I waited 25 Years for this.. and you ruined it

[AnTiCrIsT]

As a kid i Played Outcast like a maniac. Played it again with second contact.
Was super excited for Outcast 2.. but the game is far away from being a AAA-Production. Even some Indie titles are more polished at release.

AI: Non-Existent
Difficulty Settings: I played on hard and was an immortal Rambo without every being close to death. Was the difficulty Setting even active in the demo?
Animations: Clunky like s***
Open World: Empy like you forgot that it was there
Combat: Due to bad balancing and non existent AI just a boring joke
Exploration: Fine just the Energy Managment for Jumps might need a tweak so you can jump on Hills and Mountains just to realize they are as empty as the rest of the world.

Bugs: I think i never experienced this much bugs in a Demo.
Clipping,
getting Stuck,
Rocks Flying in the air
Objective related Enemies buggingt hrough the air making it hard to find them for the related quest
Tanak bugges through the ground so he gets trapped on the ground between the plants(?) instead of walking around the house

Movement. Fine but it obviously a controller game. Controlled gliding with M+K ist pain in the ass


Please, get that broken game fixed. I really want it to be good. But after the demo its definitely a no buy to release. Which makes me really, really sad

[Ale]

Energy managment for jumps is quite good in the demo, making me thinking about how to reach some places. I suppose it will become too easy with all the skills unlocked, sadly.
Also there are stuff to find around exploring: in the initial area of the exploration demo I found 4 hidden item. You can't have something on every rock or you will loose the trill about finding something in the first place.

I agree about enemies AI and I add quest markers on the map as a problem. Sadly is 2024 and players can't use their brain to solve challenges anymore: I read more than one review about old Oucast complains about the need for a walkthrought to complete the game.

At least world building and lore look top notch.

[Freddyk]

I somehow have the same feeling...
Outcast was my alltime favourite game, it was a lot ahead of its time on immersive aspects of the game.
And this sequel... nothing is immersive !

The jetpack, why not, even if its clearly to ease the development of animations and pathing, it's fun in combat though... but the infinite superfast wingsuit ? it destroys all the exploration since you can go everywhere superfast and ignore everything in the way !

The combat, sadly the AI seems quite bad. And I hate all these glowing orbs flying to you, it's ugly.

Having main locations written on the map is fine, since the maps are large compared to the 1st game (I hope the demo content is only one map, and there are several in the game?). But the quest system and markers are so bad, it was so better in the 1st game to have the talans telling you all information in the dialog, and then it's easy to find the target "north of village X"...

[Lanani]

Thank you for your feedback. Sorry to hear that the demo did not live up to your expectations.

[Wurst Kaese Szenario]

Not another Outcast for you three people then. Good buy next time.

[Ale]

Originally posted by Cry Me a River Cola:

Not another Outcast for you three people then. Good buy next time.

I have already preordered it :D

[Freddyk]

Well, I'm still considering buying it, because I hope the game (like the 1st one) has much more to offer than the demo in terms of world and story...

I have a question : in the 1st game you travel between several regions through daokas. In the demo (exploration) you see the map of one single big region with kizaar at the center, but how much of the whole game area does that map represent ?

My concerns about the demo in more details:
- Glowing multicolor items from ennemies and chests break immersion, and there are too much of them (a single ennemy drops a dozen items). It fits in an arcade game, not an immersive one. Bland items would look better in my opinion, and you should walk closer to gather them, HUD scan should be enough to help locating them (like in 1st game).
- Quest markers should be disabled as an option in the menu, only manual marker should remain (placed by player on map and showing in HUD). Of course for that to work, the dialog and quest log should have all necessary information. That was a distinctive feature of the 1st game.
- More life activity of the Talans would be great, instead of them just wandering around. From the makingof of the 1st game it seemed a major focus of the developpers so i'm surprised the AI is not better in the sequel.
- There is a lot of micromanagement : weapon mods, skill tree, crafting (I guess with recreators ?), limited inventory... I hope it will not become a hassle and distract too much from the story.
- I doubt about the infinite fast-glide being overpowered, maybe it should at least be limited by fuel gauge. But I feel a lot of the game revolves around that so you probably won't change it now. I hope it will be well balanced throughout the game.

