Outcast: A New Beginning Reviews
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.
Outcast's return hasn't been as big as fans of the original had hoped. Where the game excels is the world and the ability to explore with your jetpack, but that's where the fun ends. Being able to personalize the weapons with the modules of your choice is nice, but on the other hand, the combat itself is not very spectacular. Add to that the bad jokes, the dramatic writing, the boring quests and the technical problems and you quickly end up with a very mediocre game. Outcast – A New Beginning falls short on almost all points, so you actually get bored after a few hours. Fans have had to wait 25 years for a worthy successor, but with A New Beginning they will be disappointed.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Some die-hard fans of the original game may find the new Outcast entry appealing. Yet even they will not be impressed by the so-so story and dull open world. At least, the action is decent.
Review in Russian | Read full review
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.
Outcast: A New Beginning does its best to invoke a sense of wonder as you jetpack 4 feet off of the ground in an occasionally beautiful alien world. Weak writing, terrible performance, and repetitive quest design work together to make it a dour experience in the end.
With movement and combat upgrades, Outcast – A New Beginning eventually comes close to being a decent open-world shooter, but terrible fetch quests, bland activities, tech issues, and narrative gaffes mean that the colorful world of Adelpha does not bear enough fruit.
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.
Cutter Slade's long-awaited return has flashes of jetpack-fuelled brilliance, but tiresome missions and a story that fails to engage ensure that playing Outcast: A New Beginning quickly develops into something of a chore.
Outcast: A New Beginning is a competent game from a technical standpoint but lags massively in the narrative and pacing departments. It looks beautiful, and the combat is OK, but the overabundance of fetching quests and weird world-building drags the whole thing down.
When I read that Outcast was one of the games that helped pioneer the open-world genre, I was impressed! But that is to say, this game seems like it would have thrived back in the day. Nowadays, we have way too many open-world games, and this one doesn't seem impressive unless you loved the first and wanted a sequel. It's a shame, as the world of Adelpha is beautiful, and some of the creature designs look cool, but it falls short everywhere else, in my opinion.
Outcast – A New Beginning features dated storytelling, poor writing, and an overliance on tropes we’ve all seen a thousand times by now. If none of that matters to you, however, you’re in for a pretty ok gameplay experience, with some unique mechanics and freedom that thankfully allows you to bypass a lot of the game’s storytelling, no matter how confidently it seems to throw it in your face.
The first game was neat for it’s time, and the remake breathed new life into the series. While I’m not sure we needed a sequel, there’s some really neat ideas, quests, systems, and ways of traversing I haven’t quite experienced. There’s clearly a lot of secrets to uncover and things to do in this open-world adventure we’ve seen before, but in a new way. This really feels like a throwback game from a different era mixed with new ideas. While not every component of Outcast – A New Beginning comes together the way it should, it’s still very entertaining and captivating.
Outcast – A New Beginning has moments where it can be a lot of fun, especially once you get your hands on an upgraded jetpack. Sadly, its archaic mission design and empty open world often means that there isn't really much in there worth flying towards.
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.
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
Perhaps Outcast: A New Beginning was a bit too ambitious for the return of the classic IP, but even with its huge flaws there are still a lot of good things that are worthy of your attention.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It does have a lot of issues, but Outcast: A New Beginning also features its fair share of saving graces. It is flawed, but a somewhat good time in smaller bursts. It’s a shame its open world design felt generic, never succeeding at captivating me, because the core combat mechanics and admittedly great visual design did a lot of heavy lifting. It’s an unapologetic old-school game in its premise and content; it doesn’t try to be anything else, nor does it try to punch above its weight. Whether you think this is commendable or not is up to your opinion.
It’s taken 25 years, but thanks to Outcast – A New Beginning we finally have a sequel to Outcast. And, in a tremendous bit of irony, where the first game was a look into the future of gaming, this new one feels a lot more like a look back – or, if you want to be a little less polite about it, Outcast – A New Beginning feels like a relic from a bygone era.
Outcast – A New Beginning holds an undeniable amount of allure despite being an extremely janky and overpriced double-A game. It offers an interesting world with a mix of old-school charm and modern gameplay mechanics. The jetpack traversal is addictive and the weapon modding system is refreshing. However, it’s clear this game will definitely not appeal to everyone, even if you’re a fan of the 1999 original.
Outcast - A New Beginning offers a mix of science fiction and curious fantasy, providing an immersive gaming experience in a vast and visually arresting open world. However, its approach is quite dated, especially due to the excessive amount of repetitive activities that can make progression tedious and an uninspired script.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review