This is the complete antithesis of the original game.

[outcast]

I just want to say that I will be very critical in this post but by laying out all that I feel is wrong with this game I still hope it can be seen as "constructive criticism" as I truly wish for nothing more than to get a follow up to Outcast that is really true to the original instead of something that feels like a tired copy paste of other games.

Just finished the game and almost feel physically ill.
This is the complete reversion and Antithesis of everything that made the original Outcast so great.

You can't find a bigger fan of the original Outcast than me (just look at my username) and it is my most favorite game of all time. I have preached about it to everyone I know for the past 25 years since I played the original and it has followed me like a dead lover that can't be replaced by anything else as nothing compares to it. And while that game is still ahead of many games even today with features that still no other game has replicated this sequel rips all that out of it to instead take everything that is wrong with games today to cram that into one single package.

In the original Outcast you where dropped in an alien world that immersed you into it like no other and it felt magical, dynamic and like a REAL ADVENTURE with a sense of internal logic and explanation for every feature and game element where you had to find your way by talking to its inhabitants and learning about the world and its interesting lore. It truly felt like a real adventure where you where exploring a mysterious alien world.

In the sequel all that is gone and it is the most bland generic cookie cutter handholding game you can find with the same tired mmo style dull formula we have seen a thousand times before. Just disconnect your brain completely and follow that breadcrumb "magic arrow" to its next destination. The game could essentially play itself if you could just program it to follow the marker. You could skip every single conversation in the game and it would not matter as you don't need to actually learn or think in any way. Just be dragged by the hand with the "quest" plastered on the screen to "kill x amount of this enemy" or "pick x amount of that plant". Or do some stupid isolated nonsensical minigame that feels ripped out of a mobile game. Again while the original game felt real, logical and immersive this does everything to throw all that out the window and feels artifical and fake at every turn. Like everything is just a theme park version of Adelpha where you fly to the 25:th iteration of the same dull task that you have done innumerable times before doing some parkour race with glowing lights or fighting the same copy paste battle that you have done before. It is the most lazy copy paste "quests" and activities you can think off and if you have played any number of games you have done the exact same thing to death untold times before. Then you enter a city and go to the static signposts NPC with big "!" signs over their heads. Again it just reeks of fake and artificial with zero inclination of even trying to feel immersive. Compare these NPC:s and "AI" that behaves as signposts to the original which still 25 years later has features that not even new games have. You could ask NPC:s for the location of other NPC:s and they would tell you where they saw them last, or even point at them if they are close. They would not want to gossip about other NPC:s if that NPC actually was near them and if you talk to a Talan other Talans will often stop and eavesdrop etc. And converations could even be interrupted by enemies mid dialogue if they got to close. Everything was made to feel real, immersive, dynamic and authentic. This time it is the complete opposite and to call this even a "downgrade" in terms of these system would be an insult. It is like the game is constantly trying its best to drag you out of the illusion of its world and to remind you that you are just playing a game.

Speaking of the Talans they don't even look like the original design where they actually looked like aliens, now they look more like humans in rubber suits. Even the dialogue and voices often sounds really off and is filled with inconsistencies where they sometimes use words that does not fit at all to how they normally speak. Some use words like, "dude" and "cool" and even use some of the human expressions that normally they would take litterary and not understand like "busting my balls" or "taking a raincheck". It all feels very sloppy and not at all as involving, interesting or consistent like the original. Many times the dialogue like the rest of the game feels like it is full of pointless filler. And while the original also had a big dose of humour it felt fitting while here often the Talans come across as cartoonish and silly. Like something out of a kids show.

If there is anything positive I can say about the game it would be that the graphics and environment are actually quite beautiful. The environment is lush and has a great deal of verticality. I do think things look a bit too colorful and cartoonish and more like something out of the Avatar than the original Outcast that felt more gloomy, unique and mysterious, and some of the Talan buildings also look "off" to me somehow like they are not as throughout and consistent with the original style of the game, but it still looks nice to look at and if the rest of the game actually was faithful to the original I would be content with this new direction. Though the vast environment also makes me sad since it all just reminds you of all the wasted potential. I imagine how it would be like to actually explore this world if the gameplay and immersion was even anything close to the original. But there is zero purpose to even exploring the world as all you have to do is look out for the "markers" and all is just a fake purposeless backdrop to fill with dull copy paste filler content.

