Info about Outlanders:

Official game description:
Welcome to the Outlands! A faraway place where work is hard but rewarding, where people dream big but stay grounded, where friends become family, and settlements become cities.
It’s up to you to use the extensive catalog of tools and buildings at your disposal to guide them towards their goals.
Outlanders are individuals. Simple folk with hopes, dreams, and desires. 
You cannot control them directly. Instead, you place buildings, manage resources and declare the number of work spots in each building, then watch the Outlanders themselves decide who takes which job, which house they inhabit, and which building to build.
You can nudge them in the right direction by prioritizing certain tasks, or by passing Decrees™, which bend the rules of the game to allow things like longer work hours and tighter resource consumption. But beware… these often come at the expense of your follower’s happiness, so use them wisely.
Unlike other games of its style, Outlanders’ campaign offers a string of increasingly complex mission-based levels, each with its own specific goals and story, where new buildings and mechanics are unlocked organically throughout.
You will follow the story of a cast of lovable, eccentric, and (mostly) well-intentioned town leaders, as they pursue their dreams and whims, while their paths slowly start to intertwine in surprising, often humorous, sometimes heart-warming ways.
When challenges get too hard and the Outlanders start getting too picky, you can take a detour to the Sandbox mode, where creativity is the new leader in town.
You can play with the full catalog of buildings and mechanics right off the bat and customize the maps and rules as you please.
Create themed towns, make up your own goals, or challenge yourself. You can create the experience of your choice, the only limit here is your imagination.
There are no wars in the Outlands. No raids, no combat, no armed conflict of any kind. All the Outlanders coexist in harmony. It’s the choices you make that will lead you to either victory or failure.
The many biomes and landscapes of the Outlands are rendered in a crisp and vibrant graphical style, dense with atmosphere and details that linger with you long after you put the game down.
It all comes to life through rich sound design, full of authentic soundscapes unique to each biome, and underscored by an uplifting music soundtrack that brings the magic out of everyday labor in the Outlands.
People have been visiting the Outlands for a while now, and have come together on Discord to form a very friendly and helpful community.
Join our server and find helpful guides and tips, share your theories on the world of Outlanders and its many mysteries, participate in community challenges, or share a nice chat with friendly people.
The journey of Outlanders is only just beginning. As new leaders keep coming from far away to share their stories, and new ways of playing and sharing your experiences appear on the horizon, the ever-shifting landscape of possibilities gets more and more exciting.
Everybody’s coming to the Outlands!
Will you join them?

Release date: 7 Mar, 2023

Categories: City Builder, Management Simulation, Resource Management, Single-player Story, Sandbox Creation, Mission-based Gameplay, Puzzle Solving, Citizen Management


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Highly Enjoyable & Addictive Gameplay (weight 1): Players overwhelmingly find the game to be highly enjoyable, fun, and addictive, often losing track of time while playing. Many consider it one of the best management or city-builder games they've played, offering great value for its price.
- Balanced & Progressive Challenge (weight 0.52): The game offers a well-balanced challenge through its varied missions and campaign levels, which progressively increase in difficulty. It provides clear objectives and a smooth learning curve, making it engaging without being overwhelming.
- Relaxing & Cozy Atmosphere (weight 0.44): Many players highlight the game's relaxing and cozy atmosphere, making it ideal for unwinding. The low-pressure gameplay, calming music, and simple mechanics contribute to a peaceful and therapeutic experience.
- Charming Art Style & Visuals (weight 0.38): The game's unique, charming, and cute art style, coupled with adorable character designs and exquisite animations, is a significant draw. Players also appreciate the interesting stories and varied visual themes across levels.
- Excellent PC Port & Steam Deck Support (weight 0.15): Players are very pleased with the game's availability on Steam, noting that the PC version offers an improved experience with easier controls, a cleaner UI, and more levels compared to its mobile counterpart. It also performs well on Steam Deck.
- Calming Music & Sound Design (weight 0.13): The game's soundtrack and sound effects are consistently praised for being calm, relaxing, and blending well with the overall atmosphere, enhancing the player's experience.
- High-Quality & Content-Rich DLCs (weight 0.1): The available DLCs are highly regarded for adding substantial content, maintaining the base game's quality, and offering increased challenge and refined elements.
- Intuitive & Clean UI (weight 0.09): The user interface is described as clean, intuitive, and easy to understand, allowing players to navigate commands and view resources efficiently.
- Simple & Engaging Town Building (weight 0.08): The game offers a simple yet engaging town-building experience focused on managing villagers' needs and optimizing resource flow, appealing to those who enjoy micromanagement.
- Preferred Over Outlanders 2 (weight 0.05): Players who have experienced both versions generally prefer this game over Outlanders 2, citing better gameplay and overall enjoyment.
- Active Developer Support (weight 0.03): The game benefits from active developer support, including patches and continuous content updates, fostering a positive community presence.

