Outbound’s free Wildlife Update turns its open world into a field guide for 34 animal species

There is a kind of game design that asks you to slow down and pay attention — not to defeat a system, but to inhabit one. The “Say Cheese!” Wildlife Update for Outbound, the cozy open-world adventure from Dutch studio Square Glade Games, belongs to that tradition. It adds 34 animal species spread across the game’s four distinct biomes and hands the player a craftable camera, and in doing so it turns what was already a thoughtful game about place and motion into something closer to a field guide.

Customised orange and cream camper van parked on a dirt trail in a sunlit forest in Outbound — Image: Square Glade Games

The photography system is the spine of this update. At the new Wildlife Outpost in the first biome, players can download the blueprint for a craftable camera — a designed object, which means the act of looking has a material cost and a deliberate entry point. The camera arrives equipped with professional-grade controls: exposure and brightness, depth of field focus points, saturation, contrast and zoom. Point it at any of the 34 species roaming the world, frame the shot, and the animal is logged as “collected” in a new Wildlife Journal tab. The camera detects animals in view automatically, but composing a useful shot still requires your attention — which is, precisely, the design’s point.

A player-built wooden structure with greenhouse roof on a vehicle platform in Outbound autumn biome — Image: Square Glade Games

The update builds carefully around that central loop. Static binoculars, already placed at fixed points across the world, can now be used to scan distances before you have built or found a camera — a small change that turns decorative objects into scouting infrastructure. The building system gains a solid wooden foundation with a closed floor, available immediately in the build menu without a blueprint, which lowers the friction of setting up a stable base. The fishing interaction prompt now only appears while standing still, keeping the screen clean on walks through water. Kickstarter backers also get a nod: new backer-designed charms and animal-shaped plant pots are now available as in-world collectibles.

Outbound’s own arrival was notable. Square Glade Games — founded by developers Tobi and Marc, whose debut title Above Snakes sold over 60,000 copies in its first six months — built Outbound into one of Steam’s fifteen most-wishlisted games before launch, with a Kickstarter campaign that reflected genuine community belief in the premise. The core idea is deliberately uncomplicated: park your mobile home, build and craft, explore a stylised and low-stress world at your own pace. Following the earlier Fishing Update, the Wildlife Update is the second major free expansion, and it deepens the game’s design language in the same direction — observation, patience, the satisfaction of a world that rewards time spent looking.

The “Say Cheese!” Wildlife Update is available now on Steam and the Epic Games Store on PC, and on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 players can expect the update to follow shortly. Outbound is currently available at a twenty-per-cent discount on Steam, published by Silver Lining Interactive.

Tags: cozy games, open-world games, Outbound, Silver Lining Interactive, Square Glade Games