Around the end of July, the developers of Symmetric Games brought us a new survival game called Outpost Zero. In this new multiplayer base building game, you will find yourself in a sci-fi setting with the ultimate goal of surviving the longest. But lately, there have been a lot of survival/base building games, so I took my backpack, started fighting some alien-like creatures and checked this game out to see if Symmetric Games has created something special or if the game is just one of many out there.
What do you do? In Outpost Zero it is your goal to build a base just like you want with different machines and survive the longest against alien creatures or other AI monsters. The ultimate goal is to colonize the planet.
- Crafting/building: Everything in Outpost Zero needs to be build and in order to build you need materials. Whereat first you’ll have to gather these materials yourself, in the end, you can just make machines that do it for you. This way you can keep exploring the land and start discovering new creatures etcetera. Another thing that I found particularly good about this aspect of the game is that you can almost build everything you’d wish for. Do you want a rifle? Make one. Oh, now you want a shotgun? Well, just create one.
- Weapon/shooting: Like I already have spoiled a bit in the previous point, a good thing about the game is its weapons. There are a lot of different ones, each of them needing their own different supplies to craft but in the end, it is all worth to have a gun you like. And let’s be honest, one of the most fun things to do is shoot some aliens in the face.
- Multiplayer: Another fantastic feature that Outpost Zero has to offer, is the multiplayer mode. Here you can play with your friends and build the HQ of your dreams, team up to snipe some enemies and just explore the land together. I wasn’t able to test if it runs properly but the fact that there is an option to play in multiplayer is a win for the game already.
- Graphics: Taking all the above points into consideration, it’s safe to say that the gameplay itself is very good. But yet there is one more thing that makes everything better. The graphics. The game is beautifully designed and the surroundings/creatures look amazing. The developers did the best they could creating this game.
- Battery: The battery drainage can sometimes be a bit frustrating. With some actions, it drains really fast and you have to time your actions perfectly to not get to 0%. On the one hand, this can be frustrating like I already mentioned. But, on the other hand, it gives the game an extra aspect to deal with while exploring your way through the world.
- Deaths: When you die, you respawn and you can just make your way back to your body to collect your loot and then to your base. This is, of course, a good thing when you are playing in multiplayer mode, but for the single-player mode, I would have loved to see that when you die, it is just game over and you have to start over again. A mode like that would be amazing ’cause you literally need to survive. Now you go like fuck this fight is too hard, I’ll just die and respawn.
- Loading screen: There is one thing that was really frustrating when I started playing the game: the loading screen. It took like forever to start the game, like a proper 2 minutes or something like that. And then I thought, well maybe it was the first time only, but every time when I restarted the game, I had to wait that long. This is really something that the developers should look into because starting the game with a bad feeling usually won’t end very well…
Score: 70%
Outpost Zero is a lovely survival game, where you will have to fight alien creatures and other beings. You can either play alone or with friends in order to build the base of your dreams. However, where the game can sometimes feel like just another survival game, it certainly is way better than others. The crafting/building aspect is really fun and one of the things that I enjoyed the most about the game!
Developer: Symmetric Games Publisher: tinyBuild
Tested on: PC
Steam game store link: Click here