Outward, the open-world RPG that forces you to live with your failures, is finally getting a sequel

Released in 2019, Outward is «a gem of an RPG,» we said in our 89% review. It's also an unusual one: It's impossible to die in the game, but there's also no fast-travel and it's impossible to save-scum your way past trouble thanks to its mandatory auto-save system. It forces players to live with their failures and the consequences, which can be frustrating but also fodder for truly epic tales. «I love this game,» Chris Livingston wrote about his time with Outward. «I also, sometimes, hate this game.»

He mostly loved it, though. He's the guy who scored it 89%, after all.

Anyway, it took five years but a sequel is finally on the way. Developer Nine Dots Studio announced today that Outward 2, following «in the footsteps of the original,» is now in development.

Like the first game, Outward 2 is an open-world RPG with support for two-player co-op. It promises a range of improvements over the original, including a larger, «more alive» world filled with non-combat encounters, and day/night cycles and seasonal weather that will have an impact on how NPCs behave. Character creation and progression are being overhauled, and combat is being refined to be more responsive and support dual-wielding, something «much requested» by fans.

And no, you will not be able to save your game or fast travel to get where you want to go. That's a central part of the whole Outward experience, and Nine Dots Studio is keeping it that way.

«Those design decisions and many others were very polarizing, and I believe that this is what made our success,» Nine Dots Studio CEO Guillaume Boucher-Vidal told PC Gamer. «We are not trying to please everyone, we are trying to please a specific type of gamer that would be left out if we tried to cater to a broader audience. We chose to focus on immersion before convenience, and if we stopped doing that, it wouldn’t be worthy of being called Outward.»

Nine Dots is making one new concession to convenience in Outward 2, though: «We’re adding mules, which will