Outland (PC) Review

There is some throwaway story here about a legendary hero saving the world from gods, but what Outland is truly about is incredibly tight and rewarding gameplay. This is a Metroidvania game at its core, with portions of the map locked off until new abilities are attained and moves unlocked. It is a bit hard to describe the fundamental design of the game, and perhaps the most succinct description is that Outland melds some mild puzzle platforming with bullet-hell-type screen flooding and slick, smooth combat. It is a brilliant little package that manages to nail the various aspects of its gameplay almost perfectly.

The game does take a while to get its feet under it, and a lot of the early portions of the game feel like any generic, run-of-the-mill indie platformer available on Steam. It is once the ability to swap alignments is unlocked, however, that the game truly takes off into something special. With a tap of a button, the character's alignment can be swapped, which alters the levels in several significant ways. A sudden swap allows him to interact with corresponding platforms, damage opposite enemies, and be immune to attacks from corresponding energy. It sounds fairly straightforward in concept but when Outland begins to ramp up the challenge and fully integrate this idea into the gameplay it is a thing of beauty.

The level design here is truly superb, and is where Outland separates itself from other, similar titles. Each area has a series of stages that open up organically as new abilities are unlocked, and an excellent job is done slowly integrating new challenges throughout the course of the game. There are some superb segments where rapidly swapping alignments and executing well-placed attacks are absolutely crucial to making it to the next checkpoint, and the game does a great job challenging the player without ever becoming frustrating. Certain areas will flood the screen with various projectiles, forcing gamers to avoid or absorb them by altering their alignment, all the while combating foes and completing some fairly complex platforming segments. There are a lot of different ideas at play here, but they are all integrated beautifully leading to some truly memorable and remarkably well crafted areas.

Combat is fairly simple when compared to the rest of the game, although it grows a bit more complex as the game progresses and additional moves are unlocked. There isn't a huge variety of enemies, and a lot of them can be taken down with similar techniques. It certainly isn't bad, but lacks the sublime creativity found in other aspects of Outland. At times, it feels as if the combat is a bit of an afterthought, although those concerns vanish during any one of the well-designed boss battles. The bosses are one of the many highlights of the game and although combat is a bit simple, these fights are still clever and come up with wonderful ways to integrate the various tools at the player's disposal. One of the earlier boss fights requires some precision platforming on freefalling rubble in order to get close enough to the boss to hit her, all the while avoiding the energy blasts she is summoning. It is a clever use of a somewhat limited combat system, something all of these battles manage to achieve.

There is also a healthy emphasis put on exploration, and Outland does a nice job hiding little secrets to provide an extra challenge. Finding hidden passages or completing some more difficult platforming to reach harder to access areas often leads to some collectibles that either provide an extra source of money or unlock some additional concept art. It provides an additional incentive to further explore the beautifully designed levels, although it would have been preferable had the rewards been a bit more worthwhile. The money in the game is used to unlock additional health or energy upgrades, but enemies always seem to be bursting with money whenever they are whacked hard enough, so the additional funds aren't as important as they may seem. Additionally, some of the "hidden" areas are not hidden so well on the map, and the rough edges of hidden areas are easily found with just a quick glance.

While the gameplay still resonates as well as ever, it really only succeeds if some sort of dedicated controller support is available as the keyboard is awkward and doesn't feel as natural. Outland is a game that cries out for a proper controller to play on, making this PC port the inferior option if alternatives are available. It features some truly excellent platforming segments, forcing the player to act and react, rapidly switching the character's alignment to avoid incoming obstacles and land on the appropriate platform. With an actual controller, this is a recipe for some of the most sublime platforming to be found on Steam. With a keyboard, this is a recipe for a sudden onset of carpel tunnel syndrome.