Outbound Guide 2026: Van Builds, Co-op, and Biomes

This outbound guide hub covers Square Glade Games' Outbound: a full 1.0 van-life co-op that landed May 11, 2026. An indie studio that funded its Kickstarter in under two hours and accumulated over 1 million Steam wishlists before launch. The pitch: one electric camper van, up to four players, no combat, no enemies, and a set of decisions about weight and energy that make every build choice matter.

The game is a full 1.0 release. 85% positive on the public demo from 50,000 testers. A 7.8/10 review score. It works for what it is: the question this outbound guide answers is how to make it work well.

This outbound guide is organized by the decisions you'll actually face: what to build first, how to manage energy, how to split roles in co-op, and where to position the van. Use the section links to navigate to what you need, or start from the top if this is your first session.

Key takeaways

What every outbound guide needs to establish before anything else:

• 1 to 4 players share one electric camper van; all decisions are collective
• Van weight governs everything: every module added slows the van and drains the battery faster
• Three energy sources: solar, wind, water: mixing two is standard practice
• Blueprint offers at signal towers are player-specific, which creates natural co-op specialization
• No combat, no enemies; tension comes from energy and resource management
• Full 1.0 release at $25; all major platforms including Switch
• Review score: 7.8/10

---

What is Outbound?

The short version before this outbound guide covers the mechanics: Outbound is built around a shared mobile home that creates friction. One van, one battery, one weight budget. Every decision (whether to add a workstation, take a mountain route, or linger in a biome for materials) affects everyone.

Square Glade designed the co-op around that shared constraint. Most co-op games let players diverge into independent roles that rarely intersect. In Outbound, four players share the same physical space, the same resource pool, and the same battery meter. Someone decides to add a heavy workstation. Everyone pays the handling cost.

The no-combat design is deliberate. Outbound's pressure comes from the energy system and the weight of your choices, not from enemies. That framing is what determines whether the game is for you: if you want combat, look elsewhere. If you want a game where the group has to agree on priorities and manage consequences together, Outbound does that well.

The Outbound launch feature covers what shipped in the May 11 build: the full van customization system, co-op infrastructure, and how Square Glade structured the exploration loop.

The Outbound launch feature has the pre-launch timeline, including why the game moved its PC/Xbox release from May 14 to May 11 (short answer: Subnautica 2 announced early access on the original date).

• Outbound Launch Feature: Day-One Build and What to Expect) why the launch moved from May 14 to May 11, what shipped in the day-one build, and Square Glade's post-launch roadmap.

---

The van build: modules, weight, and stage priorities

This outbound guide section on van builds starts with the most important concept: the weight-mobility relationship. Every module added to the van serves a function. Every module also adds weight. Weight raises battery drain and slows handling on rough terrain. The van that can do everything moves like a tank in mountain biomes and runs dry before reaching the next signal tower.

The practical consequence: you're always under-building compared to what you want. The outbound guide recommendation is to think in stages rather than building to full spec immediately.

Stage 1: mobility first. Prioritize energy sources over workstations. A van that moves well and recharges consistently lets you reach more signal towers, which expands the blueprint pool. Workstations you can't carry don't help.

Stage 2 (single workstation. The first workstation defines your early progression path. Pick one that matches your biome) if you're in coastal terrain, processing marine materials makes sense. If you're in forest, wood-based crafting. Don't add a second workstation until Stage 1 energy is stable.

Stage 3: storage and secondary systems. Storage is overlooked in early builds. Materials you can't carry are materials you leave behind. Adding storage before secondary workstations is usually more efficient per weight unit.

The blueprint randomization system at signal towers creates natural build divergence in co-op. Each player at a signal tower draws different blueprint offers. This means two groups running the same route will get different builds. It also means co-op groups need to communicate about which player takes which offer: don't let everyone grab the same category independently.

GODEEPER: Module order, weight budgets by stage, and how solo builds differ from 4-player configurations. Outbound Van Build Guide →

---

Energy management: solar, wind, and water

Energy is the resource you never stop managing. The van runs on a shared battery. The battery drains when you're moving, when workstations are active, and when multiple players use power-hungry modules simultaneously. It recharges from whichever energy source you've built.

Three sources are available. This outbound guide covers each:

Solar panels deliver the highest sustained output in open terrain. Plains and coastal biomes are solar-friendly. Forest canopy blocks sunlight and reduces solar output significantly. Night travel on solar-only drops your effective range considerably.

Wind turbines produce consistent output in stormy or overcast conditions when solar falls. Useful in transition biomes and mountain terrain where weather is unpredictable. The output is lower than peak solar but more reliable when solar is suppressed.

Water wheels require proximity to a river or stream. They produce steady power regardless of weather or time of day, but they pin you to a specific location while active. The outbound guide use case: park near a river to recharge fully before a long mountain crossing.

Running two source types is standard. Full solar works until it doesn't: you hit a dense forest or a storm, and you're managing battery drain on an empty terrain slot. Two sources cover each other's failure conditions.

