve ever read ‘On the Road’ and ‘The Beach’ on an airport bench because you’re that much of a walking cliché, it’ll resonate with you immediately. It understands that a heavy bag can make you feel lighter, for all the cut tethers it signifies.

IGN In Progress:

I’d be better off starting over from scratch, in which case I might be able to beat Outward in another 30 to 40 hours. But frankly, it might take even longer without co-op help, which is getting difficult to find because all my friends who are not being paid to stick with it are well and truly done with this game. To quote TJ as he signed out after last night’s co-op session, “I would not wish another hour of this game on my worst enemy.”

So that’s where we are right now, and it might be where we have to leave it. I’ve played more than enough to form an opinion on this game (which is not positive, as you can probably guess based on the above experience), and if there’s no way to recover my stuff then Outward will not get a very good recommendation from me. It probably wasn’t going to, anyway.

PCGamesN Scoreless:

Then it occurs to me. Some games take skill, others take strategy. Outward only asks one thing of you and that is time. You don’t have to be good to get far in Outward. You don’t need to master tactics or clever positioning. You just need to invest an unholy amount of time into it. The game simply doesn’t respect your life outside of it. It has no interest in you as a player, only in itself as a machine to be fed minutes and hours.

You can spend four hours working on getting new gear and walk away with a new pair of boots that might reduce the damage you take. It just isn’t worth it. There is some weird charm in how Outward delights in obfuscating progress. I supposed it’d work on me if there was nothing else to play. But there just isn’t enough here to warrant it when so many games do respect your time. If you truly want to give your all to one game then maybe Outward is for you. But, if you’re hoping for a game that you can jump into for a few hours, then actually going outward is a better choice.

GameSpace 8.5/10:

Overall Outward is a fun and unique experience for those who desire the harder type of gameplay reminiscent of Souls like games. The blend of survival with this combat and its different take on magic make for a fun ride. It’s light story and issues in sound work detract from that though. At $40 USD though it can offer hours and hours of gameplay alone or with a friend.

Windows Central 3.5/5:

At the end of the day, Outward is an RPG with bold new ideas that it executes really well, but it’s lacking when it comes to fundamental things like combat feel and open-world design — two things that are important to do well. Overall, the game is good, but it could stand to be a lot better.

MMORPG.com 5/10:

While Outward is definitely a niche game to start with, it feels like it could have used another few years of refinement before being released to the world. There is such an incredible amount of potential here for someone looking for a difficult, story-based adventure, but so much in the way of enjoying the adventure. With such an interesting take on a dynamic story going throughout your adventure, it’s unfortunate there is so much detracting from it.

Push Square 6/10:

Outward may initially appear a lost cause but look past its unforgiving nature and you’ll be greeted with an ambitious nod to old school RPGs with survival elements shrewdly weaved in. Outward’s priorities are not widespread and a clear-cut focus on role-playing elements does an admirable job of compensating for lacklustre visuals and slack elsewhere. The realm of Aurai may seem daunting and unfair, but such is life and it’s a message clearly conveyed throughout. Besides, at the expense of a little loot, co-op and split-screen options are present for a more laid-back experience. Your journey will feel far less empty as you bob along to quintessential RPG soundtracks with a fellow adventurer by your side. Sadly, this doesn’t quite remedy finicky bugs and glitches that directly compromise what could easily be a far more remarkable player experience. Outward may aim high but is most definitely flawed, constituting a game just above par that’s most ideal for RPG enthusiasts.

PlayStation LifeStyle 7/10:

Outward will be a tough sell for many players. The clunky mechanics, dated visuals, and reliance on survival will likely turn off plenty of potential adventurers. However, you’ll soon learn to look past all of these hurdles. The less-than-beautiful graphics are wiped away the first time you see a glowing sunset. The sweeping orchestral score is possibly the best part about Outward, a truly appropriate accompaniment for this adventure.

In another twist, there’s a co-op feature in which you can team up with a fellow adventurer. While I didn’t get to dabble it as much as I’d like, it does promise to be a significantly different experience. Journeying with a friend, rather than by yourself, can be a make-or-break prospect. If you’re scared of of the harrowing journey of Outward, you could always bring a friend to tag along with. It could be the difference between life or death.

There are many problems with Outward, but it also scratches an itch that many western RPGs simply do not. Outward will test the skills of any seasoned player, but the journey can be a rewarding one, if you want to risk it.

And if you’d like to play the game yourself, PC Gamer offers this handy “coward’s” guide for those of you who may feel daunted by Outward’s difficulty curve. An excerpt:

Weave a web of tripwires

Traps are relentless in Outward, often peppering the ground leading up to enticing chests or dark tunnels. You can use them to your advantage in the same way. Relentlessly.

Tripwire traps are easy to set up with no prerequisite skills. That may seem like a safety hazard but… I guess that’s the point. After your trap is built on the ground, any number of sharp objects can be put inside as offensive material. Metal and wooden spikes (which can be crafted or found in supply caches in the wild), spare weapons, or predator bones looted from the corpses of hyenas that you had bandits kill for you. You can even stick a fishing harpoon into a trap. Repeat ad infinitum.

You won’t set off your own traps (nor will your co-op friends) so feel free to be an absolute scumbag and sprint backwards through a hell of your own design with an enemy hot on your tail.