The New Player's Guide is a resource for new players to familiarize themselves with the basics of Outward, and find helpful tips.
About Outward
Outward is a fantasy-survival-RPG, which can be played solo or in co-op. The identifying features of this game are its survival elements (including many of its unique gameplay mechanics), and its focus on real consequences as a result of every decision made, as well as a ritualistic and complex approach to magic and combat.
- See Mechanics for an in-depth overview of the major mechanics and systems in Outward.
Official Tips
The following tips are the official tips from in-game Loading Screens.
- Pay close attention to the alerts displayed on the bottom left. They will warn you when you're hungry, your weapon is damaged, etc.
- The status menu shows details related to your equipment or what effects are currently affecting you.
- Many places are very dark, requiring lanterns or torches to light your way. Such objects burn out over time. Use the survival crafting menu to combine the oil item and a lantern to refill it.
- You can play along with people in your friend list! Try the multiplayer, either in split screen or online.
- You can lock on enemies. You will then be able to better target that enemy, especially with ranged weapons or skills.
- Hitting enemies, especially with heavier weapons, will knock them back and cancel their attacks. However, they can knock you down too.
- To save fuel, you can close and light lanterns or torches. Note that light sources make you more visible to enemies while they are lit.
- Look at the Maps, as exterior regions are huge. Important landmarks have icons, and hovering your cursor on them will show their names.
- Melee weapons can make normal attacks and special attacks. Which special attack will be made depends on the number of normal attacks you just performed.
- Specific tools are needed to gather some resources. Mineral ores require a Mining Pick and fishing spots need a Fishing Harpoon.
- Two-handed weapons deal more damage and have more reach than smaller weapons. However, you won't be able to wield a shield, a lantern or a special trinket in your off-hand.
- You start the game with a few skills, like the Kick. You also know several useful survival crafting recipes.
- You can de-craft most weapons and armors. Place only that item in Manual Recipe (of survival crafting) and accept, turning the item into basic resources like iron or palladium scraps.
- Traps are very useful. You must deploy a trap trigger (like a Tripwire Trap) on the ground, then place a compatible object in it (like spikes or weapons).
- Heavier armor offers greater protection from physical damage, but slows down your movement and makes every action consume more stamina.
- Each city has several merchants, either directly outside or inside buildings. They will sell food, equipment and crafting recipes, in addition to selling goods related to their city's specialties.
- The absolute basic gear for an explorer is a backpack containing a waterskin, food, bandages, antidotes, a tent, and firewood. Things like cooking pots and traps help greatly too.
- Ask innkeepers found in each city for information or directions. Guards can also provide advice.
Player-Submitted Tips
General
- When you have to spend night outside, seek butterflies, as these indicate a safe place to rest.
- Drinking Water provides a Stamina regeneration buff, which is also useful during combat and while traveling.
- Most Food provide a regeneration buff to one or more Attributes. Meals such as Meat Stew and Jerky can be used as a fairly cheap way to regenerate Health between battles.
- Use a bow as binoculars, even without arrows, it can zoom in with aim. This can be useful for scouting ahead and take detours to avoid strong Enemies.
- Investing in Tents is worthwhile, since it provides stamina buff after sleeping in it.
- One Waterskin of saltwater can be boiled for 5x Clean Water and 5x Salt.
- Valuable items such as Silver
can be stolen by Bandits and other enemies in Defeat Scenarios. When you finish shopping and preparing for an expedition, it is recommended to store any leftover silver/gold bars in a stash, if possible. - Contrary to what many people say, items dropped in town, including backpacks and tents, will reset in Definitive Edition. Do not use towns as your storage when playing Definitive Edition.
- Items dropped in towns usually do not disappear. Although, traveling between regions will reset everything on the surface of the region except the inside of Player's house and stash.
- Take off your backpack before sleeping! Food contained in a worn backpack spoil faster than food in a backpack on the ground.
Money-making
Early-game
A good strategy is to loot all ornate chests in Chersonese, here's how:
- Sleep for 7 days in Cierzo
- Go out through the storage at night
- Gather the blue sand spawns and loot Starfish Cave
- Head east and loot Vendavel Fortress, use your keys!
- Go further east and loot the Voltaic Hatchery.
- Go north and kill the Golems, use the Vigil Lock Key to open the Ornate Chest platform.
- Go norther to Ghost Pass, raid the dungeon and grab the ornate chest.
- Go further north from ghost pass and loot the Mansion's Cellar.
- Go into the Corrupted Tombs and loot the ornate chest.
- Go into the Montcalm Clan Fort and loot it using the Montcalm Key.
Great, now you should have a bunch of brutal weapons, and other trinkets, repeat if you need more.
Also, consider selling it all in Levant.
Combat
- Enemies will not stagger from your attacks unless their Stability is below 50%. Using Skills with High Impact like Push Kick and Mana Push are often critical to Melee combat if you wish to avoid damage.
- Instead of blocking and dodging during combat, try to learn to avoid damage by walking or running in short bursts, as both blocking and dodging use stamina, and while blocking you don't recover stamina either.
- During combat, depending on the swing direction of your opponent it is possible to completely avoid all damage by sidestepping and encircling your target the moment they attack.
- Note: This does not apply to magical blasts, but you can still dodge to avoid it in case you can't sidestep it.
- As a rule of thumb, move in opposite direction of their dominant hand.
- Use Traps to even the odds. Set up several in a doorway or on a bridge, any choke-point in terrain.
- It's worth using Bandages before combat as it will heal you over time.
- Use Bows or other ranged weapons to gain the aggression of a single enemy, without attracting other nearby enemies.
- You should drop your backpack during combat if it restricts your dodge.
- Items in your Backpack will not be accessible if you drop it! For this reason you should keep essentials like Life Potions in your Pouch instead.
- Enemies can fight each other as well. Use this to your advantage and let them work each other down, then finish off the survivors.
Inventory Management
- If you are playing original Outward, items in your Stash won't decay unless you are at your home. Use them to store perishable items you plan on using later.
- NOTE In Definitive Edition, items in your stash will decay as usual, whether you are at home or not.
- Be careful Crafting out in the field if weight is a concern! With some recipes (including many Cooking and Alchemy recipes) the result actually weighs *more* than the items used to make them.
- It's better to have your Backpack be too full than your Pouch, since you can drop your backpack and lose the encumbrance penalty when in combat.
- Keep in mind how common an item is before deciding to keep it. For example, in most places there is no reason to hold on to Wood or many of the items crafted from it because trees are easy to find and each one provides an infinite supply, while Turmmips and Salt are easy to find in Chersonese and only need to be carried in large quantities if you plan on traveling to another region.
- Silver can be heavy in large quantities, make sure to convert as much as you can to Gold Ingots when possible, which are always bought and sold at exactly 100 no matter where you are and weigh only one tenth as much.