Outliver: Tribulation is basically Nigerian
Tomb Raider with Souls-like elements.
When I say “Nigerian”, I mean the setting is in Nigeria, the protagonist is a Nigerian woman, and the game itself was developed in Lagos, Nigeria.
You play Bolanle Gboyega, a soldier fighting Boko Haram, who suddenly finds herself in the Realm of Tribulations – a place full of African mythology – where she must undergo an ancient ritual to find her way back to the mortal realm.
Outliver is really cool.
When I play Tomb Raider, I’m doing it with the lens of an Englishwoman who’s going to far flung locales to collect artifacts. You kind of touch upon the mythos of each place but only as an outsider looking in. And as much as I love Tomb Raider, sometimes it has echoes of colonialism.
But with Outliver, you play as someone who comes from the culture – specifically a Nigerian woman exploring a Nigerian temple. Littered throughout that temple is ancient African art and iconography. Throughout the game, you encounter so much Nigerian mythology and folklore.
Clearly, this game was made with a lot of love. To me, that really makes a difference, and makes this game well worth playing. If this game were merely about mythos and folklore, I’d be a fan because I love Nigerian art and it’s something I often go out of my way to appreciate.
But the devs did a stellar job with the controls, both with keyboard and mouse as well as gamepad. It takes a little bit of time to get used to but once you get going, I am like a duck to water. This is
smooth.
The graphics are tremendous. They are
way better than I was expecting. On a tower, this game has lots of atmosphere with great detail, especially with the lighting and fog effects. On a Steam Deck, I had to dial the graphical settings
way down in order to get to 60fps. But though the quality is nowhere near as good as on desktop, this ended up being my preferred way to play.
(Don’t entirely judge the game on these screenshots, they’re from my Steam Deck.)
I also love the sound. The soundtrack is full of instrumental Nigerian music, with fantastic rhythms, and it
really drives up the tension. The voice acting is slightly amateurish but it’s authentic, and that’s what I want with a game like this.
One thing I do want to make apparent is that this game isn’t for everyone. While Outliver has a lot of action, it also has a special focus on puzzle solving. And there’s a big collectathon aspect to the game as well. I don’t mind this because the original Tomb Raider was very much about puzzle solving and collecting but if you lack patience, Outliver is not for you.
As well, I do want to set certain expectations. Outliver does not have the same production quality as Tomb Raider. Not even close.
However, for a game made by
three people living in Lagos, Nigeria, Outliver punches way,
way above its weight. I am actually stunned by what those three fellows were able to accomplish and hats off to them.
Gbrossoft developed Outliver. Previous to this game, the made much more humble indie games but none of them had the ambition of Outliver, and they took a big step up with this effort.
On Steam, Outliver: Tribulation sells for C$10.49. It is worthwhile if you love games with a unique setting that are rich in lore. There are few games set
anywhere in Africa and even fewer that look as beautiful as this one.
Outliver: Tribulation is a story-driven survival horror souls-like third-person shooter where you play as Bolanle Gboyega a soldier who mysteriously finds herself in the Realm of Tribulations, a...
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