CONTROL Resonant
CONTROL Resonant
Game
Game2019
OUTBUDDIES DX
Developer Julian Laufer
Run, gun and explore an open undercity in this otherworldly non-linear Metroidvania adventure about the Old Gods, strange creatures and the remnants of a lost world! From the Steam store page
171 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 1, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
67
Fresh
113 positive · 55 negative
95% range 60–74%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 113 | 55 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
3 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
202 of 288 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 171 · most liked firstEditing this review now that I've finished the game and I can say it's one of my favorites in a long time. Pros: -The game gives the player many mechanics to master so it never gets boring, and paces it well so they have a chance to learn them all before they need to have them mastered. -It feels massively vast but in a way that's not overwhelming. It reminds me somewhat of Hollow Knight when it opens up, areas are similar in size or even larger, with lots of options for where you can go at…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Outbuddies is a wonderful metroidvania game that takes inspiration both from metroid and Lovecraftian lore. As a great fan of both of these, I was initially drawn to the game because of that, but I stayed for the incredible exploration, gameplay and atmosphere. My favorite part of this game is that you are encouraged to go your own way: there are so many paths to take, often times even "unintentional" ones - you can use every ability in your arsenal to get to areas you otherwise would not…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The visuals are great, the controls are fine and something you can get used to, but the game punishes you for doing stuff out of order. You fall down one pit to discover two missing tiles on the map. Turns out you have to repeat an hour-long journey to grab a third orb that levels up your hacking ability. You should've grabbed it BEFORE you decided to drop down that hole. You probably remember water levels being clunky and slow movement underwater in other metroidvanias right? Well there's a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Impressive for a game mostly created by a single person. However, I didn't enjoy this one as much as I'd hoped. I liked: + Fresh lovecraftian, steam-punk underwater setting. + Soundtrack for the last sector, the ending sequence and the credit roll. + Colorful environments. + Oh, this moustache. So much gentleman. Such manly. So wow. I disliked: - Many gameplay elements have been lifted directly from other games (e. g. Metroid, Axiom Verge), but feel less snappy and polished here. -…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Eeeugh this one's just really frustrating because I see the attempt at a good game here but it misses the mark so consistently it because frustrating and exhausting. Most notably I just don't like how many decisions were made to intentionally slow down the game; there's a run button, for one, which is completely unnecessary and only serves to mess with the platforming; the co-op mechanics bog down single player as you basically have to come to a complete stop, and then there's the block puzzles…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's unfortunate, this game started with hype: An Explorer, buff and mad with desire to seize the treasures of Gods past, cast down by a wicked storm, his flying fortress dashed into the ocean beneath, and befriend by a robot upon his awakening in forbidden lands. The early half of the game has you sneaking past fearsome foes, and obtaining weapons and tools alike to chart your way to that Old God's Treasure. Then you encounter the gameplay, moving boxes a lot with janky physics, a wall…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →FAILED: a proper metroidvania needs good movement and tidy controls of weapon usage. this game fails on both, so the core gameplay is already a mess. Therefore talking about the rest of this mediocre game doesn't compute, It's NOT worth full price, maybe you try it on a 75% sale. Better alternatives and very good pixelart metroidvanias are: Axiom Verge, Owlboy or Iconoclasts. Also a very profound subnautic metroidvania is "Song of the Deep". Each of them have complex movement and weapon…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's a lot of ambition, heart and problems in this game. While I did enjoy a lot of it--and go on to beat it--It's hard to recommend it. First, the positives: It has a big, fun world to explore, as any good MetroidVania should. Though there aren't a lot of 'fast travel points' on the map, I felt engaged enough to explore all of it. Getting certain upgrades also felt nice, and towards the late game I loved flying around, and speeding through certain biomes. Being able to switch from your…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I finished the game together with a friend via Steam Remote Play which worked perfectly well! We were also able to communicate in-game. Both of us tried to like the game but in the end, we were kind of disappointed. There aren't a lot of Metroidvania games out there that have support multiplayer (tbh I can't think of one atm) which made this game interesting! • The menu is controllable by both players at the same time, so if I wanted to peak at the map and entered the menu while my companion…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →𝕊𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕞 𝕄𝕖𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕚𝕕 𝕚𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕝𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕠𝕗 "𝕨𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖". If you're looking for a metroidvania, in the real sense of the word, then look no further