Battery conservation matters as much as generation. Workstations running simultaneously drain faster than sequential use. In co-op, having a dedicated energy monitor (someone who watches the battery level and calls warnings before it's critical) is worth losing one gathering slot.

Energy planning is where this outbound guide saves most first-time players the most time. The common failure: build a second workstation before getting a second energy source, then wonder why the battery dies on every mountain crossing. Lock in two energy sources before you add your second workstation: that sequencing prevents the majority of energy crises.

• Outbound Energy Guide (Solar, Wind, and Battery Setup) full pairing logic per biome, the sequencing rule that prevents most battery crises, and the co-op energy monitor role.

---

Co-op roles and party setup

Every outbound guide for co-op eventually addresses the same failure: players pile into a session, pick jobs informally, and end up with three gatherers and no one managing the van. The materials stack up. The workstations are idle. The battery drops at a signal tower. This outbound guide gives you the conversation to have before that happens.

The role split that prevents this has four positions: two gatherers, one builder, and one scout. This isn't a game mechanic: it's a coordination layer you impose before the session starts.

Gatherers (2 players) collect materials from the active biome. They track weight limits, call when bags are full, and communicate what they're finding so the builder can evaluate workstation priority. Two gatherers working the same zone process roughly twice as fast as one, which keeps the pipeline moving.

Builder (1 player) monitors the van: battery level, weight budget, workstation queues, and blueprint decisions at signal towers. This player has the final say on module additions. When the group hits a signal tower, the builder compares everyone's blueprint offers and decides what gets built first.

Scout (1 player) ranges ahead on the map: identifying biome transitions, flagging signal tower locations, and evaluating route options before the van commits to them. Mountain crossings that look short on the map can be long on battery. The scout calls these before, not during.

At 3 players, drop one gatherer and split gathering between the remaining two. At 2 players, builder and scout roles merge into one: whoever isn't gathering handles van management and route planning. Solo play is fully supported but requires switching between all roles yourself; the energy monitoring task is hardest to maintain solo.

Four players at a signal tower: the point where blueprint decisions require the group to communicate or risk duplicate upgrades.

The Outbound co-op guide covers the full role breakdown with co-op party sizes, battery drain patterns under multi-player workstation use, and blueprint comparison strategy at signal towers. It's the next read after this outbound guide if you're playing with a group.

GODEEPER: Step-by-step role assignment, battery drain patterns, and blueprint coordination for 2- and 4-player groups. Outbound Co-op Guide →

---

Outbound guide: biomes and base locations

Where you park determines your energy budget, material access, and route difficulty. This outbound guide covers the major biomes and what each one offers:

Plains: the best starting biome for most groups. Open terrain means strong solar output, flat ground keeps battery drain low on transit, and signal towers are visible from a distance. The material density is lower than forest or coastal, but the energy advantage covers it early.

Coastal (high material density and strong solar access. The shoreline materials include some of the better early-game resources for processing. Wind also functions well at coastal edges. The route from coastal terrain into inland biomes often involves elevation) plan the battery budget before committing.

Forest: shelter from weather events, which matters in late-game biomes where storms are more frequent. Solar output is suppressed under the canopy, which makes forest a bad starting biome but a viable shelter choice during severe weather. Wood-based materials are dense here.

Mountain (difficult terrain, high battery drain on transit, and unpredictable weather. Mountain biomes are progression gates, not base locations. Plan crossings from full charge with the van at minimum weight. This outbound guide covers mountain crossings in detail in the van build section) the short version is never cross with a heavy load and less than 80% charge.

Parking near signal towers is more important than biome optimization in the first few hours. The blueprint pool unlocked by signal towers scales your capability faster than material farming. This outbound guide's opening advice: find the first signal tower in your starting biome before choosing a base location.

One thing most outbound guides miss: weather events don't happen on a fixed schedule: they scale with how far into the map you've traveled. Your first biome will be calmer than your third or fourth. Plan energy source diversity before you push into new territory, not after a storm reminds you that solar panels output nothing at night in a rainstorm.

The Outbound best base locations guide ranks locations within each biome, covering specific spots that combine energy source access with signal tower proximity and shelter from weather events.

---

Outbound guide: signal towers and the blueprint system

Signal towers are the primary progression mechanism in Outbound. Each tower unlocks a pool of blueprints available to the player who activates it. The key mechanic: blueprint offers are player-specific in co-op, not shared. Two players at the same tower see different options. This creates natural specialization without assigning roles: one player might see workstation blueprints while another sees energy source upgrades. Communication about what each player is seeing is what separates coordinated groups from ones that end up doubling up on identical modules.

The blueprint randomization has a weight system. Common module types (basic storage, standard solar panel) appear more frequently than specialized modules (secondary processing stations, advanced battery upgrades). Early signal towers in plains and coastal biomes skew toward the common tier. Mountain and forest biomes have later towers that offer higher-tier blueprints not available at starting-zone towers.

Optimal signal tower routing for new groups: don't commit to a base location until you've found the first tower in your starting biome. The tower unlocks modules that determine what you can build, and knowing what's available before settling on a van configuration saves a rebuild later. This outbound guide's advice on sequencing: tower first, then base location, then module additions: in that order every session.

