Hi everyone!
This is Conrad, the lead developer of The Outbound Ghost. Over the past 2 years, this page has been silent because we were in a lawsuit with the game's former publisher (click here to see the details).
Well, I'm happy to announce that The Outbound Ghost's lawsuit is now RESOLVED!
My company Conradical Games (the original developers) are self-publishing the game, and it's now available again on Steam and Nintendo Switch, with the others versions coming out again soon! I've made a video that goes over what you can expect now that The Outbound Ghost is self-published by us, but I'll also have a text version below.
(Also, keep on reading because we also just announced The Outbound Ghost's sequel and it's ENTIRELY FREE to owners of the original game!)
In short, here's the rundown:
Key News
- The Outbound Ghost is back! It's available right now on Steam and Nintendo Switch
- The performance issues of the Nintendo Switch version have been fixed through a complete in-house re-port of the game by us, Conradical Games.
- All previous owners of The Outbound Ghost's Switch version will get the patch for free through an update on the 18th of October. The Steam update will be released in the coming weeks - we wanted to prioritise Switch because of the porting issues.
- The game will be re-launched on PlayStation at a later date, and will release on Xbox for the first time in 2025.
- The roadmap will be seen through, and some of the updates are already in the Switch version. Will come to Steam in the coming weeks.
The Outbound Ghost Switch Update Changes
- Improved framerate (stable 30fps).
- Improved loading times (~20 seconds per combat -> ~2 seconds per combat).
- German, Spanish, and French localisation.
- A rework of how the in-combat statuses are displayed.
- Completely remastered soundtrack.
The Outbound Ghost: Reborn, The Sequel!
As I mentioned above, not only are we updating The Outbound Ghost, but we're also announcing its sequel. The Outbound Ghost: Reborn!
It's entirely free if you own The Outbound Ghost on Steam, and it's a completely new adventure with a new story, updated combat, new areas, and new figments! Check out the Steam page below (and wishlist it to be notified when it comes out)!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2884520/The_Outbound_Ghost_Reborn
Why a sequel though?
Well, as we were implementing some of the roadmap additions, we felt that we wanted to take the game even further, but doing so would ruin save files, progression, and more. Because of this, we decided to make a sequel, and make it entirely FREE for Steam owners if you own The Outbound Ghost before The Outbound Ghost: Reborn releases in 2025. This way, it's kind of like an update because Steam owners don't need to pay anything extra, and we are also able to take the concept to the lengths we always wanted to.
You can find the reveal trailer below, and I can't wait to release the game next year!
Reviews
Before the game entered the lawsuit, it sat around 75% - 80% ratings on Steam, and we felt that this would have easily increased over the additions of our roadmap features.
However, because of the lawsuit, many people review bombed the game in our support, which I really appreciate, but it is now hurting our standing in Steam's algorithm. If you didn't enjoy the game, that's totally fine! But, if you did enjoy the game and want to support us, then leaving a review would help us an immense amount. As well, if you're one of the players that review bombed the game in our support, I would really appreciate it if you changed your review to be reflective of your thoughts on the game, that would help us a lot!
Soul Stalker
When the lawsuit started, I formed a new company called Radhood that focused on self-publishing games, and one of our games is actually set in the same universe as The Outbound Ghost, and it's releasing on the 24th of October!
It's called Soul Stalker, and it's a bullet heaven roguelike with paper graphics. Think Vampire Survivors and Slay the Spire with Paper Mario-inspired visuals! If that sounds like your kind of thing, then getting the game in the link below would help us so much, and it's discounted for owners of The Outbound Ghost as well through a bundle, so it's a win-win!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1714240/Soul_Stalker/
Final Words
Anyways, that's it for this update, and I'm SUPER excited to finally get back to being involved with The Outbound Ghost publicly. I'll be keeping you all up to date as to when the first update will release exactly, but until then, make sure to watch the video I shared above to get the full context and learn about when each of the roadmap features will be added.
See you next time!
- Conrad, Lead Developer