Open-world RPG Outward: Definitive Edition is out May 17

Releasing on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S

Outward, a throw-you-in-the-deep-end survival RPG, is getting a Definitive Edition on May 17 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. You might not have heard of this one, but it made a splash on Steam in 2019 as an open-world game with a sprinkle of Souls and co-op support. Outward wasn’t afraid to push back — there’s no fast travel! — and it clicked with players who needed a break from bigger-budget open-world game design.

It struck me as a game that would be fun to learn but not necessarily fun to finish, if you catch my drift. Post-launch updates helped. And with Outward: Definitive Edition, Nine Dots Studio is making “one last big push before focusing all our efforts on our next games.”

According to Prime Matter, players who own the base game and The Three Brothers DLC will get Outward: Definitive Edition for free. Here’s a surprisingly chipper trailer:

What’s different?

Earlier this week, the developers highlighted the balance changes in a Steam post:

• Difficulty curve — we made the hard enemies harder. While this might appear on the surface to be a surprising move, the reason why we did this was that some players could clear out dungeons very early on and jump into endgame gear. This broke the intended progression curve and also made it tricky for players who then went into areas they were ‘under-leveled’ for.
• Protection — protection now not only applies to physical damage, but to impact as well. Consequently, we had to revise impact resistance and make sure it didn’t suddenly become easy to ignore the risk of stagger altogether, or make some enemies almost impossible to stun.
• DLC redistribution — enchantment recipes are available in various stores, rather than concentrated in Harmattan. Arcane elementals can now be found in every region, in places that make sense. We’ve also put workshops in every region so players can build the musical totems, so don’t need to trek all the way back to the Caldera if you lose one of your apparatuses. Corruption is now found in any area where it makes sense, and it also more potent. Some of the item properties that were only found in the areas specific to their respective DLCs can now be found on items from the vanilla content of Outward too.
• Material Sample guaranteed drops — the random nature of drops for rare resources could be too brutal in The Three Brothers. We’ve found a way to alleviate this issue. The player will be able to talk with a town NPC to trade 3 of any samples for the specific type of rare resource you are looking for.
  
• Town Reset — the fact that towns didn’t reset was causing issues both in terms of balance and immersion. A lot of players felt that sleeping in a house or an inn simply didn’t make sense compared to just placing a plant tent that would freely feed you and provide a sufficiently generous sleep buff. You will still be able to set up a hobo camp, but should you stay out of town for seven consecutive days before the town resets. This means that you’ll be able to loot junk piles and such when coming back in town, giving something to do while your friend is shopping, buying skills or reorganizing their inventory.

“This list is not exhaustive, but those changes are those that I think will most significantly alter the experience of playing Outward,” said the developers.

“Hopefully it will keep even seasoned adventurers on their toes.”

We haven’t touched on Outward in years — I still think of it as “Ray’s weird backpack game,” in honor of our then-reviewer. That said, I randomly remember it all the dang time.

“During my first ten hours in Outward, I was mauled by wolves three different times, kidnapped by bandits twice, and left shanghaied on a magic-infused mountain by a mysterious stranger. I fought subterranean monsters and laid tripwire traps in a desperate ploy to take on foes much stronger than me.”

The Definitive Edition seems like a good entry point for RPG fans, especially if you have a certain old-school patience for the world’s hostility, repetition brought on by long walks, and bugs. It may not be a looker, but as a wacky adventure generator, Outward is memorable. Sometimes, things go off the rails, and it sucks. Other times, all of the discomfort can lead to something unique. Not enough open-world games hit this way.