Now-a-days we take video games for granted. We have forgotten how difficult video games used to be. They used to test our patience to the extreme which is why when we used to clear a certain level, we felt like gods. In today’s market, Dark Souls is the epitome of a difficult game.
To me, it is a game which just requires patience and a little skill with your dodging. Outward is an open-world RPG by Nine Dots Studios and after playing it, I can say this game is a perfect example of what video games used to be in the past when it comes to being difficult and making you feel like a god upon conquering a difficult enemy.
I say this is a good way and not a bad way. Outward is a beautiful RPG and the best thing about it is that it does not tell you what to do. That is what a proper RPG needs to do. I have played Skyrim, invested a life time in WoW and The Witcher franchise. They were all wonderful RPGs but they were too easy and straight forward. Everything was guided.
Outward does not guide you except for a single sentence about what needs to be done next. After that it is all up to how you complete the task. You can choose your own approach, your own gear, your own skills and your own spells. You are thrown in an open world which is extremely dangerous and you have no one to watch your back except your own skills.
I started the game with a typical RPG approach and I was humbled at every corner in Outward. Turns out I need to play it right. During my first playthrough, right at the start I went thirsty. I accidentally drank salt water and the game tells me that I am thirsty. I thought maybe the game forgot to tell me this beforehand and now water consumption has finally displayed the message.
I try it again and the game tells me that I am now very thirsty and I have also a disease because of repeated consumption of salt water. With nothing to heal myself with, I carry on anyway. Instead of following the main path, I decide to travel on my own. I see a dead body and approach it. It gives me a Machete which shows that I am looking at a fight ahead.
I go on ahead with my full RPG experience behind me and went to take on two wild dog like creatures with a machete and tattered clothes as armor. This time I barely run away with my health and later, it turns out that I am also infected by their bites. So now I am diseased and infected right before leaving the first area which was supposed to be a very easy start to the game.
I had to pause the game for a little time. I pressed escape and went out. Came back 15 minutes later and I was dead because I did not notice to really pause the game, I had to click pause game in the menu that pops up when I press escape. I was standing in the sun and my character became too hot and died due to thirst.
Started the game all over again and this time I made very good progress. I clear the first area and this time I am loaded with a little bit of supplies although I do not have any backpack yet to store it. Backpack plays an important role in Outward. It will be your best friend in the game but sometimes you will need to leave it behind because if will make you too heavy to escape attacks or dodge them.
I also noticed that currency also has weight in Outward so I must not store too much money on myself at all times. Before leaving the first city, I was instructed to have a waterskin, a backpack and a weapon with me. I gear up and set out of safety into the wilds. When I say wilds, it literally is wild. Getting lost is very easy in the game if you do not watch your map or keep an eye on the compass at the top of the screen.
The game does not tell you anything and when I say anything, I mean anything. Even the map shows the local area with no pointer of where you are standing. This is difficult. We take small features in video games for granted that only when we play games like Outward, we remember their usefulness.
With all this said, Outward is a true RPG to the core. It is not for the faint hearted. You need to commit to Outward or you will not survive in the game. During the time I spent in the game, I got killed more times than I managed to kill enemies but once I got the hang of the game, it puts many modern RPGs to shame with its focus on core RPG elements.
All this accompanied by a solid soundtrack in the background gives you one of the most astounding open world exploration experiences ever. As the music transitions alerting you of nearby threats, you can feel your spine tingling. Never have I felt unsafe to travel into a cave like I felt while playing Outward. Even if you have a good armor on, a good weapon with you and plenty of supplies, you never know what the game will throw at you next.
You cannot survive without your backpack but on the other hand you backpack will also get you killed in Outward. You must learn to manage your backpack game. It is not something you can compromise on in the game. Either you learn to use your backpack effectively or you die a lot. I managed to get a proper backpack after making significant progress in the game because like I said, you need to earn everything in the game.
Another important aspect in Outward is the use of magic. Magic apparently plays a very big role in the game but I have never focused on any magic related builds ever in any RPG that I have ever played. I have always gone for a melee build because I love going face-to-face with my demons. In Outward, I managed to squeeze out 10 hours of gameplay without using a single spell and I was alive at the end.
Outward is simply one of the best RPGs that I have experienced and I cannot wait to make further progress in the game. It really brings back the classic RPG formula where RPGs actually felt like RPGs. It is brutal, it is simple, it is beautiful, it is RPG done right. Nine Dots have really done a great job on Outward.
