Weirdly, I am giving this game a thumbs up, even though I don't really recommend it. This is because I DO recommend waiting for Outward 2, instead. This game is basically a proof of concept, but needs a ton of refinement.
Tl;dr - The core concept of the game rules. It has great survival mechanics, really making use of food, drink, and sleep, as well as a cool backpack system. Preparing to go on a big, dangerous journey is fun. The journey itself is solid, but held back by how janky and unfun the combat is. The destinations you will find yourself at after a successful journey are painfully underwhelming, and leave me asking if it was worth doing at all.
+ Great use of hunger, thirst and rest mechanics
+ The best backpack system I have ever experienced. I truly love it
+ A true focus on the JOURNEY you are going on
+ Preparing for you first big journey is a joy
+ Trying to safely get to your destination is exciting
+ Some of the most fun consequences to "failure" outside of Kenshi
- The destinations at the end of the journey are lackluster and take the wind out of my sails
- The combat is too unfun and janky for how difficult and consequential it is
- Towns and NPCs feel dead and bland. They are basically glorified menus
- Trying to get better gear to go on more dangerous journeys just isn't a satisfying core mechanic when the combat itself is so bland and janky.
- The world itself isn't gorgeous enough or interesting enough to really sell the "It's about the journey, not the destination" ethos the game seems to have.
I think Outward is an amazing "proof of concept." It is an action RPG that puts the JOURNEY first. It's not a survival craft game where you're doing everything to upgrade a base, it's not a souls-like where you are just butting heads with the same enemy until you can move on to the next area. It's not an open world questing game like Elder Scrolls.
The whole game is truly about PREPARING for a journey, then going on it, full of risk and reward. You don't die in this game. You get knocked out and then thigns happen to you. Once you go down, the goal isn't to "Go back to where you got killed and kill the thing that killed you." Often it's not even about trying to retrieve your loot. It's about learning lessons from that failed journey, then trying your hand at it again. The potential things that can happen to you when you are knocked out, such as being kindapped and osld into a slave mine, keeps things ever changing and exciting.
However, the game is JANKY. This is why I called it an amazing proof of concept. The combat just isn't very fun at all, nor are the enemies particularly fun to fight. This makes this risk of failure push me away from even engaging in combat. The most fun I had with the game was just carefully making my way from the starter town to the next one over, avoiding combat at all costs. The reward for reaching your destination is also underwhelming. Towns are bland and lifeless, full of NPCs that serve little purpose outside of being a shop or training menu.
Basically, if Outward 2 takes the premise of this game, refines the combat, and fills the world with more exciting things to discover and decent NPCs to interact with, it could be something TRULY special.
