TL;DR: Frustrating game that doesn't respect your time and doesn't feel rewarding to play.

Outward often feels you are spinning your wheels, progression is slow at times and it feels like little progress is made. It asks a lot out of you, but doesn't give you much in return. I went into the game expecting it to be difficult, but I found it more frustrating than anything. It's often unfair or expects a lot out of your character for little to no reward. Your character only progresses through money, it lacks nuance and is largely uninteresting. It is clear the developer hates players and actively nerfed strategies to make money (read make your life easier), who does that?

The game's world is interesting: the different factions, society, and lore are generally interesting... but the actual physical world is expansive and mostly devoid of interesting things. Granted having more encounters along your LONG travels would probably make the game much more annoying, but it would at least give the impression that it was a living world. When you do find enemies, they are almost always either: one super tough enemy or a group of (still difficult) enemies. And if you manage to clear enemies from an area they don't return for quite awhile, leaving the place even more barren.

Your best course of action is usually to avoid fighting entirely, often having to run through areas without stopping and engaging with anything, not that there's much to interact with. The "death" system in the game is actually more frustrating than dying. Often times you are revived in a hostile area and just murdered again until the game mercifully decides to spit you outside. There are also times when the game is just outright unfair to the player for no reason. I remember one time just having a dialog with a bandit and was transported to a prison without a fight, don't worry I got my revenge by challenging him to a fight and lead him down a corridor filled with tripwire traps. It felt like a slap in the face when the game could do whatever it wanted to me.

Crafting is essential to the game. A lot of early recipes are handed out pretty quickly, but if you are new it might just be better to buy them from the get go or just look them up online. The crafting system is nice and it allows you to create most items as long as you have the components. Learn what components you need to keep and which ones you can sell. Some items I don't recommend selling: Blood Mushrooms, Gravel Beetle, Seaweed, Ochre Spice Beetle.

My best advice if you do intend on being stubborn and picking up this game is to use traps. It feels cheesy, but do everything in your power to cheese the game because it will certainly not hesitate to do horrible things to you. Tripwire traps fairly common and easily crafted, they provide a great edge against tougher foes, if you can spend the time setting them up in a long line you can quickly drain the life bar of even the worst of the enemies.

I am about 20 hours into the game at the time of this review and only beating it out of obligation to the $10 or so I couldn't get refunded... because I'm stubborn, but this is definitely a game I probably will never touch after that.

The game is far too frustrating for most to play and I don't recommend it. Maybe it is better with a friend, but I don't want to have my friend spend money on this game.

[b]TL;DR: Frustrating game that doesn't respect your time and doesn't feel rewarding to play. [/b] Outward often feels you are spinning your wheels, progression is slow at times and it feels like little progress is made. It asks a lot out of you, but doesn't give you much in return. I went into the game expecting it to be difficult, but I found it more frustrating than anything. It's often unfair or expects a lot out of your character for little to no reward. Your character only progresses through money, it lacks nuance and is largely uninteresting. It is clear the developer hates players and actively nerfed strategies to make money (read make your life easier), [i]who does that?[/i] [b]The game's world is interesting: the different factions, society, and lore are generally interesting... but the actual physical world is expansive and mostly devoid of interesting things.[/b] Granted having more encounters along your LONG travels would probably make the game much more annoying, but it would at least give the impression that it was a living world. When you do find enemies, they are almost always either: one super tough enemy or a group of (still difficult) enemies. And if you manage to clear enemies from an area they don't return for quite awhile, leaving the place even more barren. Your best course of action is usually to avoid fighting entirely, often having to run through areas without stopping and engaging with anything, not that there's much to interact with. The "death" system in the game is actually more frustrating than dying. Often times you are revived in a hostile area and just murdered again until the game mercifully decides to spit you outside. There are also times when the game is just outright unfair to the player for no reason. [spoiler] I remember one time just having a dialog with a bandit and was transported to a prison without a fight, don't worry I got my revenge by challenging him to a fight and lead him down a corridor filled with tripwire traps.[/spoiler] It felt like a slap in the face when the game could do whatever it wanted to me. Crafting is essential to the game. A lot of early recipes are handed out pretty quickly, but if you are new it might just be better to buy them from the get go [spoiler]or just look them up online[/spoiler]. The crafting system is nice and it allows you to create most items as long as you have the components. Learn what components you need to keep and which ones you can sell. [spoiler]Some items I don't recommend selling: Blood Mushrooms, Gravel Beetle, Seaweed, Ochre Spice Beetle.[/spoiler] My best advice if you do intend on being stubborn and picking up this game is to use traps. It feels cheesy, but do everything in your power to cheese the game because it will certainly not hesitate to do horrible things to you. Tripwire traps fairly common and easily crafted, they provide a great edge against tougher foes, if you can spend the time setting them up in a long line you can quickly drain the life bar of even the worst of the enemies. I am about 20 hours into the game at the time of this review and only beating it out of obligation to the $10 or so I couldn't get refunded... because I'm stubborn, but this is definitely a game I probably will never touch after that. [b]The game is far too frustrating for most to play and I don't recommend it. Maybe it is better with a friend, but I don't want to have my friend spend money on this game. [/b]