Outland

 
Developer: Housemarque
Released: Sep 2014
Hours Played: 4.4
Similar To: Dead Cells / Giana Sisters / Guacamelee / Ori and the Blind Forest /
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY

To be sure, Outland is hands down one of the most well-made Metroidvania style game I have played so far. Wrapped up in a beautifully exotic setting reminiscent of far-away lands you leap, wall-jump and slash your way to victory in one gorgeous environment after another. With clearly laid-out objectives and markers, Outland doesn't make the countless mistakes made by others that has players lost in an aimless ramble and not knowing what to do. You play in a purposeful and focused frame of mind and, with excellent sound-effects accompanying the realistic movement of your character plus a sizzling combat system that makes it a pleasure to destroy things, you go swiftly about your business. Set within five large areas, your aim is to forever get to the goal icon highlighted on your map. 

BALANCE & PACE

This mainly involves leaping onto ledges and platforms with plenty of melee-type combat involving slashing and slicing. Thankfully, new abilities are drip-fed unto you as you reach goals so learning the moves is no daunting task. Once you have had this new ability bestowed upon you, like being able to stomp on a layer of stones which remained impenetrable before, you'll tend to need it to unlock and explore new areas. Finally, Outland's huge draw is its "light and dark" mechanic which Ikaruga and rRootage fans will be familiar with. In short: turn blue or red to become immune to the blue or red bullets. Similarly, blue and red moving platforms along with blue and red monsters can only be activated or attacked if you're the right colour. Needless to say, it's done magnificently well and is a marvellous experience to negotiate through.      

PRESENTATION & DESIGN 

Outland glistens and sparkles like a precious diamond on a velvet cushion. Set in a world not unlike a cross between South America and South East Asia, with cultural references to both, the game radiates style and class. What helps the package shine though is the movement and control of your character who remains smooth and who always seems to maintain poise and elegance, like a professional acrobat or a ninja assassin, as he bounds along. A nod to Tron is also hinted at with the neon blue and red colouring as the player switches between the two. There are a lot of confusing menus though, so be prepared to spend a bit of time with these before familiarity sets in.
 

PROGRESS SYSTEM

Like a lot of Metroidvania style games, confusion will reign to start with but keep on trucking and things will gradually fall into place. Clicking beyond the local map of the area will take you the world map where you'll see five worlds: Jungle, Underworld, City, Sky and Eternity (plus the starting area in the middle). These have three or four symbols attached that turn green when a certain checkpoint is reached. Furthermore, when you've completed each world it becomes unlocked in the Arcade mode which means you could then speed-run it while collecting coins and then check your score on the online leaderboards. Finally, you could also try to find one of 42 of the hidden golden helmets. 
 

CONCLUSION

Call it the joy of exploration if you will but no Metroidvania game can be fun if you're totally lost. Unfortunately so many of them allow players to sink into that state. Outland is one of those that puts you on the straight and narrow so you always know you're doing something for a reason. The swift pace of the game proves to be very well balanced; it never seemed overly-challenging or brutally punishing. Then, you'll marvel at your dexterous moves and believe you're super-cool as you skim and slash about - when in fact it's just the game that makes you think this is so. You'll get some tricky bosses who are tough but rewarding to bring down... and being able to speed-run worlds while doubling as a score-attack game adds to that replayability value.