I have waited 25 years for this and it feels sad to think now that I wished this game was never made. It taints and corrupts everything that was so great and special about the original game. Replacing it with the complete opposite of what made that game so magical with the most tired generic Ubisoft style mmo gameplay there is. It is truly sad beyond belief.

I don't know if this was the nail in the coffin for Outcast. The original game recieved great reviews (about 90% on metacritic) and I know many people who played it still also put it at the top of their all time favorites, and the only reason it did not get better reviews was because of some issues with bugs and possibly also the voxel graphics (which I absolutely love). Unfortunately it did not sell well enough but it had nothing to do with the quality of the game which was stellar and probably more a mix of bad luck and perhaps lack of marketing (the trailer made it look like a stupid action game, instead of the great adventure game that it was with a deep world and interesting lore to explore.) I don't know how this game will sell and it seems many mistakes where made again with the marketing (really bad idea to release it on the Steam Spring Sale for example) and it will not get near the same appraisal as it has nothing original or groundbreaking in it. I think Appeal really could have resurrected the franchise with this game if they had only stuck to what made the original game so special. If there ever was a third one I don't know if there is any chance that they could go back to that and make it justice and make something truly special. I don't even know if the people who made that game the genius it was are still on the team anymore as I only recognized a couple of names from the credits and judging by this game they don't seem to understand what actually made the original so special. Or they where afraid and tried to "play it safe" by doing a copy of other games. I had no hope that there would actually even be a sequel to the original Outcast so perhaps there can still be a miracle. I can wish for it, but by judging by the complete wrong direction of this game it feels really dark.

As I wrote at the top this game truly feels like the complete antithesis of the original. The original felt authentic, mysterious immersive and dynamic and this just feels like the complete opposite of being fake, gamey and artificial.

[legaiaflame]

Sorry, but I just don't agree with you. The quest marker is in a small compass in the upper right-hand corner. You can have both and still have an immersive experience. It saves time in most cases and most peoples schedules are limited, so not everyone has hours upon hours to get lost in a game like when they were kids.

[outcast]

There is nothing immersive about not having to think at all for yourself and just blindly following a magic marker around without any real in-game context to it. I understand that it saves time and that it is convenient. And I even completely understand why some people just want to shut their brain off after a hard day off work and glaze over as they just blindly follows a guide arrow around doing busy tasks. There is an argument to be made for that type of "gameplay", but to call it "immersive" is not accurate.

[legaiaflame]

Nguyên văn bởi outcast:

There is nothing immersive about not having to think at all for yourself and just blindly following a magic marker around without any real in-game context to it. I understand that it saves time and that it is convenient. And I even completely understand why some people just want to shut their brain off after a hard day off work and glaze over as they just blindly follows a guide arrow around doing busy tasks. There is an argument to be made for that type of "gameplay", but to call it "immersive" is not accurate.

The quest markers may not be immersive or the ultimate experience in realism, but that doesn't detract from how immersive the actual world is. I don't give a damn about the user interface, sure it's there but I'm paying more attention to the world around me: the aesthetics, the alien wildlife, the strange towering plants and trees, the sky, the Moons, the alien landscape.

I don't care at ALL that I have a marker telling me where to go on the screen. Because I can choose to IGNORE it and just explore everywhere else in-between before I actually decide to follow it. I don't want to be left with no direction in a world this MASSIVE. The first game was smaller so that was fine but that won't work for this game or any ginormous open world game.

[Freddyk]

You two are focusing on the wrong thing ; the problem is not the quest marker itself, it is that you can't find the quest without the quest marker. Quest markers as a helper are fine, quest markers as a core mechanic are bad.
The fact is in this game, they don't even try to do things well : some talan says "go see talan X" or "go to place Y" without telling where they are, and even the text of the quest log is "go to the marker on your minimap". That is very lazy.

And I agree with "outcast" that finding your way through the quests was a singular aspect of the original game, so it's a bad move to completely ignore that in the sequel. The original game was indeed much more immersive.

Still, saying they are complete opposites is just far too exagerated... Quests are very similar in the 2 games and it is really just a matter of lacking "immersion".

