Monooboe Have you played any Piranha Bytes style games before? Like Gothic or Risen?
They are hard as hell at the start and you gradually become powerful, they do not hold your hand, running away or cheesing difficult encounters with Party NPCs is a valid tactic, cheese of all forms is a valid tactic, areas and goals can be surrounded by enemies that will 1-hit kill you and running for your life to get through them to a safe area is a valid tactic, they can be very obtuse with their puzzles and are slightly broken... but by the end of the game you are kicking ass all over the shop.
Elex has a slightly broken/not-explained skill system, a HUGE world, lots of dying, tons of things to do, satisfying exploration, lots of dying, 3 Factions you can choose to join each with their own style/character/outlook. I love it and if you liked Risen etc it's more of the same.
I don't know about Outward but i've been curious to try it.