Outward

 PC
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 175 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 111 out of 175
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 175
  3. Negative: 43 out of 175

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  1. Gramps
    Apr 6, 2023
    4
    When I heard about this game I was very excited because it seemed to be similar to Gothic 1 & 2, however, I was ultimately disappointed because for the following reasons:
    - World feels too big, and a bit empty
    - No fast travel - No mount or some ability to move around fast - No manual save - Too small inventory limit - Janky combat - Starting area/home is on the upper left corner of    When I heard about this game I was very excited because it seemed to be similar to Gothic 1 & 2, however, I was ultimately disappointed because for the following reasons:
    - World feels too big, and a bit empty
    - No fast travel
    - No mount or some ability to move around fast
    - No manual save
    - Too small inventory limit
    - Janky combat
    - Starting area/home is on the upper left corner of the map instead of the center of the map
    - Story and characters are boring / almost no quests at starting area
    - Graphics are outdated

    On their own these issues wouldn't be big deal, but combined together they create this situation where it makes me want to NOT explore:
    - going too far is annoying because then you need to walk all the way back to the vendor on foot (since no mount or fast travel) - usually for 5-10+ minutes because it's on the edge of the map instead of center
    - engaging in combat is off-putting because combat is bad, meaning I can die easily because of unfair reasons, and I have no manual save to save and just try out to fight some enemy, and even if I win it just feels like a high-risk low reward, because I can't loot weapon + armor due to inventory limit
    - In case my backpack is almost full then I kind of don't want to explore dungeons either because why would I if I cannot loot anything?
    - Trying out different weapons/builds is not that much viable because even with just one extra weapon you are already over the inventory limit...

    So what is the appeal of this game? Is it a walking/hunting simulator where you just go out to nature and enjoy the beautiful view? Well no because the graphics are kind of ugly/outdated too, so... I guess it's more like a survival game?

    As a survival game, it's fine, there is a nice crafting system, you go hungry, and thirsty, have to wear adequate outfits for different weather, etc. so in that aspect, I think they did a good job with this game.

    All in all, I feel like I would enjoy this game much more if they made the following changes:
    1. Fast travel to places we have already visited - maybe give us some teleporting stone or something like in Gothic for an immersive way to fast travel
    2. Double the inventory size of all backpacks - 50 is too little for starting where you wanna try out different weapons and are unsure about build
    3. Either add a mount (ex. horse or something) that we can ride, or add some easy-to-craft movement speed potion that would double our movement speed
    4. Add a main chest that is "shared" between areas - ex. if I store something in the main chest in City A, I should be able to retrieve it from the main chest in City B

    But as of now, I can't recommend this game unless you want to play CO-OP because it really feels like this game doesn't respect your time at all. The fact that we don't have what would be the very simple quality of life changes that I mentioned above, leads me to believe this was an intentional decision by the developer because they want to target a specific audience, and I seem to not be part fo this audience.

    Disclaimer: This review is purely based on my single-player experience.    … Expand
  2. Alias243
    Jan 13, 2023
    3
    A lot of people have mentioned that this game is difficult. That's fine. I'm okay with the fact that on the map you aren't given your location. I'm fine with the lack of fast travel as tedious as it is. What I can't get over is how unnecessarily grindy the economy is and the garbage combat with no real skill.

    I'm a gamer that enjoys a challenge. I have played and beaten all of the souls    A lot of people have mentioned that this game is difficult. That's fine. I'm okay with the fact that on the map you aren't given your location. I'm fine with the lack of fast travel as tedious as it is. What I can't get over is how unnecessarily grindy the economy is and the garbage combat with no real skill.

    I'm a gamer that enjoys a challenge. I have played and beaten all of the souls games and many others like them. I love a combat system that rewards timely dodges and parries, but in this game the blocking and recovery after a weapon swing make combat a game of patience and armor statistics.

    Hitboxes make no sense and no matter how I try spacing just doesn't work. I really wanted to like this game since I'm always on the lookout for Local Splitscreen games I can play with my girlfriend, but after 6-7 hours I just can't find a reason to keep going.

