Line #40 VideoGame/Outcast


1	[[quoteright:344:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/outcast_pc_image_1561.jpg]]
2	A surprisingly, amazingly good third-person adventure, ''Outcast'' was noteworthy for its time for a host of innovative and effective game developments, almost all of which sadly reduced its chances in the marketplace. It had the bad luck to use unusual rendering method widely called "voxels"[[note]]actually "a height field with some software raycasting"[[/note]] to generate a wide-open, go-anywhere play world... just when 3D accelerators based on rendering polygons got really popular.[[note]]Although, had they gone with polygon rendering on the [[MediaNotes/GraphicsProcessingUnit GPUs]] available at the time, no computer in the world at that point in time would be able to handle the game.[[/note]] It had a deep story, with good writing... just as Internet-based deathmatches with {{Excuse Plot}}s became popular. It had a full orchestral -- and we ''mean'' orchestral, as in "a big bunch of real musicians" -- score, in a time when techno or rock was almost required on any game's soundtrack.
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4	You, as Cutter Slade, are sucked into an alternate world, Adelpha, after a physics experiment GoneHorriblyWrong, along with several researchers: William Kauffman, the head of the project who believes in an infinite number of parallel universes; Anthony Xue, his partner who is responsible for the energy requirements, and Marion Wolfe, a former journalist and daughter of the senator who, after a botched paradrop exercise, essentially forced Cutter into retirement. Your character winds up in an alternate world, with a vaguely medieval society of aliens called the Talan going about their business, who immediately begin to revere him as their messiah, the [[TheChosenOne Ulukai]]. Oddly enough, though, they [[AliensSpeakingEnglish all speak English]] when talking to you. The merchants sell ammunition that fits your guns. And there's an in-universe reason for all of that...
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6	[[WhatCouldHaveBeen A sequel was planned]], but before development could really get off the ground, the company went bankrupt. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150622062356/http://outcastii.free.fr/www/eng/index_eng.php This website]] preserves what little remains from the original sequel's development materials, including a [[https://web.archive.org/web/20060522172859/http://outcastii.free.fr/www/main/focus/OC2_1st_Script.pdf design doc draft]]. A fan-made, open source sequel entitled ''[[http://www.openoutcast.org/wp/ Open Outcast]]'' is currently in development by a group of enthusiasts. And in April of 2014, several of the original devs started a Website/{{Kickstarter}} [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/outcast-reboot-hd/outcast-reboot-hd project]] to fund an HD remake of the first game, with eventual hopes to develop a sequel. While said Kickstarter didn't succeed, the developers created a remake, titled ''Outcast: Second Contact'', which was released on November 14, 2017. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYI32gSrA4 The trailer for the remake can be watch here]]. A sequel was ''finally'' announced in 2021, titled ''[[VideoGame/OutcastANewBeginning Outcast: A New Beginning]]'', released on March 15, 2024.
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8	Now sold on [[http://www.gog.com/game/outcast GOG]] and [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/336610 Steam,]] if you missed out the first time around. With the digital releases, the game was updated to run smoothly on modern-day computers with higher resolutions, an improved HUD and gamepad-friendly control options.
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10	!!This game provides examples of the following:
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12	* AbnormalAmmo:
13	** Certain Talan would make ammunition for your weapons.
14	** From what we are told, the weapons the soldier Talan fire at you are basically channeling their lifeforce.
15	* ActionGenreHeroGuy: Cutter Slade is a pretty straight-forward example being a brown haired, white dude of muscular build, as well as a semi-retired special forces operator, with a somewhat cynical worldview and a snarky sense of humor.
16	* ActorAllusion: Cutter Slade looks remarkably like Creator/BruceWillis. In the German dub he is even voiced by Manfred Lehmann, the most often-used German synchron voice for Bruce Willis.
17	* AgeLift: Major Vernon looks a lot older in ''Second Contact'', going from a middle aged man with black hair, to an old man with a white beard.
18	* AlienSky: Two moons, and two suns. There's also an occurrence where both moons can eclipse both suns at the same time.
19	* AliensSpeakingEnglish: They have their own language, and some words from it are used prominently throughout the game, but for the most part everyone you talk to speaks English. Justified by [[spoiler: Kauffman and Xue teaching them English when they arrived many years before]]
20	* AlternateUniverse: Attempting to find one is part of the game's story. The entire game takes place in one, called Adelpha.
