Outward 2, the sequel to a survival action RPG we gave an 89% to, is in open beta now

We liked the original Outward, released in 2019, quite a lot—our own Christopher Livingston gave it a sterling 89% in his Outward review thanks to its emphasis on making difficult, interesting choices: "Most of all, it makes you approach each and every encounter as if your life depended on it—even though you never die." So we're equally pleased the sequel's almost here.

As revealed in the PC Gaming Show, Outward 2 will be dropping into open beta—well, immediately. While the full game's slated for a July 7 release (and will apparently run on potato settings while doing so), you'll be able to hop into the world of Aurai a little early if you'd like to help developer Nine Dots Studio clean up some bugs.

The central pitch of Outward is thus 2: While you can't die, there'll be no savescumming here. As the Steam page reads, "Constant auto-saving discourages reckless decisions and rewards careful planning. For those who crave even greater stakes, a Hardcore mode is available. In this mode, every defeat carries a 20% chance of ending your adventure permanently by deleting your save file."

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Oh. Correction, then—you can die a little on the hardest difficulty.

It's a compelling hook, and one that means every playthrough of Outward 2 will, as our Christopher discovered with the first game, feel completely different. Throughout the course of the game you'll be finding trainers, defeating bosses, and assembling your character from up to three classes, mix-and-match style.

It's not just an RPG, though—like the first game, Outward 2 will have a bunch of survival mechanics underpinning it. Hunger, thirst, crafting, and inventory management. So much inventory management:

"Your bag is essential to your journey through Aurai. Pack it with provisions, potions, weapons, and camping gear … you'll need to manage its weight carefully, as not everything you find will be worth the space." Luckily you can do the time-honoured adventuring tradition of dropping your backpack when you're jumped so you can still move.

Outward 2 looks like it's shaping up to be an expansion on everything that made the first game special—and you can get stuck into the open beta right now.

Check out everything revealed at the PC Gaming Show.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.