8.7/10 A definite WOW! on my scale.
Don't hesitate to try it out, award yourself with this self-love.

I have played hundreds of games during a time span of 22 years. (Thank my father, who grew up with a Commodore 64 and couldn't help but introduce a 5 y/o to video games!)
Too many of those games got boring rather quickly, but a lot of these I stuck with -- just to find out whether they got any more interesting along the way.
If it wasn't for my game development and design ambitions, I would've had to conclude that the extra time spent on those games was an utter waste. Truly unfortunate, because who does not love a good game as food for your brain.
In the past decade, only very few games brought me an experience of true pleasure and satisfaction. OUTWARD however, surprised me when I watched the game play trailer(while nullifying those tendrils of hope I had, to finally enjoy playing a game again) and surprised me a second time (SHOCKINGLY) while I caught myself smiling as I ran through a magnificent environment being in awe due to the breathtaking night sky. The fact that I was enjoying the bare necessity called "walking from A to B", gracefully WITH a smile -- is something less than a dozen games have achieved.

The essence of THIS game is pure joy and I am wondering whether I will ever feel this way again, while playing future new games. I am scared OUTWARD has gone above and beyond to push both my satisfaction ceiling and plateau to another level. For that I bow to you Nine Dots Studio, what an epic game!

If you enjoy deduction, psychological reasoning and outsmarting your fellow gamer (friends), THIS is the game you should dive into!
Do not expect the (at least) mildly provocative common sense, as you'll find out that varying personal agendas are what makes this game as fun as the awesome pixel art graphics and fitting atmospheric eargasm-inducing ambient music would suggest.

The community may still be small, but the content size is growing and so will the interest.
Much more is to be expected from this outside-of-the-box game design concept.