Game:

Outcast (1999)

Category:

Tutorial

Duration: 35:00

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Support the Outcast HD Reboot on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/outcast-reboot-hd/outcast-reboot-hd

Outcast was the first 3D action-adventure game where the player had an unprecedented amount of freedom:

- You decided how to approach a specific situation: you could plan and prepare for a fight or you could just go in with guns blazing and hope for the best.
- The player really felt that he is alone in an alien world and had to adapt in order to survive: it was crucial to learn how talan society and religion works.
- To learn about the talans and to get useful clues and information on your objectives you had to speak to most of the important NPCs.
- The game was contructed in a way that these parts really felt like actual conversations instead of just watching some cutscenes: though your choices were limited, you did not actually feel like that because of the enormous amount of topics you could talk about with any inhabitant of the world.
- To embrace the idea of learning about an alien culture the developers included features that provided a bit of realism to the gameplay.
- For example there were no magically appearing markers on your map to show where the important NPCs are. If you wanted to find somebody, you had to ask other talans in the region to show you where that person is.
- You also had to learn the common words and expressions of the talan language - the game had a neat dictionary for that.
- The general gameplay and narrative never really holded your hands: your goals were certain but the player had to investigate the specific region and their situation in the story in order to get a picture on how to complete them.
- The puzzles had the vibe of old school adventure games: they made you think and some of them were hard but if you didn't know what to do it was always because you failed to get important information.
- You could decide what order you wanted to play the regions in.
- The AI was smart and the combat was dynamic and tactical. You can see in the video that enemies love to dodge projectiles and change positions in order to corner you.
- Stealth was simple but effective if used right.
- You had a lot of weapons to choose from: you decided which one you wanted to buy or upgrade.
- Last but not least: the story was amazing. It was simple and easy to understand on the surface but had a lot of depth for those who were interested in the setting and the characters.
- Overall Outcast is one of the best examples of a living, breathing world in video game history.

Compared to modern titles the game is a bit rough around the edges but the unique atmosphere and gameplay mechanics make it easy to forget the shotrcomings.

Companies don't make games like this anymore: the action-adventure genre is mostly about action and not adventure these days, that's why this franchise needs to come back. An enhanced HD reboot would be able to iron out the bugs and problems the original version had and a new graphics engine would take advantage of modern computers so we could enjoy a polished version of this classic in 1080p running on 60 fps. With a new engine console ports are possible too and that in my opinion is an important factor in putting Outcast on the map as a franchise again.

Outcast is available as a DRM-free digital download on GoG for 5.99$:
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/outcast

Fixes and enhancements used in this video:

Zenger's High Definition Patch V3:
http://www.openoutcast.org/board/viewtopic.php?p=20487

Deadfix (it fixes the crash that occurs when dying while playing the game in 720p with cinemascope):
http://www.mediafire.com/download/cvecuy2byzp6fv1/deadfix.rar

Some ini tweaks to enhance the visuals (better effects, better anti-aliasing) - here's how:
http://www.gog.com/forum/outcast/list_your_ini_tweaks/page1

Xpadder for controller support:
http://www.xpadder.com/

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