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 offers a unique blend of MMO and 4X strategy, allowing players to build and manage their empires over a long-term persistent universe.
- There is no pay-to-win element, ensuring a level playing field for all players, which is a refreshing change in the genre.
- The developers are responsive to community feedback and actively work on improving the game, adding new features and addressing player concerns.
- The game suffers from significant connectivity issues, with servers often down or unplayable, leading to frustration among players.
- Many players feel the game is abandoned or lacks sufficient development, with a sense that it has been left to stagnate without proper support from the developers.
- The gameplay can be extremely slow-paced, requiring long wait times for actions to complete, which may deter players looking for a more immediate gaming experience.
- gameplay44 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 68 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
Gameplay in this game is characterized by a mix of promising mechanics and frustrating design choices, such as ineffective building/upgrading systems and a cumbersome happiness mechanic that encourages min/maxing. Players find the slow-paced, strategic gameplay reminiscent of classic titles like Endless Space, but many express dissatisfaction with the lack of meaningful player interaction and the limitations imposed by colony caps and resource management. While the game shows potential and has a dedicated development team, it currently feels unfinished and overly reliant on tedious mechanics that detract from the overall experience.
“It's a good mix between mechanics of browser games I enjoyed and active play (this part gets bigger over time).”
“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 the risk of sudden death once you log back in to find your empire has been destroyed while you were offline.”
“The happiness and corruption mechanics are annoying and add nothing to the game, making it frustrating for players who want to enjoy the experience.”
“The basic mechanics are too slow and manual, leading to boredom after a few hundred hours, especially with a limited player base that diminishes the sense of a living universe.”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious due to the lack of automation, requiring extensive micromanagement of fleets and resources. The need to manually control and position numerous fleets, especially in the late game, contributes to a slow and frustrating gameplay experience that feels more like a chore than an engaging strategy.
“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, which requires a massive amount of tedious micromanagement to put together.”
“Handling fleets involves just as much tedious micromanagement as creating them.”
“Unfortunately, that is where the similarities end, and the game plays out like an incredibly slow and tedious RTS.”
- 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, it feels repetitive and empty due to limited customization and barren environments. Overall, while the developers' intentions are acknowledged, there is a strong call for improvements in storytelling and gameplay mechanics to create a more immersive experience.
“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.”
“Something the game lacks, and I hope the developers focus on it more, is quality of life. There are a lot of functions that could be improved, such as editing blueprints and being able to trade with other players. You can trade with them, but it's quite a mission to do so.”
- 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 could be enhanced to better match modern standards. The community engagement through contests for faction designs is seen as a positive way to alleviate some of the development focus on graphics.
“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
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % 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, 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 balanced gameplay, others highlight significant issues with bugs and slow pacing, particularly in ship movement and overall game progression.
“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
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % 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 it is already quite good.”
- music1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviewers 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.”
