Iāve spent a couple of hours (2.2, to be precise) with the āOutposts Unknownā demo since it was released on Steam, and I thought Iād share my thoughts on what Iāve played so far.
First off, Iām a longtime fan of citybuilders, and so I came into this with high hopes. From what Iāve played so far, my hopes areā¦not as high as they were, but I think thereās still promise.
Itās also worth noting that despite being marketed as a demo, it feels more like an open beta, with the game begging you to leave them feedback every time you play. I hope that this means thereās room for improvement before the game launches.
I was a little surprised that you donāt quite get the āSimCityā experience of simply plopping down the buildings you want to build - instead, you get an initial away team on the surface of a planet, and you dispatch them to gather resources, conduct research, and stuff like that. Once youāve gathered enough resources, you can build your various buildings and structures.
It playsā¦fine, though itās a little unintuitive. I had to work out on my own how to gather minerals effectively (and to be honest, Iām not sure Iāve fully worked it out). The game offers objectives to build certain structures, but the guidance on how to do it is minimal, and Iām actually currently stuck on one of them, because Iām not sure how to accomplish it. A more robust tutorial, or at least some ToolTips, would be welcome.
The game looks and soundsā¦also fine. The buildings at least resemble the SNW aesthetic, though I think they could do better on that front. Everything looks a little too polished, in my opinion. The graphics seem good, but not great - it almost looks like it could run on an iPad or something. The music sounds appropriately Trekkie, but is also pretty forgettable (so, 90s Trekkie).
The small amount of story that Iāve covered is bare-bones, but I really havenāt progressed very far. Iām in a system with a weird anomaly in it, the planet is radioactive, stuff like that. Iām not sure how deep itās going to go, since this type of game isnāt exactly known for storytelling.
Overall, it hasnāt grabbed my attention in the way Iād hope it would, but I remain hopeful for its development. Iād like to hear your thoughts, if youāve given it a go.
The steam discussions are as spirited and divisive as I expected lol.
Too many problems that show itās wearing a skin suit like a serial killer pretending to be your neighbor to be invited inside the house. Itās simply not Trek.
- Resource bottlenecks - Not a thing in Trek.
- Crew Morale / Hunger - Not a thing.
- Logistics and transport - Not a thing.
- The ādropā system is borderline P2W mechanics manifest.
I strongly disagree with the first three points (not yours, I know) - especially in the TOS era - but I do agree it doesnāt quite feel the way I want it to.
