A series that has completely slipped my radar and has been around since the 90s. The original “Outcast” released back in 1999, with a remake done in 2017 called “Outcast: Second Contract.” This sequel, “Outcast: A New Beginning” has just come out and has opened my eyes to a huge dense new science fiction story. Developed by Appeal Studios, who are of course known for making all of the games in this franchise have delivered a pretty rich open world game that seemed to come out of nowhere. Unfortunately, its not with a fair number of shortcomings, but there is something rather commendable in play here.
While this is a sequel to a remake and there is a lot of lore present, the game is fairly welcoming of bringing newcomers in without having played previous titles. You play as the long-time protagonist, ex-Navy Seal Cutter Slade as he embarks on a new alien planet named Adelpha where he learns all about a very interesting race called the Talans. Since I’m new here, I did some more research about Slade, and he is very notable for having a very witty side. Which brings me to one of my first big issues with “A New Beginning,” the writing. There are a ton of scenes unleashing a plethora of exposition to you. I know I’m new here in this universe but it’s a personal gripe of mine that in not just games, but in movies too when there are characters that just have to dump all this lore for you. It just feels a bit lazy. It perhaps angers me more-so that the dialogue here is often fairly weak. Slade’s humor can also fail to land the jokes more so than hit them. Interesting enough, the character still manages to convey a likable charm.
I want to switch over to some positives though, because fortunately this is a pretty fun game to play. This is a third-person shooter set in a very lustrous rain forest open world. The combat can get really addicting. Slade has one gun and an electronic shield. While at first, I was a bit bummed you only have the one gun, the game offers you plenty of ways to upgrade and modify it, I felt like as I progressed, I was fine-tuning the perfect weapon. Another aspect I really loved was how I got to traverse this map, that with an upgradable jetpack. Flying and gliding around never got old and even started to play as part of my attacking strategy when starting a fight.
There can be a lot to do in Adelpha, and the story allows you to approach things in your own non-linear way. There are several other things I had issues with, such as the not-so-great skill trees, but I wanted to be clear that while you may notice a lot of the flaws this game does indeed have, there is enough here I feel will keep many people entertained and really appreciate the type of universe that is being built in this series. It won’t be for everybody, especially if you can’t stand campy humor, but those who do give it a real shot may come out surprised. I’m just concerned on how many people will actually get around to playing this game, if I wasn’t reviewing it I feel like I would never have heard of it nor had known that it had come out.
7/10
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Related: Nick Navarro Reviews
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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