Out and About Preview | Definitely Don't Eat That
I’m pretty much useless in the wild, so this will be a good learning opportunity for me. Either that or I’ll eat the first plant I find and immediately suffer the consequences. Who knows what the future brings?
Developer Yaldi Games has recently released their cozy foraging game Out and About into Early Access via Steam and I’ve gotten the chance to play the first couple of hours. In the game you play as a young person who is trying to rebuild your home after a storm blows through. In order to help you’ll need to learn how to identify plants, cook recipes, explore the world, help out your fellow townsfolk and more.
What’s really wonderful about the game is that each plant that you collect is a plant that you find in real life. There are over 100+ plants and fungi to discover like ramps, daisies, dandelions and more. In order to identify the plants, you must find them out in the wild and compare them to the plant cards that you have with you. From there, you bring them over to the identification table for one last double check before being able to use them for recipes.
Just like the plants, each recipe in the game can be used in real life as well. All 150+ recipes will have step-by-step instructions on how to make them at home. It’s a really unique way to get players even more invested in the game by giving them ways to apply real life skills in the wild. Though, of course, they do warn that the skills you learn in the game do not replace real-life wilderness skills, so don’t go out and start pulling random plants out of the ground and putting them in tea!
While Out and About feels a little bit empty at the start I have a feeling as the Early Access period continues, there will be loads more to do and discover. As of right now you can explore the world, meet many of its characters, make recipes and take place in the market which is used to help fund projects around town that can help rebuild what was destroyed during the storm.
Out and About is already adorable and I can’t wait to jump back in it during this Early Access period to see what changes are on the horizon. The team plans for Out and About to stay in Early Access for about one year as they add new seasons, plants, characters, friendship levels and chapters of the story. They will actually discuss the game with players on Discord, TikTok and Steam Discussion, so if you’d like to be a part of the final product be sure to head over there to join the discussion.
Out and About is available now on Steam Early Access for $17.99 with a 10% discount until August 25th. You can also check out the demo while you’re there if you want to see what the game is all about before diving into the Early Access build.