Signal tower density varies by biome. Plains biomes have the highest density of towers per square kilometer, which is another reason they're the recommended starting biome: more blueprint offers earlier means a wider module pool before you hit terrain that demands specific energy solutions.

---

Outbound guide: the animal companion system

Most first-time players don't find the animal companion system until the second or third session, and some miss it entirely. Animal companions are optional additions to the van that provide passive benefits: resource detection, weather prediction, or battery drain reduction on specific terrain types.

Each companion requires a specific module slot: the companion habitat takes van weight. The trade-off is real: a companion habitat weighs the van down while providing benefits that are invisible to players who don't know what to look for. Players who understand the companion system often rate it as one of Outbound's better design touches. Players who encounter it without context see it as wasted weight capacity.

The resource detection companion is the most practically useful early: it marks nearby material deposits on your map display while the van is parked. This replaces some of the manual scouting that gatherers do in co-op, freeing a player to focus on collection rather than searching. The weather prediction companion provides advance notice of incoming storms: valuable in forest and mountain biomes where solar drops suddenly and wind turbines need to be prepared. The battery efficiency companion reduces drain on steep grades, which directly extends effective mountain crossing range.

For solo play, the resource detection companion is almost always worth the weight: you're doing your own scouting anyway, and anything that reduces the time cost of finding materials compounds across a full session. For 4-player co-op with a dedicated scout, the weather prediction companion is usually more valuable because the scout already handles resource locations.

---

All Outbound guides

Every outbound guide on this site, organized by what you need:

Getting started:

• Outbound Launch Feature 2026: what shipped in the May 11 build, co-op infrastructure, and solo vs co-op differences.
• Outbound Tips: First Hours, Van Setup, and Energy Guide: van weight limits, energy source priority, signal towers, and the animal companion system in your first session.

Van building:

• Outbound Van Build Guide (Module Order and Weight Budget) which modules to build first, weight budgets per stage, and how solo builds differ from 4-player configurations.

Co-op:

• Outbound Co-op Guide: Roles, Energy, and Van Builds: 4-player role split, shared battery management, and blueprint coordination at signal towers.

Exploration:

• Outbound Best Base Locations: Where to Park Your Van: biome rankings by energy output and material density, with signal tower proximity factored in.

Review:

• Outbound Review: Van Life Co-op That Actually Delivers: 7.8/10. The weight-mobility tradeoff and shared van design work; solo play is functional but co-op is the intended mode.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Outbound and who made it? Outbound is an open-world co-op exploration game from Square Glade Games, published by Square Glade Games. It launched May 11, 2026 on PC and Xbox Series X|S, with PS5 and Switch versions following May 14. The game supports 1 to 4 players sharing one electric camper van as a mobile base. It has no combat: tension comes from energy management and the weight of every module you add.

How does the Outbound van build work? You customize a shared electric camper van by adding modules found at signal towers. Each module serves a function: workstations, storage, energy sources, crops: but every addition increases the van's weight, which raises battery drain and slows handling on rough terrain. The weight-mobility tradeoff is the core decision in every build. This outbound guide recommends energy and storage first, specialized workstations second.

What is the best Outbound co-op setup? For 4 players, assign 2 gatherers, 1 builder, and 1 scout. This splits the progression cycle evenly without creating bottlenecks. The builder manages weight budgets and blueprint offers at signal towers. The scout identifies safe routes and biome transitions ahead. Swap roles every few sessions to prevent burnout on any single task.

How does energy management work in Outbound? Outbound uses three energy sources: solar panels, wind turbines, and water wheels. Solar provides the most output in open terrain, wind handles stormy or overcast conditions, and water wheels work on riverbanks. Each source takes up module weight. Having two source types is the standard recommendation: full solar works in plains but fails in dense forest or at night.

Is Outbound worth buying? Outbound scored 7.8/10 in review. The van build system and energy management are well-designed, and the shared decision-making in co-op is genuinely satisfying. It's better with 2+ players: the weight-mobility decisions that define the game are more interesting when four people disagree about them. Solo play is supported but the shared van systems create friction for one player doing all roles.

What platforms is Outbound on? Outbound is available on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. PC and Xbox launched May 11, 2026; PS5 and Switch launched May 14. The game costs $25.

References

• Outbound on Steam: official store page, patch notes, Square Glade Games
• Square Glade Games: studio behind Outbound; Kickstarter campaign and dev updates
• r/Outbound_Game: community discussion, build sharing, biome exploration reports

Related Reading

For the build decisions in depth, module priority order, weight budget tracking, and how co-op groups should coordinate blueprint selections at signal towers, the Outbound Van Build Guide covers all of it. That's the next step after this outbound guide if you're optimizing your build. For co-op party setup from the first session, the Outbound Co-op Guide is the reference with specific role assignments by player count and battery management tips. If you're still deciding whether to buy, the Outbound Review covers the full 1.0 state, that's the companion read to this outbound guide for players who want the full picture before purchasing.