Outward - open world RPG where you are an ordinary adventurer and survival is harsh

[Safav Hamon]

I look forward to the inevitable review bombing

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Survival is meant to be harsh. That's the name of the game. If you can't handle that play a different game.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Again, no one is forcing you to reload by having multiple saves. Just because you don't have any self control, doesn't mean that others should be made to suffer.

none is forcing you to buy the game either. the devs is very keen on what kind of game and experience you are going into. it maybe isn't a popular decision, and maybe a bad financial decision, but they have a vision of what their game is going to be and going all in regardless of the risk.

that is at least very respectable.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/794260/discussions/0/1840188800802228790/

Outward isn't the game for you. You are clearly not our target audience and the reason why we are so transparent about the nature of our systems is to make sure people know what they are getting.

You know we have weapon durability, you know we have inventory management, you know our combat will be more convoluted, and you know our game mixes coop and story. If you think you won't like it, don't buy it. I prefer if gamers don't waste their money on something that wasn't designed for them, even if it means less sales. I want our players to be happy with their purchase. There are so many games out there, you are free to pick something that fits your taste.

i am not too keen of it too, but at the very least i am curious and the system so far reflect that it is built around the 1 save thing (how death happens, basically a random encounters and debuff you have to overcome, etc)

 

[Safav Hamon]

that is at least very respectable.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/794260/discussions/0/1840188800802228790/

Outward isn't the game for you. You are clearly not our target audience and the reason why we are so transparent about the nature of our systems is to make sure people know what they are getting.

You know we have weapon durability, you know we have inventory management, you know our combat will be more convoluted, and you know our game mixes coop and story. If you think you won't like it, don't buy it. I prefer if gamers don't waste their money on something that wasn't designed for them, even if it means less sales.

More like stubborn. They will either patch in basic features like saving, or 22 people will lose their jobs. Is this hill worth dying on?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I look forward to the inevitable review bombing

Yeah, after all that's what happened to dark souls

 

[HoboForEternity]

seems like there are 3 major main quest line, thy are all exclusive to other (other gothic homage with their factions) and side quests. ranging from questline to tasks which are basically fetch quests

 

[Jinn]

(other gothic homage with their factions)

Hmmm. I'm pretty sure I read a developer response on their steam forums to someone asking if they were inspired by Gothic, and they said something like they'd heard of it, but never played it. So as much as I would like this game to be inspired by Gothic, and as much as some of it looks similar in ways, it isn't. I'll try to look the post up next chance I get.

 

[HoboForEternity]

i found it

PB is based in Germany, we're based in Quebec City. I played only the first Risen and never played Gothic titles. Elex is on my list of games to play but still haven't touched it.

With that being said, I think that having a small budgets but wanting to make something big is a similar context, and that brought us to some similar design decisions.

I consider any comparison to PB as a nice compliment, considering that they are much more experienced than we are and they also have a larger team

https://steamcommunity.com/app/794260/discussions/0/1741105170032570716/

he at leats played risen. dunno about the other member or what is his role in the team. he at least know of PB and maybe other members played gothic

 

[Berekän]

This kind of came out of nowhere. Some of the things they're saying look great on paper but the lack of content is probably going to kill it, the gameplay itself looks line nothing to write home about, certainly not enought to sustain it.

 

[SophosTheWise]

Yeah, it's meant to be a consequences mode. It's a great addition that I wish more games had.

Don't reload then? It's a singleplayer game.

I don't have unlimited freetime to replay every open world RPG, so I often like to reload and experiment with different outcomes.

They apparently have a vision and we'll see if it works out for them or not when it comes to finances. So many people lament all the time that games aren't courageous enough and go the 'safe' route. Now we have a game that has - admittedly - eclectic ideas and the devs stand by it. A game that is all about uncertainty, having no guarantees and so on - so having one safe slot might be a risk, but they are risking it because they are being consistent in their vision. It's part of the whole game.

