Outscape
- October 21, 2019
- IDA Games
- 73h median play time
Get on SteamOutscape is a persistent, online strategy game set in a vast galaxy. Players build their empire by exploring, colonizing, and resource management, with the option to specialize in military might, diplomacy, or trade. Technological research and development allows players to upgrade and customize their fleets and buildings, with a variety of structures and structures to choose from.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a unique concept of a persistent MMO 4X strategy, allowing players to build and manage their empires over a long period.
- There is no pay-to-win element, ensuring a level playing field for all players.
- The developers are responsive to community feedback and actively work on improving the game based on player suggestions.
- The game suffers from severe server issues, making it unplayable for many users due to server shutdowns and lack of communication from developers.
- The gameplay is extremely slow-paced, requiring long wait times for actions to complete, which can lead to boredom.
- Many players feel the game has been abandoned by the developers, with no clear direction for future updates or improvements.
- gameplay46 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
Gameplay in this game is a mixed bag, with players noting both promising mechanics and significant flaws. While the blend of 4X and real-time strategy elements offers depth, many criticize the slow pace, cumbersome building mechanics, and the frustrating happiness and corruption systems that encourage min/maxing. Despite its pre-beta status and a dedicated development team, the overall experience feels unrefined, leading to a sense of tedium and a lack of engaging emergent gameplay.
“Overall, my impression is that the gameplay depth present in this game seems due to unintended side effects of design choices.”
“For an early access, pre-beta game, it is beautiful to look at, has a good balanced gameplay so far, and showcases a lot of promise; I am glad to support it.”
“It offers a pretty good gameplay experience that I'd recommend to others looking for something in the sci-fi strategy, empire expansion, and conquest realm.”
“The gameplay feels like 'watch grass grow' with probably sudden death once you log back in to see your empire being nuked while you were offline.”
“The happiness and corruption mechanics are annoying and add nothing to the game.”
“You will pick it up, throw a few hundred hours at it, and then get bored because the basic mechanics are too slow, too manual, and there is just not enough of a player base to get a real feel for the universe.”
- grinding7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, primarily due to the lack of automation and the need for extensive micromanagement when handling and creating fleets. This results in a slow-paced experience that can feel overwhelming, especially in the late game when managing hundreds of fleets becomes a chore. Additionally, the grind for resources and the time spent in tutorial mode can be frustrating, particularly when compared to the advantages offered to certain player factions.
“The problem is that you have to micromanage every single ship into a fleet, move them into the right position, and assign them the roles you want. This isn't an issue if you only do it a handful of times, but in the late game, you will have created hundreds of fleets, and several fleets per day, all requiring a massive amount of tedious micromanagement to put together.”
“Unfortunately, that is where the similarities end, and the game plays out like an incredibly slow and tedious RTS.”
“Very little automation means lots of micromanagement, which can be tedious.”
- story6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's story is criticized for its lack of depth and engagement, with players feeling that it misses opportunities for meaningful interactions, diplomacy, and emergent gameplay. Many believe that the narrative of struggle against a massive threat could have enhanced the experience, but instead, the game feels repetitive and empty due to limited customization and barren environments. Overall, while the potential for a compelling story exists, it is not fully realized, leaving players wanting more in terms of narrative and gameplay mechanics.
“Most players with half a brain would have thought this epic story of struggle and conflict, with players having to band together to stop a massive threat, is precisely what would give this game appeal by making it fun with naturally emergent gameplay and a real challenge/story to tell afterwards.”
“Reading the story from the dev, I feel like this game deserves more attention than it currently is.”
“The game lacks a viable story, diplomacy, trade, and real interaction. Instead of building buildings and hauling resources, it feels empty because the species cannot be customized. There are no galactic events, just more of the same: lots of barren planets and a few planets with a second population that do not add buffs to the empire.”
“There aren't any random missions to complete or anything.”
“Reading the story from the dev, I feel like this game deserves more attention than it currently gets.”
- graphics6 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics of the game are considered decent but in need of improvement, especially given its price point. While some players appreciate the 3D visuals and depth, others feel that the aesthetics do not meet modern standards and suggest community involvement in enhancing the game's visual appeal. Despite these critiques, many users still find the graphics enjoyable and commend the game's overall presentation.
“This is an excellent game with the deliberate pace of a browser game, but with 3D visuals and depth of a full-blown 4X game.”
“Highly recommend Outscape, absolutely amazing and fun game, great graphics and an awesome community.”
“For $30, I at least thought the game panel would look a lot better. Come on, we're in 2019; upgrade your graphics.”
“The performance and visuals need to be improved, but it is already quite good.”
“But gameplay is smooth and graphics are decent.”
- monetization3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- -33 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features a commendable monetization model with no microtransactions or in-game purchases, ensuring a level playing field for all players regardless of their financial investment. This approach has been positively received, especially for an early access title.
“Especially since there aren't microtransactions, the player with the biggest wallet doesn't matter here.”
“Especially since there aren't microtransactions, so the player with the biggest wallet doesn't matter here.”
“No microtransactions!”
“There are no in-game purchases, and for an early access game, it feels solid.”
- stability3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The game's stability is mixed; while some players report a generally bug-free experience and good balance during complex interactions, others find it slow-paced and incomplete, with significant bugs affecting gameplay.
“Conquering and diplomacy with hundreds of player empires in the same galaxy feels very satisfying, and I have to say the game so far is pretty bug-free and surprisingly well balanced.”
“The game is not only time demanding (takes an hour to move ships even to closest systems), it's still very incomplete and buggy.”
“Buggy and very slow-paced.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, while users acknowledge that the game's performance and visuals are already quite good, they believe there is still room for improvement in optimization.
“The performance and visuals need to be improved, but they are already quite good.”
“The performance and visuals need to be improved, but it is already quite good.”
- music1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users express a desire for improved music in the game, indicating that the current soundtrack does not meet their expectations.
“The only thing I am missing is better music.”