[outcast]

Nguyên văn bởi legaiaflame:

Nguyên văn bởi outcast:

There is nothing immersive about not having to think at all for yourself and just blindly following a magic marker around without any real in-game context to it. I understand that it saves time and that it is convenient. And I even completely understand why some people just want to shut their brain off after a hard day off work and glaze over as they just blindly follows a guide arrow around doing busy tasks. There is an argument to be made for that type of "gameplay", but to call it "immersive" is not accurate.

The quest markers may not be immersive or the ultimate experience in realism, but that doesn't detract from how immersive the actual world is. I don't give a damn about the user interface, sure it's there but I'm paying more attention to the world around me: the aesthetics, the alien wildlife, the strange towering plants and trees, the sky, the Moons, the alien landscape.

I don't care at ALL that I have a marker telling me where to go on the screen. Because I can choose to IGNORE it and just explore everywhere else in-between before I actually decide to follow it. I don't want to be left with no direction in a world this MASSIVE. The first game was smaller so that was fine but that won't work for this game or any ginormous open world game.

At least stop repeating that it would not work without these handholding markers as many other games that have even bigger worlds than this, like Elden Ring or Morrowind etc etc does not have quest markers and you can still find your way with clever game design and proper descriptions. And perhaps one also have to do a little bit of exploring at times to find ones way. Just as one would in a real adventure. I am playing the original Outcast again and honestly the world is quite big, especially compared to how much slower you move (and considering every important NPC is not marked out with a big exclamation mark) and I can still get by perfectly fine without having a glowing ball showing me exactly where to go at all times.

[Mr.SkarKasm]

Nguyên văn bởi Righard:

3. No objective markers but getting directions and clues, asking NPC's for directions along the way. I haven't seen that in any other game as of yet.

Gothic 1, 2 and 3.

[BigBadYoda]

In feel your pain. While I appreciate the huge world, the details and the dialogues, the guided quests kill the immersion for me - just like you've described. Plus, there are some consistency problems - in Bida everybody seems to talk about this Bon-Bon-Boy but no objective pops up. Or you trade scrolls with Kireg but you don't have to bring the new ones back to the university's dean which was the idea initially. I loved the original but I might not finish this one.

[outcast]

Nguyên văn bởi bróther jím:

Nguyên văn bởi outcast:

At least stop repeating that it would not work without these handholding markers as many other game

You fundamentally misunderstand why games like Outcast and Morrowind work. I can tell you it's not the quest markers, because while Oblivion base game isn't that great, Shivering Isles itself is hailed as some of the best Elder Scrolls ever. "How could that be," you're asking. "Oblivion has QUEST MARKERS, it can't be good!"

It's quite simple. You talk about repetition, but all games at their core are repetitive. It's all the same gameplay loop over and over when you boil it down. The goal is to distract you from the repetition and keep playing. Platforming and action games do this by offering you new obstacles and challenges with each level. RPGs do this by hooking you into their story. Morrowind and Shivering Isles, along with Redguard, have the most fascinating stories in the entire franchise that get you thinking about everything happening, and make you want to learn more about the game world. Mass Effect does this by hooking you with its characters, making you care about them, and eventually making you fight for THEIR survival. Even Ultima Underworld, mind you a game that pioneered modern 3D RPGs and dungeon crawlers, did this with its own story and had you interact with people and monsters inside the Stygian Abyss proper. Outcast is an action-adventure game that hooks you with different gameplay challenges with the combat, with multiple weapons offering you many ways to accomplish the task at hand. It also has a story far deeper than what the surface level implies. You take that away and boil the original down, you're walking to places and fighting the same enemies ad nauseum besides boss fights, but clearly that's not what you or many others remember Outcast for. You weren't playing it solely because it had you read and figure out where to go, and you DEFINITELY aren't playing a game like Morrowind just for that same reason.

The so-called Ubisoft open world formula is sound at its core. The reason Assassin's Creed succeeded in its early days is because it had a fascinating lore, great characters you cared about, and beautiful worlds to explore ON TOP of giving you plenty to do that didn't FEEL like busy work. Far Cry 2 and 3 achieve this swimmingly too. What changed? Ubisoft started playing excessively safe and stopped innovating, leading to worse stories and worse worlds. If you stop caring about everything around the gameplay loop, you start feeling how "samey" everything actually is. Tears of the Kingdom, God of War: Ragnarok, and Spider-Man 2 suffer this same issue, because they're basically the same game as their predecessor with bells and whistles, and a new, worse story.

