When it first got here out all the way in which again in 1999, Outcast was an revolutionary and even visionary title. In an period the place most video games didn’t actually have an excessive amount of of an emphasis on their storylines exterior of journey video games or RPGs, Outcast was a totally 3D open world sport with a deep plot, a uncommon commodity of its time, and professional use of a know-how to render its large world the place gamers may go wherever they need. The long-awaited sequel, nevertheless, comes at a time the place many would argue that the style of open world video games has been perfected by varied titles, be it Fromsoftware’s Elden Ring, and even Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto collection. In a time the place that includes an open world by itself isn’t actually a lot of a promoting level anymore, Outcast – A New Starting has to determine the way it can set itself aside.
There are some things I instantly preferred about Outcast – A New Starting, at the very least initially. The world of Adelpha is great, beautiful, and extremely attention-grabbing from not solely a visible perspective, however from an NPC interplay standpoint as nicely. Nearly each interplay you possibly can have with nearly any of the world’s natives signifies that there’s a wealthy historical past behind the sport. Whereas the sport succeeds in making protagonist Cutter Slade really feel like somebody who’s going to save lots of the world from doom, the individuals of Adelpha appeared to have lives earlier than he confirmed up which provides to the world’s immersion issue.
Sadly sufficient, this doesn’t final lengthy. You see, Outcast can’t appear to make up its thoughts about whether or not to imagine that the participant might need expertise with the unique Outcast or not. Proper from starting, it’s going to begin wildly throwing alien phrases and phrases at you, and whereas there’s a glossary for each dialog that updates in actual time because the dialog goes on, lots of the dialogue in Outcast – A New Starting actually suffers from not solely attempting to supply only a bit an excessive amount of info to the participant, but additionally simply feeling prefer it’s been fairly poorly written. This additionally impacts the characterization of varied NPCs all through the sport. For the reason that sport is sure to its fiction to such an extent, some characters can simply begin feeling downright unbearable as they begin repeating the identical alien phrases and phrases in the identical dialog.
Fortunately, the second you truly get to play Outcast – A New Starting, issues begin feeling significantly better. Controlling Slade feels responsive and fast, and when you get your fingers on the jetpack, one of many central options of the sport, the fight, in addition to traversal begins feeling lots higher than simply operating round all over the place. On the subject of fight, you solely actually have a single gun to begin out w ith that may be endlessly personalized with varied modules so as to change its conduct. Whereas its default kind acts as a pistol, slapping sufficient modules on to it may well flip it into one thing far more enjoyable, like an SMG that shoots explosive rounds, or a shotgun that may concuss enemies, for instance.
By making use of Purple Helidium, you possibly can unlock new mod slots in your gun, which in flip permits you to modify it. The sheer number of mods on supply can open up attention-grabbing fight methods. Whereas this may largely come all the way down to utilizing a number of particular mods that work nicely in your type of play, the truth that Outcast permits you to experiment fairly a bit along with your major weapons is a superb factor.
“Controlling Slade feels responsive and fast”
Development all through Outcast – A New Starting revolves round discovering and making use of some particular currencies, specifically completely different coloured Helidium, Nano-Cells, and even cash. These vary from permitting you to improve your weapons, to supplying you with traversal talents for the open world, to even unlocking additional mod slots in your weapons so to add much more ludicrous results to your shot. The development largely stays inconsequential, particularly when you get a few key early-game upgrades like the power to glide or a few weapon mod slots. When you hit a sure level within the sport, it may be downright straightforward to overlook that you simply might need some upgrades ready for you because of all of the supplies and currencies you’ve gathered, particularly if it weren’t for an in-game message system that allows you to find out about having sufficient improve factors.
Typically talking, the development system feels first rate sufficient with out feeling too overbearing. It’s extremely straightforward to focus on particular development currencies that you simply may need to grind up. A variety of the improve tree seems like filler, nevertheless. Except for key talents like gliding or mid-air dodging, lots of the backpack improve tree, for example, is simply extra jetpack gasoline, which may really feel fairly underwhelming.
And, after all, let’s not overlook that the jetpack deserves its spot as the large function for Outcast – A New Starting. Together with supplying you with common talents like dashing and leaping, you additionally ultimately get to unlock the power to glide alongside the bottom or soar by way of the air. The second you unlock these talents is when the exploration features of the sport begin getting actually enjoyable. There’s a degree of freedom you get when you get the power to glide that isn’t actually matched by too many different video games, and that is undoubtedly helped by the truth that Outcast’s open world is designed to encourage nearly each little bit of use you will get out of the jetpack as potential.
“The development system feels first rate sufficient with out feeling too overbearing”
Sadly, the sport’s open world doesn’t really feel prefer it’s nicely geared up for the participant to have all this freedom throughout ordinary gameplay. There simply isn’t a lot out on the planet in the way in which of intelligent discoveries or moments of emergent gameplay. Whereas the world’s stunning, there simply isn’t a lot there to make exploration price it. To prime it off, a lot of the aspect content material revolves round simply killing sure numbers of particular enemies and this bland design leaks by way of the sport’s major quests as nicely, the place issues by no means actually get extra attention-grabbing than “go right here and kill issues”.
Regardless of these shortcomings with its open world, nevertheless, it’s troublesome to not discover some degree of attraction in Outcast – A New Starting. Slade, for example, is an extremely charming protagonist with equal measures of willpower and sincerity that makes following his journey surprisingly attention-grabbing. Equally, the Talans you encounter all through Adelpha are likely to have their very own distinctive personalities, and whereas their dialogues can usually really feel like a slog, there are simply sufficient moments of comedy or drama that may hold you going.
Outcast’s story tackles lots of the similar subjects as its predecessor. They had been thought-about revolutionary again then however now has grow to be widespread sufficient within the trendy online game panorama that nothing in it actually stands out. In reality, the story can get downright boring, for the reason that battle between Talans and people is one-dimensional. The sport additionally has the extremely unhealthy behavior of forcibly displaying you cutscenes that actually ought to have been gameplay as an alternative. Nearly each aspect quest and story mission within the sport will consistently break up the motion and wrest management from the participant, solely to point out Slade doing precisely what the participant was doubtless going to do anyway. Whereas solely barely bearable early within the sport the place you’re nonetheless presumably studying the ropes, this shortly begins getting out of hand and finally had the nasty side-effect of virtually discouraging me from doing nearly any quest.
“The sport additionally has the extremely unhealthy behavior of forcibly displaying you cutscenes that actually ought to have been gameplay as an alternative.”
Outcast – A New Starting feels prefer it is likely to be caught previously. The advantage of it’s that there’s a degree of freedom that you simply get fairly early within the expertise that you simply simply wouldn’t actually get from many trendy video games, particularly when you get a few upgrades in your jetpack. And to that finish, flying round on the planet of Adelpha is unquestionably one of the vital enjoyable open world experiences on the market. The unhealthy a part of being caught previously is within the design of the quests, a design that feels prefer it’s too petrified of the liberty that it has given to its gamers, and retains attempting to take management away from you to guarantee that Slade does the correct factor by way of cutscenes as an alternative of gameplay.
This sport was reviewed on PlayStation 5.