than Outbuddies DX. This metroid clone will you bring all of your childhood memories back into focus as you slide, jump, double jump and jetpack burst your way into the unknown. Prepare yourselves, however, as this is no mere stroll in the park. The game puts you in the shoes of Nikolay, a scientist who was travelling on…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9EIFSewYRU A difficult run and gun metroidvania with a lot of exploration. The controls are a bit difficult and confusing with there being a lot of combinations needed, though a plus is that i do like the visuals and the use of colours throughout the game, whether it be the environment as well as the enemies and characters. Is also nice exploring the area, facing off all the different types of enemies and platforms, having to find ways through the area, leaping…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Like first-class seats in a luxury time machine. I've been following the development of this game for a while(kickstarter backer) and I'm glad to say it's turned out really well. It feels like you are playing something authentically old but without any of the downsides a delve into the retro can bring. If you are after a well-made metroidvania with excellent music and a ton of heart, this is definitely worth a stab
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've finished the game and I had a great time with it. You play a crazy adventurer Nikolay Bernstein who accidentally ends up in Bahlam - a sunken city of the Old Gods, deep in the South Atlantic Ocean. There he gets connected to a supernatural Buddy-unit. You can switch between both or you can ask your real buddy to play as a local co-op. The map is huge so I wish there were more teleport spots at some far out places for faster travel. And also the map should distinguish between the items…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely ruined by a misleading, inaccurate and at best barely-legible map. Outbuddies ensures you'll spend hours looking for pickups the game tells you you've already found, missing tiny rooms indiscernible amongst obnoxiously-placed map icons, and a mini-map drawn to a baffling and unreadable scale. Avoid.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Welcome to OUTBUDDIES, an intense Metroidvania platformer with a colorful, randomly-generated open world to explore across 5 different domains. The journey will not be easy; not only are there tons of parkour to overcome, but there is a slew of enemies that thirst for your blood. Even the environment will be the end of you, should you falter! You will obtain various upgrades to aid you in your adventure; a quick hand will be needed to defeat all the creatures and boss levels, with secret areas…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Neat and addictive metroidvania It is much more "metroid-" than "-vania" and clearly feels like a successor of Super Metroid both visually and in terms of progression mechanics. However this game does several things even better than its famous predecessor, and also introduces some new distinctive features. What I personally found the best - the world is full of places that don't tell you obviously which mechanics you need to pass them, you always have to experiment. And sometimes it even…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really wish I could like this game. It looks pretty and polished, and it's very obvious a lot of care and effort was put into it, but it fails horribly at the most fundamental things, mostly the controls. The controls are a mile wide and an inch deep for no reason. For example, why do I need to hold down an unrelated trigger to shoot upwards while moving? This was figured out all the way back in 1986 with Metroid 1, it shouldn't be that hard to make it so you can simply hold up on the dpad…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It started out pretty fun. The controls felt a little stiff, but the gameplay made up for it. I love this genre. This game however about halfway through just became really tedious. As the map got bigger and bigger, you never knew which way you were supposed to go. You get an ability that allows you to progress to the next area, so you look at your map and see the paths you could not take before. One out of five possibilities could be the right way. Since there is not objective marker, you pick…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can't really recommend Outbuddies. Only gave it a half hour but I was thoroughly lost with the number of controls and button combinations dumped on me within the first few minutes of gameplay. It's got a neat atmosphere but there was too much wrong with it for me to put more time into it. For a platformer, the controls feel very stiff for no appreciable reason. Clicking the button to fire your weapon usually fired it but sometimes just wouldn’t or would fire a half second late. Jump air…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Having played a considerable chunk of the game, I truly am enjoying it. Outbuddies follows all the qualities of a good metroidvania- great design motives, abilities based progression, great level design etc. The little touches just make it feel more like a labor of love more than anything else. From the music to the pixel art to the SFX (Love that when you stand still, you can hear heart-beats; just oozes atmosphere.) Adding design elements like a drone with various abilities and co-op is just…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still putting work into this game, but the progression is great and doesn't feel slow. Along with boss fights not feeling too overpowering even if you don't have a lot of upgrades. As long as you are patience you can defeat anything in your path, although I urge new players that are just starting the game to remember that you don't NEED to clear a room to move onto the next. https://youtu.be/bsZqsrGa5rA
