I loved 2019’s Outward. The fantasy RPG from Nine Dots Studio embraced survival in a way few RPGs do, making everything from casting a basic spell to packing for a trip between cities a methodical and thoughtful process. Even its permalife system, which sounds forgiving—you don’t die if you lose a fight, you lose consciousness and wake up elsewhere—meant you had to live with your decisions and failures, no matter how painful they were.

Here’s some exciting news for all you survival sickos who loved the challenge of Outward: you can play Outward 2 this month. Not the whole game: that’s planned for next year. But you can take part in the Outward 2 playtest that will run from December 9 – December 15. The alpha playtest will let you visit one of its cities, Haboob, and the surrounding region of Bellowgale.

I’ve been playing a bit myself this week and I can happily confirm that I’ve gotten absolutely and repeatedly trounced. The very moment I left Haboob with just a tiny backpack of supplies and a small chisel to serve as a weapon, a troglodyte ran up and beat me senseless and I woke up somewhere else. An NPC gave me vague directions to a pond where I might find food and water, but I got lost along the way and only found more pain.

One monster after another trounced me as I feebly lashed at them with my chisel, waking up somewhere new only to be quickly defeated again. At one point I sustained an ankle injury meaning I could no longer sprint, which led to more defeats, and drinking dirty water from a river gave me indigestion. I had no idea where I was because my map, like real old-timey maps, doesn’t have an icon on it showing my exact location. It was a rough, punishing start.

Finally, I won my first fight with a fire elemental at the campsite of a presumably deceased trader. I got my first bit of luck, too: the dead trader’s backpack was far bigger than my little sack, and once you’ve got a good backpack in an Outward game, everything seems possible. Before long I was winning fights, now dual wielding a crowbar and an unlit torch I’d found, as well as cooking meals in a pan over a fire and crafting items like bandages and a shield.

I began winning more fights, looting enemies, and I even found a vendor where I could trade my collected crap for supplies and a flintlock pistol. And I finally spotted a city in the distance, and hustled towards it as fast as my injured ankle would allow.

It was Haboob, the city I’d been trying to leave in my rearview mirror. My blood, sweat, and indigestion had taken me right back to my starting point. That’s an Outward game, all right! It’s not gonna hold your hand. To register for the playtest yourself, you’ll need to sign up on the Nine Dots website. Outward 2 is due out in 2026.