Outward 2 doesn't pull any punches, and that's just what I was hoping for. In the opening moments of Outward 2, I receive what sounds like a simple quest: to find a flower with medicinal properties in the wilds to the west of the city, and deliver it to a doctor. But I'm no dummy. (Note: I will soon prove myself to be a dummy.) I've played the original Outward, and I know just how dangerous the world can be outside the safety of a city, because unlike most survival games, your punishment for dying isn't respawning safely back at home. No. It's much, much worse. As I set out to locate that flower, I don't have much: a knife, a shield, some food and water, a tent, and a tiny backpack loaded with a few other supplies. I also don't really know where the flower might be: there are no quest markers or helpful arrows or radar pips to guide me. Outward 2 doesn't do that sort of thing. I'll just need to explore and keep my eyes open. Thankfully, there's a touch of emergent behavior an untested adventurer can take advantage of, like when I spot two city soldiers marching up a hill near a large angry bird and a larger, angrier boar. They take turns fighting each other while I watch from a distance, until only the guards are left, at which point I scuttle over and loot the animal corpses. Free stuff! Someday I'll be confident enough to kill things on my own, but for now, this is the safest option. As I search for the quest flower and occasionally pilfer from animal corpses others have left behind, I meet a wandering trader. We chat, I sell him a couple things I've collected, and I briefly consider attacking him so I can have his cool, huge backpack. Then I remember that I probably suck at fighting, and I continue scurrying around fearfully. But even I, Chris the Coward, eventually get careless. I spot a guy on the road fighting one of those birds, and I lurk nearby, ready to get my loot on when he's finished. But when he finishes with the bird, he makes a beeline for me,