Common complaints:
- Slow pacing and excessive waiting (weight 0.42): Many players find the game's pacing too slow, requiring excessive waiting for tasks to complete or conditions to be met. The existing fast-forward options are often insufficient, leading to boredom and frustration, especially during the day/night cycle.
- Unforgiving restarts and time limits (weight 0.24): The game's unforgiving nature, particularly with time limits and the lack of mid-mission saves, means that a single mistake can force players to restart long missions, leading to significant frustration and wasted time.
- Repetitive and unchallenging missions (weight 0.19): Players report that many missions are too easy, repetitive, and lack variety, often introducing only one new mechanic at a time. The linear progression system, where missions unlock sequentially, can also be frustrating if players get stuck or dislike a particular level.
- Expensive and unfulfilling DLCs (weight 0.14): Players feel that the DLCs are too expensive for the content they provide, with some achievements linked to paid content. There's also a perception that later DLCs lack novelty and can introduce new issues, such as bugs or increased difficulty.
- Boring and shallow gameplay (weight 0.14): The game's core gameplay loop is often perceived as boring and lacking depth, especially in sandbox mode. Players find there's little to do in early stages and that the game doesn't offer enough creative freedom or engaging mechanics to sustain interest.
- Food production imbalance (weight 0.13): There are significant balance issues with food production, particularly with bread being uneconomical compared to other food sources. Players also report insufficient food at the start of levels and inefficient storage mechanics for crafted food.
- Problematic population management (weight 0.13): The population mechanics are often illogical and difficult to manage, with issues like uncontrolled growth, lack of automatic housing assignment, and a restrictive population cap. This leads to micromanagement burdens and can make the game unplayable at higher villager counts.
- Missing core features (weight 0.1): The game lacks several common features expected in modern games, such as multiplayer, manual save states, hotkeys, and a more diverse soundtrack, which detracts from the overall experience.
- Frequent bugs and crashes (weight 0.07): Several players reported significant bugs, particularly related to recycling buildings, which can lead to crashes or soft locks. This indicates a need for stability improvements.
- Excessive micromanagement (weight 0.06): The game requires excessive micromanagement, particularly with individual villagers, which can become repetitive and mentally taxing. This shifts the game from a relaxing simulation to a more demanding puzzle-like experience.
- Inefficient villager behavior (weight 0.04): Villagers exhibit inefficient behavior, such as slacking off during work hours or prioritizing leisure over immediate tasks, which can hinder progress and require player intervention.

Gameplay feedback:
- Level-based City/Village Management (weight 0.27): The game is primarily a small-scale, level-based city-building or village management simulation with puzzle and strategy elements. It focuses on resource management and achieving specific goals rather than open-ended city development.
- Varied Level Challenges & Length (weight 0.26): Each level presents unique challenges with varying difficulty, often requiring 1-2 hours to complete. Levels have clear main and optional objectives that must be met to progress, functioning like individual puzzles.
- Mission and Sandbox Modes (weight 0.19): The game offers both a structured mission/story mode with specific goals and a sandbox mode for free-form play without pressure. The sandbox mode allows for customization of map parameters and access to all buildings.
- Extensive Level Content (weight 0.09): The base game includes 29 levels across 5 chapters, with additional content available through 7 DLCs, each adding 6 new levels. This provides substantial playtime, especially considering the length of individual levels.
- Progressive Mechanics & Variety (weight 0.09): New game mechanics, buildings, and resources are progressively introduced across different missions and levels. Each level features unique maps, available resources, and building options, ensuring variety.
- Resource & Population Management (weight 0.06): Core gameplay involves leading villagers to gather resources, manage supplies (especially food), and maintain population well-being while working towards specific objectives.
- Level Restart & Save Mechanics (weight 0.04): Mistakes can necessitate restarting a level, but progress within a level is saved if the player quits midway. Players can continue playing after completing goals or move to the next level.
- DLCs Offer Higher Difficulty (weight 0.04): DLCs offer significantly higher difficulty compared to the main game and include all core game functions. Some DLCs also feature a continuous narrative.
- Efficient Crop Replacement (weight 0.04): To change crops on a farm, players can directly overwrite the existing crop in the build menu instead of demolishing the farm first.
- Minute-Long In-Game Days (weight 0.04): An in-game day lasts approximately one minute, with time flow divided into day and night cycles.
- Tab Key for Management (weight 0.03): Pressing the 'tab' key allows players to view worker numbers and manage construction priorities.
- Crop Harvesting Mechanics (weight 0.02): Villagers collecting hand-picked crops continuously carry seed bags for replanting, while scythe-harvested crops require them to switch between tools.
- Wild Food Gathering Tips (weight 0.02): Wild food is collected from trees by gatherer's huts, and rotating multiple gathering posts can help maintain food supply.
- Easy Game Start (weight 0.02): The initial levels of the game are relatively easy and slow-paced, serving as an introduction.
- NPC Life Cycles (weight 0.02): NPCs have life cycles (birth, growth, death) and personality traits, though these traits do not significantly impact gameplay. Players might develop minor emotional attachments to them.
- Resource Scarcity Consequences (weight 0.02): Running out of essential resources, particularly food, will inevitably lead to negative consequences like starvation, creating intense situations.

