Ultimately, ‘Outbound’ frustrated me because I truly wanted to love it. Its key art was charming, its core concept appealing, I truly was all in on a title that could be a calm port in the storm of a crazy world. And in its first area that potential was being realised imperfectly, but with charm.
Flaws unfortunately stack up, with each area pushing the initial issues to their natural breaking points and the initial fun of the survival crafting loop turning into a crushing grind with little in the way of reward. There is fun to be had here for the patient, and perhaps with friends, some welcome life can be injected into the abandoned world. Right now though, it’s hard to recommend this one for the average camper.