Outward Definitive Edition

Very fun. Theres nothing else quite like this game.

exellent

I'm about 10 hours into the game on a solo playthrough and so far I would rank it a 6/10. (I did get it on sale for 88% off and got a second copy for a co-op playthrough with my spouse later on) Overall, I think Outward is worth checking out if it's on sale and you're a fan of grindy, survival-focused RPGs. However, the game is definitely not for the average gamer. --- The game itself isn't difficult. Anyone claiming that the combat in outward is similar to any soulslike has never played a fromsoft game. The main issue with combat is that there is absolutely no weight whatsoever, meaning that it's hard to discern when your attacks land on the enemy and vice-versa. It makes it very easy to die as you may not even realize you're being hit if you aren't paying close attention to your hp indicator in the corner of the screen. Other than the janky combat, the true "difficulty" stems from the fact that at the beginning of the game the player is very squishy and will die in about 4 hits from even the lowest tier of enemies. There is no traditional EXP/leveling-based progression, rather you spend silver to acquire stronger equipment and learn skills. This forces players to avoid direct combat with most enemies until they're able to gather enough resources to craft goods to sell to vendors and eventually purchase strong enough gear to actually fight enemies. There is the option to place traps to lead enemies into, which can deal substantial damage to enemies, however crafting traps uses resources which makes using them less viable early on, as creating them rather than selling their ingredients extends the daunting amount of grinding the game expects of you in the first section of the game. And while you're gathering resources to sell, you're going to be doing A LOT of walking across the map as there is no fast travel. I didn't initially think it would be as big of an issue as I've enjoyed other games without fast travel, but the map in Outward feels pretty large and empty. Enemies, harvestables, and the environment in general is all very spaced out, making travel feel tedious and boring. As a fan of survival games, I was pleasantly surprised by the survival systems in Outward. Initially I was reminded of the survival mode CC included with Skyrim AE (which I personally find a little bit too tedious), but i found that the food ingredients in the initial map is very abundant and with frequent resource respawns, and the cooking is much more accessible and enjoyable. The debuffs given from hunger, thirst, injuries and diseases are much milder and manageable. So, if you're a fan of Skyrim AE's Survival Mode, you may find Outward's survival elements to be too easy and shallow, but personally I think it's actually in a good balance.