Outcast: A New Beginning is a long-awaited sequel to the original Outcast, released in 1999. Given it’s been 25 years since its predecessor, and the landscape of gaming has evolved and changed so much since then, I had my reservations about how this latest entry would hold up by today’s standards. While the game has some redeeming qualities, its empty world and characters devoid of any personality leave a lot to be desired.
On-Again Off-Again Gameplay
Outcast: A New Beginning doesn’t waste any time in pulling us in, introducing us to our main protagonist, Cutter Slade, and establishing that we’re basically the only human on the planet. The alien natives are at war with humans, and the humans’ robotic soldiers, which is where the gameplay is focused. We are given a pistol, the jetpack, and the shield right off the bat, which are really the key ingredients for navigating the world of Adelpha and progressing in the story. The goal is essentially to assist the native people, Talans, in bringing unity to Adelpha and somehow stopping the war between humans and Talans. This is done through a series of quests for each individual village and by conquering various enemy outposts scattered around the map.
I quickly figured out my favorite part of the gameplay was, hands down, the jetpack and glider. They give you free rein to fly and explore the map in a very speedy and satisfying manner (who doesn’t want to fly?) and gain an advantage in combat. Having the high ground for taking down enemies at outposts always comes in clutch! They make exploration fun and motivate me to unlock more abilities to make them even more effective, like allowing the jetpack to boost further or to hover in midair. In a way, they are the game’s critical features since they were necessary for about 70% of the tasks, especially the Essence Temples.
Alongside the jetpack comes another important and fun utility for combat: weapon modules. Even though you are only given two guns and a shield, Outcast manages to ensure its gunplay doesn’t get stale. Weapon modules are gradually unlocked as you take down enemy outposts, and allow you to equip effects to your weapons, such as Sticky Bombs, a Scope, extra damage on a headshot, and many more. With so many modules to choose from and equip, you can completely switch up the strategy of your attacks, either going in hot with explosives, or staying back from afar and sniping.
Your weapons also use Helidium, a special crystal that grows on Adelpha. Unlike ammo, if you run out, your gun can still fire, but it isn’t as effective, and your weapon modules are disabled. Although it was a bit annoying to run out of, I still appreciated that I wasn’t completely defenseless, especially at outposts where there were so many enemies to fend off. Plus, you can utilize your combat skills, unlocked with Nano-Cells collected from defeated enemies. This allows you to learn abilities like a shield bash or a ground pound from above, perfect for taking on multiple enemies at once. All these features combined made the combat and navigation a real standout in the experience, which is essential for a title that prides itself as an adventure game.
As much as I loved flying about Adelpha with my jetpack, the limitations that came with it put a bit of a dampener on things. Even though a crucial part of the skill tree progression was unlocking more energy for the jetpack, it still seemed like there was never enough, which constantly limited how often I used it. Quite a few times, I would have to sit and wait for it to recharge so I could continue flying up to the spot where I needed to be which became quite a nuisance, particularly when venturing into the desert region of the map, where there are so many canyons that house outposts and the main village of Desan. It took way longer than I wanted to get to the top, when I would have loved to be able to just boost all the way up.
This goes hand in hand with another mechanic that became an immediate turn-off for me, which is what I started calling the “no-no screen.” When you run into an object too quickly with your jetpack or wander into an area where you aren’t supposed to, the screen flashes white and teleports you back. This was prominent in the beginning of the game especially, as it led you exactly to where you needed to go for your quests (which is understandable), but it continued even past that just in ordinary exploration as well. If I was boosting full speed toward a destination I had to be sure not to run into anything or I would be greeted with the white screen and a quick teleport trip backward. If it hadn’t happened quite so often, I probably wouldn’t have minded, but the frequency of this white screen became an annoyance that took away some of the enjoyment of exploration and broke some of that fast-paced action, making it feel more on-and-off again.
