In 1999, when Appeal launched Outcast exclusively on PC, things were not like that. The title then offered, for the first time, a series of dizzying content: an incredibly vast and varied game world, an inspired narrative, exploratory mechanics mixed with full-blown TPS sessions.
Although he played a bit of a trailblazer, however, few people remembered Outcast. To remedy the unjust oblivion, Bigben Interactive has decided to publish the remaster, offering a second chance. A Second Contact, in fact. But perhaps the first was enough.
PLANET THAT YOU GO, ULUKAI THAT YOU FIND
Former special agent of navy forces, Cutter Slade is trying to forget the problems of the past by drowning in a mix of alcohol and coffee. As long as America does not have a new mission to offer it, the last chance to redeem itself. And it’s not a little thing: it’s about saving the Earth.
A group of scientists had the brilliant idea of creating a probe between our world and a parallel universe, only that it broke and now our planet is in danger of collapsing in the gap.
Cutter is the right man to jump in the small passage and put things right, leading some scientists to repair the probe. Logically nothing goes right: the marine is separated from his companions and deprived of his equipment, and finds himself in the company of a group of natives of the place, fortunately without hostile intentions.
The arrival planet, Adelpha, is in fact inhabited by grotesque anthropomorphic beings, called Talaran. Their people are at war with a too ambitious separatist, Fae Rhan, who wants to subdue them all. In addition, the good Talarans see in Cutter the messiah that must have come for some time to save them: the warrior sent by the gods, the Ulukai.
And given that for the marine stretch their legs with some extra work is never a problem, make a pact with the inhabitants. He will save Adelpha from the tyrant, but the Talarans will help him to find his companions and the probe to be repaired.
At the time Outcast won more than a hundred different prizes, including the best adventure game of the year. A point in favor of the remaster is just to have left the story as it was, without making any kind of discounts to the player. The spirit of the title consists in the sense of disorientation, abandonment, amazement for new elements: and Cutter is alone, dispersed on a planet inhabited by aliens, biomes completely unknown, although they recall the terrestrial ecosystems closely.
Not even the progression is typical of modern titles, in which a thousand indicators also guide their shoes.To continue you must explore, chat with the inhabitants, think with your own mind. The game map has few points of interest, often not even those we need at that time. All this works perfectly in the light of this type of experience, just like in 1999.
A UNIVERSE OF COMPROMISES
What leaves a lot to be desired, however, is precisely what was to be perfected with the remaster. We expected a revised control system, updated TPS mechanics, and a decent technical compartment. From this point of view, Outcast Second Contact is all too disappointing.
Cutter’s movements are slow, woody, awkward, with little precise jumps to a hardly manageable somersault. The shot does not honor the perspective in the third person, and in closed environments is approaching so much behind the protagonist to make the movements frustrating.
Fortunately in the open spaces the right distances are respected, even if from time to time the camera takes care of putting on its own, going on its own or fixing itself on completely useless points and details.
