Outbound review: a road-trip that’s more charming than challenging

Outbound is one of those games that's immediately likeable, and it’s not because it's easy to get into (it is), or simple to understand (again, it is), but it’s because the visual design is just… nice. So very nice. The game has that soft, stylised world that feels curated and designed rather than generated by an algorithm. You can feel the hand of the artist in where a red oak tree is placed, in what a winding road leads to, and even though I’m doing the same scavenge-craft-explore routine for the umpteenth time, I still want to see what’s up ahead, over the hill, beyond the pines.

It’s a hook that’s obvious from the get-go, as the game, quite plainly, just instructs you to ‘drive your vehicle around’, see what’s out there to find, collect and see. So, that’s it, really. I drive around, scavenge and collect wood, fibres, fruit, rocks… everything and anything. I pause to craft some handy items, new gear, new upgrades, research more, build out the camper, and then drive, more driving. And that’s the whole thing, that’s the pitch and the loop and the endgame all bundled into one, just keep driving, keep looking, keep moving forward.

This is a game that clearly sits in the ‘cosy’ corner of gaming. Outbound is a game light on structure dressed up as discovery, with campsites to find, points of interest to unlock that ask for just enough interaction to feel like progress – fixing a windmill, restarting a broken droid, mending a lighthouse’s lamp – but all low-stakes, no risk ‘missions’. It all feeds back into the core loop of gathering materials and turning those into upgrades, unlocking new tools so you can gather slightly different materials to unlock slightly different upgrades, and round it goes.

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Driven to distraction, or not

Inevitably, there are comparisons to Subnautica, as both games share the same idea of inching into the unknown, upgrading your gear, extending your reach, but where that game thrives on tension and risk, Outbound is happy for you to dawdle, take in the sights and enjoy the ride. There’s no real pressure or threat in these sandy beaches, forests and mountains. I rarely feel on the verge of running out of fuel, for instance, and early on, you unlock ways to generate near-limitless green energy, and that changes the feel completely, because progression isn’t driven by survival, it’s just… deciding to keep going.

On the upside, the lack of threat or tension is freeing. I can take my time, build what I want and turn my camper into a bizarre three-story monstrosity loaded with equally odd tech that would make Heath Robinson blush. But getting there, and this is where the game starts to lose a bit of grip, doesn’t really ask much of you beyond patience, there’s no real test of skill, no moment where you have to rethink or rework what you’re doing, you just keep feeding the loop, gathering, crafting, unlocking, and eventually you’ll have the parts you need because of course you will, it’s only a matter of time.

The game trundles on, with new maps opening up and more gear upgrades to craft, and a pup to adopt, but for every new item – a torch, a coffee machine, a loom – there feel like extensions to existing tools, an upgraded axe to chop up those new kinds of trees I've just found. And so there are too few surprises in what you're actually doing, with the only fallback being where you're doing it; a newly discovered beach cove, mountain waterfall or hidden farm found off track, over a hill.

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Just drive

And so I end up in this slightly strange place where Outbound is both relaxing – enjoyable in a switch your brain of way – and a bit empty, engaging in bursts but prone to long stretches where I realise I’m going through the motions, and yet I don’t quite stop, because the world keeps teasing me forward, those carefully framed views, the promise of something special just ahead, up the road, even if what’s waiting there is another small task, another handful of materials to collect, another gentle push onward (or often, round and round the same map).

That, and I've taken my camper van's customisation too far and can't bear the idea of leaving this beauty just parked up and unwanted. I just unlocked bamboo cabinets and a new line of dangling camping lights that will look just right on my new balcony. There's a gadget for researching gear for my dog, and my good boy really does deserve to be spoiled.

That’s the push and pull of it, a game that’s almost aggressively simple, sometimes to its detriment, but also oddly compelling because of that simplicity, a place to potter rather than conquer, and if you meet Outbound on those terms, if you’re happy to just exist in its colourful, curated forests and, yes, drive your vehicle around for the sake of it, there’s something here that sticks, even if it always feels quite shallow.