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The control scheme is annoying, when you get the upgrade that allows you to traverse environmental hazards it is so easy to accidentally get out of it and die and the options, ui and menus could be more user friendly. Otherwise it is ok, decent bosses and enemies with a decently large game so not one of the better metroidvanias i have played but good enough to play. But i am never going to be able to play this without being frustrated at the controls.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's immaculate emulation of the early age of metroidvania on display and the love is evident. However, I think this is the kind of game that gets a lot of its difficulty from dodgy controls. There's a visible trend in indie game to add in purposefully poor controls or menus in order to stay true to the inspirations, but there's better ways to nod to the giants upon whose shoulders you stand and it's always writing. I understand that there's an audience for this, but I lived through…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has a great mix of platforming and puzzle solving. It is very much inspired by Metroid, so if you enjoyed those games at all, you definitely need to give this a shot! I strongly recommend using a controller. It works great with my Xbox controller.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like Metroid games and you have a friend who loves 'em too you'll love this game. The co-op aspects of the game are very innovative. Asymetric gameplay, allowing the invincible second player to add platforms, scan the environment, have total camera control, hack enemies. My droid friend was the guide, I always gave them camera control; they helped me find all the hidden places and decided how to proceed. They often were needed or essential, and very helpful in boss fights. Some of the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very solid Metroidvania but doesn't deviate a whole lot from the formula. The one added wrinkle of your buddy's hacking abilities is unfortunately not super-easy to get a grip on but thankfully, it's not hard to pull off. You also can't increase your health like many other Metroidvanias, which mostly results in bosses you can't just spam attacks on and be ok. In most ways, it's about as close to a Metroid clone in atmosphere and weapons within largely original assets. But as long as you're not…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While this game has a decent scope in terms of length, it is very boring. I seriously almost gave up about 1/3 of the way through because I felt like it was lulling me to sleep. The graphics are not really that interesting. Everything is sort of a smear of blue/red/purple, and all of the environments look roughly the same and are not very interesting. The graphics were supposed to be a callback to 8-bit era games, but this game just seemed to miss the mark somehow. The music also does not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Controls just don't feel smooth and far too difficult to be worth the effort, which is a shame as the atmosphere of the game seems good. The tipping point was reaching a room where I needed to use the buddy in connection with some spikes and no idea what I was supposed to be doing so I quit and chose to refund.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have finally found another true metroidvania that values core concepts of the genre - nonlinearity, exploration, challenging boss fights and meaninfull revisiting of areas. I have again felt that strive at first, just like in Hollow knight, where you get to experencie growing more powerful as game progresess, when you stop surviving and start thriving
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I came so close to dropping Outbuddies after a few hours of playtime, but I am very happy that I didn't. The art is not great, nor is the movement, and to top it all off I got stuck in an awful loop of relatively obtuse progression & tedious backtracking after the first boss. The art and movement don't get any better, but what really sold me on this game was its exploration. This game has one of the most expansive and interesting world layouts of any metroidvania I've played. From the get go…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game has a great atmosphere - simmilar to Super Metroid. That's why I kept playing it for such a long time. But the traversal and tedious backtracking is just way to annoying, You dont get any health upgrades which leads to dying way to often, espacially when you want to go somewhere as quickley as possible. There is no way to know where a portal takes you.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Metroidvania Review [url=https://metroidvaniareview.com/2019/12/30/outbuddies/] Metroidvania Breakdown and Full Review | | [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/30503887/] Subscribe to our Curator How Metroidvania is it? High Fit - Outbuddies invokes the feel of Metroid, particularly with its atmosphere, but also with its progression design. Curator Review Local Co-op. An Exploration focused Metroid-like with some fascinating co-op features. Sequence…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I had been playing this Metroidvania game for quite some time, courtesy of backing it on KickStarter, and it has been quite the adventure thus far. With each build released from conversing with the developer prior to the official launch on Steam, the game has gotten better and better. Anyhow, in terms of gameplay, the inclusion of a Buddy to help the player scan their surroundings and hack enemies was quite useful in getting around the myriad rooms in the game, while the boss fights keep you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game. Big levels - check You can get lost and you will love it - check Hypnotic soundtrack - check On the fly tutorial - check Intuitive controls - check Nice Physics - check Little riddles - check No Pseudo-Plot to laugh about just a little story - check FInally a game worth its price - check The games colour-palette and the soundtrack make you feel like you getting the wettest grass ever :) -> hypnotic - check cons: The one and only I found (IMHO) is the map because of its…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I usually don't review games, but I felt the need to review this one because at the time of writing it has mixed reviews on Steam, so I wanted to help it get closer to positive. I will admit immediately that the early game felt rough: there were too many controls and the movement felt janky. Early game is one of the most important parts of the game to get right and this game's reception shows that, more often that not you lose a player early and never get them back. Run button also felt…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the game seemed like it would be great but what tied me up was the controls. its like too many inputs overwhelm the game and its a real damn shame because it made something that could of been amazing into a poor experience. i might revisit it to see if i can work around it but i wouldnt count on it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Outbuddies DX is not a terrible game if i could give it a neutral i would. The bossfights are good and the general gameplay is okay but there are so many things i don't like that i cannot recommend it. The game is extremly linear, most areas that you aren't supposed to go to are double and triple secured forcing you to find the 1 correct path that is available. I found one situation where you could skip a boss, i did 2 bosses in the reverse order according to steam achievements but that is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was looking forward to this game as I love metroidvanias but this one just irritated me to no end. The map design is really bad and the flow is terrible. The map itself has icons but there isn't even a legend to show what is what. Left stick controls the character as usual but in the map you navigate with the right stick instead. Speaking of controls, that's what hurts it the most- they're just clunky and unresponsive, especially wall jumping and jumping off ropes. Sometimes you'll grab it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →MetroidVania, interesting art style, dark underlying themes; sounded like a great combination.... but i wish I had stopped sooner to apply for a refund. Controls and movement feel sluggish - not great for platforming, but even worse for boss fights focusing on evasion. Bosses have a lot of HP, and you have a whopping 5 HP. (4 health and last hit is fatal). Slogged through the first two boss fights, and get to an underwater boss fight. Remember how I said movement feels sluggish? It's even…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Outbuddies is quite beautiful, but that's pretty much it. Map is very confusing to navigate and controls are just bad. You are forced to play as the "2nd player" a lot, which just feels super clunky. Bosses are frustratingly difficult and you are almost expected to read a strategy guide to beat them. The Wozan you are supposed to rescue feel uninspired and have no personality whatsoever. Stopped playing about halfway through, not worth the price.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried to get into this twice but it's just not a good game. The player movement is poorly implemented, the enemies are unsatisfying to fight, tons of things are just thrown at you immediately to explain how the game works instead of learning them through gameplay, and the art style is hideous. The buddy mechanic is poorly implemented and annoying. I'm also tired of hearing the same short music track on repeat for the 30+ minutes now.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cool Metroidvania with humor and well-implemented upgrade system. Not for the super-casual, but not the hardest game either. In active post-launch development by a dev that seems to really care about the game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Vast looping levels, very clever routes to avoid dead ends, strong weird-scifi atmosphere, minimal dialogue or lore. There are beautiful animations showing the cavernous ocean depth and its inhabitants. The movement is not as polished as some more popular titles in the genre, they need some learning, but they are far from clunky, handling well both the sea and land based exploration with fast and fluid movement. The games soft-saves in all rooms, but on exit only the hard-saves matter, so it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Extraordinarily underrated metroidvania. How this game hasn't blown up is beyond me. Its fun, its hard, and it has unique mechanics for the genre. I was blown away by it from the start. Play it!!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a pretty solid metroidvania - and it even has some co-op stuff to do ( not the way you might think ) The game offers a unique style - standard coloring and camera dynamically adjusting - and you can also use NES color palette - which is kinda neat, imo. You can also adjust the camera to always pan out, always pan in , or remain dynamic per room. You make your way through this underwater labyrinth of sorts, using your robo-buddy to help identify structural weak points for bombing, to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →OUTBUDDIES is a pretty interesting Metroidvania. It looks and feels like a old school Metroid game (Specifically Metroid 2 feels for me) But it has some great quality of life features like a pretty in depth map. Local Co-op only but it's totally fine single player. Come get lost in this world! Check out my first impressions gameplay video for OUTBUDDIES here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BuH6jzM-I0 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6764851-MabiVsGames/]For more game reviews and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Controls are bizarre and not fun. Too many weird input combos for basic moves like a long jump. A number of keys are hard coded and can't be mapped to inputs, so the result is a very clunky and unergonomic control scheme.