Performance notes:
- Performance issues and stability (weight 0.07): Players report that the game generally runs well on Steam Deck and the Steam version is superior to the iPad version. However, some users experience performance issues like freezing and heavy lag, especially when building extensive structures.
- Reliable daily save system (weight 0.03): The game features an automatic daily save system, which is appreciated by players as it minimizes progress loss in case of crashes or unexpected exits. This frequent saving mechanism enhances the overall player experience.

Recommendations:
- Highly Recommended Game (weight 0.4): The game is widely recommended by players, especially for those who enjoy casual city-building, management, or puzzle-solving genres. Many find it relaxing and a good way to unwind, praising its engaging challenges and charming atmosphere.
- Try Demo First (weight 0.14): Players frequently advise trying the demo first to gauge interest, especially before purchasing the full game or DLCs. There's also a suggestion to wait for promotions when buying the game.
- Improve Population Cap & Saves (weight 0.03): There are specific requests for developer attention regarding a population cap and the save feature, indicating these are areas that could improve the game experience.
- Clear Campaign Before Sandbox (weight 0.02): A specific recommendation is to complete the main campaign before moving on to the sandbox mode, suggesting a preferred progression path for new players.

Other player notes:
- Strong Apple Arcade origins (weight 0.25): Many players discovered the game on Apple Arcade, with some even subscribing solely for it. They appreciate its availability on Steam, indicating a successful platform transition, though some found the mobile subscription too expensive.
- High DLC engagement (weight 0.16): Players are highly engaged with the game's additional content, with many purchasing and completing all available DLCs. There is a strong desire for more future DLCs and new levels, showing continued interest in the game's expansion.
- Anticipation for Outlanders 2 (weight 0.06): There is significant excitement and anticipation among players for the release of 'Outlanders 2' on Steam. This indicates strong brand loyalty and a desire to continue the series on the PC platform.
- Potential for improvement (weight 0.06): Players see great potential for the game to evolve into a top-tier management title. They are hopeful for ongoing development and improvements, suggesting a belief in the developers' commitment to enhancing the game.
- Miscellaneous player habits (weight 0.04): Based on limited and fragmented feedback, some players are determined to continue playing, enjoy strategic planning, and follow game updates on social media. One player also expressed regret about not trying the demo.
- Unremarkable but acceptable audio (weight 0.04): Feedback on the game's audio is minimal, with players generally finding the sound and music unremarkable but not problematic. Some even play external audio, suggesting the in-game soundscape is not a primary draw or detractor.
- Inaccurate playtime tracking (weight 0.02): A player noted that Steam's reported playtime is inflated due to significant AFK time with the game paused. This suggests that actual active playtime might be lower than what the platform indicates.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.25): Players feel satisfied by the game's challenging yet rewarding missions, coupled with the relaxing sandbox mode. The game's overall quality, polished mechanics, and ability to exceed expectations, often due to its unique approach to the city-building genre and good value, contribute significantly to this emotion. The sense of accomplishment from completing levels and designing optimized layouts further enhances satisfaction.
- Frustration (weight 0.14): Frustration stems primarily from various gameplay mechanics and technical issues. Players are annoyed by constant waiting times, slow game pace, and repetitive music. Bugs, balance issues, and performance problems, especially with high villager populations, also contribute. Additionally, unclear mechanics, illogical population growth, and a lack of control over villagers or save points lead to significant frustration.
- Disappointment (weight 0.11): Disappointment arises when the game fails to meet player expectations, particularly regarding its relaxing nature or overall value. Issues like unplayable performance, repetitive stages, and a perceived lack of depth or engaging interaction contribute to this feeling. The game's design flaws, limited content, and questionable DLC strategy also lead to players feeling let down.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.1): Players experience enjoyment due to the game's overall fun and satisfying management gameplay. The charming art style, relaxing soundtrack, and cute graphics enhance the experience. The game's ability to provide continuous playability, pass time effectively, and offer engaging resource and time management aspects are key drivers of enjoyment.
