i was realy looking forward to a different or uunique RPG. this might be that but i can pretty much sum up the game and its design by just talking about 1 simple thing.

Gather a bush. you need to hold F wait then when done it will play the animation to gather the bush.

This is a fundamental design flaw that would take <1hr too fix yet the studio left it that way even when reworking the game into a "Devinive" Edition...

this is not me being petty this is just an example of how everyting in this game is designed...

Outward tries to present itself as a “hardcore, realistic” open-world RPG, but in practice it often just feels clunky and unnecessarily frustrating. The combat is stiff and unresponsive, with awkward animations and inconsistent hit detection that make fights feel more like a chore than a challenge. Difficulty doesn’t come from smart design — it comes from inconvenience. The Game feels hollow, Garbage map design that looks like a childrens playset, It felt immersive right up until you leave the first area. High levels mobs that normal traders and NPCs would be able to walk past? No guards? Settlements feel bleak and underpopulated, It is a real shame.

6/10

Game conclusion: Wonky adventure game with Dark Souls 2 clunk, everquest feel and survival mechanics.

What the game does well it does very well. What the game does not do well, it's pretty bad.

The Goods:
- This was someone's passion project and it shows
- Everything is hand crafted, no copy paste that I'm aware of
- Old school open world nostalgia game.
- You are allowed to fail. The game does not hold your hand.
- Ambience the game has an old school charm.
- Magic system, buffs, debuffs are very developed (leads me to think it was a passion project)
- The core game loop is good. Good bones.
- Losing a fight is brutal, losing your gear is brutal.
- Unique mechanics like dropping your backpack to be able to move around in a fight
- Decent AI when fighting NPCs
- Weapons have different attack patterns which was neat
- No quest markers, no hand holding.

The bads:
- Story is mid and feels tacked on (the intrepid adventuerer gets ship wrecked and needs to keep their lighthouse?)
- World feels empty. Kenshi has more going on world wise. (I found a white bird and a tree)
- Combat mechanics are both clunky and smooth. Not sure what to make of it.
- Conflict of vision. On death you respawn in a random location with some of your gear on the floor? Wonky. Mabe publish oversight, unsure.
- Invisible walls in an open world, bane of esitance.
- 1/2 voice acting. They'll voice act the first half of dialgue then it's up to you. Not sure why, but ok
- Game feels unfinished like there should be more here.

Conclusion: It's not a 40$ game. It's unique and has it's own personality. If it's on sale I highly recommend this game.