Outcast: A New Beginning wants to be a caring open world shooter

THQ Nordic and Appeal Studios have semi-re-announced Outcast 2: A New Beginning as plain old Outcast: A New Beginning, having sensibly decided that positioning it as a sequel to a 24-year-old game might turn younger audiences away. In a pre-reveal showcase attended by RPS, producer Andreas Schmiedecker walked us through a few sections of this atypically green-fingered open world shooter.

In Outcast: ANB you play a growly-gruff ex-Navy SEAL, the sleekly named Cutter Slade, who roves a planet called Adelpha using a fancy jetpack. You're here to help the indigenous Talans - who definitely hail from the Ewoky end of the ethnic representation scale - fight off an army of robot invaders. The jetpack is the initial star attraction: it lets you boost, glide and dash through colourful landscapes inspired by 80s and 90s movies and comics. The associated animations seem a bit wooden to me: I often felt like I was watching somebody steer a man-shaped cursor, rather than a body in flight. But I certainly can't argue with the verticality and agility on display.

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