Mi Clos Studios’ survival roguelike Out There ($4.99) launched on iOS back in February of last year, and we thought it was simply wonderful. It was also extremely difficult and unforgiving, which turned a lot of people off. Later that year, a major update was announced dubbed “Omega Edition" which landed on iOS this past June and added lots of new content and revamped visuals. It was a glorious treat for current fans, but many still found the game too brutal to enjoy. Welp, in early September, Mi Clos announced a series of updates they had planned for Out There which they called Multiverse Updates. The first of these updates, subtitled Cemetery Gates, adds a massive new feature that people had been requesting but the developers had been resisting since the beginning: an Easy mode. After arriving on Steam a few weeks back, Multiverse Update 1: Cemetery Gates has just landed on iOS.

Now, I sort of get both sides of the “Easy mode" argument. Out There is tough as hell, and not only is it difficult under all the right circumstances, but there is a variety of things that can happen that are basically out of your own control that can end your game in an instant. You can play as carefully and strategically as possible and still lose because some random event ruined everything you had going. And that can suck, but it’s also the way things go when you’re trapped in the vastness of space and the likelihood of you surviving and finding your way back to Earth is basically zero. It also makes it that much more satisfying when you do beat the odds and finish the game.

Anyway, I think the main thing to consider is that Out There is a unique and special game, and a good portion of people weren’t experiencing it due to the difficulty. So this new Easy mode will at least let more people enjoy all the fantastic qualities of Out There, and that can only be a good thing. The Easy mode has its own dedicated leaderboard too, to keep things separated from the more hardcore players playing the original version. Besides Easy mode there’s also the new Cemetery Gates mode which allows you to come across your old ships from previous failed runs and loot them for resources and other helpful things.

If you’ve admired what Out There is all about but struggled to enjoy yourself due to the difficulty, check out this updated version and take a crack at Easy mode. This really is too fabulous of a game to miss out on, so I’m happy that more people will be able to experience it and enjoy it now.