After exploring a few places in the first region I decided to try my hand in Hallowed Marsh. It was one of two other regions I could have gone to next. I did not know which would have been better to take on.

It ended up being quite the little adventure just to make it to the region line for Hallowed Marsh. I ended up having quite a few fights and needing to recover in the tent. I also got lost a couple of times.

I had not yet been to some of the areas of the map to get a better sense of direction. Funny enough I was not even trying to get to Hallowed Marsh but a different region. A wrong turn led me to it instead.

While I could have just not taken it and attempted to work out where I was and what direction I needed to head for the region I thought I was heading to. I decided instead to check out the marsh instead.

Hallowed Marsh ended up being quite the nightmare. While the map itself did not look so bad. What is not so easy to recognize right away is the amount of deadens you can end up going down. Many places were like walking along a tree root to discover it was not the main branch and you had to head back and try again.

There was a marked main path to make it to one of the two cities on this map. Naturally, I did not use that to get around. Once I started to learn this map it would end up being my main way of trying to navigate this place.

The marsh water in this place also poisons you if you need to walk through it to get somewhere. Once I discovered that I made it a point to try and avoid walking into the water.

Speaking of water, it was a bit of a concern to find some clear water. Thankfully there were a couple of locations for it. In the other map I either had ocean or lake later that I'd just boil to make clean. Here I never did try and gather any toxic water to boil to see if that would make it clean enough to drink.

The creatures in this region were also quite more challenging. Each time I got killed I'd find myself in some random spot making it quite a challenge to try and navigate around this place.

At least one of the spots I ended up being at ended up having some iron nodes to mine. I even found myself a small sapphire that I'd later go on to use in the cave to unlock a door. I also noticed these things sell for a decent price as well.

One of the towns in this region ended up being filled with giants. Thankfully they did not try and kill me. They also did not want to talk much with me either. Before finding out I overstayed my welcome I got out of there.

I did adventure into some random locations on the map. Each time I was met with a swift death. It started to become more and more apparent that perhaps I was not ready for this region yet.

I decided for the rest of this playthrough I was not going to be returning to this region. It was bad enough that at one point I got killed somewhere in the middle of the map. I was then in some random rundown buildings and the chest that was holding my gear that was taken from me I could not find.

After more than enough deaths I headed back and rebuilt myself back up. By that time some caves and other locations had respawned. That is also when I used the gem I had found. Thankfully when you lose your gear it’s usually not much of a challenge to get your backpack back.

Final Thoughts

It is starting to feel like any attempt I make to take a step forward I get swiped and end up almost at the starting tile again. At least I have some farming routes now to attempt to rebuild myself.

I also managed to save up enough silver to buy my lighthouse back. Having a house with a storage chest has made things so much easier. Anytime now I have a huge loss I know I have some backup gear at the house.

I’m also starting to stockpile some basic crafting materials. Things like food are a bit harder to hold onto since it decays over time. I usually try and keep some potions, food, and gear in the chest as a backup.

At some point, I know I should get into making my potions. For now, I've just been saving any that I find in chests and off creatures. Having a place to store things now makes me want to go out and collect every mushroom and item I can off the ground. As I'll more than likely need them at some point.

I’m just hoping the next region I go into will not be as bad as the marsh was. I was expecting things to be a bit more challenging. I was just hoping I'd also stand a chance. It seems my gear level is just not there yet.

I’m also quite lacking in the skill department since those are expensive to buy off trainers. You also have to find trainers in different towns. Which will be another struggle. If I had enough silver this time around, I would have spent a decent chunk on trainers in the Hallowed Marsh region.

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Outward Definitive Edition.