Outcast 2 from what I've played sold me as being an Outcast game instantly within about 10 minutes with the dialogue, and it's dialogue that's not only funny but is showing me info about Cutter Slade as a character to make me care about him and his plight, on top of helping me learn of the Talans and Adelpha and THEIR plight. Having played the original and actually talking to the villagers, Shamazes, and the Chiefs, they're telling me things about what happened to the places from the first game. Appeal "stole" the Ubisoft open-world formula because it's a formula that, given the right tools, has consistently worked for well over a decade. It works here because the world is beautiful, and combat and exploration are actually fun, ON TOP of the story hooks and world-building Outcast itself is already known for. Game runs perfectly fine for me on a mid-range system on Medium settings, which looks about the same to me as High anyway. Besides some minor gripes like weapon swap and interact being on the same button (which I think you can rebind anyway) I have had fun every minute I've played this game, and it helps that it feels completely different in tone and world from everything else out right now.

Nguyên văn bởi outcast:

You can't find a bigger fan of the original Outcast than me (just look at my username) and it is my most favorite game of all time

You come off as insanely arrogant, like you somehow know better than other people on this very forum because you're "the biggest fan of Outcast" or whatever nonsense. Saying a game "makes you physically ill" and that it's the "reversion and antithesis" of what you love, and calling it a "bland cookie cutter" game, is not "constructive criticism." That is called tearing the work down. Let me tell you, it is insanely foolish to judge this subjectively, but let's play your game and try to measure this "statistic" logically. You aren't close to the biggest fan of Outcast out there. That honor belongs to the guy who ran fan sites for years, pushed hard for a sequel, and eventually became part of that dream working on this game's community management and audio design, and who for a long time posted behind-the-scenes videos on this game on his Youtube channel. One glance at him and you can tell he's living the dream. He's in the game's credits and posts on this very forum. One Youtube search of "Outcast 2" is all you need to find him.

You call yourself "biggest fan" and are acting just as vile as some of the "haters" posting vapid negative reviews like "badly optimized" or "cringe." "It feels sad to think now that I wished this game was never made" and calling this game "sad beyond belief" are not the words of someone who cares. They're the words of someone who wants only to destroy.

You should probably read the full thread before coming with responses. I literary said that "I do loath map markers but honestly they are not the main gripe as most other games these days have them and still can manage to feel interesting in other ways. Games like The Witcher 3 and Baldurs Gate 3 etc have map markers but the actual quests are still engaging and involving so it is possible."

The map markers are not the main issue with the game, they just add to the complete lack of involving quest design and further enhances the way this game is hand holding to the extreme. If the game does feel immersive and involving in other way it can still be interesting. The problem with O2 is that it lacks that completely. Regarding Assassins Creed and Far Cry 3 etc and the formula they established it worked for a while, but it has become extremely saturated and predictable. It was a fresh take when AC was released almost 20 years ago, but after unnumerous iterations of the exact same formula over and over and over again it has played out its role.

And it is such a tired and done thing, or as someone else wrote in this thread earlier summing things up pretty well: ""This game is build like "copy-and-paste" and nothing more - 30 Outposts to clear, 43 Gork Eruption to clear, 20 Shrines to fly-and-jump, 50(oh-my-god) Orym trials to jump.
This game is not more organic""

By the way, if you browse the forums or other places you will see I am far from alone in thinking this game went in the complete wrong direction and honestly yes if you do not see it yourself you are delusional. This game is pretty much the complete opposite of the original in all its design philosophy at every point. I actually questioning myself at some point if it could be just nostalgia but I am currently replaying the original as we speak and the contrast can't be more clear. Even the world and the Talans does not feel the same when actually going back to the original. They feel like Avatar cartoon versions in this game. It becomes extremely clear that the vast majority of the people who worked on that game where not working on this game so it is actually not that strange.

Whenever I described Outcast to people and why it was so amazing was exactly because it feels so authentic, mysterious, immersive and believable. Like stepping into another living breathing world with characters that where alive. This game is the completely and utter opposite of that on every level. Describing this game is by using the completely opposite terms of describing the first tone. It is fake, artificial, hand holding and repetitive to the extreme.

