When you are suddenly thrust onto a foreign planet, what do you do? If you’re Cutter Slade, you become the planetary hero, living up to your role as the prophesied human saviour. Travel through a variety of exotic locales as you rally the local populace against other human invaders. It’s a story that’s been told several times before, but it isn’t this game’s strongest hook.

Fortunately, the combat shines thanks to its customisation options, letting you take care of enemies however you want. You gain new interaction options as villages grow and you gain new abilities, opening up the planet for exploration. However, the game doesn’t do much to separate itself from other open-world RPGs, additionally suffering from glitches. If you aren’t enamoured with the premise, you unfortunately won’t have more than just a decent time.

Outcast – A New Beginning starts with Cutter Slade arriving on Adelpha without much recollection of past events. After realising the planet is in danger and humans are the cause, Cutter works to protect Adelpha. He must rally the Talans together to fight back against the humans while also ensuring that the Talans continue to thrive even after the invaders leave. Along the way, he finds out what happened to his family and pieces together his forgotten memories.

If you never played the first game in this franchise, there’s enough exposition during the tutorial to bring you up to speed. There’s a handy glossary that frequently appears whenever alien language is used, letting you understand what the Talans are saying. Even if you routinely forget the vocabulary as different villages have different problems, the glossary never disappears. This means you can always learn the Talan’s true feelings, helping you understand the story.

Unfortunately, the story itself isn’t different from many other open-world RPGs. Outcast – A New Beginning doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from the typical narratives. Once the tutorial ends and you realise what Cutter’s objectives are, it’s essentially the single-person-saviour narrative in space. While it’s not a bad story, it’s also nothing new.

Cutter’s attitude towards the Talan culture doesn’t help. As funny as it is to see Cutter as a fish out of water, his attitude often veers into disrespectful territory. Since Cutter is idolised as Adelpha’s only hope, it is jarring to see Cutter impose Earth’s customs and languages. It can bring up uncomfortable images of discrimination, especially because some of the humour relies on the Talan knowing Earth references. This isn’t helped by Cutter not making much of an attempt to understand the parts of Talan culture that are dissimilar to Earth’s.

Helping the Talan villages with their issues or learning about Cutter’s past doesn’t introduce anything unique or memorable. You already know how the story ends before the first village lends their assistance. As fantastical as the setting is, the story structure fails to differentiate itself from other titles. Science-fiction lovers might look past the repetitive story and have fun. But veterans of open-world RPGs might notice that there isn’t much that stands out.

Fortunately, the combat is memorable and shines with the options made available. You only have a pistol, a rifle, and a shield, with the shield serving as your melee weapon and protection against bullets. But as you progress through the game and raid enemy bases, you gain new modules. These allow you to configure your firearms for greater utility or creating a new weapon.

It’s possible to turn your rifle into a machine gun or sniper rifle depending on your preferences. Bullets can track down enemies or spread out over an area. Even your shield can increase its melee options to become a powerful alternative. As enemies get stronger, you must innovate to keep up. This also prevents combat from getting repetitive or stale. If a battle is too boring or difficult, switch up your modules to try something new. Finding a new breakthrough is exciting and makes you feel like you are working to save Adelpha.

There are also rewards for helping the Talan villages and letting them stand on their own. One reward involves summoning a giant alien that lets you fly into the sky. Another lets you summon giant worms to create anti-gravity fields. These rewards let you experience Adelpha in a unique way, letting you see a side of open-world games that isn’t often touched upon. As repetitive as the game is, it truly stands out when it comes to combat innovation or reaping the benefits of your rewards.

It’s a shame that these innovations and experiences are often dragged down by bugs. Enemies fall through the ground and become nearly untouchable while firing at you. Your mini-map fails to pick up on enemies that are still present and are firing at you. An innovative way to travel crashes the game and forces you to restart. While not every bug is devastating to gameplay, they are frequent enough to be noticeable.

The game’s crashes can be especially discouraging because it makes you feel like some innovation is punished. For example, using a giant alien to access a mountainous village seems like a great idea. But when the game crashes while trying the idea, it makes you feel railroaded into taking the long road. If innovation leads to breakages, you become more likely to stop yourself from experiencing the game in full.

Outcast – A New Beginning is a fun open-world experience with innovative combat and interaction. But the trappings of the open-world formula are there and feel repetitive if you are a veteran. Bugs and glitches can bring down the experience, dimming the elements that make the game shine. While you’ll likely have a good time playing the game, it’s hard to ignore similarities to other titles. It all adds up, preventing the game from taking the leap from good to great.