While those simple annoyances were parts of the game that not everyone might find as annoying as I did, a big negative part of the gameplay was the few bugs I ran into. Although I only ran into a few, they were noticeable enough to ruin some of the fun of the game for me, such as enemies stuck in the ground at certain outposts, frames dropping significantly as I used my glider or jetpack, sounds not triggering when they were supposed to, and even the game crashing twice. The developers have released a last-minute patch on PS5 which improves performance and includes various bug fixes, but there’s no word on whether this is also coming to PC where I ran into the issues.
A Lively Alien Planet
My initial thought when starting the game was that it wasn’t as open-world as I expected. At the start, specific areas restrict you with an annoying white fog (almost like the “no-no screen”), and you automatically teleport back if you wander too far into it. I was relieved to see that wasn’t the case later on, but rather an initial push for the story to unwind. Once you get through the first area of the game, the map becomes a fully open world, and the fog mercifully clears.
Once the map opened up, it was a delight to explore. Developer Appeal Studios has done a great job creating a colorful and diverse map. There are various biomes to explore, like the dreary snowy mountains or the blistering hot desert, which is a pleasant change of scenery as we progress through the story. We are introduced to each area through the game’s main quests: to assist each village, whether herding animals or gathering resources. These seemingly minuscule tasks did a great job of highlighting the world’s culture. The villages were excellently crafted, feeling wholly unique, lived-in and realistic. I enjoy the look of a cluttered space rather than an empty one, so every little detail caught my eye, from the bustling villages to the museum full of human artifacts, and they made the experience more immersive.
With all that being said, my only complaint with the map is that there seems to be too much unnecessary space. Unless you enjoy just wandering around without an objective, there is a lot of space you will probably never see. I enjoy exploring new worlds, but I want a reason to venture off the beaten path, and hardly any side quests took me to other territories. I only unlocked about 50% of the fast travel points on the map, and I wasn’t given a reason to do any more than that, besides completing Wyrm Trials or Essence Shrines to earn a bit of extra Helidium or points to unlock skills from your skill tree. Even then, these are repetitive little mini-games, like following a ball of light, that don’t really play a part in the main story.
A Tale of Peace and Reverting
I was pleasantly surprised by the narrative in Outcast: A New Beginning. At first, I was afraid it would be a predictable story with themes we’ve seen a thousand times over in sci-fi stories. Still, the twists turned it around for me. The game does a solid job of avoiding the typical clichés and instead keeps you on your toes and guessing. While you still have the usual themes of ‘chosen one’ and saving the world, Cutter Slade is a grey area character that makes mistakes and must correct them, rather than an all-knowing, all-good character, which makes for a refreshing change.
Unfortunately, my biggest gripe with the narrative is the characters. The native race, the Talans, all look and sound exactly the same. Although they are an alien race, that doesn’t mean they all have to feel like carbon copies of one another outside of their attire. Even a simple change for each biome they live in, like blue skin for the water tribe or red skin for the desert tribe, would have made a difference. Instead, you lose track of who is who, and they feel less prominent in the story.
All in all, the narrative in the story turned out to be an endearing tale of peace. It’s driving the theme of unity despite diversity home by allowing humans and aliens to bond, come together to stop violence and destruction, and even fall in love. While the story’s themes are heartfelt, the road to get there can be a bit bumpy with all factors considered: the quests are repetitive, the bugs break up smooth gameplay, and the characters just aren’t memorable.
Outcast: A New Beginning—The Bottom Line
Pros:
- Fun exploration with the jetpack and glider
- Satisfying and customizable combat
- A detailed map full of unique villages
- An unpredictable story with twists and turns
Cons:
- Restricted areas and teleporting
- Long recharge time takes away from the fun of the jetpack
- Unnecessary space on the map
- Lackluster characters
- Repetitive tasks
- Bugs
For me, Outcast: A New Beginning was really a tug-of-war between “it’s fun,” and “it’s driving me crazy.” While some features stood out to me, like the jetpack and weapon modules, they really couldn’t make up for the lackluster characters, a map that was just too big, and bugs that ruin the experience. Fans of the franchise may want to give it a try to compare to the classic experience as it’s undoubtedly a step up in terms of mechanics. However, it’s not necessarily something I would want to play again myself, which lowers my rating for the game overall, and honestly, restricts me from recommending it to others.
