Year 2007, government, probe Energy release, threats sunrise. The world is ending, everyone has a red code I am the last stronghold of humanity. "To work! Get up! Get into the teleport! Go! save the world!"And I can’t answer: -Sasai. Again I will see neither sleep nor peace There will be nothing but heat and pus. I would continue to drink if it were up to me, but someone else’s toy is out of order. The great savior woke up on a living and bright planet, where some evil overlord wants to conquer everyone in the world. So there’s no time, now you’re Ulukai. Here’s a quest for you, well, goodbye, as it were. Kavooo? What the hell is Fae Ran?? Where did I end up? You’ll probably have to help, otherwise you’ll fail.
I, like many of you, have played countless video games, just like you, I can’t tell you the exact number, but I can confidently say that most of them were in the adventure or action-adventure genre. Starting from Tomb Raider And Omikron and ending Okami, what can I say, I tried to play text games Zork I And Zork II (unsuccessfully). And I can honestly say that Outcast is the best adventure game released before November 18, 1999. Having learned that a little-known but well-received game by critics turns twenty years old in 2019, I decided to go through and tell about this masterpiece of the Mesolithic gaming industry.
It’s a rare moment when a small company decides to make a high-cost product without knowing for sure whether it will make up the sales. Outcast is one such product. Appeal did a great job and made such an excellent game that it would have been difficult to find one even close to it at the time of release, but no matter how good the game is, there are always cons. I’ll start with them.
The graphics engine is terrible and it’s not even about voxel graphics, although here it is an order of magnitude worse than in Blade Runner or Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, but how it affects gameplay. Voxels operate at a lower resolution than pixels, and therefore some things appear a little blocky, that is, low-textured, which even at the time of release did not look very good, although this is not very noticeable, since the advantages of this engine are that it shows curved surfaces much better than pixels. In fact, this is a slight misconception and Outcast does not use this type of graphics, the game is based on raycasting technology, but the description above is completely true and it’s difficult to play for the first time until your eyes get used to it.
Now the positives (and this will take a lot longer), firstly I’ll start with more comments on the graphics. The advantage is that it renders large environments beautifully, and thanks to several techniques implemented by this game’s designers at Appeal, many blocking obstacles in the landscape can be avoided, although the characters show this painfully (more on that below). It’s very hard to believe, but the way the characters look and the way they move in the cutscenes looks better than any game of that period. It’s a combination of: "The best and worst graphics I’ve ever seen" And if that last sentence put you off, don’t worry, you’ll get used to it quickly. The water effects are also excellent, even better than in the first FarCry, which came out five years after Outcast, the surface reflects everything above it and shakes when you move, not to mention when something explodes in it and makes a huge splash of water.
Now another important thing: the enemy AI, which is well designed. If you encounter enemies one at a time they will run and be stealthy, in medium groups they will spread out and try to flank you, while in large groups they will rush you like meat relying on numerical superiority and don’t think they can’t. They also communicate during combat in order to eliminate the enemy with fewer losses for themselves. In short, they act smart, individually or in groups, in a way reminiscent of Half-Life and Thief, and it’s very enjoyable.
Now the sound. Performed https://gamblingdata.net/casinos/videoslots-casino/ by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and Choir, it is simply magnificent. The music generally suits the mood and what’s happening on screen very well, as you talk to NPCs and wander around the peaceful village with softer melodies changing to sharp, fast percussive rhythms during combat. The sound effects are clear, each weapon has its own characteristic sound and this is not the sound of a water pistol, the voice acting of the characters is also excellent.
And now we come to the most important thing. Plot. The introductory video, although quite long, is made at a high level every second of it. It tells the backstory of a universe where the US government sent a probe to another planet, it was discovered and damaged, causing a backlash that created a black hole ready to destroy the Earth. We are also introduced to the main character Cutter Slade, who has obvious problems with alcohol and the pretense of cool of Jim Raynor, whom he reminded me of. Seriously, you can compare the intro with Jim and the beginning of the opening of Outcast and the parallel will appear before your eyes. For the first time we also see the creatures inhabiting the planet on which we will spend the next 25 hours – these are Talans, but more about them later. Then we are introduced to three other characters who will need to be taken to an unknown planet to repair the probe: Marion Wolf, Professor Kaufman, who formulated the theory of parallel worlds, and Professor Xu, creator of the energy source.
The flight does not go well, and they are thrown to different parts of the world, Adelfa, where they went, and Slade wakes up alone, in the house of a local resident – Talan. Talans is a humanoid race reminiscent in its appearance and level of technological development of the Ancient Chinese. He is then told of Adelfa’s predicament. Talans believe that he Ulukai, savior from prophecy Kazara, religious leader killed by the tyrant of Adelphi Fei Ran. The prophecy is that Ulukai will free Adelpha from Fey Run. Yes, get ready for the fact that you will have to memorize the language of the world you are in, because the meaning of words will be explained to you rather vaguely. Right away we are shown the struggle within the Guardians of the Resistance, as their leader is a pacifist and some Guardians want to fight. This plot will last you for the next 6 hours, and you can find out for yourself what happens next.
The original voice acting is also done at a decent level, the main character speaks in a drunken voice, a warrior tired of everything, without forgetting to make charismatic and ironic jokes and even break the fourth wall. The Talans’ voices are practically no different from each other and the point is not that they were voiced by one person, it is more likely due to a racial trait. Imagine Chinese people of the same gender trying to speak English, to you they will all sound the same, although the voices will be different (I don’t approve of this comparison, but that’s how it is)
You don’t have to spend a long time entering the interface. Many functions are performed by hotkeys. Everything is in its place: radar, item action, ammo counter. The only thing that might make a modern player laugh is character movement and shooting. It’s difficult to describe it, but if you’ve seen such a masterpiece as Gulmen, then you’ll understand what I mean, but when switching to the first-person camera it helps a little, although after you’ve laughed enough, you can switch back.
There are only 6 weapons to choose from, which limits the fun. Besides, your starting weapon is a ridiculous joke. I think they did it to add difficulty to the beginning of the game, but they shouldn’t have made it so hard. But new weapons and upgrades can be acquired quickly if you know who to talk to.
The quests in the game are generally quite good and actually make sense, it’s not a constant give and take, for example in each region you can talk to the leaders and try to convince them to stop producing what that region produces to weaken the enemy soldiers, or you may not and they will rip everything you can, it’s fair and I like it.
So, that’s all I have to say about Outcast, except for one thing: try this. Again, this is one of the best adventure games I’ve ever played, and it’s also worth a try for more than just adventure game fans, as it has a lot of action and RPG elements to it.
If you have the autistic ability to abstract yourself from the real world and forget what, there are modern games such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4 and many others, you can put the following ratings:
Graphics-8
Strongest ratio of best to worst graphics I’ve ever seen. Great natural features and beautiful sprawling open areas, but poor looking buildings and characters.
Sound-10
A masterpiece performed by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and Choir.
Plot-9
A very good story that I can’t go into too much detail due to spoilers.
Management-9
There may be some problems when you enter buildings and when you get too close to an object, but a quick switch to first person mode and the problem is solved. Weird but easy to use. Everything can be remapped, the default controls are as easy to use as custom configurations, and the GUI is great.
Result-9
At least, this is what I would have given twenty years ago, but knowing that there are more modern games, even Outcast itself, which had a remake in 2017, I can give the game 7, for the classics, which, in fact, if you are not inspired by my article, you don’t have to play. If in Quake, Half-Life, Deus Ex, Gulmen it was worth playing just to get acquainted with the classics, then a trip to the world of Adelph is not worth it and I wrote all this probably just to honor the memory of a really not bad game.