izigame.me

I really, really wanted to like Outward. It had a solid premise: Open World game mixed with Soulslike combat, survival elements, and a deep magic system.
And it does three of those things very well. I liked all the survival elements. The limited inventory space with the pocket/backpack split is interesting, particularly since you have to drop your backpack in combat to avoid slow-rolling, so you need to carefully consider what to put in your pocket. I liked the open world setup, since you got just enough guidance to avoid having no idea where to go, without having your hand held. I liked what little of the magic system I encountered because it was very promising with how spells interact with each other and spells also having utility purposes. The game looked visually impressive, with interesting caves, a big purple mountain in the starting area, ruins, a marsh full of huge plants and dinosaurs, etc.
But the combat drops the ball so hard that it ruins the game outright. It is brutal, it is punishing, and it only gets worse. And I say this as someone who beat all three Dark Souls games. At least Dark Souls just kicks you back to a bonfire when you die, but Outward will send you to a semi-random location, and may or may not strip you of your inventory, and may or may not lower your maximum stats, and may or may not inflict extra debuffs on you. And then it autosaves, because there's only one save file, so you can't just reload and try again.
Made worse by this is that when you leave the starting town and run into some bandits, or a bird, you discover very quickly how heavily the deck is stacked against you when everything takes you down in 2/3 hits and you deal chip damage with the exact same weapons enemies are using. On top of this, nobody staggers from a hit unless it completely depletes their stability gauge - so you can wait for an opening, get a hit in, and then have the enemy pull out a quick attack and hit you in the face before your animation completes. And remember, they only need to land 3 hits, you need 10 or more.
Now if this were any other open-world game you could go somewhere easier and try to get more powerful. But you can't, because there's no EXP system, so even if you win a fight all you get from it is any items that were on the foes you took down. The only way to get stronger is to get better equipment and better skills... and that needs money.
And this is the huge deal-breaker of Outward. You need money. You need PILES of money. And the game does not want to give it to you. Anything you can forage, craft or take off enemies sells for single digits - usually just 1 silver piece. Any gear worthwhile other than bandages (at least they had the sense to make those cheap) costs 50 silver at a minimum. Better armor will run you hundreds of silver pieces. Recipes cost 25 or more. Even a stay at an inn costs 25 silvers. You want more spells or combat skills? Be prepared to cough up hundreds of silver pieces... IF YOU HAD THEM!
Any time you think you've made some headway, the game quickly reminds you that you have not. Despite the magic system being a huge selling point of the game, you don't start with any. And when you finally get it you get a weak spell that does nothing unless empowered. And empowering it requires a material component. Which needs an alchemy kit. Which is 60 silvers. Plus whatever it costs for the materials. It's frustrating because magic is very strong and actually practical and useful - but you won't get to use it.
You can travel to another region but it's just as deadly. You can join a faction but they won't actually give you any help. I joined the Holy Mission and my reward was a recipe I couldn't craft and a spell I couldn't use without a buff that I had no means of getting. No money, no gear, no nothing.
Maybe if you can ever break out of the "I need money to get stronger -> I need to be stronger to get money" vicious cycle, Outward becomes good, but good luck doing so.