Outward was a game I've been interested in for awhile and with the $10 coupon on EGS and able to get the game for $6 I thought it would finally be time to give it a shot.
I knew game had action combat (not unlike the souls game but no where near refined) and survival elements but that's really it. I wasn't expecting quite the level of difficulty and strive for semi-realism. I'm playing on the normal mode, so I'm not sure the differences for Hardcore but what first struck me was the open ended nature of the game.
After making a character with a very barebones character creation, you start off on a ship wreck but are quickly brought to your home at a lighthouse and get told that due to a blood debt you owe 150 silver or you will lose your house. The town leader says she can get them to hold off for 5 days and from there you actually have 5 days or you lose your house. What was interesting was how the game doesn't actually tell you how to make the silver. There is quests (a few that is) but NPCs don't have quest markers so you actually have to seek them out.
I was playing coop at the start so me and my friend were working together to get the 150 silver. We found a quest in the first town where they wanted us to get a shield shaped mushroom from a borrow. The NPC then proceeded to tell us exactly how to get to the location which is really important because the world map doesn't actually show your current location. You need to find a landmark around and orient yourself accordingly. So me and my friend reach the borrow and it's a dungeon, and one that is very dark so at any time one of us needed to be using a torch or lantern or you could not tell where you were going.
Enemies hit hard and can be quite spongy as well. Slowly we make our way through the cave and found the mushroom but keep exploring further. The long we stayed around the more it felt like we were pushing it. As we got low on health and stamina was getting lower. Carrying more stuff then you should be will cause "burn" on the stamina bar. You need to rest in the game (or get specific items) to restore health and stamina beyond a certain point.
A neat little feature is that you can drop your backpack at anytime. So sometimes it's worth it to drop it before going into a fight if you're having weight issues. Eventually we managed to get back to the entrance (we were lost and happened upon it) and went outside and brought the mushroom to the lady. It wasn't quite enough silver but it was getting close. Selling items and pooling our money together we paid off the debt. From there you get told that some of the towns folk will be leaving and you can talk to them before they're off and each of them tell you about different factions in other regions and from here the game really opens up.
Technically you could go anywhere before this but now your given reason to. Traveling is long and grueling due to (as far as I know) there being no mounts and you needing to check the map and sights to see that you're going the right way. Map design isn't the best, it feels like an early 2000s MMO but it works. Graphically it looks like an last-gen open world title but with more modern effects. At this point I was playing solo and when I reached the end of the zone and the loading screen for the next zone, I was little surprised that the flavor text of an NPC (saying to bring traveling rations) wasn't just flavor text and you actually do need enough rations for the travel to the next region.
Hunger, Thirst, and Durability are mechanics in the game but they're fairly forgiving and if you sleep at an Inn (or your house), you get those status full, although if you camp outside you need to manage between time sleeping and guarding (so you don't get ambushed), and it will cost hunger and thirst among other status. You can also repair gear during this time too. Days seem to actually matter in the game as my current quest told me I need to wait 3 days.
Currently I'm not sure what the whole main story is but the faction I joined in the second region promised to wipe away the rest of the blood debt and the game told me that joining this faction was permanent and will change things. Currently I haven't seen the ramifications but I'm intrigued to see how it will unfold.
Another interesting thing is how the game handles death. Death isn't a traditional failure state. When you die a random event can occur. For example when I died in the second region for the first time, a weird tree-like being saved me and brought me to their abode. From there they were willing to aid me with some equipment and so I got better armor and a bigger backpack. The next time I died (not long after), I was saved by a passerby who left me a note and a drink. Other times I died earlier in my journey I awoke in an prison with a powerful monster in the next cell over and another time in a bandit stronghold.
Regardless you don't lose your stuff though your backpack will be on the ground when you spawn back in.
Every action is permanent in the game due to it always saving. So when this stuff happens it can be a huge setback, either increasing how long it will take you to get back home or to your original destination and also lowering resources.
Overall, the game is a bit janky. The UI and combat isn't the greatest and the writing isn't the best either... Yet despite that exploring is fun, the open ended nature of the game adds a sense of mystery. You aren't some hero, just a regular person just trying to get by. I die fairly often but it feels like it's all just part of the learning process.
Has anyone else played Outward? Seems fairly niche. Sorry if my post was meandering or boring.
(Also it has split screen which is unique for a game like this)