I don't often throw that word around but this is entitlement. They don't make the game for you or to accomodate you, to fit into your life style or whatever. Instead of moaning about that the game doesn't align with the way you usually play games, you could just adjust your expectations. Why do you have to see all the different outcomes? I've found that being able to reload and to experiment with all outcomes, you are robbing yourself of your own decisions in a game, simply because you believe you have to see it all. But nobody but yourself is telling you that you have to see it all. This is completely on you. It's fine if you want to see it all, but that's your decision. Own your decision and either make time to play the whole game as long as you need to see everything or don't play it. You lose nothing by not playing it. Nobody's taking away anything from you. If I were you, if I really wanted to play this game but feared that its features might frustrate you - simply acknowledge that frustration, accept it, ask yourself why you are frustrated - because if you know that, you don't have to be. Just take the game for what it is and if it doesn't fit you, that's okay. Don't let your own expectations frustrate you but simply adjust them while playing. If playing it is fun for you, then that's great. If you are not having fun, that's also okay.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

It is a certain entitlement, i.e. "this game must be built for me and me alone!" But honestly, it's refreshing to have *choices* of *different* types of experiences to have. This game is going for something bold and we should be rewarding that, because it's not every day you're going to get a game like this. If it doesn't fit what you want that's fine, but whining or complaining it needs to align more with your tendencies just shits on the idea of "there is room for different experiences in the RPG video game realm." I want more devs and games to try different eclectic ideas, not just copy and paste what the last successful open-world RPG did or what not. More diversity is great.

 

[HoboForEternity]

after around a week hanging out in the discord, i am even more excited for this game. so far the developers has been really cool, transparent, they answer (directly or indirectly) any questions i have when they can, and watching their stream. it's really great to see community engagement at this level. they have been super transparent with the mechanics too. you can see how inventory, status, afflictions, how co-op works, etc in their streams and Q&As.

i really like these guys and the game sounds more and more appealing to me. 3 factions mutually exclusive, some quest are timed, and if you don't finish them the world goes on. for example i watched a youtuber (no real time footage tho) commented a sidequest involving descalating a situation between poorly paid bands of mercenary and villagers, if you don't intervene the situation escalate and the village got burned down to the ground.8 type of melee weapons, with magic system on top, traps and ranged weapons.

too bad there isn't a proper crime system. killing NPC, stealing and the consequences aren't really implemented maybe because they focus more on the exploration part. loot are a mix between random and hand placed (if i got it right) like some unique weapons will be hidden, well placed like gothic, but the regular weapons and items are RNG based.

 

[Tovias]

This looks really interesting. After playing so much Kenshi I got an itch for more exploration and players getting bullied. Seems like the game is also not that demanding so I will try it out, hopefully the temperature and food aspect won't turn into an annoyance.

 

[Naerydan]

Just passing to inform that there are already players streaming this on YTube and Twitch. Looks intriguing enough, a bit janky tho'. I like it.

 

[ADL]

You can pick it up for $30 off key sites already.

 

[Life of the Party]

My thoughts on Outward after a few dozen hours

I'd like to start talking about Outward by talking about another game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. This game revolutionized open worlds more than a decade ago by creating a virtual world that seemed to exist outside of the player and really not give much of a damn about us. Factions of enemies would battle it out, survival was a tough part of the game and victory never a guarantee, but at the same time the world was not necessarily against you, it was just a very hostile world you happened to be a part of.

Outward takes this concept and dresses it with fantastical elements and a soulslike combat system. The end result is fantastic, something that goes further than most other games I've played in its uncompromising vision and is a real breath of fresh air. You start the game owing the town 150 pieces of silver for the evil deeds of your ancestors, a Blood Price as they call it that you haven't been able to pay for the last few months. This framework will set you out to adventure in the initial area of the Chersonese, but how you achieve it is 100% your choice. You could beat up your friend and try to get your money that way or make him pity you and tell you where he's hidden enough supplies to pay the Blood Price. You could go to the first dungeon of the game and get enough resources plus beat a mission to get enough coins or you could do a favor for someone in the Tribe, in which case they will forfeit your Blood Price.

This first quest already sets the tone for Outward. This game gives you nothing, limits you nowhere and always has plenty of ways to proceed. At the same time, the mechanics and systems are incredibly well thought out. In any other game, inventory capacity is just a number that bothers you. Here, almost everything you find is worthy of being carried so thinking about the space in your backpack is key to success. Sometimes you have to cut a mission short, go back to base and sell some stuff and go back to the dungeon. Backpacks are physical and have different attributes. One of the earliest ones gives no roll penalty but can't carry a lot, however most other backpacks heavily reduce your roll ability and you must drop them before fighting (by pressing down).

