History VideoGame / Outcast

* 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 then ends up sending one of his soldiers to damage the probe when it finally arrives.]]

* ArtificialBrilliance: The game featured extremely advanced AI 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.

* 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.

* BigBad: Fae Rhan [[spoiler:, actually Anthony Xue]]

* PlotCoupon: Your primary objective in the game is to collect 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 90's, when ''Outcast'' was being developed[[/note]], the native Talan call these circuits "{{Mon}}" -- and you GottaCatchThemAll.

[[WhatCouldHaveBeen A sequel was planned]], but before development could really get off the ground, [[AuthorExistenceFailure 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 are still working on finishing the remake, titled ''Outcast: Second Contact'', hoping to release during the latter half of 2017. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYI32gSrA4 The trailer for the remake can be watch here]].

* PlotCoupon: Your primary objective in the game is to collect five integrated circuits needed to repair the probe who malfunction opened the wormhole that threatens to destroy the Earth. In a probably-not-coincidental bit of meta-humor[[note]]What with ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' being all the rage in the late 90's when ''Outcast'' was being developed[[/note]], the Talan call these circuits "{{Mons}}" -- and you GottaCatchThemAll. In other words, ''Outcast'' has implemented the (in)famous "Creator/BioWare [[StrictlyFormula formula]]" full four years before ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''.

* 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 game world: convincing the farmers of Shamazaar and the fishermen of Okasankaar to stop feeding the soldiers halves the latter's HP bars each, making the miners of Motazaar go on strike makes the soldiers' weapons hit much weaker, and persuading the traders of Okriana to stop paying taxes removes a lot of remaining soldiers from the game world altogether.

* 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 BubblegoopSwamp 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).

* 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 watery JungleJapes 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).

* 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 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[[/note]], from where you have access to the LethalLavaLand of Motazaar and the watery JungleJapes 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).

* ConvectionSchmonvection

* TheDragon: Kroax.
* DummiedOut: In the game there exist a level three upgrade for flamethrower and level one upgrade for the tranquilizer rifle, which you can only obtain through cheating. All upgrades to the flamethrower decrease the wind-up time of the weapon, and at level three the flame comes out the instant you press the fire button. The single upgrade to the rifle in turn makes the dart fly faster, greatly decreasing the need to anticipate the movements of your target.

* HumanoidAliens

* JustifiedSavePoint: The Gaamsaav crystal.

* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: In the box art Cutter Slade is about to shoot you.

* 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.
** Explained by [[spoiler: Kauffman and Xue teaching them English when they arrived many years before]]

* BrickJoke: From the intro:
-->'''Major Vernon:''' We sent a probe through the boundaries separating us from the other dimensions.\\

* 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

* [[spoiler: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 then ends up sending one of his soldiers to damage the probe when it finally arrives.]]

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"[[labelnote:*]]actually "a height field with some software raycasting"[[/labelnote]] to generate a wide-open, go-anywhere play world... just when 3D accelerators based on rendering polygons got really popular. (In their defense, had they gone with polygon rendering on the [[UsefulNotes/GraphicsProcessingUnit GPUs]] available at the time, no computer in the world at that point in time would be able to handle the game.) 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.

[[WhatCouldHaveBeen A sequel was planned]], but before development could really get off the ground, [[AuthorExistenceFailure the company went bankrupt]]. [[http://outcastii.free.fr/www/eng/index_eng.php This website]] preserves what little remains from the original sequel's development materials, including a [[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 are still working on finishing the remake, titled ''Outcast: Second Contact'', hoping to release during the latter half of 2017. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYI32gSrA4 The trailer for the remake can be watch here]].

* 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 and the safer you make the Talan feel, the less demand there is for them and the prices will be lower.

* NoHeroDiscount: 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 and the safer you make the Talan feel, the less demand there is for them and the prices will be lower.

* ActorAllusion: Cutter Slade looks remarkably like Bruce Willis. In the german Dub he is even voiced by Manfred Lehmann - the most often used german synchron Voice for Bruce Willis.

-->'''Major Vernon:''' We sent a probe through the boundaries separating us from the other dimensions.
-->'''Cutter:''' Really. Where'd you wind up, Belgium?

[[WhatCouldHaveBeen A sequel was planned]], but before development could really get off the ground, [[AuthorExistenceFailure the company went bankrupt]]. [[http://outcastii.free.fr/www/eng/index_eng.php This website]] preserves what little remains from the original sequel's development materials, including a [[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, but it didn't succeed. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYI32gSrA4 The trailer for the remake can be watch here]].

[[WhatCouldHaveBeen A sequel was planned]], but before development could really get off the ground, [[AuthorExistenceFailure the company went bankrupt]]. [[http://outcastii.free.fr/www/eng/index_eng.php This website]] preserves what little remains from the original sequel's development materials, including a [[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. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYI32gSrA4 The trailer for the remake can be watch here]].