Outcast: A New Beginning Review (Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

It seems like a lifetime ago since Appeal first scored the award for Best Adventure Game of 1999 with Outcast. Needless to say, when it comes to echoing the achievements of former cult icons' legacies, we have a lot to thank Outcast for, even if it isn’t quite as remembered today as it was a couple of decades back. Suffice it to say, if it weren't for Outcast peppering the foundations and pioneering the open-world sandbox formula way back when, then we (probably) wouldn't have had multiple other genre-defining hits like Just Cause and Crackdown in the aftermath of its groundbreaking success — and that counts for a lot, truly.

It's been a fair few years since I last caught wind of the jetpack-sporting ex-navy SEAL Cutter Slade, and yet, returning to the extraterrestrial roots of Adelpha felt like slipping into a warm and comfortable pair of shoes. In reality, twenty years had come and gone, but at the foot of a monitor on a lukewarm evening, it was still 1999. In my mind, no time had passed; the bustling biomes of the alien planet were present and accounted for, as were the native Talans of the far corners of Adelpha. But this time around, however, there were a few subtle changes: the atmosphere and its vast array of natural features had changed dramatically to accommodate a fresh host of graphical enhancements and technological improvements. Sure enough, the original Outcast was still there, but sewn into the patchwork of a much, much larger tapestry.

Having spent a dozen or more hours rifling through the world of Outcast: A New Beginning, I can just about say that this is, in all fairness, a new game, and not a revamped clone of its predecessor. But let’s rewind it back a smidgen, shall we?

Deja Vu

If, by some random coincidence, you’ve spent the last two hours spooling through an encyclopedia on Adelpha and its historical significance, then I can honestly tell you that you’ve wasted your time. As it turns out, Outcast: A New Beginning isn’t just a fancy play on words, but rather, the anchor point for a brand-new journey set in the same world, but with a protagonist who, for some reason, has little to no memory of the events that took place two decades prior to his arrival back in ‘99. In other words, something did happen, and the fairly dimwitted scavenger did have something to do with its outcome. But that doesn’t matter in A New Beginning; Cutter Slade doesn’t remember it — so neither should you, apparently.

The good news is, you don’t need to understand the ins and outs of Outcast and its intergalactic lore in order to crack the cookie that is its sequel. It’s been twenty-five years, and so, naturally, Appeal Studios has made the effort to discard a huge portion of the outdated intricacies, and instead focus on the vanilla extracts — Adelpha, Talans, and Yods, to list just a few of its core components. But if you’re not entirely sure what on earth we’re talking about, then just know this: an ex-navy SEAL has, by some random miracle, wound up at the doorstep of the native species’ ongoing feud with some high-powered militia that’s invading the realms. In a true, albeit incredibly cliche setup, you must unite the far corners of the planet, and, well, eradicate the looming forces that hang on the horizon.

Chew My Ear Off, Why Don’t Ya?

This isn’t a story that you’re going to remember, I’ll say that much. But the dialogue, on the other hand, might stick with you long enough to raise a few midnight chuckles from the root of your subconscious. And I say that, really, because Outcast: A New Beginning has a whole lot of dialogue to sift through, which ultimately reinforces the saying of, if talk is cheap, then consider it dirty broke. There’s a hearty amount of local jargon to shovel through, is what I’m getting at, and thrice as many inside jokes and words that, in the strangest of ways, you can find embedded within an in-game glossary. That’s sci-fi for you, though, I guess.

Aside from the fact that the Talans and other NPCs of Adelpha like to chew your ears off with backstories and tales of another era whenever the chances come about, there is a surprising amount of content to unpack in A New Beginning. Like its original, the game offers a dynamic open-world setting to scoot around—a tiered map that boasts a quality selection of themed districts, cities, and landmarks. From its icy corridors to its volcanic peaks, its gloomy jungles to its luscious waters, Adelpha does, in all fairness, tout a good amount of natural beauties to document and, with the power of a jetpack, whittle down into fragments. But that’s another story altogether, man.

Don’t get me wrong, Outcast: A New Beginning does, at least from a visual standpoint, look pretty great. But that isn’t to say that it’s without its own issues: the voice acting and lip-syncing, for example, are arguably two of the worst parts about the game — and that’s surprising, seeing as a solid eighty percent of the game is, well, drawn-out speech therapy sessions for aliens.

Silver Linings

So the storyline is borderline meh, as is the dialogue — but that isn’t to say that the actual gameplay experience is diabolical. On the contrary, there are actually some pretty good bones here, as well as a few recurring themes that’ll make even the oldest fans of the original series a little nostalgic. Like the vast majority of open-world sandbox games, A New Beginning does present you with an opportunity to scrape out a good thirty hours’ worth of quests, side objectives, and extracurricular activities, all of which come packaged in a narrative that, while mostly lacking in depth, has a pleasant amount of tongue-in-cheek moments. It isn’t going to be for everyone’s liking, true, but if you enjoy dry humor and the thought of two different species engaging in an ongoing battle to decipher what’s what and who’s who in mismatched dialects, then hey — it’s a win-win.

Let it be said, though, that the vast majority of its in-game quests aren’t overly creative, let alone challenging. For the most part, it’s merely the case of venturing out to speak with a villager, collecting a specific item, or defeating an enemy on the far side of the map. And that’s basically it, which means, there is a lot left to be desired — more so if you’re the sort of gamer who enjoys bathing in the unpredictable. Naturally, you can expect to spend a lot of time booting around on your jetpack, as well as locating the resources and credits needed to upgrade your two primary weapons: a pistol and a rifle—two firearms that can be molded into an array of different tools with added abilities and attributes.

Verdict

Outcast: A New Beginning is clearly a good starting point for those who happened to miss out on the original that launched way back in 1999. What’s more, it’s a good place to rediscover a lot of the content that went under the radar in the aftermath of its initial success, too. The fact that you don’t need to have a wealth of knowledge of the series to make heads or tails of its jargon, too, is another reason to consider it. Clearly, there’s a lot to shovel through, and that’s bound to persuade anyone with a habit of wanting to accrue plenty of bang for their buck, for sure. But then, does a higher quantity of content overshadow the sheer lack of innovation and quality? Not in this case, no.

I will say this, though: the banquet of upgrades is clearly the primary selling point for the game. Sure, the quests are a little mundane and repetitive, but the fact that there are plenty of reasons to push forward and acquire new technologies does, in ways, mean there’s always an incentive to progress even deeper into its world and unravel more of its lore. Again, the humor and dialogue is a little hit-and-miss, but then, a substantial amount of iffy jokes is a lot better than a voiceless husk of a contextless journey. To that, I say, well played, Appeal Studios.

Unlike its predecessor, Outcast: A New Beginning isn’t on the verge of becoming the most influential sandbox game of the year. However, seeing as the industry has since expanded and tapped into new innovative ways to improve the core formula, I’d be lying if I said that Appeal Studios didn’t have some pretty big shoes to fill.