In 1999, Appeal Studios surprised everyone with the release of their critically acclaimed sci-fi open-world game Outcast. Players were enthralled by the beautiful scenery and stayed for the exciting gameplay it offered. Unfortunately, the studio tried to make a sequel but it never came to fruition, forcing Appeal to close its doors. But 20 years later, Outcast: A New Beginning is its sequel and it pretty much lives up to its original promise.

Outcast: A New Beginning feels like a blast from the past and is sure to please anyone looking for a bit of nostalgia or wanting to cause chaos in a sci-fi world. The scenery is beautiful, the unique mechanics are fun, and the basic gameplay isn’t bad either. This will provide hours of entertainment, but some players may tire of Outcast’s many shortcomings. And ultimately, the overall gaming experience is entertaining, but deeply flawed.

The best thing about Outcast: A New Beginning is its simple, addictive gameplay. Players take on the role of Cutter Slade, a man destined to defend the alien planet Adelpha from invaders. To achieve this, he must help the people on Earth with whatever they need, hoping to earn their favor in return. But it’s no easy task, as enemies lurk around every corner trying to take him down. In a typical open-world format, players must prepare for a lot of destruction.

Players will spend a lot of time shooting all kinds of enemies on their journey to free Adelpha from the invaders. You’ll defeat hordes of angry robots, destroy massive bases, fight off alien creatures, and engage in numerous explosive incidents. While the world isn’t as destructible as Just Cause, the gameplay loop is a strong reminder of that, and it really helps Outcast: A New Beginning stand out from many other modern open-world titles.

Exploration and traversal play a big role in Outcast: A New Beginning, as players must liberate an entire planet. To make this aspect a bit more interesting, Cutter Slade is given a jetpack fairly early on, which he can use to dodge, jump high, and glide through the world. As players progress, they’ll be able to use this tool in even more ways. While players won’t be able to fly directly, it still makes traversing the planet a bit more fun.

Additionally, developer Adelpha has packed in a variety of classic open-world side activities: there are parkour challenges, beehives to defeat, bases to destroy, treasure chests to discover, and even a few sliding mini-games to complete. These give players a reason to explore further and often lead to beneficial upgrades like increased HP. However, some tasks can quickly feel a bit monotonous as there isn’t much variety, so if a player has seen one, they’ve effectively seen them all.

Like any open-world title, as players fight their way through Adelpha they become more powerful. Outcast: A New Beginning not only has the classic skill tree, but also a system called Weapon Modules. Players discover these upgradeable modules in bases scattered throughout the game world or hidden in random locations. Once found, they can be attached to weapons to drastically change the way they work. Pistols can also become machine guns, gain health on kills, fire powerful charged shots, and even attach sticky bombs every turn. And with each upgrade, these modules become even more exciting!

These modules are one of the most important forms of progression in Outcast: A New Beginning, and some of them are truly game-changing. However, players don’t have the freedom to craft any weapon they like. Instead, they’re limited to only using a certain number of modules per weapon, unlocking more slots over time. Luckily, if you don’t like your selection, you can simply swap them out.

Although combining modules is a lot of fun, the weapon system is also one of Outcast: A New Beginning’s weaker points. Unlike some open-world games where players have a myriad of weapons at their disposal, in this game you only have two weapons. You also get a shield and can perform a basic melee attack. This means that there isn’t much variety in combat outside of these modules. While these modules do add some variety, players will not likely swap them out frequently once they find one they like.

Additionally, as players gain the village’s favor, Taran’s special powers are unlocked. These powers give them all sorts of fun abilities, including anti-gravity, explosive attacks, destructive vines, and even a giant whale-like creature to ride and fly. Each power is themed to the story of the village it unlocks, though some take a bit longer to complete than others. And each one is so much fun that it makes up for Outcast: A New Beginning’s lack of arsenal.

However, players may also encounter odd enemy AI behavior during their journey. Often, enemies just stand there while the player attacks, while others’ strategy is to simply approach the player threateningly. Cutter Slade is supposed to be such a powerful sci-fi hero, but it would have been nice if his opponents had been a bit smarter.

This issue is not limited to just standard enemies, as the game’s boss fights can get tedious. For example, at the beginning of Outcast: A New Beginning, players must deal with a mining drill, which can be an interesting encounter. But instead of forcing the player to fight desperately for their life, they simply circle around the drill while shooting at its center. Occasionally you’ll need to dodge area-of-effect attacks, but these are pretty easy to avoid. Other bosses behave slightly differently, but none of them are particularly challenging or memorable.

But perhaps one of Outcast: A New Beginning’s biggest flaws is its lackluster story. While the game’s focus is on Cutter Slade shooting his way through the beautiful planet Adelpha, the story that connects these fun moments is barely interesting. Players are thrown into this world with almost no explanation, and they have to follow a pretty standard sci-fi story, full of classic sarcastic comments from the protagonist, there aren’t many memorable characters, and there are too many errands to run. This kind of adventure might be what some players are looking for, but those wanting more won’t find it here.

Outcast: A New Beginning also has some technical issues. There is a lot of lag in some areas, enemies often get stuck in objects, and Cutter Slade’s jetpack often makes the player unable to move. Additionally, console graphics modes don’t work as intended, and quality mode slows down the game significantly.

Outcast: A New Beginning offers a lot of fun for those who want to play an open-world sci-fi game that harkens back to past entries in the genre. The world created by Appeal is fun to explore, the basic gameplay makes you feel like you’ve traveled to the past, and it’s a decent sci-fi experience overall. The story may not be as interesting, and the content not as diverse, but some players may still find something to like here. And fans of the original should at least enjoy this trip down memory lane, even if it could have been better.