21	* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
22	** Fail the sneaking test at the beginning of the game enough times, and the Talan overseeing it will offer to say you passed it anyway. Which is appreciated, as the AI's detection can be dodgy, and you've barely had time to familiarize yourself with the game mechanics.
23	** In the remake, the Talan language is automatically translated in the subtitles, which means you no longer have to learn and remember it. If you prefer to do so, however, there is also an option to turn off the translations.
24	** In the remake the minimap only shows Talan who are unique [=NPCs=] (plus the enemies). When expanded to full screen, the map even shows names and short descriptions of the highlighted Talan.
25	* ApocalypseHow: Damaging the probe sent to Adelpha causes a black hole to start forming on Earth, which will cause a Class X if the team doesn't fix it in time.
26	* ArtificialBrilliance: The game featured extremely advanced VideoGameAI for its day. The enemies would attempt to flank the player, hide themselves behind cover (though without ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' sticky cover), call for reinforcements and flee if they felt completely outgunned.
27	* AttackAttackAttack: Averted. The enemies would attempt to flee if they were losing the battle hard enough.
28	* BadassNormal / RetiredBadass: Cutter Slade is a former US Navy SEAL.
29	* BagOfHolding: Cutter's backpack holds an amazing amount of supplies; lampshaded in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjFmLiv5cFY one of the "outtakes"]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] (or [[HandWave handwaved]]) by it being a nanominaturisation backpack, complete with accompanying sound effects.
30	* BaldOfEvil: [[spoiler: Anthony Xue]].
31	* BegoneBribe: The only way to get the [[DreadfulMusician street musicians]] in Okriana to shut up.
32	* BigBad: Fae Rhan [[spoiler: who is actually Anthony Xue]].
33	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Cutter manages to repair the probe and liberate Adelpha from the tyranny of Fae Rhan. But Wolfe and Kaufmann are both dead at Xue's hands and it's possible the probe still caused some damage to Earth. Cutter returns to an uncertain Earth all alone.]]
34	* BorderPatrol: In the form of sinking into mud or sand in Shamazaar and Talanzaar, and predatory fish in Okasankaar.
35	* BoringButPractical: The HK-P12 pistol. Unlike all the other weapons, which have some kind of gimmick and are expensive for both upgrades and ammo, the pistol is straight forward to use and inexpensive. It'll be your mainstay weapon for most of the game.
36	* BranchAndBottleneckPlotStructure: Your primary objective in the game is to collect [[PlotCoupon five integrated circuits]] needed to repair the probe whose malfunction opened the wormhole that threatens to destroy the Earth. You do so by going to and completing a lengthy quest in each of five regions of the game world -- in other words, ''Outcast'' had implemented the (in)famous "Creator/BioWare [[StrictlyFormula formula]]" full four years before ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. Also, in a probably-not-coincidental bit of meta-humor[[note]]What with ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' being all the rage in the late '90s, when ''Outcast'' was being developed[[/note]], the native Talan call these circuits "{{Mon}}" -- and you GottaCatchThemAll.
37	* BrickJoke:
38	** From the intro:
39	--->'''Major Vernon:''' We sent a probe through the boundaries separating us from the other dimensions.\
40	'''Cutter:''' Really. Where'd you wind up, Belgium?
41	** Then much later, when Cutter is waiting for a town meeting to finish in Okasankaar, a watery region where fishing is the main industry.
42	--->'''Cutter:''' Humidity... two hundred percent. I was right, this is Belgium.
43	* CallARabbitASmeerp: Yod = God. Zort = Shit. Zorkins = Money. Shamaz = Priest. Daoka = Portal. That only scratches the surface of the terminology you'll be bombarded with from early on. There's even an ingame lexicon for everything.
44	* CharacterLevel: Inverted! Apart from upgrading (some of) Cutter's weapons, you cannot actually make him more powerful in any way. You can, however, make most common enemies (read: soldiers) in the game much weaker by subverting Fae Rhan's power structures across the world: convincing the farmers of Shamazaar and the fishermen of Okasankaar to stop feeding the soldiers reduces their HP bars to a half and then to a quarter; making the miners of Motazaar go on strike makes the soldiers' weapons do much less damage; and persuading the traders of Okriana to stop paying taxes removes a lot of the remaining soldiers from the game altogether.
