The Outbound Ghost (PC) Review

A Big Swing at a Thousand Year Door

In the early 2000s, the original Paper Mario was released for the Nintendo 64, followed by its sequel Thousand-Year Door in 2004 for the GameCube. Then something surprising happened; Nintendo kept releasing Paper Mario games, but they pulled the RPG roots out from it. Since then, there has been an itch for something to take its place. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling is the big one that comes to mind, but recently Conradical Games released their long-awaited title The Outbound Ghost, trying to scratch that itch for a paper-figure RPG. Does it hold up to its contemporaries?

In Outbound Ghost, we play as an amnesiac ghost who wakes up after everyone in the town of Outbound has been killed. Trying to piece together the mystery of who you are and who killed the city’s people, you eventually come across another ghost like you, Adrian. The majority of the time spent playing felt like chasing Adrian around the world of Outbound Ghost, running into quirky characters who will help or hinder. It's a potentially good set-up for a fun, odd RPG. The issue is that none of it really hits that well. Some of the comedy does land, but the fact that the majority of the story is a chase, leading into something that feels like it just kind of ends, does not land well. There is some post-game stuff, but to be honest, I do not think I will come back to do it.

Gameplay-wise this is a turn-based RPG. In every battle, there is a turn system, and while our main character doesn't actually fight, they instead use apparitions that come from the strong emotions of people who have moved on. Think Pokémon, but without getting attached to them. This is a good idea but ultimately fails because instead of becoming more invested in our player character as we see him through battles, we use these ghosts that have absolutely zero personality, as their emotion is just another way to disguise their class. Additionally, the fighting uses a timing-based system. As the bar goes along another, you need to try your best to get it into the middle to land a more substantial hit. Again, great idea and hits those nostalgia highs of Paper Mario….except some of the timing things feel a little cheap. There are ones in which the bar will jump all over the place, and it just leads to frustration when the mechanics could have done more like changing up button presses instead rather than using what feels like cheap tricks to deny a stronger hit. 

When you come up to bosses in Outbound Ghost, you will know because of their health bar, which for no apparent reason, is absolutely gigantic and really leads to padding out the battle time because you are forced into switching between attacking and healing. Even if you grind out experience points, the bosses can typically take out apparitions in one or two turns. There was a lot of frustration for me in the gameplay for Outbound Ghost, and it's mostly because it gets so close to being good but falls flat right before the finish line.

There is one other thing that can elevate RPGs sky-high, and that is the soundtrack. Outbound Ghost has a great one… the first time you hear it. Unfortunately, it just repeats what feels like every minute, maybe even thirty seconds. Final Fantasy IX got a lot of guff when the Steam version came out because every time you battled or transitioned screens, the track would start over. If that bothered you, get ready because the same thing happens here. 

Overall, Outbound Ghost is frustrating. There are so many good ideas in it, but the execution just falls off. Conradical Games clearly loves the Paper Mario series, and they worked hard to make their own version of it. While I did not enjoy Outbound Ghost, I am excited to see what they create next, as long as they can learn from the missteps here.

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 5/10

VISUALS - 8/10

SOUND - 3/10

CONTROLS - 5/10

REPLAY VALUE - 2/10

OVERALL - 4.6/10

Learn more about The Outbound Ghost on its Steam page or the official website. A code for review purposes was provided by the developer. Screenshots were captured via native Steam features.