FAQ

[Gheeyom]

What platforms will Outward be available on upon release?
PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Is Outward available for pre-order?
Yes, physical copy pre-orders are now available on Amazon and GameStop.

Digital copy pre-orders through Steam, Playstation Store and Xbox Live are currently pending.

Will there be a pre-order bonus?
Yes

How many hours should I expect to spend on Outward?
To fully appreciate and enjoy the RPG setting of Outward, it would take a regular person about 40-80 hours to complete at a comfortable pace.

How many players can play together?
There is a maximum of two players, and we don't intend to increase that number for design reasons.

Can I beat Outward in a single playthrough?
No, you would have to create multiple characters to complete the story mode. Once you join a faction, you cannot join another faction with the same character. You must create a new character to join a different faction.

Does Outward have replayability value?
Yes, Outward was designed with replayability in mind.

Is there a limit to how many characters I can create?
No, the only limit will depend on your available space in your system.

Does Outward have mod support?
No, unfortunately.

Is there cross-platform?
No, unfortunately.

Will there be a beta testing phase?
No.

What’s the retail price for Outward?
$39.99

Where could I reach out to Nine Dots Studio to inquire more about Outward?
You can submit your questions to our Discord #ask_the_devs or Steam community page. A developer or a moderator will answer your questions.

Game specific FAQ for Outward

What is the world called?
The world is called Aurai (pronounced AURA-EYE).

How many playable factions are there?
There are three factions. The Blue Chamber Collective, the Heroic Kingdom of Levant, and the Holy Mission of Elatt.

Are there wandering factions?
No.

Do I need an internet connection to play offline?
No, only when you want to play online co-op.

Is there drop-in and drop-out co-op?
Yes.

When playing in coop, are both players forced to stay close?
You can get as far from each other as you want as long as you stay within the same area. If you want to sleep or switch area (such as enter a town or a dungeon), then you must be together.

Is there multi-monitor support?
No.

Is there multiplayer matchmaking?
No matchmaking. When a player joins your game, they can do some highly destructive actions, so it is best to experience this game with friends you trust.

Do the enemies become more difficult with two players?
Yes, the enemies become stronger when playing in coop, and sometimes additional enemies can be found as well.

Is there a tutorial?
Yes, but don’t expect Outward to hold your hand.

Is there character creation?
Yes, you will be able to change your face, gender, hair style, hair color, and race, but please do not expect in-depth character creation.

Are there other races other than human?
Yes, but none that are playable.

Can I choose my class in the character creation?
No, instead you have a total of eight available skill trees to choose from, three of which can be maxed out as you progress through your saved file.

How many class combinations are there?
Approximately 336 class combinations, however, a focus on the same three skill trees with two separate characters could be different due to skill choices.

Can I play a mage?
Yes, but you will have to unlock your mana before you could do any ritualistic spellcasting.

Will my character be viable without magic?
Yes.

Can I play a necromancer?
No, but there is a late-game ghost summoning skill.

Do spells have use outside of combat?
Yes, but their main uses are usually related to combat.

Can I enchant weapons?
Yes, but not permanently.

Can I play a ranger?
Yes.

Are ranged attacks free aim or targeted?
Both.

Can I enchant my arrows?
No.

Does Outward have a story?
Yes, one questline per faction.

Am I forced to do the main quest?
No, but you will be missing out on a lot of content.

What is the in-game currency?
Silver coins and gold bars.

Will I be able to cook, fish, harvest, hunt, mine?
Yes, however there is no farming/gardening.

Can we jump or swim?
No.

Is Outward first-person or third-person?
Third-person only.

Are there mounts or pets?
No, except for a cosmetic pet pearlbird as a pre-order bonus.

Will there be plenty of backpacks, equipment, lanterns, tents, and weapons to choose from?
Yes.

Will I be able to see my position or my friend on the map?
No, but you can see them on the compass.

Can I share the contents of my backpack with my friend?
Yes.

Can I craft armors and weapons?
Yes.

Can I dye my equipment?
No.

Is there an equipment screen?
Yes, it shows core statistics.

Will I be able to wear NPC-specific armor?
No, but probably something similar.

Can I kill all NPCs?
No.

Is there friendship and romance?
There is friendship but no romance.

Do I start off with a tent by default?
You start with a bedroll in your house.

How does the resting system work?
When utilizing your tent, how many hours you sleep determines how much you restore your fatigue, maximum health and maximum stamina but lowers your maximum mana. You also choose how many hours to guard to reduce your chances of being ambushed, or time spent repairing your equipped items’ durability.

Can I increase my max mana?
Yes, generally at the cost of maximum life and stamina.

Will my friend and I sleep in the same tent or separate tents?
Separate tents.

Will enemies damage my campsite?
Enemies do not interact with your camping equipment.

If I’m defeated, what happens to my friend?
You will be in a downed state and your friend is able to help you recover, however, if your friend is also defeated you both will enter the same defeat scenario.

If I’m defeated, can I find my dead body?
No, the way defeat scenarios are handled does not imply that the character died.

[Grandchado]

Do enemies respawn in this game?

[Sami]

How do I know if a NPC has a quest ? will der be a marker or do I have to talk to them to find it out ? You stated the game is 40-80 hours long is that the time per playthrough ( so after playing every faction you would have 240 hours ) ?