45	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: At least in ''Second Contact'', non-generic Talan are highlighted on your radar/minimap according to their essence: Fae Talan (flame essence; soldiers, but also, confusingly, Dolotai Guardians and hunters) are highlighted red, Eluee (water; mainly merchants) are purplish blue, Gandha (earth; pretty much everyone else) are dark green, and Ka (air; the Shamaz) are light grey. Finally, twon-ha are bright green while various wildlife and [[BarbarianTribe Oogoobar]] are dark grey.
46	* ConvectionSchmonvection: Hopping over a river of lava is a-okay, as long as you don't touch it (and even if you do, your DeflectorShields will take the brunt of the damage). Subverted in a single lava cave in Okasankaar, where the computer warns you of hazardous atmospheric effects and you continuously lose health as long as you are inside.
47	* DancePartyEnding: If you get enough completion percentage.
48	* DeadpanSnarker: Cutter has lots of this. He repeatedly has to hold it back because the locals do not always fully grasp what he means and are just confused.
49	* DialogDuringGameplay: Enemy soldiers remain on patrol while you speak with other Talan. If they spot you, it's an emergency break into combat, requiring the conversation to be started from the beginning. This doesn't seem to cause item duplication, as traded items seem to get returned to the previous owner.
50	* TheDragon: Kroax, the leader of Fae Rhan's soldiers and a formidable fighter himself. You first run into him in Okasankaar, but he flees before he is defeated, so you can kill him later on during the FinalBattle.
51	* EasterEgg: ''Second Contact'' adds two small out of the way areas. One contains a statue of what appears to be a female Talan. The other seems to show what the Ulukai symbol actually means: [[spoiler: It is a stylized representation of two bodies exerting radial fields around them, with a path in between for ''something'' to pass through.]]
52	* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Xue, again, when he kills William Kauffman and becomes Fae Rhan.]]
53	* FanSequel: ''open Outcast'', a total conversion for the [[VideoGame/CRysis CryTech3]] engine.
54	* GaiasVengeance: Since Fae Rhan took over, ecological disasters have followed. The game never makes it clear [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane whether it actually is the Yods (essentially Talan gods) expressing their displeasure, or a natural consequence of the exploitative industrial and agricultural practices instated]].
55	* GirlyRun: Marion does not walk or run. She flounces, and then flounces faster. Cutter has a strange gait too.
56	* HandCannon: Every gun that Cutter has is an over-sized pistol and he uses all the guns with a single hand. Almost all of them pack tremendous power, your main gun in the game is a massive machine pistol that shoots tracer bullets and your guns just go up from there.
57	* HideYourChildren: The island of Kizaar is not accessible to the player. On that island, the females and youth live there -- the only time Talan males are allowed is if they are a Shamaz, or during mating season every few hundred moons.
58	* HilariousOuttakes: ''Outcast Outtakes'', which showed the game as an in-development film. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SnqAihKAyA&feature=related look here]]
59	* HumanoidAliens: The Talan are humanoid in appearance, albeit with inhumanly elongated skulls and only two fingers per limb.
60	* IncessantMusicMadness: Some of the musicians play their songs off-key. Slade can pay them to stop playing.
61	* InterchangeableAntimatterKeys: You can talk to the locksmith responsible. He tells you he can't stop the tyrant's soldiers from having keys that unlock every door, but he can equip them with the flimsiest crap he can.
62	* InterfaceScrew: In the Steam version, the game tracks statistics for progress towards achievements, with achievement progress notifications appearing each time the stat is updated (even during combat). The achievement notifications appear in the top-right corner, which overlaps the HealthMeter, making it harder to tell at a quick glance on whether or not you should flee.
63	* {{Jerkass}}: Professor Anthony Xue. In the opening movie he's rude and egotistical to Kauffman and Cutter, and one of the news reports that can be heard at the beginning mentions that he was barely found "not guilty" for the deaths of a dozen lab assistants when his experimental fusion reactor at M.I.T. blew up due to rushed construction. [[spoiler: It's not a huge surprise he ends up becoming a tyrant in the alternate world.]]
64	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Cutter can be this, mostly in early cutscenes with Wolfe.