    This is nothing like Dark Souls, there is no skill in this combat system.    … Expand
  3. imreviewingstuf
    Mar 29, 2022
    10
    Cruel and unusual but I love it. Brutally difficult but still very fun. Has a few rare clipping issues
  4. AzorAhay
    Dec 24, 2021
    5
    Me and my friend enjoy this game (with all problems) until we get to Vendavel Fortress, get in mine to work, we run from there paying 30 silver and lost everything, we go back and die from guards trying get our stuff back, when wake up my friend have he's backpack but me no, I lost it forever, very bad bug. I'm mad and sad now because this game have so much potential but I lost all myMe and my friend enjoy this game (with all problems) until we get to Vendavel Fortress, get in mine to work, we run from there paying 30 silver and lost everything, we go back and die from guards trying get our stuff back, when wake up my friend have he's backpack but me no, I lost it forever, very bad bug. I'm mad and sad now because this game have so much potential but I lost all my progression because of this.
    Plus some problems of the game, poor combat, poor level design, poor graphics (not very bad, okay for this game), poor story, poor characterizations, open world feel empty...    … Expand
  5. Metacritic376
    Jul 21, 2021
    10
    Outward breaks the monotony of RPGs that hold the player's hand and guides them through everything, where there is almost no room failure. In Outward, you play as a loser. You do not a get a save point to fall back on if things go awry, you have to live with the consequences of your actions. You do not magically level-up after delivering your quest to fetch some rat tails or wolf peltsOutward breaks the monotony of RPGs that hold the player's hand and guides them through everything, where there is almost no room failure. In Outward, you play as a loser. You do not a get a save point to fall back on if things go awry, you have to live with the consequences of your actions. You do not magically level-up after delivering your quest to fetch some rat tails or wolf pelts etc. Nor do you effortlessly slay everything while spamming health potions. There is no indicator where you are on a map, rather you actually have to read it and orient yourself as you would in real life. And much like life, everything has a price.

    There are so many things that we took for granted from video games, things to which we have grown so accustomed to, that without which we feel at a loss. It is this realism that Outward surprises the modern gamers with. It shows how generic our approach to RPG games have become, and how little divergence we expect from them.    … Expand
  6. username1222
    Jun 27, 2021
    0
    This game is a total joke. It seems like an old school RPG at first but they made it retarded. You can't jump, you can't save the game and then when you get out of town you die of cold instantly. what a **** CHORE. I don't get why dumb as **** devs make such CHORE games. isn't it supposed to be fun ? Idiots.
  7. metacriticsuckz
    Apr 16, 2021
    0
    Absolute Garbage. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  8. alkir-2
    Mar 20, 2021
    4
    Finally decided to write a review of this... thing - for lack of better word.
    Others have said it many times already - the game is unpolished, has poor graphics (the landscapes aren't bad, though), and is, generally, a mix of interesting, but poorly executed ideas.
    For example, a system any Dark Souls veteran knows well - all actions cost stamina - is taken to the next level in Outward    Finally decided to write a review of this... thing - for lack of better word.
    Others have said it many times already - the game is unpolished, has poor graphics (the landscapes aren't bad, though), and is, generally, a mix of interesting, but poorly executed ideas.

    For example, a system any Dark Souls veteran knows well - all actions cost stamina - is taken to the next level in Outward and completely destroyed at the same time. On the one hand, when stamina (health and mana too, for that matter) is used, your max stamina is sligtly lowered as well, until you rest or recover it otherwise. This simulates fatigue and is an overall nice touch. But at the same time, stamina regeneration, even with buffs, is so painfully slow, you have to run around te enemy in circles for about a minute after attacking and roll-evading a couple of times.

    Attacks and rolls are yet another matter. And I'm going to talk about blocking here as well.
    First of all, there is no "action interrupt" in Outward. Which means, once you started an attack, you must wait for it's animation to finish, up to a point of returning to the original "ready" position, before you can block or roll. In most situations it means getting hit, which can be fatal wit stronger opponents.

