I am not exactly ready for Out and About. I don’t think Walking Simulator should be a mark for shame, especially when your game has many different features and mechanics. However, if all those mechanics make me sleepy, we need to reevaluate the situation.
Developed and published by Yaldi Games, Out and About is a cosy 3D foraging adventure with cooking mechanics.
There is only so much walking around and looking at plants within an interface that makes you want to rip your hair out that you can take. Out and About never took off in any direction worth feeling excited for. It is all talking to lifeless characters or interacting with or cooking random items found in the game.
Out and About for some WEED
The idea at play, in Out and About, is exploring and foraging. As a young adult on an escape from zombie concrete life, you walk around a large forest and a little village, talking to people, gathering and noting down new species of plants, and eventually cooking them for one reason or another.
Most NPCs in Out and about are interactable, but talk in a very dull and suggestive set of dialogues that more often than not feel off.
As for the foraging part, it is insufferably boring. You find with small amounts of knowledge on plants. You use that knowledge to look at and detect different types of plants on the floor. Every time you find something new, it is added to your catalogue.
Rinse and Repeat, the game is complete.
The UI for most things in this game is very annoying. Not hard to control. Just annoying.
The Foraging System
Foraging in games should never feel like homework. At its best, it’s about discovery, pacing, and the thrill of uncovering something new. Whether that means stumbling across a rare resource, making a split-second choice, or pushing deeper into the unknown.
What it should not be is sitting in front of a UI screen, squinting at nearly identical plants, and clicking through until the right answer appears. Systems like that don’t reward curiosity or risk; they just drain energy and attention.
When foraging is done right, it feels fast, intuitive, and layered with surprise. Games like survival sims or RPGs use foraging not only to feed crafting loops but also to create those tiny, exciting moments where your heart races after spotting something rare in the corner of your eye.
That’s the standard: make it quick and satisfying, or make it engaging with a sense of mystery and reward.
In Out and About, the foraging system misses both marks.
Instead of pulling players into a lively world of interaction, it reduces exploration to repetition.
Walking around, cataloguing dull plant assets, and dragging them into menus isn’t a system; it’s a chore. Foraging shouldn’t lull players to sleep. It should spark wonder.
Out and About with a Thought
Out and About feels like a game with good intentions buried under lifeless execution. It wants to be a relaxing escape, a place where you wander, forage, and connect with a slower pace of life. But instead of delivering that meditative calm, it slips into monotony. Every mechanic.
Whether walking, talking, or cooking, it leans toward dragging things out rather than giving players reasons to lean in.
The real tragedy is that the ingredients are all here: a beautiful setting, a core loop about exploration, and the promise of meaningful interaction. But nothing connects. Characters don’t inspire, foraging doesn’t excite, and the world feels more like a backdrop than a place worth inhabiting.
Walking simulators and slice-of-life adventures don’t need to be high-octane thrill rides to succeed. They just need to keep players curious and invested, moment to moment.
Out and About never finds that spark.
What should have been a thoughtful, cosy trek instead feels like wandering in circles, waiting for something interesting to happen. In the end, Out and About isn’t offensively bad. It’s just painfully dull. And in gaming, dull is the hardest sin to forgive.
