Cozy co-op crafting game with Stardew Valley and The Sims vibes obliterates Kickstarter with 8x its funding goals - now there's fishing, a dog, and a character editor

Outbound, a Kickstarter-funded survival simulation game blending The Sims and Stardew Valley, lets players escape dystopian office life and embark on a campervan adventure, crafting, farming, and building a life off-grid in a near-future utopia. With successful stretch goals, the game will include fishing, beekeeping, character customization, and a dog companion.

Outbound promises that you can escape your dystopian capitalist office job and venture out on your campervan without life-ruining repercussions. That's a fantasy lots of people apparently share, because the survival simulation game is absolutely blowing through its Kickstarter stretch goals. 

Outbound is the upcoming open-world crafty-cozy game that's borrowing from The Sims and Stardew Valley to live "sustainably off-grid." Set in a near-future utopia, Outbound has you scavenging, building, farming, driving, decorating, and then upgrading both the inside and outside of your cute campervan either alone or in up to four-player co-op.

Our little mobile living space begins as a cramped, one-room box that can barely fit a single bed, but you can eventually unfold the roof to reveal an entire base that pops out, which is where The Sim-ish interior design kicks in.

Developer Square Glad Games launched its Kickstarter campaign on August 13, and over the last month over 5,000 backers pledged more than €265,000 (about $293,000). That final number means Square Glad raised almost nine times the amount they initially needed to, making Outbound a roaring crowdfunded success.

Backers also blew through every single stretch goal over the last few weeks. The extra cash means that Square Glade will now add a fishing minigame, camping-related outdoor decorations like a bonfire, an entire beekeeping colony-management system, a full-fledged character editor, and a doggy companion to help us carry junk across the map. You can check out all the extra features coming to Outbound on its Kickstarter page. 

What a list! Still 8 hours to go and we unlocked ALL of the stretch goals. THANK YOU!!! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/3ePRuCklkPSeptember 12, 2024

There's no release date just yet, but the developers are expecting it to be ready for PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PS5 sometime in 2026. Who knows? There might even be a Nintendo Switch 2 out by then.

Check out all the video game release dates coming up.