    Opponents, or rather, their AI, is yet anoter problem with Outward. The AI is totally stupid and behaves accordingly. Enemies rarely care about their well-being, ignoring player's attack and slicing you up as you are trying to bash their skull in with a giant axe. When they do react to player's attacks, they do it AFTER being hit - they get damaged, roll away, and enter block mode. They may keep blocking while you block or just wait for an opening and then unexpectedly open up and try to attack you just as you finally decide to break their block. As a result, you mostly win (unless an enemy is too strong for your current equipment), but are always left slightly wounded, forcing you to heal.

    But the things I wrote about above are not just individual problems the game has. I believe, they all stem from a mistake developers made, while creating the game.
    You see, as I already said, AI is less than perfect. Should Outward have a well-polished system, like Dark Souls or even some other, less hardcore slashers, AI would simply not be able to cope with the player. And I believe, developers, instead of perfecting AI, decided to handicap the player.

    Take bows, for example. Enemies don't react to player shooting at them (they only react to being hit), but when you lock on, the aim reticle starts dancing around the enemy, making it close to impossible to hit them while evading their attacks. While it's OK for melee enemies (just aim manually, that's all), ranged foes bacome almost unbeatable with bows.

    Magic. Outward as a nice system of spell combinations - in order to cast a powerful spell, one must combine it with another one, wich often requires physical items or special spots in te world to be cast. And it's great. Except it's only the player, who has to go the long way. All enemies, not only Elementals or Magical Creatures, but also humans, can cast spells without any preparation at all. An Ice projectile, which, for the player, is a combination of two fairly advanced spells is a trivial flick of a hand for a common bandit wizard (who even studied with the same teacher as the player).

    Add to that the fact, that a player has almost literally zero motivation to actually explore the rather empty world (as there is rarely any useful unique loot in the dungeons and you can earn enough money by revisiting the fairly easy locations from te game start), and Outward loses all charm it might have had.

    Overall, a poorly made game, that could have been way better if done by just about any other studio.    … Expand
  9. LooTcher
    Mar 18, 2021
    9
    An amazing game, some few messes, but the devs constantly patch the game for balance and fixes. the two DLC are very good, with an well made environment. The bad thing im see is that it's very expensive for an indie game, but it's indeed well made for such small team.
  10. ShinraZ
    Feb 11, 2021
    6
    First of all, many aspects of the game feel really unpolished, from the graphics to some game mechanics.
    The combat is sluggish, some say that they wanted to give an “old” feeling to it, but this is a crap excuse, the old games (early 2000-2005) just couldn’t do better at the time with the technology they had available.
    The game wants to be an open world experience that lets the player    First of all, many aspects of the game feel really unpolished, from the graphics to some game mechanics.
    The combat is sluggish, some say that they wanted to give an “old” feeling to it, but this is a crap excuse, the old games (early 2000-2005) just couldn’t do better at the time with the technology they had available.

    The game wants to be an open world experience that lets the player explore everything himself without hand-holding, and that’s fine, but the starting difficulty is just crap and unbalanced.
    When you start the game, every single enemy needs 8-12 hits to die depending on the weapon you have, while they can kill you with 3-4 hits (even some **** chocobo-like birds).

    The crafting system just plain sucks, fighting enemies doesn’t feel rewarding compared to their difficulty. I played around 7-8 hours and the character upgrades felt average at best.

    There are some other seriously bad things that I really hate about the immersion in this game, like the rain that doesn’t clip and it can be seen even if you are under a HUGE cover. This is 2010 level stuff, put a little more time to make such things a little less immersion breaking. Also, there is no rain sound, WTF?
    Another immersion breaker is the water, there is no water interaction with it, walking on water has no visual/sound effects.

    The aesthetic of the game can be good at times (it reminds me of Dragon's Dogma), but the horrible models and textures make the game feel like it was released 9-11 years ago, with some minor exceptions. The characters look worse than the vanilla Skyrim that came out in 2011, and the character creation is a joke.

    The camera is bad and I even found it to be annoying at times.

    To sum it up, the game is for those that want to play something really old with every meaning of that word. From sluggish mechanics, outdated graphics, immersion-breaking visuals and effects, bad audio design, and horrible combat and enemy design.

