Google Stadia Connect gave lots of insight into the future of Google Stadia. Along with the announcement of upcoming partnerships for Stadia, many titles were also announced for the Stadia library. One of the most exciting reveals is a new Stadia exclusive coming from developer Splash Damage.
Splash Damage is a British game developer most known for first-person shooters. Splash Damage has an impressive resume, working on powerhouse franchises such as Gears of War and Wolfenstein. Now, Splash Damage is developing a new top-down shooter called Outcasters, exclusively for Google Stadia.
Outcasters is a battle-royale with a few twists. Not only is it a top-down game, but also will put a focus on shooting curved shots, enabling players to shoot around walls and perform trick shots to be the last person standing. The trailer shows off a variety of weapons and power-ups in the maze-like map. As a battle-royale, the map contains a shrinking circle, forcing players to come together for some epic close encounters.
Outcasters features customizable avatars with a simple character art style that loosely resembles games like Human Fall Flat. The trailer shows off different coins in-game that appear throughout the map or dropped from fallen enemies. Since the coins are collected in-game, it is possible that they can be used in the actual battle-royale for weapons or power-ups. The coins may also be potentially collected for avatar items, but the exact use for them is still unknown.
The trailer shows off very interesting map interactions. It seems like the game may contain different objectives than just being the last player standing. In one part of the trailer, a player can be seen launching off of a spring in the map to reach an area that changes color once the player enters it, possibly indicating areas that can be captured for objectives. Other map interactions include destructible lights and what looks like teleporters. Based on the trailer, Outcasters will be filled with deep gameplay with multiple maps, each having their own theme and unique setup.
With curved shooting, Outcasters takes a simple concept and turns it into a challenging shooter that requires the use of angles and strategy. The trailer shows off many different ways to shoot and use weapons. One instance shows off the ability to curve a shot directly behind the shooter to take out three players at once. Another shot curves into a room where it bounces around before exploding into three different bullets. Outcasters appears to have plenty of ways to trick shot enemies once it releases in the fall.
Outcasters is scheduled to release exclusively for Google Stadia in fall 2020.