There are many times I have sat down with the intention of playing six hours to get just a peek at a game, and I’ll find myself making it all the way through the title in that little time. It can be a pleasant surprise, a thrill even, to experience a fulfilling gaming experience in such a short amount of time. The open-world survival role-playing game Outward, from Canadian developers Nine Dots, is not like that. Not like that at all.
I’m going to be upfront, though I personally played for a total of six hours, three of those were done in split-screen co-op, because that’s a freaking option! Outward also features online co-op, but let’s be real, titles like this don’t often feature split-screen. Or at all, really. Not at the scale of this title anyway, in the three hours played, both going dramatically different directions, I still didn’t manage to unlock magic yet. This is what I’m talking about folks, even for an RPG this game is dense.
The biggest things that keep this game moving at such a measured pace are the levels of difficulty and complexity. Outward has a very specific design philosophy based around the idea of keeping the game grounded in ways a lot of fantasy RPGs don’t. There are survival elements, involving eating, drinking, and sleeping to maintain health. This also includes boiling water to be drinkable and making soothing teas for indigestion. It is balanced fairly well, and I never felt bogged down by maintaining my nutrition, though it was a nice addition to the challenges. The sickness elements move over into the resting portions as well, where for example, if you use a bedroll without a tent in the rain, you can catch a cold. Temperatures affect you as well and you need to find the right clothing for the right environments.
Even the magic has a level of complexity to it that adds to the challenge (and I’m sure thrill, I’ll let you know when I get my hands on it somewhere outside the tutorial). You don’t just aim and let loose a fireball. You first lay a sigil on the ground, using a crystal you made from fusing a mana stone with fire, you then stand in the circle you made and use a spark spell. Boom goes the fireball. It’s a very interesting take on magic in a game, that truly makes it feel like a ritual.
And you’ll have to get good at sparking quickly because the combat certainly doesn’t take it easy. Every enemy with a blade or fangs can cause bleeding, as well as poison and illness respectively. Multiple enemies will flank you, archers will run and gun like crazy. You do have many two and one-handed weapons to fight back with though, including polearms, blades, maces, axes, bows, and guns. You’ll take most opponents out with standard dodge-rolling, blocking, and attacking, watching your stamina and balance meters to stay on the offensive and on your feet. Most of your trip will require giant backpacks for all of your gear, but they slow you, and your dodge-rolls, quite a bit. So, of course, there is a dedicated button for tossing your bag to the ground like an angry schoolyard punk ready to throw down with the bully. It’s always funny when you do it, and devastating when you forget to. Your bag is your lifeline, everything has weight, including money. You cant hold a lantern if you use a shield or two-handed weapon, but you can hang your lantern on a bigger backpack for hands-free light. It makes you very aware of your bag, and what you should be doing to keep not only yourself safe, but it safe as well.
Dropping your bag can turn out to be more advantageous than just weight loss too. Instead of your standard millions of manual saves most of us (c’mon admit it) have in RPGs like this, so we can retry outcomes or areas over and again until they’re perfect, Outward relies on its own autosaves, meaning that decisions you make, and mistakes they may lead to, have consequences. This is actually used very interestingly when handling character “deaths.” I quote the word because it seems that you never truly shuffle off this mortal coil, but rather face consequences for passing out super hard. Got taken down by critters, you may wake up in their lair after having been dragged there, diseased and dehydrated. Succumb to poison in the wilds, maybe you’re found by a traveler, lugged to the closest camp, a little lighter on items from your bag. Or best of all, like my wife and I, you can be ambushed by bandits, and dragged to their mine to be slaves. They stash your clothes and pocket gear in a trunk and leave your bags by the tents. It’s nighttime, so the escape is slow, but not difficult. Back to the adventure with wounds and a little less gold, but you’re still kicking. It’s a very neat way to keep the organic story of your adventure going, just with new flavorful bumps in the road.
Outward’s philosophy of allowing you to develop your story in your own way is what really makes it unique. You do not play as a Dragonborn or a king’s favorite murder machine, you are just a person. Your day job is lighthouse keeper, and you’re just a schmo stuck in a world with backward rules like “Blood Prices.” Turns out, your grandma did something that made the village upset, so your bloodline owes the village a debt. The latest byproduct of that debt was some kind of business journey you were returning home from when the ship sank, not mere miles from the shores of your home. Now the village is debt mad and survivor’s guilt mad at you, as they exclaim that your month’s rent is due now, on account of all the bereavement pay the village government is supposed to give out to the widows and whatnot. So you’re given five days to pay up, do a big ol’ favor for someone, or you’re on the street, jack. It’s a pretty great and jarring intro to this world, serving to motivate you to either feel bad for transgressions of the past and wanting to work off the debt, or saying “screw you guys, “ and heading for the hills. And whether you’re evicted or not, you’re able to make that decision, as the loose storyline allows you to either make a better name for your family, join a church for knowledge, or strike out to the free lands to make a new name. But the real story is what you do in between, how you survive or thrive, and what goals you can set for yourself. Even skills are learned by choice, with you going out to find specific trainers to teach you new moves, and magic use must be found and can only be obtained by sacrificing part of your health meter. Otherwise, you’re as tough as your best gear and best-timed dodge-roll.
Now, along with all of my heaps of praise does come the obvious point that this is not the prettiest title out there. The draw distance, at least on Xbox was pretty rough, animations can be stiff, and there is a certain level of jank to controls and texture mapping. But, it must be stated that Outward is developed by a team of ten people, led by a man who has claimed he despises the idea of crunch times. Founder Guillaume Boucher-Vidal has said in interviews that he feels crunching at the last minute should be looked at as “a failure… rather than a point of pride.” While it may not be the most polished looking thing out there, the unique design choices and world they have built are incredibly impressive. The fact alone that they are working with the seemingly radical philosophy of “don’t work your staff to death,” makes them a team worth watching in my opinion. There are also some quality of life things, such as the in-game map not having an icon showing where your character currently is, that can be frustrating at times. Judging by the “challenge” mentality and the opposite of handholding prevalent in the game, I assume it is a purposeful choice by the team, but I felt it still needed to be noted.
I absolutely can not recommend Outward enough for people looking for a unique and challenging RPG, that for the amount of content and playability is worth the $40 price tag on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. However, I can’t really say it will be the best for someone with precious little time. Even prepping to leave the main town for a small trip can take a while. It is a game of small steps and steep learning curves. But if you’re not afraid, journey out into the wilds. And bring a friend, it’s always better with a pal to hold your lantern for you.