Venturing back onto the planet of Adelpha as Cutter Slade sets out for another adventure in Outcast: A New Beginning, which hits gaming platforms on March 15, 2024. We had a chance to sit down and play a bit of A New Beginning during a beta that was split up into three parts; Explore, Combat, and Story. So, we’ll be talking about what we liked about this game so far, and what it could improve on by the time it releases next month.

The Good

What I really enjoyed most about the little demo/beta for A New Beginning was the fact that it’s pretty fun to fly around as Cutter Slade. He’s overall fluid to control and offers several different ways to get around, thanks to his jetpack booster thingy. You can also glide around a bit because of his wingsuit. I actually spent most of my time just soaring around and investigating the beautiful biomes that Adlepha had to offer.

The dialogue and characters are also really cool too. Whether it’s a friendly character you’re talking to, or an enemy trying to gun you down, everyone and everything looks visually appealing. Though you can tell that it isn’t quite a AAA title, A New Beginning is a gorgeous game that offers unique visuals to keep you interested.

These two things I loved about the game complement each other perfectly since the game wants you to explore its beautiful landscapes. Whether it’s what’s above or even below the surface. Venturing around the planet is great because I actually want to see what’s beyond my initial view of things.

The Bad

The only bad thing I experienced during my short time with A New Beginning was the constant frame drops I’d encounter. And it didn’t matter whether I was at Ultra or Low settings either. Hopefully, this is something that can get ironed out below launch, because it made it extremely difficult to play the game and enjoy it.

A small thing I’d like to see fixed or improved upon is the combat, which felt decent enough at most times, but could be better if the melee was more finely tuned. Slade feels a bit slow to whack someone when I prompt him to.

Additionally, I’d like to see some kind of mantling system added to Slade’s movements. He flies around quite nicely, but when you’re trying to boost him onto a ledge, if you slightly miss it he’ll fall right down. It would be cool to see him catch the ledge when this happens instead. Most games these days have features like this, so it would just make the gameplay feel all the more fluid.

The Conclusion

I’m extremely excited to see how Outcast: A New Beginning pans out by the time it releases on March 15. So far, it reminds me of a lot of games that you would’ve seen released on the Xbox 360 such as Crackdown, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, and Just Cause, which is a great thing. We need more games like those these days!

Check back for our full review on or around March 15!