Outlive 25 Wants To Relive The Glory Days Of RTS Alongside Its Community As It Paves A Way Into The Future

The classic RTS (real-time strategy) title Outlive is coming back in 2025 with Outlive 25 , produced by Continuum Entertainment, the original developers of the 2000 game. Back in 2000, the Brazilian title was a success, so much so that Take-Two Interactive acquired its publishing rights for the United States and Europe. Outlive takes place in a dystopian future where humanity and robots clash while fighting over natural resources, which extends beyond Earth's boundaries and moves onto other celestial bodies in the Solar System. This classic RTS game has returned.

Outlive 25 will bring back the gameplay provided by the original title in 2000, renewed for modern technology and enhanced for its players. As such, players will be able to engage in the traditional Human or Robot campaigns, or even create their own scenarios, alone or in a multiplayer mode, with this remastered version. Players can expect better graphics and sound quality, but more may be in store for the game. During Gamescom LATAM, Screen Rant had the chance to sit down with Rodrigo Dal'Asta and Rafael Dolzan, Continuum Entertainment's co-founders, to learn more about Outlive 25 .

Why Outlive Is Coming Back After 25 Years & What's Changing With It

The Core Game Experience Should Remain Untouched

What prompted the game's return after 25 years was the community's ongoing requests. According to Dolzan, technology evolved over time, and the original game became unplayable – one of the reasons he mentions is that it ran on DirectX 9, a software that is no longer compatible with current-gen machines. " Our community asked us to make Outlive work once again, to bring back its multiplayer features, too, because the server doesn't work either. [...] So the main idea is to bring the game back, fully operational. " Of course, this will also result in a series of changes to the game.

" Among them are the graphic enhancements. Back in 2000, the graphics were compacted, so our goal here is to bring the game with its full graphic fidelity, without compacting archives, " explains Dolzan. Aside from the graphic and audio updates to match 2025's standards, Continuum intends to work alongside the community to continuously enhance Outlive 25 . Dal'Asta mentions that feedback will play a pivotal role in the development. " We plan on having a beta test, but the idea is to listen to the community and understand what's important for current RTS fans, who have played these games over these 25 years. "

He also mentions that being able to attend to classic RTS fans from the 2000s and newer players is one of the main goals with Outlive 25 , so all feedback is welcome . This is expected to be an ongoing process, leading up to the game's release and extending beyond it. Echoing Dolzan, Dal'Asta says that " we also want to implement a ranking system and focus on Outlive 25's competitive aspect. We haven't seen any ranking system the way we imagine it, so the idea is to develop something unique for our game. "

How Modern RTS Games Are Influencing The Outlive 25 Remaster

Continuum Bets On Classic RTS Fans For The Remaster's Success

Over the past 25 years, many different RTS games have been released, significantly changing the genre's landscape. Titles like Starcraft II: Wings Of Liberty , Company Of Heroes , and the newer Age of Empires have augmented the genre's status, and that has been taken into consideration. According to Dal'Asta, " these RTS games have reached their peak, and the genre, subsequently, has hit a comfort zone. So, traditional RTS games have been left aside for some time. Seeing this, we understood that Outlive aged well: it looks like a modern-day RTS. Of course, some small adjustments are needed. "

With these adjustments, such as some tweaks to the user interface, Dal'Asta believes that it should attend to current demands from the public that are begging for more traditionally rooted RTS titles. " I believe Outlive 25 will meet those demands. " Comparing the current gaming market to 25 years ago, a lot has changed. Budgets, development processes, distribution, and even marketing have been approached differently by Continuum Entertainment for the remaster. " Today, we have remote work, and there is better access to tools. For the original Outlive, we developed our own engine to create the game, " says Dolzan.

" Although we had Take-Two as a publisher, we still encountered difficulties. Sometimes we'd hear stories of a person telling their friend to buy Outlive, and when they searched for it in retailers, they wouldn't find it. Outlive 25 will be on Steam and on Nuuvem [the remaster's publisher] . It's a completely different reality, and we're sure this will help Outlive 25 to reach new heights. " Dal'Asta complements the thought: " Even with the community, communication was tough. They had to write e-mails, fill out forms. Today we have social media, other tools that can help us quickly understand our community. "

Outlive 25's Main Theme, The Rapid Ascension Of AI, & The Future Of The Franchise

Continuum Entertainment States That The Remaster Is Only The Start

Fear of the rapid ascension of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has long been a theme in sci-fi scenarios, from Blade Runner to The Terminator . In the early 2000s, Outlive explored that theme, which still seemed to be further in the future, but over the past few years, AI-based tools have been thriving and evolving at an alarming rate. " I think we've always known something this would happen, we just didn't know when it would start and at what pace it would evolve . So, the game serves as an inadvertent alert to the possible problems that may emerge from that, " comments Dal'Asta.

He also mentions that " at the same time, the new game will also have a larger connection with its public. Players will understand the story being told in Outlive 25 a lot more instead of having to draw up an entire tale of fiction. " Dolzan complements the idea, saying that " beyond the matters of Artificial Intelligence, climate crisis, and resource scarcity, Outlive also talks about genetic modifications, something that has evolved a lot since 2000 . These things were always under our noses, but they evolved drastically. It's a concern we've always had, and that's present in Outlive. "

While the game's theme may resonate even more with modern audiences, Continuum bets on Outlive 25 's overall structure and the community's help to push the franchise forward. " Outlive 25 is the first step in the franchise's return. We chose this remaster because it's the quickest way of introducing it to new players and attending to those who played it in 2000. However, the idea is that the Outlive universe will continue to expand and evolve with the aid of the community" , explains Dal'Asta.

For now, Outlive 25 does not have a release date, but it is set to arrive later this year on PC via Steam – the developers mentioned they are ready to port the game to consoles, though Continuum Entertainment's main goal at the moment is completing the PC release.

Screen Rant 's attendance at Gamescom LATAM was sponsored by Abragames.