First of all, let's point out to all those who tick on the rather clumsy subtitle "Second Contact", that the game is absolutely not the sequel to Outcast. On the contrary, it is a remaster extremely faithful to the original adventure. And that's good ! Far from the wobbly remakes that distort the founding work, Outcast: Second Contact pushes respect to run the code of the time in the background for everything related to artificial intelligence, dialogues or quests. For old players, this is the guarantee of an experience perfectly respectful of their memories, while newcomers will have the satisfaction of catching up with precision on their lack of video game culture. However, this remaster is far from being lazy since it improves all the points that were a problem until today each time we tried to redo a game on the 1999 version, on the GoG version of 2010 or even on version 1.1 released in 2014.
The combat system has been slightly improved in order to be a little less rigid than before. Thus, it is now possible to roll, sprint or crouch. The overall feel retains a bit of a vintage flavor, but even a player born after the original game was released will manage to feel comfortable.
To begin with, the game launches like a charm on modern machines, without any particular handling or abstruse configuration. We then realize that the ugly pre-calculated 3D intro cinematic (1999 requires…) has been replaced by a somewhat simplistic 2D sequence, but still more pleasing to the eye than the original. We wouldn't have spit on an updated 3D introduction, but it's a detail. Because for everything else, the developers have almost achieved a flawless result. Thus, we are entitled to a completely redesigned interface, which allows you to immerse yourself in the adventure without ever taking the lead. The combat system has been slightly improved in order to be a little less rigid than before. Thus, it is now possible to roll, sprint or crouch. The overall feel retains a bit of a vintage flavor, but even a player born after the original game was released will manage to feel comfortable. And that, we also owe it to completely reworked graphics.
OLD BEAUTIFUL
Remember, in 1999 Outcast used voxels, which you could roughly define as 3D pixels. This resulted in very particular graphics, but which brought most of the machines of the time to their knees. Second Contact runs on Unity, and therefore works perfectly on a standard graphics card. It's a pity that the game doesn't offer a before/after button so that we can immerse ourselves for a few moments in the charm of voxels, but the change to classic 3D remains beneficial. The game displays even more beautiful panoramas than at the time, while the sets and characters are sufficiently detailed not to distort in 2017. We are far from AAA, but the game can easily compete with a good current indie production. The pleasure of the eyes therefore answers the call, but it serves above all to facilitate immersion in an adventure which above all has many qualities on the merits. The saga of Cutter Slade, a former soldier sent to a very "Starwarsian" parallel world to save the Earth from a disastrous fate, was innovative on many points at the time, which allows him to be up to date again today.
Semi-open world, main and secondary quests, possibility of killing certain quest givers, fully and correctly dubbed dialogues (in English and French), symphonic soundtrack, animal mounts, hero reputation system or crafting system, the game has everything of a modern adventure.
Semi-open world, main and secondary quests, possibility of killing certain quest givers, fully and correctly dubbed dialogues (in English and French), symphonic soundtrack, animal mounts, hero reputation system or crafting system, the game has everything of a modern adventure. It even allows itself to offer features that are still far too rare these days, such as the possibility of asking passers-by where this or that important character is. Your interlocutor will then give you an approximate geographical indication such as "north-east of such a temple" or "not very far from here, to the south", which makes the exploration much more interesting than if it were only to follow a GPS. Not perfect, however, we can always blame the game for a scenario that is a bit cliché at times, the presence of a few bugs (especially the hero or the NPCs who get stuck in certain corners of the scenery), a combat system that could still be improved , rather rudimentary interior decorations, and a few other small blunders which nevertheless betray the 1999 vintage.