If your idea of Outcast is a game where you follow a marker around without having to figure out a single thing on your own, doing 50 iterations of the same copy paste content, shooting at enemies while damage numbers spew out of them like some arcade mobile game and collecting glowing orbs like candy, chasing glowing lights around while bouncing on flowers on a timer with a "HOLD Y TO RESTART" prompt in the middle of the screen, speaking to static NPC:s with "!" signs over their head who does not even react to your presence or if you shoot at them and doing minigames with tutorial prompt popups before they start then you need to replay the original to get a reality check as it has nothing in common with the first one.

[idum]

Nguyên văn bởi bróther jím:

Nguyên văn bởi outcast:

You should probably read the full thread before coming with responses.

I did. You came off just as arrogant in those responses and your existing post. Imagine my shock,

"If your idea of Outcast is a game where you follow a marker around without having to figure out a single thing on your own"

And this is how I know you aren't reading my posts and living in your own reality. You aren't worth my time or anybody else's. Get over yourself.

The last sentences are a pathetic attempt to quit a discussion when you no longer have any arguments.
Outcast is absolutely right in what he wrote about O2. The mission design is a complete disaster. I've rarely seen such stupid and boring missions in an action adventure. O1 is light years better. Comparing O2 to O1 is a disgrace because O2 is only a partially immersive game, with the majority of the game being a generic disaster. The game is rightly selling poorly and fortunately we won't be hearing from this brand again in the future. I don't mind repetitive gameplay if the gameplay is good. An example of this would be Drakan 1 or Drakan 2. These games were in no way generic, but rather incredibly immersive. It's also a mystery to me why THQ didn't pull the plug early on in development after seeing that 3/4 of the game was copy and paste. How you can screw up a game like that is an art in itself. The sole blame lies with the naive and incompetent developers who killed the brand.

[Breasticles]

"He is north-west from where im standing, you need to walk many steps
He was south from here last time i saw him, far way
I do not know where he is"

You might like it, but man, I hated this search for NPCs in the original. It was frustrating and didn't respect my time. The majority of innovations that have happened in gaming for the last decade or so are all about respecting the player's time.

This new game is a pretty solid re-imagining of the old game with new mechanics. It serves the same goal, plays out the same, and its essence is still present in this game. Exploration is the main objective, and it does that flawlessly.

You might argue that this game is too Ubisoft-inspired; the world is too empty, and there is nothing to do. But even this is leaps ahead of the original game. The original game was very empty. The only thing it really had going for it was the novelty of the new world that you get to explore for the first time, but when you figured out how it works, it became very, very monotonous.

One thing the original had that this game should have had is proper puzzles. There is not a single puzzle in the game, just platforming.

[undefined]

Nguyên văn bởi bróther jím:

Nguyên văn bởi outcast:

You should probably read the full thread before coming with responses.

I did. You came off just as arrogant in those responses and your existing post. Imagine my shock,

"If your idea of Outcast is a game where you follow a marker around without having to figure out a single thing on your own"

And this is how I know you aren't reading my posts and living in your own reality. You aren't worth my time or anybody else's. Get over yourself.

EDIT: The user below is a regular forum troll. He actually has far more posts than his post history would imply, but they're all deleted for baiting or some other nonsense. Notice how he's exclusively posted on fresh new game releases.

What you and lagaiaflame I think are failing to realize is the original Outcast was just that: original. It followed no trends and was its own thing. What you call quality of life necessities I call derivative trends in gaming that players like you and legaia expect because Game X had it, therefore so should Game Y.

I get it, believe me. People want comfortable, they want similar, they want easy to pick up and play, they want to consume content as fast and efficiently as possible and move on. However, as the OP said, this is the complete opposite of what the original Outcast was. He's 100% correct.

[outcast]

Nguyên văn bởi Breasticles:

"He is north-west from where im standing, you need to walk many steps
He was south from here last time i saw him, far way
I do not know where he is"

You might like it, but man, I hated this search for NPCs in the original. It was frustrating and didn't respect my time. The majority of innovations that have happened in gaming for the last decade or so are all about respecting the player's time.

This new game is a pretty solid re-imagining of the old game with new mechanics. It serves the same goal, plays out the same, and its essence is still present in this game. Exploration is the main objective, and it does that flawlessly.

