Outcast 1.1

Outcast 1.1 for PC is an action-adventure game developed and published by a French studio Fresh3D. It is a refreshed version of a game bearing the same title, which was released in 1999 and enjoyed a warm reception from both the players and gaming media (for instance, it received an award for the best adventure game of 1999 on the prestigious GameSpot service). Despite the passage of time, the game still amazes with its non-linearity, storyline, well-designed enemy behaviour and convincing NPCs.

Plot

The game depicts fictional events and is set in 2007. American scientists send a probe to an unknown world, which is situated within a parallel universe. The probe reaches the planet Adelpha, inhabited by the civilization of Talan. The natives soon find the probe and damage it, which creates a black hole that becomes a threat to Earth. An ex-commando who was part of Navy SEALs – Cutter Slade, is sent to the alien planet in order to escort three scientists whose mission is to find the probe and close the interdimensional tear. Unfortunately however, the soldier gets separated from the scientists after the landing, and things get additionally complicated when the natives take Slade for a long-awaited saviour and their messiah – The Ulukai. The hope that Slade will liberate them from a tyrant by the name of Fae Rhan.

Mechanics

Outcast 1.1 for PC is a dynamic TPP adventure game, which emphasizes exploration of 3D locations mingled with fighting the protagonist's enemies and solving puzzles. The game has an open structure and apart from engaging in the main story, the player completes different side quests, but they can simply explore the unknown world as well. Adelpha is divided into six regions with different shapes of terrain, climate zones, and cultures of their inhabitants. The player traverses those lands and gains reputation among the natives, completing assignments for them. Only through this will they decide to stand up to Fae Rhan and help the protagonist to find the probe he is after.

Combat constitutes an important element of the game. The player fights in real time here and uses different weapons. At the beginning, Slade uses only his fists and a pistol, but over time, he will be able to find new weapon types or build them with help of a craftsman known as the Recreator.

Technical aspects

Outcast 1.1 for PC utilizes an engine based on voxels, which is the type of technology used mainly in production of the Comanche simulators, or a very much newer title – Landmark (MMO). Although Outcast did not support 3D accelerators, the game looked very spectacular at the time of its release because of that technology. This new version brings additional improvements, such as multi-threaded rendering, an interface adjusted to high screen resolution settings, or significantly more detailed views of the sky. The game inherited the soundtrack from its 1999's original edition – it had been created by Lennie Moore (he composed music for such games as Star Wars: The Old Republic or Dragonshard), in cooperation with Moscow Symphony Orchestra.

This 1.1 version also fixes numerous errors in the code of the game. The program is more stable now and a new launcher was created. Apart from that, the developer implemented native support for Xbox 360 controllers.

Last updated on October 4, 2017