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is completely underrated. It's a fantastic metroid-like game! And all this with splendid graphics from an indie team.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you want a truly non-linear adventure-platformer, look no further. No game is perfect but this is exactly what I was looking for and I can't recommend it enough. The power-ups are not entirely unique but the weapons and tools you gather are a solid evolution of the expected with some fun twists. The game is molded to the kit you build and the sunken city of Balan is the perfect playground. This is a game that is not afraid to kill you but it has a unique habit (for the genre) of simply…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one creative metroidvania that reels me in most with its multiplayer. My roommate and I had a good chuckle at the dialogue at the first boss, and the story and lore are pretty entertaining. The helper partner character who floats around with the protagonist is quite the highlight and you can tell the developers put a lot of thought into having him be more than just an additional shooting mechanism, as is the case with A Robot Named Fight, another cool metroidvania with multiplayer.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Short version: buy it! Outbuddies DX is a metroidvania that is true to the genre, it features everything that is a staple of the genre. Having played a lot (I mean a lot) of metroidvanias, this one is really a must on anyone’s game library. The game starts a bit slow and clunky, with very bad hinting of where to go after reaching the game’s main hub. However, after that initial attrition, the movement upgrades and the tight combat more than deliver on what’s staple of the genre. Highly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In a world full of metroidvania that's mostly castlevania, this one actually puts the metroid in it. Loving it and would recommend to anyone looking for a 2D metroid type experience
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →thought i get a kind of metroid clone, but the clunky controls ruined it for me. the map sucks too. movement and leveldesign seemed kindah weird to me after a while.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its basically Metroid, except with blander music and graphics/color schemes that are strangely reminiscent of an Action 52 game. Its decent but it could have been refined more to not look so samey. Boss difficulty could be toned down a bit, and no way in hell am I going to attempt the one hit death Boss Rush challenge. Its old school in ways youd rather forget (if you dont have godlike skill, forget about completing those acheivements) but at least when you die you can start right in the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →5/10 its got a sad local co-op kinda like mario galaxy, player 2 gets to be the star. super disappointed in that its an ok metroid clone for single player tho
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you can get past the weird controls and clunky robot telekinesis, you'll find an enjoyable metroidvania with great level design and some interesting ideas. The most unique idea is your robot buddy that is used to find hidden secrets, obtain cryptic information about stuff on the room, and hacking a handful of enemies for goodies. It can also be controlled by a second player, so your younger cousin or casually interested partner can join in on the fun. Beware, however, because there is an…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are so many things wrong with this metroidvania, but somehow I managed to beat it while still having fun. 📕Story: Adventurer Nikolay is seen as a madman by his peers for believing in a hidden city. He decides to prove them wrong and sets off aboard a flying ship. But disaster strikes when he flies into a storm that sinks his ship. He wakes up 36,000 feet under the ocean next to a robot and sets out to discover a way back to the surface. He soon finds himself in a sunken city where he…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty good! Good enough to play if you're into metroidvanias. It's unashamedly inspired by Super Metroid. It's got some neat abilities and uniquely 'heavy' physics. The only critiques are the sort of things that I can understand why they didn't fix after such a long development time - things like occasionally boring level design, unexpected drops into lava pits, not enough fast travel points, and one or two unintuitive boss fights. You can tell they put a lot of work into this game. In the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A hard Metroidvania with unique mechanics and tough bosses. At the beginning controls felt a bit stiff with so many different commands but after getting used to them it felt smooth and natural. Highly recommend a controller. Loved the map - the exploration is just fantastic. I was positively surprised by the difficulty of progressing at times. You can also proceed in multiple directions and reach items in different ways (even sequence break). Combat is solid from the beginning. All weapons…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a masterpiece. One of the top tier metroidvanias. -Some of the best boss fights I've ever played. Very original. -The movement system has some depth and takes time to perfect. -The world is daunting, and there are multiple ways to get through a lot of rooms. It takes some ingenuity and skill to move forward. -The art style is dope. -It's hard, and it's very rewarding when you start to get good.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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