Outward

Outward for PC is a survival-based fantasy role-playing game where, unlike most games, the emphasis is on non-heroic tactics. Instead, the focus is on slow careful play with strategic planning high on the agenda. The whole adds up to a fascinating and absorbing game that you will want to play for hours.

About the game

The basic story line kicks off with the premise that the player’s character has incurred an urgent debt from their family which must be paid off in a very short time in order to retain their home – which can be a number of quirky buildings, such as a lighthouse.

The game has a constant autosave feature, so players can’t control their last save point and return to convenient restart points should they be captured or find that they have started on a long and undesirable course of action. This is where strategy is key: an ounce of thought saves you hours of tiring journeying about the map!

Stay Healthy!

At all times during the game, the player should keep an eye on their health status. Becoming too hungry, thirsty, fatigued or cold can lead to the avatar becoming ill or falling unconscious. They can even suffer from a cold, or even heartburn!

Losing health or becoming too fatigued in this way can have unwanted consequences like needing to be rescued by NPCs and removed from the area towards which you are travelling, or being imprisoned by enemies.

There are three parallel story lines that all feed into the main story arc, and you can choose whichever one appeals the most – or play the game over and over, choosing a different arc and character each time: each character will have different strengths and weaknesses, so you get a completely different experience each time.

Immortality is Magic!

You can’t die in the game – but this isn’t quite as cool as it seems. You do fall unconscious if you lose track of the above, and this costs you time to heal, recover, restock supplies and eat, and find cures for any ailments. Therefore, thirst, hunger and fatigue take precedence over combat and weaponry in order to keep your player in great condition.

There are no ways to travel quickly, and the autosave feature mean that you must think carefully before committing to one course of action or another as you can’t get an easy do over should you begin to regret your current position.

The magic system is hard – each potion or spell is tricky to acquire – but well worth it when you make the effort and succeed. For example, the fireball spell, if thrown without preparation is like throwing a lit match at someone: it is foolish and achieves nothing but to waste a match.

Performed correctly, with a properly prepared magic circle and with all the right ingredients, the fireball is a thing of beauty and wonder!

The game forces you to concentrate on the minutiae of life, making it an absorbing quest in which every decision must be considered before action is taken. It can be frustrating at times, but this only makes the successes so much the sweeter: and this makes you want more and more of them.

Ways to Play

Single player

Explore the wide-open spaces keeping a careful eye on your statuses. If you fall unconscious you might be rescued, but end up miles from where you want to be. Alternatively, you could fall into enemy hands and need to spend time and energy recovering and getting out of imprisonment instead of getting on with the mission.

Multiplayer

Local (with split screen) Make quests even more fun by taking a friend along. This is quite rare for single-player fantasy games, and definitely enhances your experiences along the way to finish your mission. You can revive fallen comrades, which is a help when your rescuers or captors might carry you far from your objective.

Only the host will gain quest progress, so you might have to play the subordinate to your mates occasionally and vice versa, so that you both gain from the partnership.

Multiplayer

Via server. As the description above, but partnered with a remote player, rather than the buddy sitting next to you.

Outward for PC is available for purchase on Instant Gaming for a fraction of its retail price. You will receive an official key and be able to play the game in seconds. Play smart. Pay less. There are currently 1047 players playing this game on Steam