I happened to be unfortunate enough to lose my backpack completely with a LOT of valuables. When I went back to my hometown to rebuild... it was completely broken. My house, my stash full of valuables, destroyed. This is loss like I've never experienced in a game before and will take me hours and hours to go back, to the point it's probably better to delete my savefile alltogether. I have no house in any region, no backpack and no hope. This is my fault, I could've avoided my towns destruction and it was my recklessness that led me to die and lose my backpack. Some won't like that this can happen, but I happen to appreciate this level of utter defeat and like when games give me the option to fail this hard.

This is all possible thanks to the game's save system. There's none. It autosaves every single second, so you can never go back on any decision or wrongdoing. This both makes you feel relaxed while adventuring as there's no pressure to save and extremely anxious as you can't really try out a fight twice without losing a looot of time. Dying triggers a "defeat state", meaning you get dragged to a bandit camp if you died to bandits, might get saved by the wonderful Geb and given a free potion or just taken back to town. In any case, defeat is almost always a huge waste of time and something to be dreaded, but sometimes you might find yourself closer to your objective after a death or discovering a new part of the world.

Talking about the world, I really like what they've done here. It's not as massive as some other open world games but everything in there feels like it has a reason to be. Dungeons are plentiful and extremely difficult for the most part, requiring tons of preparation and resources to succesfuly complete but usually giving out much bigger rewards.

There's so much I wanna talk about but I'm afraid my space is running out. The magic system, which is extremely ingenious and the most unique I've ever seen; the way you skill your character, completely freeform and with no levelling system at all (trainers will teach you skills for money instead); the combat system, which is not to the level of dark souls but has enough out-of-combat preparation options to make it comparable; the huge amount of ways in which you can build your character; the four completely distinct environments with their peculiar environmental hazards; the three different factions which lead to three completely different stories for three different playthroughs; how excelently balanced its crafting, alchemy and sale prices are to create perfect flow between game systems, etc.

The game isn't perfect. There's a lot of jank to button prompts, some issues with inventory handling (mild), the graphics are nice but not incredible, etc. All expected from a team of nine developers. What I did not expect was to see this much actual content, this many incredibly fresh premises and ideas and so much potential for a sequel with more budget.

Did I mention it has splitscreen and online coop? Yeah.

TL;DR: Outward is a firm candidate to GOTY for me desipte lacking in polish thanks to being really fucking unique and punishing

Edit: I'll be streaming the start of this game tomorrow, DM me for a link if you want to ask any questions or just watch some gameplay, or even if you wanna coop once the game releases.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

What do yaa think, better take it on PC or on XBOX One . I love to play on big screen in 4k , but i wonder about possible mods on nexus for it... Anyone have similar dillema? For PC it surely take some hours and on Xbox it will be ready after midnight.

 

[Doma]

Sweet sweet eurojank! cannot fucking wait! I want to play it now!

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Made my Gothic 3 memories back, ah sweet times...
This one looks like really good stuff:

Dat loading screens look so gootish or oblivionishh.

After all You can feel like Frodo with these bare foot and large backpack in the start...

 

[Kem0sabe]

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Legends of Ellaria - Anyone play it ? It looks gorgeous and it is in Steam EA playable. I think it may be direction that many future cpgs follow... it made huuge step since i last watched it. Going to loose my wallet tonight. I mentioned it becouse it's somewhat similar but in much larger scope.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Legends of Ellaria - Anyone play it ? It looks gorgeous and it is in Steam EA playable. I think it may be direction that many future cpgs follow... it made huuge step since i last watched it. Going to loose my wallet tonight. I mentioned it because it's somewhat similar but in much larger scope.

That game ticks so many boxes of mine that I'm surprised I'm not the one making this game. (It'd be shit if I made it though.)

 

[Murk]

Potato man's back at it, nice. His vids are usually short and to the point, and they give a decent idea of what the game's like.

This game's got me interested for sure. Might throw down with it after I get back from my trip.

 

[Jinn]

Watched a little bit of some streams and the game looks like a lot of fun and like it'll offer some nice replayability with the 3 separate main quest lines. I kind of wanted to play it co-op with my brother too, but it looks like it's more of a visitor co-op systems, where the visiting person doesn't actually complete quests done with the host? Is this right, or am I misinterpreting?

Also, watched a little bit of that video. He was mentioning RNG loot a lot. Does anyone know if there will be plenty of hand-placed loot too? This is very important for me.