You might argue that this game is too Ubisoft-inspired; the world is too empty, and there is nothing to do. But even this is leaps ahead of the original game. The original game was very empty. The only thing it really had going for it was the novelty of the new world that you get to explore for the first time, but when you figured out how it works, it became very, very monotonous.

One thing the original had that this game should have had is proper puzzles. There is not a single puzzle in the game, just platforming.

Not just to argue for the sake of it, but I have a hard time seeing how one can make an argument for filling games with hundreds of iterations of copy paste material these days is "respecting the players time". It is pretty much the exact opposite of that, it is filler content made to artificially buffer up the playtime. And for exploration, since everything is handed to you directly on a silver platter with GPS, markers and guide arrows there is zero sense of exploration or discovery. I guess the "collectibles" like the diaries and some modules would be the small exception.

Even though I think it is one of the best features I could see why someone could find the searaching for NPC:s to be frustrating though, even though I think it is one of the most immersive and genius things about the game, it makes things feel so much more alive and dynamic to even have that option as the player to ask NPC:s for locations. Replaying the original right now this is actually one area I would have loved to see improvement upon even further. I think this will come in the future for other games though as dynamic AI behavior will be improved as AI in general improves. Again in another world I wish I could have seen O2 actually build upon these systems and spearheading interesting AI and NPC behavior as they did with 01 25 years ago.

[Necroscourge]

I felt the same way playing this game. Having recently played the remastered original game and then playing the second game; the number one thing you notice is that they are two completely different franchises. Even the subtitle "A New Beginning" hammers home the fact that this is not related to the original game in the very slightest besides wearing trade dress.

Exploring in the first game was fun, in this game it's by thenumber outposts and time trials. The Talan were a weird, alien race in the first game with their own culture; now they just act like regular tribal humans but dumb because it's funny. Everything that made the Talan interesting like their essence powers has been handwaved away. The other thing is the first game had a mechanic where what you did actually hurt the enemy army; that's totally gone.

By pretty much every metric, this game was a total failure. It sold poorly, fans of the original game universally dislike the terrible writing, and the fact that this isin't actually an Outcast game at all is kind of a problem. The good news is that the rest of the gaming industry is looking at this and writing everybody who works at this companies name on a "Do not hire these morons" list.

[Яeplicant]

Nguyên văn bởi Wölki:

I am amazed how someone who calls other people arrogant just refuses all statements that are not in line with his view of this game totally being outcast (which it is not)

Isn't that exactly what you're doing and projecting said thing onto others in hopes of winning an argument?

[gideon_swrd]

Nguyên văn bởi outcast:

I just want to say that I will be very critical in this post but by laying out all that I feel is wrong with this game I still hope it can be seen as "constructive criticism" as I truly wish for nothing more than to get a follow up to Outcast that is really true to the original instead of something that feels like a tired copy paste of other games.

Just finished the game and almost feel physically ill.
This is the complete reversion and Antithesis of everything that made the original Outcast so great.

You can't find a bigger fan of the original Outcast than me (just look at my username) and it is my most favorite game of all time. I have preached about it to everyone I know for the past 25 years since I played the original and it has followed me like a dead lover that can't be replaced by anything else as nothing compares to it. And while that game is still ahead of many games even today with features that still no other game has replicated this sequel rips all that out of it to instead take everything that is wrong with games today to cram that into one single package.

In the original Outcast you where dropped in an alien world that immersed you into it like no other and it felt magical, dynamic and like a REAL ADVENTURE with a sense of internal logic and explanation for every feature and game element where you had to find your way by talking to its inhabitants and learning about the world and its interesting lore. It truly felt like a real adventure where you where exploring a mysterious alien world.