65	* JustifiedSavePoint: The Gaamsaav crystal "saves your essence" according to an in-game explanation. It also needs some time to charge (effectively preventing its use during combat) and is bright and loud enough to attract patrolling soldiers (effectively preventing its use during stealth sections). On top of that, being hit while saving cancels it, as that "disrupts the energies".
66	* KarmaMeter: Help the Talan and your reputation will improve. Hurt and kill the Talan and it worsens. If it bottoms out, Talan will be openly unhelpful and prevent you from learning enough to make any progress. The better it is, the cheaper you can buy your equipment back (see NoHeroDiscount) and the more you'll be able to sell certain items for.
67	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: You can ask one specific beggar in Okriana about the story of how he fell on hard times, and he will say it is a long story and ask if you are sure you want to hear it. If you press a button to skip his speech after this point he will note you are bored by his story and stop telling it. You can ask him again, and if you do listen through it all in real time, he will reward you just for giving your attention and patience.
68	* LiteralMinded: Talan tend to be confused whenever Cutter uses a figure of speech, which is due to them lacking knowledge of all the intricacies of the [[AliensSpeakingEnglish English language]]. Same goes for his [[DeadPanSnarker numerous]] instances of [[SarcasmBlind sarcasm]].
69	* NeverMyFault: Anthony Xue explodes at the mere implication that he might possibly be even partially responsible for the probe's failure. [[spoiler: Upon arriving at the alternate world, he comes to believe that the expedition team missed the probe by 5000 years and writes off Earth, killing Kauffman and dedicating himself to taking over the alternate world instead. When Cutter confronts him with the revelation that the probe is actually coming in a couple days and that Xue is the one responsible for damaging it in the first place, Xue completely loses it.]]
70	* NoHeroDiscount: [[AvertedTrope Averted,]] though you do have to work for it. The Talan believe you're a Messiah, prophecised to save them from tyranny. This doesn't stop a group of identical merchants, all brothers, from selling your own equipment to you in an attempt to prove to their father that they can make enough money to inherit the family business. However, the items are considered holy relics with protective powers and the safer you make the Talan feel, the less demand there is for them and the prices will be lower.
71	* NonStandardGameOver: If you kill a plot-critical talan, it's essence will not dissipate into the atmosphere normally. Instead it'll chase you forever. Once it catches you, you die.
72	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The Talan only ever refer to Cutter as "Ulukai", [[spoiler: Kauffman as "Kazar", and Xue as "Fae Rhan".]]
73	* PainfullySlowProjectile: All of Cutter's weapons fire slow moving things, though some are slower than others. The FT-74 in particular is so slow, you can kill yourself by running forward into your own fire.
74	* PetTheDog: Cutter is impatient with those who want him to jump through hoops instead of helping him get on with saving the world, i.e. everyone. But when he meets a Talan who's shaken to the core after just losing a friend to a predator attack, Cutter, being an ex-soldier, is the picture of sympathy and even volunteers to take care of the Talan's NPC business.
75	* {{Precursors}}: The Ancients, a mythical race which some Talan believe are responsible for the creation of the Daoka and other ancient ruins. According to the myth they were ultimately destroyed by the Yods for over-exploiting the planet. It's never revealed how much of the myth is true, but the Daoka are clearly the product of a technology far beyond the Talan or modern humans.
76	* RealAfterAll: [[spoiler: Beyond the magic-like powers some Talan have the game's various references to the Yods seem to just be standard religious explanations for regular occurrences, however, the way Fae Rhan's castle is destroyed at the very end suggests they really are real.]]
77	* SceneryPorn: For a world rendered near-entirely with voxels, it's really pretty.
78	* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: On the box art, Cutter Slade is about to shoot you.
79	* ShoutOut: One musician in the city Okriana will sometimes randomly play the first few notes from a ''Franchise/StarWars'' song.
