Out There: Omega Preview – Can You Escape Deep Space?

You cannot and will not survive. Out There makes me feel like my attempts at reaching home are fruitless, and I might as well just give up and accept my fate. I haven’t been able to make it through a playthrough without dying, and I’m not entirely sure that I ever will. There are multiple ways to meet your demise, and none of them are pleasant. Despite all of this, however, Out There is an amazing game that came out of nowhere and drew me in.

Despite the level of difficulty, the plot of Out There is pretty basic. You’re a lone explorer trapped in a remote region of space. With limited resources at your disposal, you’re forced to make your way home while navigating issues that arise from your limited supplies. There are so many options that stem from this basic storyline, which is what makes Out There a great game. Every solar system that you encounter creates a unique challenge: from finding a new way to learn the language of the alien population to finding an unknown creature and deciding how to approach it, or even to losing almost all of your supplies from a surprise explosion as you enter the atmosphere, you’re forced to maximize your creativity while minimizing your resource use.

You quickly realize that it’s extremely difficult to keep your resources in order to explore the world around you and make it to your destination, however. You rely on oxygen to keep you alive, fuel to keep your ship going, and you have to maintain the integrity of the hull in order to enter different planets’ atmospheres. This is where the real hardship of Out There lies and the game shines. A planet may have tons of fuel for the taking, but their atmosphere is dangerous and easily rips through half of the strength of your hull. Likewise, a planet may be rich in minerals to help strengthen your hull, but you have to make sure you have enough oxygen to get there and back.

In addition to creating a unique challenge for the player, Out There is also a beautiful-looking game. It looks kind of like you are playing a comic book which, as a comic fan, I really appreciated. While some of the same type of worlds are visited over and over again, I never really felt like the graphics were getting stale. Along the same lines, the music, while repetitious at times, remained fresh and enjoyable throughout the game. While you won’t find yourself humming it the next day, the music fits into the overall hopelessness of being alone in the middle of nowhere while trying to find your way home.

Overall, I really like Out There. If I had one gripe, it would be that it feels as though it’s impossible to ever truly reach the end of this game. No matter how many chances I took or how safe I was, I never once made it back home. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, as it shows exactly how difficult it would be to navigate this situation, but it would’ve been nice to have even gotten close to reaching the final star. The variety of the gameplay, the graphical beauty, and the somber soundtrack all lead to a great gaming experience that I would recommend to anyone. Just be warned, space is a scary place!

Score: A-

You’ll be able to get Out There: Omega Edition on Steam and iOS. If you already have the non-Omega edition on iOS, it will be a free upgrade! In the meantime, check out the website.



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