In the sequel all that is gone and it is the most bland generic cookie cutter handholding game you can find with the same tired mmo style dull formula we have seen a thousand times before. Just disconnect your brain completely and follow that breadcrumb "magic arrow" to its next destination. The game could essentially play itself if you could just program it to follow the marker. You could skip every single conversation in the game and it would not matter as you don't need to actually learn or think in any way. Just be dragged by the hand with the "quest" plastered on the screen to "kill x amount of this enemy" or "pick x amount of that plant". Or do some stupid isolated nonsensical minigame that feels ripped out of a mobile game. Again while the original game felt real, logical and immersive this does everything to throw all that out the window and feels artifical and fake at every turn. Like everything is just a theme park version of Adelpha where you fly to the 25:th iteration of the same dull task that you have done innumerable times before doing some parkour race with glowing lights or fighting the same copy paste battle that you have done before. It is the most lazy copy paste "quests" and activities you can think off and if you have played any number of games you have done the exact same thing to death untold times before. Then you enter a city and go to the static signposts NPC with big "!" signs over their heads. Again it just reeks of fake and artificial with zero inclination of even trying to feel immersive. Compare these NPC:s and "AI" that behaves as signposts to the original which still 25 years later has features that not even new games have. You could ask NPC:s for the location of other NPC:s and they would tell you where they saw them last, or even point at them if they are close. They would not want to gossip about other NPC:s if that NPC actually was near them and if you talk to a Talan other Talans will often stop and eavesdrop etc. And converations could even be interrupted by enemies mid dialogue if they got to close. Everything was made to feel real, immersive, dynamic and authentic. This time it is the complete opposite and to call this even a "downgrade" in terms of these system would be an insult. It is like the game is constantly trying its best to drag you out of the illusion of its world and to remind you that you are just playing a game.

Speaking of the Talans they don't even look like the original design where they actually looked like aliens, now they look more like humans in rubber suits. Even the dialogue and voices often sounds really off and is filled with inconsistencies where they sometimes use words that does not fit at all to how they normally speak. Some use words like, "dude" and "cool" and even use some of the human expressions that normally they would take litterary and not understand like "busting my balls" or "taking a raincheck". It all feels very sloppy and not at all as involving, interesting or consistent like the original. Many times the dialogue like the rest of the game feels like it is full of pointless filler. And while the original also had a big dose of humour it felt fitting while here often the Talans come across as cartoonish and silly. Like something out of a kids show.

If there is anything positive I can say about the game it would be that the graphics and environment are actually quite beautiful. The environment is lush and has a great deal of verticality. I do think things look a bit too colorful and cartoonish and more like something out of the Avatar than the original Outcast that felt more gloomy, unique and mysterious, and some of the Talan buildings also look "off" to me somehow like they are not as throughout and consistent with the original style of the game, but it still looks nice to look at and if the rest of the game actually was faithful to the original I would be content with this new direction. Though the vast environment also makes me sad since it all just reminds you of all the wasted potential. I imagine how it would be like to actually explore this world if the gameplay and immersion was even anything close to the original. But there is zero purpose to even exploring the world as all you have to do is look out for the "markers" and all is just a fake purposeless backdrop to fill with dull copy paste filler content.

I have waited 25 years for this and it feels sad to think now that I wished this game was never made. It taints and corrupts everything that was so great and special about the original game. Replacing it with the complete opposite of what made that game so magical with the most tired generic Ubisoft style mmo gameplay there is. It is truly sad beyond belief.

I don't know if this was the nail in the coffin for Outcast. The original game recieved great reviews (about 90% on metacritic) and I know many people who played it still also put it at the top of their all time favorites, and the only reason it did not get better reviews was because of some issues with bugs and possibly also the voxel graphics (which I absolutely love). Unfortunately it did not sell well enough but it had nothing to do with the quality of the game which was stellar and probably more a mix of bad luck and perhaps lack of marketing (the trailer made it look like a stupid action game, instead of the great adventure game that it was with a deep world and interesting lore to explore.) I don't know how this game will sell and it seems many mistakes where made again with the marketing (really bad idea to release it on the Steam Spring Sale for example) and it will not get near the same appraisal as it has nothing original or groundbreaking in it. I think Appeal really could have resurrected the franchise with this game if they had only stuck to what made the original game so special. If there ever was a third one I don't know if there is any chance that they could go back to that and make it justice and make something truly special. I don't even know if the people who made that game the genius it was are still on the team anymore as I only recognized a couple of names from the credits and judging by this game they don't seem to understand what actually made the original so special. Or they where afraid and tried to "play it safe" by doing a copy of other games. I had no hope that there would actually even be a sequel to the original Outcast so perhaps there can still be a miracle. I can wish for it, but by judging by the complete wrong direction of this game it feels really dark.

As I wrote at the top this game truly feels like the complete antithesis of the original. The original felt authentic, mysterious immersive and dynamic and this just feels like the complete opposite of being fake, gamey and artificial.

Amen.