Outward - Review @ PC Gamer

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PC Gamer has reviewed Outward:

Outward review

A few rough edges don't stop this gem of an RPG from shining.

A game where you can never die sounds like it'd make you fearless. Why worry about failure when instead of dying in a battle you simply fall unconscious and wake up somewhere else?

It turns out the opposite is true in fantasy RPG Outward. Failure costs you something more precious than a videogame life: It costs you time. Time to heal, to rest, to repair your gear and restock your supplies, to fill your belly with food and cure your ailments with potions, to travel all the way back to the site of your defeat to try again--and possibly to fail again. Immortality is far more terrifying than death.

[...]

Outward's unusual design provides a different experience than I've found in most RPGs. It completely breaks the common habits of fast-traveling, gaining a fortune in loot, becoming an all-powerful god, and reloading saved games when things don't go as planned or you make a choice you regret. It makes minor setbacks feel like major obstacles to overcome and it makes small victories feel like utter triumphs. Outward is harsh and occasionally frustrating, but it does what so few games do. It requires you to put real thought into the choices you make, and it makes those choices feel like they really matter. Most of all, it makes you approach each and every encounter as if your life depended on it--even though you never die.

Score: 89/100
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Thanks henriquejr!


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Nice! I'd rate it the same score, it's a very good game with a ton of content, most of it optional. Nice to see it's getting some decent reviews and selling well. Hoping they add more map regions to their original map of 10 regions (we got 4 in the final game). Would be cool to get 2 DLCs, each with 3 new regions. Probably dreaming there but I do hope they add more regions with DLC at least, even if it's just one or two.
 
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How is the writing and the various stories? Is there hand-placed loot? Named items?

Every review goes on and on about the mechanics. I want to know more about the details.
 
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FizzyShellfish said:
How is the writing and the various stories? Is there hand-placed loot? Named items?

Every review goes on and on about the mechanics. I want to know more about the details.
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Hand-placed and named loot galore. There is also randomly placed handmade items that are special. The writing is fine, nothing too groundbreaking but far from bad. The stories, lore and quests are cool, again nothing groundbreaking but good. The highlights are surviving in a stunning open-world that doesn't hold your hand and finding cool new gear to help you succeed.
 
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My only disappointment with Outward is there are not enough skills for your character and should be higher tier weapons and armor. An example would be with the sword. It goes from an iron sword to a thorny sword to a steel saber to a magic sword that does electric damage. Should be another few tiers of swords in there.

The stats on armor are kinda weak also. I seem to be running around in the elite trader gear and I got that pretty early. Items aren't bad but could do a better job on weapons and armor.

Wish there was a few more choices at character creation. Also, if there is no leveling there should be more skills and they could be more interesting.

Still a very good game and the exploration is top notch. I would give it an 80 but that's because I like many choices in character creation and advancement.
 
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Hastar said:
My only disappointment with Outward is there are not enough skills for your character and should be higher tier weapons and armor. An example would be with the sword. It goes from an iron sword to a thorny sword to a steel saber to a magic sword that does electric damage. Should be another few tiers of swords in there.

The stats on armor are kinda weak also. I seem to be running around in the elite trader gear and I got that pretty early. Items aren't bad but could do a better job on weapons and armor.

Wish there was a few more choices at character creation. Also, if there is no leveling there should be more skills and they could be more interesting.

Still a very good game and the exploration is top notch. I would give it an 80 but that's because I like many choices in character creation and advancement.
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I haven't played the game, but I really agree with what you focus on in a game.

I'm currently replaying Might & Magic VII. It's one of my favorite cRPGs of yesteryear because character progression is near perfection. From beginning to end you are constantly upgrading attributes, skills, and gear. Every incremental upgrade in any of those 3 categories is meaningful - you'll notice their impact right away.

Contemporary RPGs really need a return to meaningful character progression. It doesn't need to be complicated, the MM7 system is easy enough to understand.
 
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Well the nice thing about Outward is that every upgrade is significant, from armor to weapon to skills. You'll find yourself killing enemies easier that once troubled you because you picked up a legendary axe or improved your Runic Magic strength via skills. There aren't a ton of skills but enough to make a unique build via 8 character classes and skills as well as class-locked skills, and you can choose any of the 3 classes with one character. IMO the feeling of progression in the game is done well, very Gothic-like.
 
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Hastar said:
My only disappointment with Outward is there are not enough skills for your character and should be higher tier weapons and armor. An example would be with the sword. It goes from an iron sword to a thorny sword to a steel saber to a magic sword that does electric damage. Should be another few tiers of swords in there.

The stats on armor are kinda weak also. I seem to be running around in the elite trader gear and I got that pretty early. Items aren't bad but could do a better job on weapons and armor.

Wish there was a few more choices at character creation. Also, if there is no leveling there should be more skills and they could be more interesting.

Still a very good game and the exploration is top notch. I would give it an 80 but that's because I like many choices in character creation and advancement.
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You mention the sword but that's just one of what, 8 weapon classes? There are greatmaces, maces, greatclubs, axes, spears, halberds, claymores and more. Each of the weapon classes has upgrades for each type, so there's quite a lot of variety since each weapon handles differently, has different skills you can learn and different attacks and patterns, etc.. IMO it's pretty great and there's plenty of variety, but I've only beaten the game once and played for 55 hours. I also didn't complete any of the optional side content and didn't use melee much except for at the beginning. There are also bows, chakrams, runic magic, elemental magic and more, and each weapon has legendary named weapons within its category as well.

Armor is varied too, I was always finding new pieces and swapping out to deal with cold/heat as well as resistances and impact resistance. There's faction armor, sets, expensive handcrafted items by blacksmiths and more.

So I'll just have to disagree that character advancement isn't top notch. To each their own though, I respect your opinion. :)
 
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Hastar said:
My only disappointment with Outward is there are not enough skills for your character and should be higher tier weapons and armor. An example would be with the sword. It goes from an iron sword to a thorny sword to a steel saber to a magic sword that does electric damage. Should be another few tiers of swords in there.
Click to expand...

Just to add to that: The potentially highest tier sword is pure physical damage, and "crafted" from tsar stones. I am not sure whether you missed more swords in-between.
 
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There's also an ethereal sword via Runic Magic, that can also be changed into a decay claymore with advanced Runic combinations.
 
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