Outcast: A New Beginning wants to be more than just another open world adventure

thesixthaxis.com:

THQ Nordic has given us a fresh look at Outcast: A New Beginning, a full sequel to the 1999 cult classic (and the 2017 remake without the old voxel graphics). This is a broad open world game, with a difference.

Outcast: A New Beginning puts you back in the boots and jetpack of Cutter Slade, the former Navy Seal that was sent through to Planet Adelpha with the first game. Now, with the planet and its Talan people under threat from robotic invaders, he has to join their resistance and help them fight back and persist, if he’s got any hope of getting back to Earth.

Jetting around the world looks wonderfully freeing, with Cutter’s jetpack letting him skim along the ground, do little pulses up into the air, and then gliding with a fancy wing suit. It’s got all the vibes of Just Cause’s freeform movement style, but without the kind of zaniness that follows when heading into combat.

Still, the jetpack feeds into the combat in big ways, letting Cutter just hover in midair and blast away at enemies emerging or patroling their base. There’s a weapon system with over 30 modules that range from a basic shield to mighty Talan powers, and can quickly transform Cutter’s gun from a shotgun to a sniper, if that’s what the situation needs.

Floating in the sky sounds like Cutter makes for an easy target, and… he kind of is, but for the Talan powers and tech abilities that he can call upon. One creates an anti-gravity bubble that will suspend now helpless enemies in midair, another attracts a swarm of angry wasp-like insects, or you can call in birds to deliver bombs and blow them up.

So far, all of this sounds like pretty standard open world fare, from Far Cry to Just Cause, but Outcast: A New Beginning is about getting in tune with the natural