    This game has some good ideas and it’s trying to bring back some of the good “old-school” RPG mechanics, but it fails horribly to make it with today's standards. It plays like a 2005 game, with the visuals of a 2010 one, while it released in 2019, it is mediocre at best.    … Expand
  11. Xandl7
    Dec 16, 2020
    10
    cool game
    great atmosphare with the music
    not for everyone
    hard start in the game
  12. lapkina
    Nov 24, 2020
    3
    Laughably bad and overpriced. I like the idea of sandbox rpg with survival stuff, but maybe if it's price was around 10 buck i would say that this is not awful, just bad and unpolished game for one evening. Poor perfomance on high-end pc, ugly character models and clunkiest combat i've seen. Not worth it.
  13. monsieurpooh
    Nov 5, 2020
    9
    Pros:
    -Compared to other games like Skyrim, it is very difficult to become overpowered for a very long time.
    -Compared to other games, Hardcore mode is actually viable because you won’t get physics-glitched to death. Cons: -World not as detailed as in big budget games such as Witcher 3 or Skyrim. -Soundtrack can be hit or miss. I have composed fan-made replacement tracks and made    Pros:
    -Compared to other games like Skyrim, it is very difficult to become overpowered for a very long time.
    -Compared to other games, Hardcore mode is actually viable because you won’t get physics-glitched to death.

    Cons:
    -World not as detailed as in big budget games such as Witcher 3 or Skyrim.
    -Soundtrack can be hit or miss. I have composed fan-made replacement tracks and made this available on NexusMods.

    Illegitimate complaints:
    -Someone claimed the combat sucks because they needed to kite an enemy for 90 seconds. They clearly didn’t learn the mechanics, because you can simply move left-forward at a 45-degree angle to get behind them after they attack. Yes, combat is janky like Gothic/Risen style, not cinematic and fluid, but looking cool should always be secondary to having good balance/mechanics, in an RPG.
    -Someone claimed they got lost because the map doesn't show the "you are here" icon. That's actually a good thing because you are role-playing an actual adventurer in the wild, not a Google Maps app user!

    Requirements to enjoy:
    -Play hardcore mode. When you see something new you should be in awe, and a little scared. Not just run up to it and “die first, question later” like you would in most other games.
    -Don’t google anything unnecessary
    -If, like me, you feel the DLC music is not up to par with expectations, please check out the Outward Soundtrack Overhaul mod I made on NexusMods.    … Expand
  14. sundam
    Sep 12, 2020
    10
    Amazing Game !!! I ve spent lots of hours creating news builds, creating weapons and defeating the final 12 bosses like a Dark Souls Game.
  15. ragepatate
    Jul 31, 2020
    10
    TL;DR : pure masterpiece.
    This game is the best and made me lose many nights of sleep.
    I can bet you all my horror chitin that people who give negative scores didn't even experience the 2nd zone. Interesting take on the survival RPG . Survival becomes less of a chore later-on in the game as you get better gear. The sense of adventure is always there. You move to places because you    TL;DR : pure masterpiece.
    This game is the best and made me lose many nights of sleep.

    I can bet you all my horror chitin that people who give negative scores didn't even experience the 2nd zone.

    Interesting take on the survival RPG . Survival becomes less of a chore later-on in the game as you get better gear.
    The sense of adventure is always there. You move to places because you feel compelled to , not because some old blacksmith lost his hammer. High replayability with different play styles, endings and customization.    … Expand
  16. MGee
    Jul 30, 2020
    0
    Don't believe the people who say this is like Gothic 1/2 or some other Piranha Bytes game. Those are actually good games. This sure as hell isn't. It does everything those games do, but poorly. Poor combat, poor crafting, poor level design, poor graphics, poor story, poor characterizations, poor absolutely everything having to do with this game. This is one of the rare instancesDon't believe the people who say this is like Gothic 1/2 or some other Piranha Bytes game. Those are actually good games. This sure as hell isn't. It does everything those games do, but poorly. Poor combat, poor crafting, poor level design, poor graphics, poor story, poor characterizations, poor absolutely everything having to do with this game. This is one of the rare instances where I think a zero-rated review is absolutely justified.… Expand
  17. Papapapab
    Jun 19, 2020
    9
    Fantastic game, Pros: difficulty, you cant see yourself on the map, great magic, ambisous game made by small team, perfectly balanced survival and the skill system is awsome!

