Review of Out There, A beautiful and melancholy strategic space sim.

[BallGum]

**The review can be found, with pictures, on the DecryptedDrive blog:

http://theballofgum.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/out-there-android-review.html **

The troubles of long distance space travel are very much present in the 22nd century; namely that everything is so far away, you'd be dead by the time you got there.

Dammit, thwarted by the relentless laws of physics, even now. Moreover, Earth is depleted of its resources, and is unable to support Humanity. And there lies the problem.

Out There places you in the space suit of an unnamed human, who has awoken from cryo-sleep to find that his trip to Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons, has gone horribly wrong. He finds himself flung far into the deepest reaches of uncharted space, he finds himself Out There. However, he also stumbles on a new technology that allows him to jump between different star systems instantly. Armed with this, he must get home, and help usher in a new era of space travel.

Overview

Jumping into the game is quick, with beautifully animated menus and backgrounds, laid out in an easy to use manner. Loading times are virtually non existent.

Google's games services are integrated well, without being obnoxiously obtrusive. A large amount of Achievements are on offer to collect, and help prolong the life of an already long game.

The UI is robust, and works well on tablets, as well as smaller phones, with large buttons that are responsive and fluid.

Gameplay

Out There is a roguelike; when you die you get a score, and that's it. It revolves primarily around making a lot of tactical decisions, as well as micro managing your resources. You have limited inventory space, so you can only take what you need, and nothing more.

The four major elements you'll have to watch out for are Hydrogen or Helium, which are found in stars and gas planets, Iron, which is found on any rocky planet, and Oxygen, which is found on any life planet. These elements are used to replenish three major stats; fuel level, oxygen level, and hull health. Take care, as acquiring these elements often comes at the cost of another, for example, getting into orbit of a gas planet to find fuel reduces your hull health.

You can also find much rarer elements to craft machinery to help you on your journey, or trade with aliens. Again, there's a balancing act in play, and you don't want to carry around too much junk that you won't need. Luckily, you may stumble across an abandoned ship, and some of these have much larger inventories, or more exotic technology.

In addition to the micromanaging of the resources, events sometimes unfold randomly during travel, forcing you to make a quick decision based on nothing more than instinct. The sheer amount of these events, reportedly around 300, gives the game another layer of depth. Every play through is different.

The game concept is inherently a great fit on any mobile platform, offering the ability to pick it up and play at any time, for however long.

Where the game really begins to shine is in its atmosphere. Seemingly small additions, such as the journal entries made by the human, really help with building the atmosphere, as well as developing the world. He may quip about seemingly mundane things, life before becoming lost, or what he does to help himself cope with his predicament. Despite having no name, he has a distinct character; a human character, full of hope despite his dire circumstances. It's well written, and sometimes slightly chilling.

Your only hope, goal, in Out There is to find a way home, but the game is brutal. Space is brutal, deadly, unforgiving. It creates a lonely, melancholy atmosphere, which is made all the more poignant with the excellent soundtrack.

The only "negative" I can think of is that sometimes the game relies too much on chance. You die if you have a series of unavoidable unfortunate events. At first it seems like a cheap way to pad out the length of the game, but it actually adds to the experience an atmosphere as a whole. Space is dangerous, and sometimes there's nothing you can do about it.

Out There is, without question, beautiful. The artwork has a great, slightly grittier style, and the animations are smooth and fluid.

To conclude, then. Thus far I have completed the game once, found one of its three endings. It may not have as much closure as I had wanted, but all things considered, it was a powerful ending.

But what's more important, and perhaps more relevant, is the fact that I'm totally going to try and find out the other endings. It is simply just that good.

Sure, it can be argued that Out There is a bit too simplistic in what it offers in raw gameplay, but at the same time, adding anything else may detract from how great it is. From a purely price per hour perspective, it offers a lengthy amount of playtime for a fairly low price.

Khurram