REVIEW – Twenty-five years after the first Outcast, it was a brave move to continue the franchise, because so much has changed in the world since then. The same cannot be said for the sequel itself, because while the game itself does what it needs to do, it does not do it in a way that makes it a highly recommended title for many. It’s like a candy bar that expired a few days ago: edible, but not in the best condition.

Explore the stunning alien world of Adelpha, aid the local Talan in their struggles, and fight your way through fast-paced battles against invading robot forces in this third-person, open-world action-adventure sequel to the 1999 cult classic.

The anti-government Slade with a gut

Outcast – A New Beginning is such a cliché story that you rarely see it. You invade a planet that is rich in a certain resource, you oppress the inhabitants who would resist and rebel, but they need solid leadership. That’s the role of Cutter Slade, who starred in the first episode. That pretty much sums up the story, because there are a lot of games that could be played that fit that outline. So Slade is the aliens’ Prince Charming on a white horse. The Talans are perhaps made up of many cultural elements that everyone knows, and perhaps the aliens themselves are perceived as having what the title suggests: a sense of having lived through it. This can be both positive and negative, however unusual it may sound: the audience familiar with the first part will get what they expected, and everyone else will be a bit disappointed, because they will perceive Outcast – A New Beginning as retro in almost every aspect. If it were a remake of the first part (subtitled Second Contact), THEN it would be understandable, but with a sequel you would expect it to be updated.

Also, Slade is amnesiac. Also, how many times did Gothic play this trope? The story is predictable almost all the way through, but the sarcastic style of the protagonist is appealing, but not at all the main villain. The game design is also a bit incomprehensible, as the Talans are not supposed to speak English, only their shamans, and yet our character can communicate with everyone. The gameplay is at least fair, but it’s not memorable. It gets the job done, but the Unreal Engine seems to stutter here and there, which is highly unusual. From a visual point of view, the sequel to Outcast is also relatively good, because some of the environments are quite nice, and it takes almost no time at all to get to the point where you can put the story aside and wander around the world of Adelpha. The moment here is a couple of hours, because what happens at the beginning is a tutorial scene, ten seconds of controlling Slade, a tutorial, and then a short gameplay sequence. It didn’t work for Final Fantasy VIII to throw a tutorial in the player’s face after more than 10 hours of gameplay, and here it’s more of an “okay, we know, enough is enough” feeling.

Adelpha’s adequate world has a lot of potential

It can have a bit of a Far Cry feel to it, as the task is to attack outposts that are human-owned but controlled by robots in a short period of time. There’s a lot of sprinting and jumping, and the shooting itself felt good enough, but the same can’t really be said for the enemy AI, as they might get to the point of hiding behind cover every leap year. When they don’t, you can see them in groups or literally right under our noses, which might have been acceptable in 1999, but is a bit of a laughing stock in 2024.

Fights can almost always be won with the constant dodging + shooting combo, but don’t expect much target lock. Weapons can be upgraded, and that’s one of the great things about Outcast – A New Beginning. Look for the modules in the outposts. Not only do they tend to change the look of your weapons, but they can also change their effects significantly. It could be argued that by quickly moving away from the story, we’re exploring Adelpha’s potential instead, and since this gives us less clichéd gameplay, it might be better to take a break from the story now and then.

An old broom may sweep, but it’s no vacuum cleaner

Outcast – A New Beginning gets a 7/10 because you can easily spend 15 hours with the game (you can go through the story faster), but the more comfortable audience can spend up to 20 hours with the game from Appeal Studios. Compared to the first part, this is a worthy sequel, but compared to today’s games, it is a forgettable one. It can be entertaining, but the humor of the game is completely subjective: some will like it, others will be annoyed by it. The bottom line is that the sequel didn’t dare to innovate significantly, and that ended up being its weakness.

-V-

Publisher: THQ Nordic (Embracer Group)

Developer: Appeal Studios

Style: TPS

Release: March 15, 2024.