[Nightserg]

No offense, the game looks very interesting however some of the things you do not allow do not sound like some would prefer not to have but rather a stubborn lack of quality of life features. It's easier to simply allow turning on or off some of the features mentioned like the position of your character on the map. Pleasing everyone sounds better than just targeting a niche of players. Anyway just my opinion about it. Quick question though regarding the story and this part:

Can I beat Outward in a single playthrough?
No, you would have to create multiple characters to complete the story mode. Once you join a faction, you cannot join another faction with the same character. You must create a new character to join a different faction.

This single part is likely the thing that might just stop me from buying it. Are you saying I have to spend around 80 hours and then another round of 80 hours of basically same-ish cumbersome gameplay to experience the main story? It sounds awfully annoying. Can you clarify or offer more details without spoiling much? What exactly are these factions? Are you saying like, I can replay the game and see a different side of the story and different endings for example like in Skyrim choosing a different faction but ultimately your overall main story is the same or are you saying it is mandatory to replay in order to see the full story as in it's split between factions and you cannot understand anything unless playing different factions?

[Aegix Drakan]

Originally posted by The Cockatrice:

This single part is likely the thing that might just stop me from buying it. Are you saying I have to spend around 80 hours and then another round of 80 hours of basically same-ish cumbersome gameplay to experience the main story? It sounds awfully annoying. Can you clarify or offer more details without spoiling much? What exactly are these factions? Are you saying like, I can replay the game and see a different side of the story and different endings for example like in Skyrim choosing a different faction but ultimately your overall main story is the same or are you saying it is mandatory to replay in order to see the full story as in it's split between factions and you cannot understand anything unless playing different factions?

The different factions are the main story.

You commit to joining one of your choice early on (you have a chance to ask around about them first), and then that becomes your main story for that playthrough.

Each playthrough of the story should take about 20 hours on your first time, assuming you're also doing some adventuring between quests and don't know how to do everything (at least that's the estimate being thrown around on the Discord Server).

Each faction has their own storyline that happens in parallel with the others, offering a different perspective on the events of the game. So if you join one faction, see an important event from their perspective, and then join another one with your next character, you might get more insight into how and why that event happened, or even alter how it happens.

Each one offers their own full story, but only by playing all three will you fully understand the motives and reasoning behind some of the characters and events that happen.

The three factions are (paraphrased from the Discord):
The Blue Chamber Collective - A collectivist tribal society that values tradition and family.

The Kingdom of Levant - A desert kingdom that values chasing progress and individual merit.

The Holy Mission - An organisation dedicated to the god of discipline, and who act as neutral arbiters and protectors of all people.

[Nightserg]

I see, thanks. Will the side quests and locations/dungeons differ from each faction or is everything the same except the main story?

[Gheeyom]

Originally posted by Raketenschubse:

Do enemies respawn in this game?

Yes they do, after you left a region for 5-7 days the enemies respawn (and chest loot too)

Originally posted by Sami:

How do I know if a NPC has a quest ? will der be a marker or do I have to talk to them to find it out ? You stated the game is 40-80 hours long is that the time per playthrough ( so after playing every faction you would have 240 hours ) ?

You need to talk with the NPCs to know if they have a quest. Keep in mind that there aren't that many quests given at random. One playthrough is 20-40 hours, doing everything in the game should take 80-100hours.

[5AM]

Hey Devs i just want to say a huge thank you for making this game!!! I cant think of a feature i didn't love when i watched the trailers. I know this game might not appeal to some gamer's and that's okay! Because for me this is a home run. i never pre-order games anymore but i will this one. Again huge thank you for making the game deep and challenging and not too shallow to appeal to larger crowd. i am very excited for this release!

[Year_Zero13]

Hi, if the game have good sales can we see an expansion for the game with more content and new mechanics in the future?

[Empress Lina]

This kind of looks like fable or is it just me

[Sanji]

How do you level in the game? By killing monsters ( souls ) or do you get exp? Or is it quest only?

[Aegix Drakan]

Originally posted by Fernandez:

How do you level in the game? By killing monsters ( souls ) or do you get exp? Or is it quest only?

There's no level system.

All character progress is tied to gear you find/buy/craft, or by using money to buy skills from trainers.

[Sanji]

Originally posted by Aegix Drakan:

Originally posted by Fernandez:

How do you level in the game? By killing monsters ( souls ) or do you get exp? Or is it quest only?

There's no level system.

All character progress is tied to gear you find/buy/craft, or by using money to buy skills from trainers.

Ah, that's a shame. I do enjoy grinding levels, even if it's just a number.

[Vanrath]

Will there be different difficulty levels? I enjoy lighter, less frustrating gaming experiences but the game is looking really good

[DielGood]

Sorry for my English, I want to ask about regional prices in Russia. In epic store game worth 39,99$=1699RUB(in Russia), but kingdom come deliverance - 60$ = 1299RUB, Witcher 3 - 40$-1199RUB, pathfinder kingmaker - 40$=699RUB. Question:this is the final price in Russia?

[HarshHash]

Will I be able to play splitscreen local co-op with keyboard and mouse as one player and with a controller as the other?

The answer is yes for anybody else wondering! We can have one player on keyboard/mouse and the other on controller! Confirmed by Gheeyom in my thread :):)