    Cons: a bit clubky mele combat, bad story and quite buggy. All in all it is a great game and i recommend buying it if you want a old school feeling survival rpg.
  18. slanderbot
    Jun 18, 2020
    8
    A beautiful fresh fantasy experience. When playing it tugs at my old memories of playing Morrowind or dungeons and dragon adventures with a group of friends.

    This game expands beyond the generic standard of most fantasy games, reaching more for the outlandish, strange, and mysterious art direction. Exploration and experimentation are by far the biggest draws in this world. You don't    A beautiful fresh fantasy experience. When playing it tugs at my old memories of playing Morrowind or dungeons and dragon adventures with a group of friends.

    This game expands beyond the generic standard of most fantasy games, reaching more for the outlandish, strange, and mysterious art direction. Exploration and experimentation are by far the biggest draws in this world. You don't "level up" but instead gather knowledge from across the land and through training. Your power is solely dependant on your knowledge, your equipment, and your preparation.

    Combat is simple, feeling clunky at first, yet it does have a finesse to it that when mastered you can show off a dance of death to whatever challenges you.

    This game is not for those who want to dive in and zoom through the experience. It's complex, slow-paced, and deeply immersive by design. Also a word of advice, there is no such thing as being too prepared in this harsh world.    … Expand
  19. ClarkKunt
    May 28, 2020
    8
    It’s pretty hard to get in to the game at first., but it’s worth it.... and for studio of this size is game like Outward incredible accomplishement.

    +Co-op (full time, no half assed stuff) +Big region open world with lots of interesting places to explore +RPG elements are interesting and different +death/respawn system (you can’t save manually) +great magic system +good    It’s pretty hard to get in to the game at first., but it’s worth it.... and for studio of this size is game like Outward incredible accomplishement.

    +Co-op (full time, no half assed stuff)
    +Big region open world with lots of interesting places to explore
    +RPG elements are interesting and different
    +death/respawn system (you can’t save manually)
    +great magic system
    +good crafting/cooking/alchemy system
    +survival elements (at first I thought it was **** but in time i found appreciation for the immersion that this stuff brings to table)

    -graphics
    -sounds
    -melee combat is not great, but not terrible
    -story just average, but that’s because it’s not main focus of the game    … Expand
  20. Dave_B
    Apr 29, 2020
    10
    Amazing game if you like using your brain & can remember when graph paper & notes were necessary... Many other people with rating of 10 have said it better... I won't repeat.
  21. nilsy
    Apr 7, 2020
    4
    Cant remember the name of a single NPC
    Lack of content and bad battle mechanics.
  22. Leer468
    Mar 19, 2020
    10
    At first you think it is a game like any other, but when you take an hour and leave the city the game becomes incredible, the feeling of freedom is unique
  23. keens
    Mar 11, 2020
    6
    This game is far from perfect but after I added a couple of mods I really enjoyed playing it.
  24. Berkaydesu
    Mar 1, 2020
    7
    Good game with a huge potential to be a great one, I just hope the dev group won't waste that
  25. Zenren
    Feb 10, 2020
    4
    I wanted to like this game. It seemed to have so much potential, however it's just not there. The initial mission is difficult to complete, ended up dying and having no where to rest, had to restart the game because I had my bedroll in my backpack. Just buy something else. If it was $14.99 or less it could be a weekend diversion, but honestly I doubt it will be anything more than that forI wanted to like this game. It seemed to have so much potential, however it's just not there. The initial mission is difficult to complete, ended up dying and having no where to rest, had to restart the game because I had my bedroll in my backpack. Just buy something else. If it was $14.99 or less it could be a weekend diversion, but honestly I doubt it will be anything more than that for most people.

    Pros-

    Survival game. It does it poorly, very poorly, but it is supposed to be a survival game.

