Outward

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 168 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 108 out of 168
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 168
  3. Negative: 40 out of 168

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  1. nilsy
    Apr 7, 2020
    4
    Cant remember the name of a single NPC
    Lack of content and bad battle mechanics.
  2. 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.
  3. 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
  4. Vollos
    Oct 5, 2019
    1
    I created an account to warn others to not buy this game.

    Outward was on sale for $25 from $40. I wanted something fun to play with a friend, and we could go exploring the world together. Well, I thought I'd try it out before I wrangled someone into buying this. Which was a good idea! It HAD a good start, Shipwrecked on a beach, a chance to explore the countryside! Nope, you go    I created an account to warn others to not buy this game.

    Outward was on sale for $25 from $40. I wanted something fun to play with a friend, and we could go exploring the world together. Well, I thought I'd try it out before I wrangled someone into buying this.

    Which was a good idea!

    It HAD a good start, Shipwrecked on a beach, a chance to explore the countryside! Nope, you go to sleep and get teleported to your home which is promptly taken from you for a quest you have three in game days to complete. Don’t like it? Get Rekt.

    Figured I would go outside to farm some kills to make money to get house back, can’t leave the city until I get a waterskin, a backpack, and a weapon. Awesome! Slowing down progress! Fun times! /s.

    Finally get outside, combat is clunky, weird, and punishing.
    * You will get swarmed and murdered
    * The swing animations make it easy to miss targets
    * You will die, and it will not get better.
    * no agro falloff for monsters, they will follow you back to town.

    I'm fine with a game being hard. Darksouls and monster hunter have some bullcrap mechanics where the game hits the "you lose" button. Fine, I can handle that. I feel like Outward was hitting that button from start to finish.

    I ended up refunding this game in the end, I only had 2 hours maximum to test before steam stops you from refunding. I only needed 41 minutes.

    Other complaints:
    Human resources found homeless people to do the voice acting.
    Steam reviews/PC gamer review feels like it has been manipulated.
    There is no way this game is worthwhile or enjoyable. Even if some people enjoy being pooped on, or beaten, this game should not even fulfill those kinks.

    Outward Release Date: Mar 26, 2019.
    Good games don't go on sale for 40% off 6 months after release.

    To the people who made this game, I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you wanted to make. It’s probably management's fault. I wish you the best of luck in the future and hope the next game you make isn’t a complete dumpster fire.    … Expand
  5. 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
  6. Elco32
    Apr 15, 2019
    4
    Combat is bad. And I like Gothic and Risen. This is just bad combat. And the world is empty, the interface is dated. Nothing about this game says quality or fun. I asked for a refund. Hopefully I didn't put quite 2 hours into it,
  7. Gamertimexxx
    Jun 24, 2019
    1
    Please do not compare this clunky unintuitive mess to dark souls or fable. Everything ‘interesting’ about the gameplay is a bland quirk to add difficulty to an otherwise personalityless game. The world may have been interesting if it were at all populated or had anything to do in it except excessive walking. Literally play anything else.
  8. Caspertoo
    Mar 26, 2019
    2
    Ok I read the "pre-reviews" and liked what people were saying. I pre-purchased it and spent about 5 or so hours playing it today. What's the best way to describe it? How about a MMORPG that has no other players in it and almost no enemies to battle. You go everywhere on foot and there is a long distance to go sometimes. The graphics are more reminiscent of something in the midOk I read the "pre-reviews" and liked what people were saying. I pre-purchased it and spent about 5 or so hours playing it today. What's the best way to describe it? How about a MMORPG that has no other players in it and almost no enemies to battle. You go everywhere on foot and there is a long distance to go sometimes. The graphics are more reminiscent of something in the mid 2000's. Your choices for things to battle (that you stand a chance of beating) are these big chicken looking things, hyenas, and bandits. Literally everything else can kill you with 2 or 3 hits while you shoot them with 30 arrows and make multiple melee attacks on it. You finish the starting quests in the starting city fairly fast, then are given the instructions of traveling across the map to pick a faction, but the problem is, anything outside your starter city area will kill you instantly. It's just not a fun game, sorry I really wanted it to be, but no. I asked for a refund.… Expand
  9. Chadpowers
    Jul 30, 2019
    3
    It's empty, doesn't respect the players time, the systems are unnecessarily complicated and slow paced and the combat is no fun at all. Also it doesn't even have stats to raise, as if my character would have this not very exciting but long and drawn out adventure and never gets even a tad stronger or better in anything.
    It's the absolute opposite of what they promised in the description    It's empty, doesn't respect the players time, the systems are unnecessarily complicated and slow paced and the combat is no fun at all. Also it doesn't even have stats to raise, as if my character would have this not very exciting but long and drawn out adventure and never gets even a tad stronger or better in anything.
    It's the absolute opposite of what they promised in the description of the game and I feel scammed out of my money and time.