80	* SortingAlgorithmOfThreateningGeography: The game world plays this trope mostly straight, with two notable exceptions: you start the game in the SlippySlideyIceWorld of Ranzaar[[note]]which contains little more than a TutorialLevel[[/note]] and the last region you normally gain access to (after five [[PortalNetwork daoka]] hops) are TheLostWoods of Okaar[[note]]which is technically the ''first'' level the PlayerCharacter arrives to, but he loses consciousness during dimensional transfer and is smuggled by his allies all the way to the safety of Ranzaar[[/note]]. From Ranzaar, you can only go to the rather literal GreenHillZone of Shamazaar[[note]]even though its climate is more humid and subtropical than temperate[[/note]], which leads to the ShiftingSandLand of Talanzaar[[note]]you don't traverse the desert much, however, mostly confined to one massive city of Okriana[[/note]], from where you have access to the LethalLavaLand of Motazaar and the BubblegloopSwamp of Okasankaar[[note]]technically, you can find daokas to both of these back in Shamazaar, but they are [[BeefGate heavily guarded]] ''and'' lead straight into large enemy camps, so you are discouraged from using them early on[[/note]]. Finally, Okaar is accessible only through a remote daoka in Okasankaar and is easily the most hazardous region of the game (except maybe the BigBad's palace in Talanzaar).
81	* StableTimeLoop: [[spoiler:Kauffman and Xue end up in Adelpha a few decades before the probe, Cutter or Marion do. In the decades between, Kauffman becomes the prophet Kazar and predicts the arrival of Cutter, the Ulukai; Xue becomes [[BigBad Fae Rahn]], has Kazar [[strike:killed]] "reverted", and because of how he's encouraged his soldiers to be ultra-violent one of them ends up shooting the probe when it finally arrives, causing the whole mess.]]
82	* StandardFPSGuns: You only get the pistol for free - all the rest you have to find or buy, and then upgrade to make them truly battle-ready.
83	** HK-P12: Pistol.
84	** UZA-[=SH1=]: Automatic. Bullets ricochet when the gun is upgraded.
85	** LN-Duo 500: GrenadeLauncher.
86	** FT-74: Flamethrower.
87	** SLNT-B: Marksman gun, inflicts poison.
88	** HAWK-[=MK8=]: Energy Gun. Can be a real GameBreaker when fully upgraded because it fires one-hit kill blasts about as quickly as you can click.
89	* StatuesqueStunner: In ''Second Contact'' Marion is just as tall, if not slightly taller than Cutter. In the original version she was clearly a few inches shorter.
90	* TakeThatAudience: If the player reaches the HundredPercentCompletion, Slade calls their out for expecting some cool things and for being a lazy person who cannot achieve anything in their life as they should turn off the game and go outside, for example.
91	->'''Cutter Slade''': "Psst! Hey, You. Yeah, the one with food stains on your shirt. You can turn the game off now, you beat it. Yeah, you did every single thing you could do in the game. You're the hero, you're the shit, you're the man. Bla Bla Bla. What did you expect, something extraordinary? 1000 girls in tight clothes coming out, dancing the can-can for you? Well, forget it. My guess is you either cheated somewhere along the line or you bought some guide to play this. No one could be as good as you think you are, so forget it. You're not getting a single thing. Nope. You can forget it. Now just shut this off and do something constructive with your computer, for Christ's sake. Write a novel, catch up on those Christmas cards you keep putting off, or just shut it off and take a walk. Do your heart some good for once, you chip-scarfing couch plant. Ahhhh, forget it. You never listen to adults, why start now, uh? Fine. Watch the screen. Hope for something incredible. Me, I'm heading home."
92	* TheLifestream: Essentially how essences worked.
93	* TakeYourTime: While the premise is that an interdimensional vortex will destroy the earth in a matter of weeks, you are under no time limit in the game. [[spoiler: This ends up being justified.]]
94	* TitleDrop: In the remote region of Okaar you can find at the bottom of a lake what appears to be a human-made pod with the words "Project Outcast" on its side.
95	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: It was released in 1999 and set in 2007. In addition to the artificial wormhole, Cutter's equipment includes several significant technological advances, including some kind of miniaturization technology to justify his HyperspaceArsenal, and some kind of very powerful man-portable energy beam weapon.
96	* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Justified, as the weapons of hostile Talan function by channeling their essence into a weaponized form, which Slade lacks.
97	* WarpWhistle: The Daokas, which allow teleportation between the different regions of Adelpha. There are also F-Links, beacons that allow you to teleport within one region.
98	* WhatTheHellPlayer: Killing Talan, if it didn't cause a NonStandardGameOver, would make others verbally abuse you and refrain from giving you any help. This made it impossible to progress in the game or improve your reputation.

Context VideoGame / Outcast