Jun 16, 2020
Nine Dots Studio
Outward: The Soroboreans DLC – Review (PC)
I never had a chance to play Outward when it first launched, but overall it got some decent reviews and built itself a great fanbase. So needless to say, I was fairly pumped to try Outward and see what this DLC adds to the game overall. Considering I don’t have as many hours invested in the core game as other fans may have, I do believe that ‘The Soroboreans’ DLC is going to delight fans with what it brings to the game.
Outward is a tough game, it really is. It’s not just a ‘run around hack ‘n slash’. It’s much deeper, you need strategy, skill, and some patience. I cannot tell you how many times I died just trying to get to the DLC haha, it was pretty rough but damn, it was worth it. There’s a ton of new content that I’m sure a ton of fans of Outward was looking for.
They’ve added ‘Corruption’ as if I needed another way to die…You can die from dehydration, starvation, freezing to death, so why not add corruption? There are a few ways to become corrupted, you could eat food that gives you corruption, or if you want to try one of the new skill trees, the ‘Hex Mage’, you’re going to be dealing with Corruption a ton!
Enchantments are also new! They aren’t as easy to create as in other games. First, you’ll need to set up the Enchanting Pedestal. Then you need to set up Enchanting Pillars facing the right direction and distance away from each other. Then fill them with incense. If that wasn’t enough, some enchantments will require other conditions, such as needing it to be night time or a certain type of weather. ‘The Soroboreans’ really makes you work for it, but damn if it isn’t worth it to keep your favorite weapon and give it that boost!
One of my favorite, and punishing, addition is the gauntlet weapons. Of course, I want to punch things. I love hand to hand combat in RPGs. I feel it really isn’t the most popular choice in worlds with magic, so I applaud them for adding gauntlets to the DLC. It is fairly difficult to get used to in combat compared to using a weapon with a bit more reach. Yet…killing something with your fists feels so DAMN good.
Now getting to the new Soroboreans location isn’t just a walk away. You’ll need to have 200 silver and a small stash of rations to make it there. You will also need to find a Caravanner to take you to The Soroboreans. They will be found at all major cities and wandering around randomly through-out some of the regions. You’ll need to speak to them and tell them “I’d like to travel.” and they will take your silver and you’ll end up in Harmattan.
The Antique Plateau is the new area, and players will enjoy gathering up all that new lore and get to explore as there is plenty above and below ground. It’s loaded with new locations and all kinds of beautiful terrain to die on. Haha, at least for me it was. Fans of Outward should really enjoy these new additions, as it has something for every player to enjoy, from exploring, to enchanting, to corrupted magic. I did run into some bugs along my journey around The Soroboreans. Some of these actually have gotten fixed with the latest update, so though it adds some great content, you may also run into some technical bugs. But please report bugs in games, I cannot stress this enough, allow the developers to fix it. <3
To check out more of Outward, check out the game page on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1194010/Outward__The_Soroboreans/ or hit up the latest at https://www.deepsilver.com/en/games/outward/.
Note: GameOctane received a digital code from the publisher for the purpose of reviewing this game. Any code or product intended for reviews is distributed to the team to review and stream for our audience.
Check us out at Opencritic!
+ New classes and Hex Mage is pretty fun
+ GAUNTLETS
+ Whole new area to explore
+ Enchanting added
+ $20 isn't bad for the content you're getting in this DLC
- Still fairly difficult (Could be my skill level)
- I hit some technical issues. (Some were fixed with the last update though)
Fans of Outward should really enjoy these new additions, as it has something for every player to enjoy, from exploring, to enchanting, to corrupted magic. I did run into some bugs along my journey around The Soroboreans. Some of these actually have gotten fixed with the latest update, so though it adds some great content, you may also run into some technical bugs.