    Graphics: 3/10 really, really poor world design
    Sound: 5/10 meh
    Story: 4/10 utterly mediocre
    Gameplay: 0/10
    Overall: 3/10    … Expand
  10. 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
  11. zechms
    Apr 5, 2019
    3
    The way this game was hyped was as a story-light and harsh-but-fair low-budget-Skyrim type of experience, which had me hammering at the door.

    HARSH-BUT-FAIR Firstly, if you die you respawn in town with all your stuff. Just catch a quick nap and get back out there. Secondly, I only played the game for about five hours before I stumbled upon a seated, solitary NPC whom, when talked to,    The way this game was hyped was as a story-light and harsh-but-fair low-budget-Skyrim type of experience, which had me hammering at the door.

    HARSH-BUT-FAIR
    Firstly, if you die you respawn in town with all your stuff. Just catch a quick nap and get back out there. Secondly, I only played the game for about five hours before I stumbled upon a seated, solitary NPC whom, when talked to, my character immediately surrendered their weapons and items and walked straight into a cell. Excuse me, but that's not story through gameplay, that's story in spite of gameplay. Everyone said "Outward doesn't hold your hand", but it sure tied both my hands behind my back for the sake of some forced story. Thirdly the combat system is one of those where the only real difficulty is trying to get the game to recognize inputs that aren't wrapped inside full seconds of inactivity. I thought the game would be unfinished except for the combat but instead it is no exception.

    STORY-LIGHT
    You're not the chosen one, no, but I was amazed to realize that you start the game with a pre-established character who grew up in the game world, has ties within it, and has a story of their life which you are thrust into the middle of. This makes the game even more difficult to enjoy your own RP with than the world-centric protagonists its marketing was so proud to have resisted. I was shown a character creator, I designed someone to play as, I named them according to who I decided they were, and then all of a sudden they were the child of a lighthouse keeper living under the burden of a blood debt their old grandmother left them with. This character lore then follows you and determines your story path, refusing to be ignored. What happened to story-light? I would rather be in the prisoner's cart, please.

    LOW-BUDGET-SKYRIM
    I'm trying to think of what Outward has that a challenge run of modded Skyrim doesn't. If you set the difficulty to maximum, limit your save/loads, and install a mod to skip the opening, I believe you'd be playing a far superior version of the type of experience Outward was marketed on. A nobody with a world-stomping destiny is 100% closer to nobody than Outward's somebody with the same world-stomping destiny but minus a lore explanation. Furthermore a world where you can actually die is 100% harsher than one where you miraculously teleport to safety. And a combat system that somewhat rewards good play, rather than only punishing bad play, is some >0% fairer than one where you are mainly fighting the controls. In short I think that Outward's design principles were either failed or not actually in line with the design principles that everyone hyping the game was repeating them to be. It's not harsh, it's not particularly fair, you're not nobody, and without these things I don't see a justification for putting up with the extremely low-budget quality.    … Expand
  12. arthur666
    May 5, 2019
    2
    you can sleep while holding a torch........................................
  13. IlyaHero
    Mar 26, 2019
    0
    Cons: empty open world, outdated and clunky combat, ton of bugs and bad performance, unbalanced enemies
  14. metacriticsuckz
    Apr 16, 2021
    0
    Absolute Garbage. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
  15. 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.
  16. 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

Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019
66
#66 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.
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  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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