Atmospheric.
I think if i could only say one word about this game, that's what i'd give it. Outward is definitely not a classic game in most senses (and also not a game for everyone lol), and thus also makes for a pretty unique experience.
Firstly, i'd like to touch up on my choice for the word for this game. Unlike most adventure focused RPGs i've personally tried or know about, Outward does not have a BBEG or an increasingly dramatic plot to follow in a linear way, and neither does it really have any sense of order or progression. As much as this might seem like a con to the game, it really isn't one, because it gives you a sense of reality not many other games replicate, the idea of being "just a guy that lives there", compared to some epic "chosen one" dynamic (see skyrim title stacking lol), which makes the adventure more compelling in some ways, as the only real objective you get in the game without purposefully joining a faction is to repay your blood price. The ambiance of all maps is also pretty unique and successful in what they try to convey, and the vast plains, long walks and backing music all makes for a pretty atmospheric experience for an RPG.
Another thing, that i can understand can be controversial, is the lack of guidance or general hand-holding in the game. Specifically for Outward, i think this is a good thing too, as it plays into the concept of the game pretty well, since you are quite literally just a nobody lighthouse keeper who is not trained or knowledgeable about most things outside of your town ; thus, the character evolves at the same pace as their player, and it feels nice finally getting comfortable with game mechanics, specific enemies and such.
Outward is also pretty complete in terms of things to do and things to explore, with a vast amount of random little dungeons or sidequests dispersed throughout the world, as well as pretty well strung "main" quests (for the most part, outside of the "talk to someone, walk somewhere, talk to someone else, repeat") my favorite being probably Rust & Vengeance. It's also a nice thing not being forced to anything, if you do not want to do any of the faction quests, you do not really even have to, you can just run around mindlessly while killing random bandits or creatures to earn money and buy cool stuff, and still have a fullfilling experience, as far as having fun goes.
Speaking of having fun, one of the most important parts for me in terms of RPGs is satisfying character customization, which Outward definitely has, to some extent (will talk about its shortcomings later on). The concept of skill masters and unlocks is a pretty cool one, it makes you think twice about how you wanna build, gives decent variety in what to do, and prevents you from snowballing too hard in terms power. The choice in playstyles is also surprisingly decent, from playing one-handed with a shield, gun, dagger, or two-handed, or ranged, or any kind of mage. It is very much traditional RPG weapons, but that's still a decent variety, especially (kind of like skyrim) having different types of weapons in each category with different effects. There's also surprisingly a lot of different weapons in each class, which allows you to explore a lot of different options in each one, but not too much where it starts feeling like filler.
Another thing i find great is the risk-reward and the tradeoff system with equipment (which granted is also pretty classic game design, but it's very evident here), where you have to always pay a price to get more of something, as there's no "just better at everything" sets or weapons outside of the obvious early game ones, and everything has a tradeoff. This goes for every mid-late game equipment, and makes it so that there aren't any obvious choices of things to pick, and you get to choose whatever you wish to.
The variety in equipment and skills can also lead to specific playstyles when you know more about the game, like having quickslots of multiple shields to have one for debuffs with shield bash and another stronger one for parrying, using elemental boons or other magic abilities to boost yourself in weapon combat or quickslotting multiple guns with effects to be able to quickly shoot multiple times in a row while stacking debuffs.
The game is also generally just fun to mess around in, as once you get used to it (and remap some controls, especially if you are playing keyboard and not controller), the combat flows pretty nicely. A part to this is also the difficulty, which makes every no-hit or clean combo feel satisfying, as most enemies outside of the random little animals on every map are still a challenge if you manage to mess up fighting them.
An implementation i also really enjoy is the defeat scenarios, as if (or more likely when) you die in a fight, you will enter one of many defeat scenarios depending on the region you are located in, which go from waking up to a campfire with a kind stranger's note to ending up stranded on a beach or imprisoned by trogs or bandits. It's a little detail that adds ambiance to the game and avoids the general endless unexplained respawning gimmick, as you still suffer from your defeat by having to fight new enemies, find your stuff back or just walking back to where you were.
Finally, the game also feels nice to re-play, because you know the different shortcuts you can take to get better equipment quicker (wink wink horror weapons), or hidden rewards and many other things (not even mentionning the legacy system which offers great replayability by offering replay exclusive items you get for completing challenges).
Now, for the cons, which there still are some (as with every game). As many indie games, you can see its shortcomings in terms of limited budget, especially in the Soroboreans DLC where the map gets pretty choppy at times (which surprisingly doesn't even make the map that unenjoyable, just definitely on the weird side), or in the dialogue which is most times only partly dubbed.
Touching up on some of the negative stuff about the builds, some weapons are sadly limited only to the off-hand like guns, shields or daggers, which does limit what you can do with these weapons, making them feel more like gimmicks than actual playstyles (which is an issue that is resolved in Outward 2, where you are free to equip whatever wherever). Also, as much as i like the skill master system, those are probably the most unbalanced bunch out of everything in the game, some skill trees feeling like must-haves while others are mostly being limited to gimmick builds. The character creator is also pretty limited, but that's more nitpicking than anything, and is also something Outward 2 fixes.
The multiplayer in this game also feels like a must for a better game experience, as it gives you wiggle room of dying in fights and juggling mob aggro, which definitely makes the game more accessible. It is also better to be able to share time with someone during the long walks, as well as having more carrying capacity for many of the game's equipment which fills your bag pretty quick. In general, it seems very much that the game was thought of with a multiplayer first mindset. The other issue, this time relating specifically with multiplayer, is that it's not a multiplayer server, but a 2nd player joining your solo game, which makes faction quests for the other player unaccessible, and you have to basically play the game twice to unlock faction bonuses for both players.
Finally, some small grievances i have with the game are the default keymapping which is pretty bad on PC, and the locking camera which can feel like jank sometimes and definitely gets you accidentally hit a lot.
But still, in a world where a lot of devs rely purely on numbers to make their games difficult, Outward truly feels like a gem for anyone wishing for a good but not unfair challenge, while still experiencing a well crafted RPG experience.