- Love (weight 0.07): Love for the game is driven by its overall experience, value, and unique charm. Players appreciate the simple, cozy gameplay, creative freedom, and unique character designs. The game's ability to capture their hearts and provide a calming, enjoyable experience across multiple platforms fosters a strong sense of affection.
- Excitement (weight 0.06): Excitement is generated by the game's availability on Steam, anticipation for future DLCs, and the potential release of a sequel. Players are thrilled by the engaging gameplay, unique stories, and the prospect of new content or features. The long-awaited PC release and the desire for more levels also contribute to this excitement.
- Joy (weight 0.04): Joy is felt when the game becomes a personal favorite, providing a sense of sanity and unexpected positive impact. The Steam release and the ability to play the PC version again bring immense happiness. Finding the game fun and a perfect 'cozy game' also contributes to this emotion.
- Boredom (weight 0.02): Boredom sets in due to the game's slow pace, inefficient AI, and repetitive challenges. Players feel there's 'nothing to do' when missions are too easy or require excessive waiting for objectives to complete. Prolonged play, especially after around 20 hours, can lead to repetitive gameplay and a lack of engagement.
- Relaxation (weight 0.02): Relaxation is a key emotion, stemming from the game's low-pressure gameplay and calming atmosphere. The relaxing management style and its ability to provide a 'healing' experience, perfect for passing time, contribute to a serene player experience.
- Addiction (weight 0.02): Players report addiction due to the game's highly engaging gameplay. The compelling mechanics and overall captivating quality lead to players losing track of time and becoming deeply engrossed in the game.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Surprise occurs when players enjoy the game more than expected, often finding it unexpectedly challenging or better on PC than anticipated. The game's ability to lead to unexpectedly high playtime also contributes to this feeling.
- Desire (weight 0.01): Desire is expressed for specific improvements or additions, such as a more colorful tactical mode, broader platform availability, or more innovative DLC content. Players also wish for greater control over individuals and a triple speed option to enhance gameplay.
- Calmness (weight 0.01): Calmness is induced by the game's soothing elements, including its chill banjo soundtrack and healing visuals and music. The overall relaxing and pleasant gameplay experience contributes to a tranquil state for players.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Anger arises from perceived poor design choices by developers, particularly issues like food and housing shortages caused by children. This frustration can escalate to the point of players uninstalling the game and questioning developer testing.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): Players feel engaged due to the game's compelling nature, which makes them want to keep playing. Its ability to effectively kill time and its captivating simplicity ensure reviewers keep coming back for more.
- Hope (weight 0.01): Hope is centered on future developments, specifically the Steam release of Outlanders 2, new DLC features, and general bug fixes. Players also express hope for future updates and optimizations to improve the game experience.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance is caused by technical issues such as frequent crashes and general slowness. Specific in-game problems like the pasta storage issue also contribute to player irritation.
- Immersion (weight 0.01): Immersion is achieved when players lose track of time while playing, indicating deep engagement. The game's visuals, sound design, and soundtrack are key factors in drawing players into its world.
- Delight (weight 0.01): Delight is experienced when players see their village come to life, indicating a strong sense of accomplishment and visual pleasure. Finding the game on Steam and noting its improved performance, along with enjoying the campaign mode, also brings delight.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Appreciation is shown for the game's artistic and technical qualities, including its animation, soundtrack, and sound effects. Players also value the developers' continuous efforts to improve the game.}