Outcast: A New Beginning Reviews
A pleasing world and satisfying jetpack exploration aside, Cutter Slade's return is rarely out of this world.
Outcast: A New Beginning is an effective restart for this all-but-forgotten series. It's certainly rough around the edges, but outside of Just Cause you probably won't have more fun with movement in an open-world game than you will here.
Outcast: A New Beginning does offer a good amount of fun for those looking to mess around in an open-world sci-fi game that hearkens back to earlier entries in the genre. The world that Appeal created is fun to explore, the core gameplay loop feels like a blast from the past, and overall, it makes for a decent sci-fi experience. The story may not be the most interesting, and the content isn't that varied, but some players may still be able to find something to enjoy here. And fans of the original should at least enjoy this trip down memory lane, even if it could have been done better.
Outcast - A New Beginning is an excellent sequel with a lot of great gameplay elements that go a long way to make up for its need for further polish. Bugs are common, from an outpost with the robots stuck in the floor to breakable helidium crystals floating several feet above the ground they should be poking out of, and the conversation trees are in desperate need of re-ordering. Despite this, though, it's almost impossible to resist seeing what the next villager is up to and their relation to the rest of the world, following the dialogue and fishing out quests as an excuse to see and do more. The world is also beautifully designed, with each village having its own architecture and style while the world map is covered in points of interest and different biomes, providing gorgeous views from just about any spot in the landscape. Combat is also great fun, especially when stumbling on a particularly effective gun combination or figuring out how the latest upgrade fits into the flow of the next hostile encounter. It took over twenty-four years for Cutter Slade to return to Adelpha, but the wait has paid off with an epic adventure on an alien world.
A poor (and bored) man's Avatar, Outcast: A New Beginning is a tedious open world shooter that simply doesn't have anything new to say.
There's fun to be had in the shooting and gliding, but Outcast: A New Beginning is simply stretched a little too thin.
Where it innovates in design, Outcast: A New Beginning simultaneously stumbles over its own two feet with a clunkiness emblematic of other games in its niche. The game isn’t better or worse than its competitors – but it’s different enough to deserve some attention
Outcast: a New Beginning finally brings us the continuation of a cult game from the 90s. A new experience that mixes the new and the retro to bring us back to simpler times without giving up the ambition of its beautiful open world.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Being the heir to the original Outcast is having a very big pair of shoes to fill. A New Beginning falls short, but is in no way a bad game. It could have been so much more, however.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It's hard to stand out among open-world adventures. Outcast 2 achieves this at times thanks to its light-heartedness and sense of freedom, but neither the missions themselves nor its visual performance manage to rise to the occasion.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Times like these I’m glad I get to blindly jump into games like Outcast - A New Beginning. I admit, I’d never give a game like this the time of day if I saw it on a shelf or in a Steam list or whatever. But I urge people out there who like retro sci-fi or classic games in that 90s PC style to give Outcast a shot. It’s charming and silly without being corny, and has a pitch-perfect game feel when it comes to flying around the world and fighting. The storytelling doesn’t hit any home runs, but the sum of the other parts hold the game up regardless. It’s a good time, and bigger, more expensive games could stand to learn a thing or two from it at the end of the day.
Outcast: A New Beginning is a weird game. On one hand it looks and feels great at times, while other times it feels a little janky. Still there is a lot to love here, even with all the talking. Seriously can we wrap it up? If you have nostalgia for the original, this is a no-brainer, for new fans I think it is worth checking out. It feels like a game we don’t often get anymore, and it is just fun to play when it is clicking. Recommend keeping your eye on this one, just maybe not at full price.
Appeal Studios is far from having everything worked out perfectly. However, Outcast - A New Beginning turned out to be quite an original game, which is able to captivate with its old-fashioned story about a hitman who explores a beautiful mysterious world, albeit made in Ubisoft style.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Outcast: A New Beginning may not have a gameplay loop that interests everyone, considering its repetitious nature and somewhat dated shooting mechanics. With that said, the world and how you interact with it is enough for the right audience to dig into.
We are not at the mythical levels of the first episode, it is evident. Outcast – A New Beginning is a sequel without infamy and without praise, net of a nostalgia effect which inevitably has its weight but cannot justify every shortcoming. Strengths and weaknesses are almost equal when it's time to take stock, appreciating it or not depends a lot on how much importance you give to both. This is one of those cases in which the price doesn't play in the work's favor, however with a discount it might be worth giving it a chance because there is only one Cutter Slade.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Outcast - A New Beginning is a missed opportunity, abandoning the unique elements of its predecessor for a conventional open-world design that doesn't work well. With uninspired open-world exploration, clunky movement, lackluster combat, and mediocre quest design, it's a hard sell for everyone but Cutter Slade's biggest fans who wish to know how the character's story continues, as there are far superior titles on the market that have executed similar concepts much more effectively.
Outcast - A New Beginning unfortunately lacks many aspects needed to revitalize this cult classic for the modern day. With an archaic gameplay loop and middling action, it’s not quite the follow-up to a revolutionary experience that fans may way. Although some may enjoy a return to Adelpha, and there’s quality to be found in exploration, this is an open world game that fails to hit the mark.
There's an undeniable charm to Outcast: A New Beginning, and twenty years ago this could have been the breakout hit for an ongoing Outcast franchise, but in 2024 players are spoilt for choice in the realm of third-person action-adventure games. If you're a fan of the AA, mid-tier shooters we used to get back in the day then this might be worth a look, but otherwise, there's just not enough here to warrant your attention.
There are lots of ways in which Outcast: A New Beginning punches way, way up. The world is elaborate and thoroughly imagined. Characters are interesting. Some of the game’s mechanics and elements will seem familiar, but in this case Outcast: A New Beginning can claim it was there first. Unrewarding combat and some bland mission design aside, Outcast: A New Beginning reminds me of many AA games that I loved despite their flaws.
Despite its AA veneer, Outcast – A New Beginning is a solid open-world RPG. The combat doesn't carry its weight, but the quirky characters, fun traversal, and open quest system are the real heavy lifters. It feels like a game from a bygone era and in this instance it works.