i have next to zero interest in survival games. i think outward presents itself well as a sort of action rpg drawing from games like morrowind, breath of the wild, and souls - plus a survival game... though i also think its new trailer with the "nobody owes you a living" line is some eye-rolling capitalist bootstraps garbage.
that being said, outward is a video game. at the start of the game, you're thrust into the aftermath of a shipwreck you've survived, faced with the demands of the asshole capitalist bootstraps tribe of cierzo, your home town. because you were one of the few survivors, and the ship had been carrying goods they'd been expecting (which you'd procured for them), the assholes of this town are frothing with demand of recompense - at your expense. absolute fucking assholes.
thankfully, you aren't stuck there. you have a variety of options, and among those are several paths out of cierzo. you'll even have choices further down the line regarding not only your only fate, but that of cierzo itself. the assholes. fuck them and their blood debt nonsense.
on the other hand, you can choose to do right by cierzo in spite of the mob at your door. you have quite a few choices to make along the way, really, and ultimately this is what makes outward so compelling. exploration, foraging, looting - these are all means of not only your survival, but more importantly of fueling your progress along your chosen way forward. this is how outward manages to surpass what (i assume, frankly) most survival games tend to be - it's also an action/adventure game designed around your ability to choose your path and make your mark on the world, its conflicting factions, etc. turns out, at least in my experience with outward, the cruelty of the game's opening is inspiring in ways more interesting than simply saying: survive. ultimately, it wants you to struggle and thrive.
that being said, outward is a video game. at the start of the game, you're thrust into the aftermath of a shipwreck you've survived, faced with the demands of the asshole capitalist bootstraps tribe of cierzo, your home town. because you were one of the few survivors, and the ship had been carrying goods they'd been expecting (which you'd procured for them), the assholes of this town are frothing with demand of recompense - at your expense. absolute fucking assholes.
thankfully, you aren't stuck there. you have a variety of options, and among those are several paths out of cierzo. you'll even have choices further down the line regarding not only your only fate, but that of cierzo itself. the assholes. fuck them and their blood debt nonsense.
on the other hand, you can choose to do right by cierzo in spite of the mob at your door. you have quite a few choices to make along the way, really, and ultimately this is what makes outward so compelling. exploration, foraging, looting - these are all means of not only your survival, but more importantly of fueling your progress along your chosen way forward. this is how outward manages to surpass what (i assume, frankly) most survival games tend to be - it's also an action/adventure game designed around your ability to choose your path and make your mark on the world, its conflicting factions, etc. turns out, at least in my experience with outward, the cruelty of the game's opening is inspiring in ways more interesting than simply saying: survive. ultimately, it wants you to struggle and thrive.
zn0
2 years ago