88
Tragically, The Outbound Ghost is not a flawless game. There are notable load times throughout, and frames can drop pretty heavily when entering or exiting areas and battles. Along with the load times, there are occasional difficulty spikes as you explore Outbound where a wandering MOB will do a devastating amount of damage or fight with surprising intellect, causing players to need awareness of their strategies even in field battles that aren't bosses. However, The Outbound Ghost is a game that does its best to capture the charming artistic style of Paper Mario, telling a surprisingly compelling tale of regrets and having very fun combat along the way that lends itself to a lot of replayability to try out new strategies or challenge yourself as a player! This reviewer certainly plans on spending a lot of time in Outbound, and recommends that any RPG lovers give this one a look!
40
I really wanted to like The Outbound Ghost. Usually, even with disappointing games, I find one feature or facet to rally behind even if the whole package is ultimately underwhelming. However, in this case I struggle to find a single thing to highlight. The Outbound Ghost is a pale imitation that I don't recommend playing.
85
The Outbound Ghost is a great turn-based RPG with fun characters and a heartfelt story. The unique game mechanics make the battles challenging and enjoyable as you progress through the story.
6
The Outbound Ghost is a very charming game in the style of Paper Mario or the Cat Quest games, sadly the developer has had 2 years of legal wrangling with the original publisher which has undoubtedly tarnished the at a glance reputation of the game undeservedly and certainly impacted the polish the game has received to a highly detrimental degree. The game is 2.5D with what would be lovely HD settings and characters but on Switch the level of optimisation and QC is embarrassingly bad. A game like this should be playing at a flawless 720p/1080p handheld/docked but it doesn't even come close. Docked I'd be surprised if it's 360p, jaggies are all over the place, text is difficult to read both docked and in handheld due to a combination of extraordinarily poor render quality and text size and there is pop-in all over the place. Gameplay is simple but requires good timing while the crafting system has some nice abilities you can obtain. The story is also very well done with great character interaction. With the latest patch released for the game issues such as long loading times on Switch are also not a problem anymore, but the aforementioned problems still give serious pause before considering any recommendation. If it wasn't for the love clearly put into this game despite it's flaws my score would easily be a 4 but the charm and love put into the game makes it difficult to put down putting the game between a rock and a hard place. If the game has another patch fixing the visuals its a pretty firm recommendation to anyone that enjoys Paper Mario or the Cat Quest games but as things stand avoid this game on Switch unless it's practically being given away. Even the £10 I paid for a physical copy is just too much for the state it's currently in.
8
The Outbound ghost is a Cute indie RPG that feels very much like paper Mario but unique, and with oh so cute art design! The game doesn’t only nail the art department but also nails the sound engineering too! I still have way more to play and cannot wait to see what the developers add to the future road map.
0
it's buggy AF constantly CTD stay away. only good thing about this is the OST
The Outbound Ghost
Released On:
Sep 20, 2022
Metascore
Mixed or Average
65
User score
Mixed or Average
6.0
My Score
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Where to Buy
Metascore
Mixed or Average
65
33% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
33% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
33% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Oct 17, 2022
88
Tragically, The Outbound Ghost is not a flawless game. There are notable load times throughout, and frames can drop pretty heavily when entering or exiting areas and battles. Along with the load times, there are occasional difficulty spikes as you explore Outbound where a wandering MOB will do a devastating amount of damage or fight with surprising intellect, causing players to need awareness of their strategies even in field battles that aren't bosses. However, The Outbound Ghost is a game that does its best to capture the charming artistic style of Paper Mario, telling a surprisingly compelling tale of regrets and having very fun combat along the way that lends itself to a lot of replayability to try out new strategies or challenge yourself as a player! This reviewer certainly plans on spending a lot of time in Outbound, and recommends that any RPG lovers give this one a look!
Oct 3, 2022
85
The Outbound Ghost is a great turn-based RPG with fun characters and a heartfelt story. The unique game mechanics make the battles challenging and enjoyable as you progress through the story.
User score
Mixed or Average
6.0
50% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
25% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
25% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Dec 14, 2024
8
The Outbound ghost is a Cute indie RPG that feels very much like paper Mario but unique, and with oh so cute art design! The game doesn’t only nail the art department but also nails the sound engineering too! I still have way more to play and cannot wait to see what the developers add to the future road map.
Jun 26, 2025
6
The Outbound Ghost is a very charming game in the style of Paper Mario or the Cat Quest games, sadly the developer has had 2 years of legal wrangling with the original publisher which has undoubtedly tarnished the at a glance reputation of the game undeservedly and certainly impacted the polish the game has received to a highly detrimental degree. The game is 2.5D with what would be lovely HD settings and characters but on Switch the level of optimisation and QC is embarrassingly bad. A game like this should be playing at a flawless 720p/1080p handheld/docked but it doesn't even come close. Docked I'd be surprised if it's 360p, jaggies are all over the place, text is difficult to read both docked and in handheld due to a combination of extraordinarily poor render quality and text size and there is pop-in all over the place. Gameplay is simple but requires good timing while the crafting system has some nice abilities you can obtain. The story is also very well done with great character interaction. With the latest patch released for the game issues such as long loading times on Switch are also not a problem anymore, but the aforementioned problems still give serious pause before considering any recommendation. If it wasn't for the love clearly put into this game despite it's flaws my score would easily be a 4 but the charm and love put into the game makes it difficult to put down putting the game between a rock and a hard place. If the game has another patch fixing the visuals its a pretty firm recommendation to anyone that enjoys Paper Mario or the Cat Quest games but as things stand avoid this game on Switch unless it's practically being given away. Even the £10 I paid for a physical copy is just too much for the state it's currently in.
Sep 29, 2022
70
Despite my issues with the game, The Outbound Ghost is still the best Paper Mario styled game I’ve played in many years. It easily offers a dozen hours of gameplay, and that’s just if you play the main story. For those that like to wander, there’s plenty of hidden secrets to unearth, as well as randomizer effects to mix up your experience. While the game wasn’t as tight or well organized as I would have liked, it’s still a solid turn-based RPG that fans should enjoy.
Sep 29, 2022
60
I wish I liked The Outbound Ghost more than I do, but I am glad games like it exist. There will always be genres and ideas that big publishers and developers don’t see as viable, and the indie space is a perfect place to explore them. I don’t recommend The Outbound Ghost at this time, but I hope the developers continue to improve it with patches and continue to make games in genres they care about. While there is a lot of promise here, The Outbound Ghost just doesn’t reach its potential.
Sep 22, 2022
45
The Outbound Ghost looks and sounds wonderful, but that’s about all there is to enjoy here. Exploration and combat are both incredibly tedious, and the story meanders for about six hours until it ends with nothing resolved. I want to like this game, but it feels like it lacks any sort of central vision.
Oct 12, 2022
40
I really wanted to like The Outbound Ghost. Usually, even with disappointing games, I find one feature or facet to rally behind even if the whole package is ultimately underwhelming. However, in this case I struggle to find a single thing to highlight. The Outbound Ghost is a pale imitation that I don't recommend playing.
SummaryThe Outbound Ghost is an adventure RPG about helping ghosts ascend to the afterlife. The town of Outbound is, quite literally, a ghost town - a home to troubled spooks with unresolved earthly issues, condemning them to an eternity haunting their old *ahem* haunts. Battle the past, gain new abilities, solve puzzles, and uncover the myste... Read More
Platforms:
- PC
- Nintendo Switch
- Xbox One
- PlayStation 4
- PlayStation 5
Initial Release Date:Sep 20, 2022
Developer:
Publisher:
