The player
In Outward, you play as a character with the name and appearance of your choice. Your progression as a character is carried out through your decisions in Quests and the world, and through the Items and Skills you obtain.
Character story
Other than what is told to us through the dialogue at the beginning of Castaway and various characters in Cierzo, we know relatively little about ourselves. Most of our story is defined by our choices in Quests.
At the beginning of the game, we are told that we have lived in Cierzo all our life. We bear the heavy burden of a Blood Price placed on our family by our Grandmother, long ago. We are the only child of a hunter and huntress couple who were the keepers of the Cierzo lighthouse, which we are now the sole inhabitant of after their passing.
Most recently, we embarked on an expedition with our close friend Yzan Argenson and a group of several other Cierzo natives to Oroshi, hoping to claim enough bounty there to pay off our debts to the Tribe. Catastrophically, our ship hit rocks on the return voyage, and we lucky to escape with our lives at all.
Abilities
Other than basic movement, the player can Sprint, Dodge, Crouch and Block. As well as this, the player starts with 4 basic skills: Push Kick, Dagger Slash, Throw Lantern and Fire and Reload.
The player has an unarmed basic punch which deals 10 typeless damage (not Raw), 10 
Impact, and costs 5 
Stamina.
Additional abilities can be gained through Active Skills and Items.
Target lock
The player can lock on to a target by pressing the associated keybind, which forces the character's facing direction to stay on the target until either the lock is broken, or when turning sufficiently to the side to break the lock on. You can also switch the lock to a different target by turning towards them.
Attributes
The player has many attributes. There are three main vital attributes in Outward — 
Health, Stamina and 
Mana. The player also has Needs, which need to be maintained in order to thrive. As well as this, the player has various other attributes such as Stability, 
Movement Speed, etc.
The player can also gain Passive Skills which passively increase stats or grant other benefits.
Inventory
The player is limited in how many items they can carry in their inventory, and must make choices about which items to take, and which to leave behind.
Defeat Scenarios
The player is never truly defeated in Outward, they will simply pass out and wake up in a random scenario. This can be positive or negative - the player might receive help from a friendly passer-by, or they may be captured by Bandits and thrown in a prison. Being defeated will also move time forward by a reasonable amount.
Legacy
Legacy is a mechanic by which the player can inherit items from previous characters with the use of Legacy Chests.
When creating a new character, the player must select the "Legacy" option on the character creation menu, and choose which ancestor they want to inherit from.
Certain items will be upgraded when inherited on the legacy character.
Hardcore Mode
Hardcore Mode is an alternate gameplay mode, where players have a 20% chance of permanently dying when defeated. When a player permanently dies, they will see a unique defeat scenario screen, before their character is permanently deleted.
Players who choose to play in Hardcore Mode will be unable to play with non-Hardcore players, and vice versa.
Achievements
Achievements can be earned on all platforms, though they do not grant any in-game benefits.