Back in 1999, Appeal Studios surprised everyone when it released the acclaimed sci-fi open-world game Outcast. Players were sucked in by its beautiful landscape and stuck around for the exhilarating gameplay it offered. However, while the studio tried to make a sequel, it would unfortunately never come to fruition and Appeal was forced to close its doors. But, 20 years later, Outcast: A New Beginning is that sequel, and it mostly delivers on that original promise.
Outcast: A New Beginning feels like a blast from the past, which will surely excite those looking for a bit of nostalgia or who want to cause some chaos in a sci-fi world. The landscapes are beautiful, its unique mechanics are fun to engage with, and the core gameplay is not half-bad either. While that can offer hours of entertainment, some players may be put off by Outcast’s many shortcomings. And ultimately, that makes for a fun but deeply flawed experience overall.
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The best part of Outcast: A New Beginning is its simple and engaging gameplay loop. Players take on the role of Cutter Slade, a man destined to protect the alien planet of Adelpha from invaders. To accomplish this, he must help the people of the planet with everything they need, and in return, he will hopefully earn their favor. But this will not be an easy feat, as enemies lurk around every corner hoping to take him down. So, in typical open-world game fashion, players must prepare themselves for a lot of destruction.
Players will spend much of their time shooting through all sorts of different enemies on their journey to liberate Adelpha from the invaders. They will take down hordes of rampaging robots, destroy massive bases, beat back alien creatures, and engage in numerous explosive shenanigans. While the world may not be as destructible as the likes of Just Cause, this gameplay loop feels heavily reminiscent of it. And that really helps make Outcast: A New Beginning stand out from many other modern open-world titles.
Because players need to liberate the entire planet, exploration and traversal play a big roles in Outcast: A New Beginning. To make that aspect a bit more fun, Cutter Slade is given a jetpack pretty early on that allows him to dodge, high jump, and glide through the world. As players progress further, they will also unlock even more ways to utilize this tool. Even though it may not let players outright fly through the skies, it does still make traversing this planet a bit more fun.
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Along with that, the developer has also packed Adelpha with various classic open-world side activities to mess around with. There are parkour challenges, hives to take out, bases to destroy, chests to uncover, and some gliding mini-games to complete. These help give players a reason to keep exploring, and often result in useful upgrades like more HP. However, some of the tasks can quickly feel a bit monotonous, as there is just not a ton of variety in how they work. So, once players have seen one, they have practically seen them all.
As players fight their way through Adelpha, they will grow in power, much like any open-world title. Not only does Outcast: A New Beginning have the classic skill trees, but it also has a system known as weapon modules. Players will discover these upgradable modules in bases strewn about the game’s world, or hidden in random locations. Once they find one, they can equip it on their weapons to significantly change how they work. The pistol can become a machine gun, they can earn health upon kills, they can launch powerful charged shots, and they can even attach sticky bombs to every round. And with each upgrade, these modules become even more exciting.
These modules are one of Outcast: A New Beginning’s main forms of progression, with some feeling truly game-changing. However, players do not have free rein to create whatever type of weapon they want. Instead, they are limited to only putting on a certain number of modules per weapon, unlocking more slots over time. Luckily, if they do not like what they chose, they can easily swap them out.
While the modules can be a lot of fun to mix-and-match, the weapon system is also one of Outcast: A New Beginning’s shortcomings. Unlike some open-world games which give players countless weapons to utilize, this game only gives them a two-gun arsenal. Additionally, they are given a shield and can do a simple melee attack. This means that there isn't a ton of variation in the combat outside those modules, and even though those help shake things up a bit, once players find ones they like, they will likely seldom swap them out.
Additionally, as players gain the favor of villages, they will unlock special Talan Powers. These powers give them all sorts of fun abilities, including Anti-Gravity, bombing raids, devastating vines, and even a massive mountable flying whale-like creature. Each power is themed after the village's story that unlocks it, with some taking a bit more time than others. And each can be extremely fun to mess around with, which helps make up for Outcast: A New Beginning's lack of weapons.
That being said, players may also discover some weird enemy AI behavior during their journey. There are often times where enemies will simply stand there as players unload into them or enemies whose strategy is to simply walk towards the player menacingly. Even if Cutter Slade is supposed to be this powerful sci-fi hero, it would have been nice if his enemies were a bit smarter.
That issue is not reserved for just standard enemies either, as the game's boss fights can be bland. For example, early on in Outcast: A New Beginning, players will take on a mining drill in what could have been a fun encounter. But instead of forcing players to desperately fight for their lives, they can simply run circles around the drill as they shoot its center point. Occasionally, they will have to dodge AOE attacks, but those are extremely easy to avoid. And while other bosses may work slightly differently, none of them are particularly challenging or memorable.
But perhaps, one of Outcast: A New Beginning’s biggest flaws is its lackluster story. The focus of the experience may be on Cutter Slade shooting his way through the beautiful planet of Adelpha, yet the tale that connects those fun-filled moments is hardly interesting. Players are dropped into this world with little explanation as to why. Then, they must follow a pretty standard sci-fi story filled with classic snarky comments from the protagonist, not very many memorable characters, and way too many fetch quests. While that type of adventure may be what some players are looking for, those hoping to get something a bit more will not find it here.
There are a couple of technical issues throughout Outcast: A New Beginning as well, with some areas having significant lag spikes, enemies often getting trapped within objects, or Cutter Slade’s jetpack causing the player to get stuck. Additionally, the console graphics modes do not work as intended, with the quality mode slowing the game down considerably.
Outcast: A New Beginning does offer a good amount of fun for those looking to mess around in an open-world sci-fi game that hearkens back to earlier entries in the genre. The world that Appeal created is fun to explore, the core gameplay loop feels like a blast from the past, and overall, it makes for a decent sci-fi experience. The story may not be the most interesting, and the content isn't that varied, but some players may still be able to find something to enjoy here. And fans of the original should at least enjoy this trip down memory lane, even if it could have been done better.
Outcast - A New Beginning
Reviewed on PS5
- Released
- March 15, 2024
20 years after the award-winning action adventure hit, Outcast, pioneered the genre of non-linear open-world games, the long-awaited sequel sees Cutter Slade return to the spectacular alien world of Adelpha. Resurrected by the almighty Yods, he has returned to find the Talans enslaved, the world stripped of its natural resources, and his own past intertwining with the invading robot forces. It's up to him to go on a mission and save the planet again.
The original team behind Outcast 1 has reunited to create this fascinating world, full of dangerous creatures and home to the Talan people – an ancient culture whose fate has become inextricably linked with earth since the events of the first game. You play as Cutter Slade, ex-Navy SEAL, sporting the same dry wit he had back in the 90s – however, the world around him has changed and eventually, so will he.
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Action
- Beautifully Unique Open World
- Ton of Content to Explore
- Simple but Engaging Gameplay Loop
- Combat Encounters are Bland
- Lackluster Story
- Lack of Variety Throughout Its Systems
Outcast - A New Beginning releases March 15, 2024 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The Best War Games was provided a PS5 code for this review.