[Ale]

Originally posted by Freddyk:

Well, I'm still considering buying it, because I hope the game (like the 1st one) has much more to offer than the demo in terms of world and story...

I have a question : in the 1st game you travel between several regions through daokas. In the demo (exploration) you see the map of one single big region with kizaar at the center, but how much of the whole game area does that map represent ?

My concerns about the demo in more details:
- Glowing multicolor items from ennemies and chests break immersion, and there are too much of them (a single ennemy drops a dozen items). It fits in an arcade game, not an immersive one. Bland items would look better in my opinion, and you should walk closer to gather them, HUD scan should be enough to help locating them (like in 1st game).
- Quest markers should be disabled as an option in the menu, only manual marker should remain (placed by player on map and showing in HUD). Of course for that to work, the dialog and quest log should have all necessary information. That was a distinctive feature of the 1st game.
- More life activity of the Talans would be great, instead of them just wandering around. From the makingof of the 1st game it seemed a major focus of the developpers so i'm surprised the AI is not better in the sequel.
- There is a lot of micromanagement : weapon mods, skill tree, crafting (I guess with recreators ?), limited inventory... I hope it will not become a hassle and distract too much from the story.
- I doubt about the infinite fast-glide being overpowered, maybe it should at least be limited by fuel gauge. But I feel a lot of the game revolves around that so you probably won't change it now. I hope it will be well balanced throughout the game.

Talans actually do a lot of different stuff like: placing fish traps, building fish traps, reparing boats, trading between them, ect. In the other village I checked, don't want to spoil me the whole game, they do activities suited with the economic theme of that region.
But they work way less in this game, probably because they aren't slaves like in Outcast 1999.

[Freddyk]

Thank you for the answer, that's good. Then I hope the actual game will be more pleasant without this stupid 20 minutes and 2 trys limit... The "story" demo with limited area but without time limit would probably have been more representative of the game.

[Ale]

Originally posted by Freddyk:

Thank you for the answer, that's good. Then I hope the actual game will be more pleasant without this stupid 20 minutes and 2 trys limit... The "story" demo with limited area but without time limit would probably have been more representative of the game.

That's for sure.
I saw npcs behavior only because I decided to spend 20 minutes on that.

In anycase, the game will have a lot of issues because: budget, young generations can throw a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ just for facial expressions if social medias "magic" explodes, old fans want a game that no one will produce in 2024, budget, ect ect.

The only thing I know is developers never give up on Outcast, a New Beginning isn't a money grab operation, but true love about an IP who never got the success it deserves. So, I'll get the good this game will give me and that's it.

[Büyük Keyhüsrev]

Don't be pessimist man!

[Ank Myrandor]

I bought the original game when it just released, had a blast. bought all outcast versions since, outcast on gog 1.1 on steam and 2nd contact. if you've seen the rocky development on those. I would say the demo did positively surprised me.

Listen, not everything will appease to us old times, yes I don't want mindless busywork, following some line, instead of exploration with depth and decent rewards. but you can't have it all. the first game made loads of concessions too I guess.

Let us just see of a broader audience will love this game instead of just appeasement to the oldies that still game. maybe they can make a better version or a whole new concept next time.

and it may or may not be to our liking, we always will have the first game to go back to.
it's not hard to play the original game.

[Freddyk]

Of course the old game had limitations, and this one seems not so bad...

But what is the most disappointing for me is that they somehow removed what made the 1st game unique (ambiance, character lost in a credible world who has to work with inhabitants...) to replace it in the sequel with very generic content (open world playground, collectibles, corrupted areas, markers everywhere...).
Seems like a giant missed opportunity, a mid-budget game with original and unique elements could stand out, but a mid-budget generic open-world ?

