Outrage: Fight Fest is a 16-player beat-em-up party brawler from Hardball Games. The concept is simple, players duke it out in a variety of Team-Based game modes or solo and duo battle royale. The twist is that the more you fight, the more Rage you build up, and the bigger you get. Every player can hulk out twice and apart from the obvious size advantage, the big players can keep building their Rage to power up a special ability.
And that’s it. You now understand all you need to know about the OutRage: Fight Fest. Now that’s not a bad thing either. For $10, you get a straightforward party brawler that is easy to pick up and play. I’ve been doing just that for the past few weeks and I want to share my experiences here because (especially with a game like this) that matters more than the review score at the bottom of the page.
I really want to emphasize that OutRage is easy to pick up and play, especially on the Steam Deck. Sitting on the couch and queuing up for a match is my favorite way to play the game. For the team-based gameplay, which features 4 teams of 4 players, there are a handful of game modes that the game cycles through. While modes like Crate Grab and Rage Bank require some teamwork and coordination, Pain Points and Rage Bank set the players loose to do as much damage to opponents as they can. Battle Royale is also round-based with a fire circle that hordes players together until enough players are eliminated.
On the note of damage and eliminations, let’s talk about combat. OutRage is a game with little gameplay depth. There is fighting but this isn’t a Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. You don’t need to memorize complex combos to win fistfights and that seems to be by design. To execute a combo, you really only need to hit 3 moves, and that usually ends with the opponent getting knocked off their feet. While they’re on the ground, they’re given a few seconds of invulnerability so you can’t combo them again off the floor.
This works to break up the pace of the gameplay so fights are rarely just a 1v1 in the middle of a larger battle. In fact, most players I see will do a combo on one person and then move to a different target once the opponent is on the ground. Sort of juggling fights in a way. That being said, this design does give the game a low barrier to entry, and even someone like me, who tends to button-mash with intent, can do pretty well at it. (See image above.)
Maps are small and vibrant with enough room for players to separate into smaller fighting groups but not big enough to get lost in. Littered around the map are interactable objects that add a bit of randomized chaos to the battle. If you’re on a construction site map, for example, you’ll see large cement pipes to pick up and throw if you’re big enough. There are also special boxes that can be broken to provide health boosts, temporary weapons, or (my favorite) a pool of fire that does AOE damage.
This brings me to the least compelling part of OutRage, which is the customization. Leveling up in the game will net you a handful of unlocks. Some of these are special abilities for your final Rage form, but most are random skins. The thing is, however, since the game tends to change the color of your outfit based on what team you’re on anyway (i.e. blue, orange, red, etc), I rarely found myself caring about how I looked. I did occasionally switch characters as I unlocked them but they were never points of interest for me to work toward.
OutRage: Fight Fest is a fun game to recommend if you have a few friends to play it with. As is the case with a lot of multiplayer-only titles, the game can only be experienced as long as the player base is alive. Right now you can get into a lobby quickly (within seconds) and there might be some bots to fill out the roster if needed but playing only with bots in a non-training mode would not be satisfying. And like I said at the start, the score below isn’t what matters. Things like the low barrier to entry worked well for me, but that will change based on what kind of player you are. OutRage: Fight Fest is out now on PC via Steam. Watch the review discussion above to hear me talk more about the game. A code was provided by the publisher for review.
