Outbound – Relaxing at First, Repetitive Soon After

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• DEVELOPER: Square Glade Games
• PUBLISHER: Square Glade Games
• PLATFORMS: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 1/2
• GENRE: Cozy / Exploration
• RELEASE DATE: May 11, 2026
• STARTING PRICE: 24,99€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

I think it’s time we start holding cozy games to higher standards, especially when it comes to pricing and long-term gameplay depth. Outbound from Square Glade Games is one of those games that immediately grabs your attention through its trailers, screenshots, and overall presentation.

Honestly, someone on the marketing team did an incredible job selling the fantasy of this game. The idea of traveling across a peaceful open world in a customizable campervan, slowly building your mobile home while exploring nature with friends, sounds fantastic on paper. And for the first hour or two, it genuinely feels that way.

Cozy atmosphere adorned by very simple gameplay

Outbound is a cozy open-world exploration game set in a utopian near future where you gradually upgrade your campervan, gather resources, unlock blueprints, and move between different biomes. The game wants to create a relaxed, stress-free experience where survival mechanics are stripped down and exploration takes center stage.

There are no major threats, no real danger, and almost no pressure placed on the player. You simply travel, collect materials, decorate your vehicle, and slowly improve your setup over time. The problem is that the gameplay loop becomes repetitive incredibly quickly.

Almost everything you do revolves around driving to new areas, scanning landmarks, unlocking recipes from scattered radio towers, and crafting slightly better tools, upgrades or decorations. Mechanically, there is very little depth here. You cannot meaningfully interact with the world beyond collecting resources and placing furniture. You cannot cut down most trees, there are no real puzzles, no meaningful survival systems, and very little environmental interactivity overall.

The world itself also feels surprisingly empty despite its beautiful art direction. Visually, Outbound absolutely nails its cozy atmosphere. The environments are colorful, relaxing, and clearly made with a lot of care. You can tell the developers genuinely loved the concept they were building. But underneath that presentation, there just isn’t enough substance to support the amount of time the game expects you to spend in it.

Doesn’t really evolve over time

Even progression feels underwhelming. Unlocking new furniture, tools, and vehicle upgrades initially feels rewarding, but eventually it starts feeling like a collection of disconnected systems rather than a cohesive game. Mechanics such as camping, farming, cooking, resource gathering, and exploration all exist, but none of them evolve in meaningful ways. Lighting a campfire or expanding your van never becomes deeper or more engaging the longer you play.

The pacing also hurts the experience. Movement is unnecessarily slow, traveling across the same landscapes repeatedly becomes tedious, and searching for crafting recipes quickly turns into busywork rather than discovery. I kept hoping the game would eventually open up mechanically, but instead it mostly repeats the same activities with slightly different scenery.

What makes this even more frustrating is how much potential the game clearly has. Exploring the world with friends, building your own traveling home, and relaxing in a peaceful sandbox environment is a genuinely strong concept. Unfortunately, everything is buried beneath repetitive systems and a lack of meaningful interaction.

The pricing is ultimately what makes the experience much harder to recommend. For what it currently offers, the game feels significantly overpriced. This easily could have worked as a smaller, cheaper indie experience, but at its current price point it simply does not provide enough content or depth. The addition of day-one paid DLC for extra vehicle also leaves a bad impression, especially considering many players originally supported the project through Kickstarter years ago.

The final verdict

There is definitely an audience for Outbound. If you love extremely relaxed cozy games where you slowly gather resources, decorate van, and play entirely at your own pace, you may still find something enjoyable here. The game is calm, visually appealing, and completely free of stress or pressure.

But for me, Outbound never evolves beyond its initial premise. It looks beautiful, it has a fantastic concept, and it absolutely understands how to market itself, but the actual gameplay lacks the depth needed to keep things engaging long-term. Cozy games do not need constant action or complex survival mechanics, but they still need meaningful progression and rewarding gameplay loops. Right now, Outbound feels more like a collection of good ideas than a fully satisfying game.

This review is based on a copy played on Xbox Game Pass