The Outbound Ghost Review

As soon as you see footage or images from The Outbound Ghost, you will notice similarities with another great turn-based RPG starring flat 2D characters. In the introduction, we learn that "cursed" water killed many residents living in Outbound. Many are stuck as ghosts and need help resolving the issues holding them back, like a burden or something that needs to be resolved. You play one of these poor lost souls; you are an adorable ghost who has amnesia and is on a quest to recover their memory. Your character — whatever you named it — will not be alone on this journey; you will meet other ghosts that will help retrieve knowledge from your past and discover how you got to this point.

The Outbound Ghost throws you right into the action, and you quickly find yourself in a battle with an apparition. The ghost doesn't have to fight though, instead, they use emotions — called figments — to battle for them. Your first figment is Regret, however others can be discovered by either talking with other characters or seeing their interactions with you and the other ghosts that inhabit this world. You receive the Comradery figment when you see a spirit trying to help you with your memory issues. There are 34 different figments to discover during your story, so it's always fun to see which one you will come across next. Though one is a miner named Slave, I'm not sure exactly what kind of emotion that would be or if it was a bad translation, but it doesn't seem right.

When you are battling, each figment has multiple moves that it can utilise, and many are unique to only that character. The Attack option is your standard attack, with a bar showing red, yellow, and green popping up to determine how much damage you deal; you want to hit the arrow when it’s on green to do the most damage. Skills also use this same coloured bar to determine your move's effectiveness and although it takes a bit of practise, once you figure out the timing for the skills, battling gets easier. This makes battles more interesting because you aren't just smashing the same button repeatedly! Skills require you to use SP, so once you run out, you will have to resort to doing regular attacks, or using a skill that allows you to steal SP from the enemy for no cost. If you aren't attacking, you can use the move called Aether Up. This lets you store an additional AP (Action Point) so you can attack twice on the next turn — doing more damage and reducing the hit from the enemy by half. Finally, you have the option to Defend or Give Up for that battle. I found it more beneficial to use Aether Up instead of Defend. When victorious in battle, you will earn XP to level up your figments and ghost. Even if a given character wasn't in the fight, they will all receive the points so they get stronger together. In other RPGs, it was frustrating when you constantly switched out characters to ensure no one got left behind level-wise and was too weak to use in battle later on.

At any time, you can change your battle team’s figments around. Note that only four characters can fight at one time. Since all the aspects are different, some are more effective than others depending on the enemy you are facing. Each of the figments can have three various aspects assigned to them. This can add bonuses like increasing attack power or teaching them skills to use in battle. Others may have a catch, like if you hit the green on the colour bar your attack will be stronger, but if you time it wrong your attack will miss and do no damage at all. At each save point there will be a crafting table where you can make new aspects which are special abilities that can be used in battle that will give you perks. You can create the ones that you think will be most effective if you have the required supplies. You can switch aspects out in the figment menu, so you can assign new ones and re-assign them any way you want. This was a unique addition: one that I've never seen before in a game like this. When playing, if you find you are repeatedly losing to an enemy, try switching around the figments on your team and the aspects they are equipped with. It might give you the advantage you need to win the battle.

The graphics in The Outbound Ghost are great, the 2D characters are super cute and the environments they travel through look nice too. The world is full of puzzles that will require you to do some thinking to unlock different areas, some require you to light all the torches that you find to open up hidden places, and others will require you to pick locks to unlock gates or doors. Just because the game looks super cute doesn't mean that it's a walk in the park to get through! At least there is good music that will accompany you while you travel around the world. It's super catchy, and the battle music is especially good and upbeat.

If you are a fan of games like the first two Paper Mario titles or turn-based RPGs with great characters and a compelling story, The Outbound Ghost is a game you should try. You will find yourself in battles a lot, but the different figments you can use, the aspects you can craft, and just the available strategies to use against the various enemies will keep you experimenting to figure out what works best for each situation. This can sometimes get frustrating if you are defeated by a boss repeatedly, but once you successfully win the battle, you will feel a huge sense of accomplishment. I just wish you got some tips so you know what kind of figments would be the best to use for the boss battles. With a lot of different possibilities, it takes a while to figure out the combinations that work best! If you have a Steam Deck, The Outbound Ghost works great on there, as I had no issues jumping between my computer and continuing to play on the Steam Deck. Will you help the ghost resolve the issues holding them back so they can get to the afterlife?