    Cons-

    Poor graphics- maybe it was designed to run on any machine, but even at ultra and high the graphics are really bad.
    Controls- Difficult and awkward, can't enter combat without tabbing and locking onto your enemy, or else you will never be able to aim at them. Very poorly done. Also keep in mind there is no Jump. Literally a foot high wall will prevent you from moving forward. Just lazy programming at its finest.

    Final Verdict- Don't buy this game, there are so many good games out there. The hype from big name gaming mags has a lot to do with advertising dollars, not actual gameplay.    … Expand
  26. Anastasyah
    Jan 17, 2020
    8
    Great game but it lacks quests. I have not been so involved in a game process for many years.
  27. InQuasi
    Jan 2, 2020
    10
    What a phenomenal breath of fresh air, this game is a must buy for anyone that likes a more realistic/tangible approach to fantasy adventure.

    Outward focuses much more on strategically planning your trip into the wilderness. Each quest requires carefully selecting your equipment, food and survival necessities as well as knowledge of the road/memory of the paths that take you to your    What a phenomenal breath of fresh air, this game is a must buy for anyone that likes a more realistic/tangible approach to fantasy adventure.

    Outward focuses much more on strategically planning your trip into the wilderness. Each quest requires carefully selecting your equipment, food and survival necessities as well as knowledge of the road/memory of the paths that take you to your destination. With an organic feel to the world and being so fully lost in it with just a map, no player marker, and a compass you can only rely on the visible landmarks and your previous experiences to navigate each tightly constructed area.

    With balanced survival mechanics, entirely useful loot and rich combat this game hits all the right marks and in full stride when achieving its creative goal. I haven't been so immersed in a dangerous world since I first played each Dark Souls game, and when it comes to mechanics Outward certainly doesn't fall short of the greatest RPGs, I'd argue it even surpasses them in certain capacity.

    Looking forward to forming a better opinion on it and hopefully sharing it to anyone that might be on the fence about this title.

    Buy. This. Game.    … Expand
  28. fuatX
    Dec 4, 2019
    4
    +Good
    +Good graphics.
    +Good map and skill system
    +You can feel like real advanturer
    +Souls-like game

    -Bad
    -no level system
    -U HAVE NO CLUE WHERE U ARE EXACLY
    -Boring musics
  29. Chezidek
    Nov 23, 2019
    10
    Amazing adventure game!
    Here we are not another hero, we play for an ordinary person and we have to survive in a cruel world!
    For me it's game of the year, I'm delighted! Such emotions, impressions and such a gaming experience I have not experienced for a long time!
  30. godofcoding
    Nov 17, 2019
    10
    Hard and Cool
    Beautiful and Monstrous
    This game looks like Gothic in 2019, plays like Subnautica in RPG world..
    And in the end - unique experience
    Definitely recommended. (Especially after all patches where they fix all of majority bugs)
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Awards & Rankings

55
#55 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019
67
#67 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 19
  3. Negative: 2 out of 19
  1. Cubed3
    May 9, 2019
    40
    Outward isn't so much bad as it is outwardly bland. Bolstered by its genuinely endearing premise, and an emphasis on a more "human" approach to the RPG genre, the title is simultaneously held back by lacklustre presentation, an underwhelming combat system, and a main game that goes on far too long to justify the onslaught of hostility thrown at the player. The survival elements do help to keep the experience engaging, but, more often than not, they hold back what would otherwise be a rather atmospheric and pleasant action-RPG. The hostility on offer is a genuine strength on a conceptual level, but it perhaps goes too far, resulting in an RPG that can't quite overcome its flaws despite its qualities.
    Read full review
  2. The Overpowered Noobs
    Apr 26, 2019
    50
    A difficult survival game with some interesting elements that is significantly hindered by tedious mechanics and a superficial world.
    Read full review
  3. GamingTrend
    Apr 15, 2019
    70
    Outward is an ambitious, uncompromising game, sometimes to its own detriment. There’s a lot to like about it, from its unique take on player character death to its focus on the mundane aspects of adventuring. But every moment when it really shined was surrounded by drudgery and frustration. Outward is sure to appeal to some players, but it often undercuts its own best features.
    Read full review
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