Also, I think I have answer to my question : the map in exploration demo seems to be the whole game area (including places you can't go in the demo). Which means Daokas actually link villages that are distant from a 10 minutes walk, so much for world consistency...
Well, it's still a decent area so we will see how the story goes through it.

[Ank Myrandor]

Originally posted by Freddyk:

Of course the old game had limitations, and this one seems not so bad...

But what is the most disappointing for me is that they somehow removed what made the 1st game unique (ambiance, character lost in a credible world who has to work with inhabitants...) to replace it in the sequel with very generic content (open world playground, collectibles, corrupted areas, markers everywhere...).
Seems like a giant missed opportunity, a mid-budget game with original and unique elements could stand out, but a mid-budget generic open-world ?

Also, I think I have answer to my question : the map in exploration demo seems to be the whole game area (including places you can't go in the demo). Which means Daokas actually link villages that are distant from a 10 minutes walk, so much for world consistency...
Well, it's still a decent area so we will see how the story goes through it.

I agree even though the world is quite big if you didn't have the jetpack, so they just made game mechanics that are making others like daoka's obselete, sadly these are modern game mechanics, and I guess behind curtains there have been loads of heated discussion about this. I would have preferred a twon-ha as well instead of the jetpack, but that is not going to hold me back to play the game. also it's ue5, so I presume loads of mods will be appearing anyway. even though it might not officially support mods.

[Khalum]

After giving the demo a try I decided to re-play the original to make sure I'm not being unfair. I bought Outcast on release and it soon became one of my favourite games.

Now that I've just beaten it again, I have to say: Nope. This isn't it. The whole aspect of exploring the world and talking to inhabitants that act or look distinct to see if they have a task is gone. Talanzaar could have been overwhelming, maybe impossible, but Outcast managed to give the player the tools to find all the important characters - without a single marker on the map. You learn where important locations are from dialogue, fully immersive. You find secret treasures because you helped out someone who gives you information on where to find them. Each puzzle was unique, not some minigame that got repeated 10 times in each zone. The UI was non-intrusive. There's even a lore reason for why you find equipment and ammo all over the place - the people collected sacred objects! The game had such an incredible atmosphere that - for me - very few games managed to create.

The demo has none of it. It may be called Outcast in name but that's it. And it's a damn shame, Outcast deserved a worthy successor.

Final note: I'm not going to judge combat because that was also nothing to write home about in the original.

[Ank Myrandor]

Originally posted by Khalum:

After giving the demo a try I decided to re-play the original to make sure I'm not being unfair. I bought Outcast on release and it soon became one of my favourite games.

Now that I've just beaten it again, I have to say: Nope. This isn't it. The whole aspect of exploring the world and talking to inhabitants that act or look distinct to see if they have a task is gone. Talanzaar could have been overwhelming, maybe impossible, but Outcast managed to give the player the tools to find all the important characters - without a single marker on the map. You learn where important locations are from dialogue, fully immersive. You find secret treasures because you helped out someone who gives you information on where to find them. Each puzzle was unique, not some minigame that got repeated 10 times in each zone. The UI was non-intrusive. There's even a lore reason for why you find equipment and ammo all over the place - the people collected sacred objects! The game had such an incredible atmosphere that - for me - very few games managed to create.

The demo has none of it. It may be called Outcast in name but that's it. And it's a damn shame, Outcast deserved a worthy successor.

Final note: I'm not going to judge combat because that was also nothing to write home about in the original.

I'm not saying I disagree with you on loads of points, but see it from a developer standpoint, outcast didn't even sell half a million units in the first year. This will show if the game has a broader appeal or not. you can't have it both ways I think. most people think outcast is a janky old game with no appealing points, on the contrast, it's one of the best games ever made, but no one is willing to try it.