The Outer Worlds is a bite-sized RPG that packs in a variety of flavour. Veteran developers Obsidian have used their experience to develop a brand new world packed with dark humour, corporate slogans, action, and intriguing storylines.
About
As mentioned above, The Outer Worlds is a Role-Playing Game that takes heavy inspiration from games such as Fallout and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
This is not surprising because this game is created by the developers of Fallout 3 and Knights of the Old Republic. However, Obsidian’s new title has enough features to differentiate from their former projects.
The Outer Worlds initially released on the 25th October 2019 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows. After receiving a lot of praise on release, the game earned a score of 85 on Metacritic (Xbox One). https://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-one/the-outer-worlds
Alongside the positive scores, the game received multiple nominations for a various awards. Moreover, it won some prestigious awards such as the Best Original Game at the Game Critic Awards, and Role-Playing Game of the Year at the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E Awards.
After the success of the launch, a Nintendo Switch version was published in July 2020.
Recently, a sequel to The Outer Worlds was announced at this year’s Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase.
Story
Your journey begins when a rogue scientist, Phineas Welles, attempts to save the citizens aboard The Hope. The Hope is a ship full of people from Earth who were meant to land in Halcyon. However, the voyage mysteriously never made it to the new colony, leaving those on the ship left in hibernation.
Although Dr Welles failed to rescue everyone on The Hope, he does manage to save you. After being rescued, you crash land in Halcyon with nothing. It is then your mission to explore the colony and figure out what is going on.
Along the way, you will encounter monsters, towns, dark secrets, and a lot of companies looking to employ you. The story also provides you with lots of choice as to how you approach each encounter. Some of these decisions will influence the ending to your story.
Overall, my playthrough lasted around 25 hours. This is relatively short for an RPG, but the game does have replay ability due to the depth found in the story. Every aspect of this game links back to the story, meaning that everything feels important, and the story’s pacing does not slow down.
Gameplay
For those who have played Bethesda titles like Fallout and Skyrim, the gameplay will feel remarkably familiar. Although, there will be some features that will provide a pleasant change.
The game adopts a lot of traditional RPG mechanics such as looting, a diverse combat system, and a detailed dialogue system. These systems are all fully customisable through skills and perks, allowing you to upgrade your character to your preferences.
This gives you the ability to tackle scenarios in a variety of ways. Whether you want to talk your way out or blast your way through, the choice is yours. It is important to note that every option is always available depending on the scenario, so it is advised to learn a few ways of getting out of a sticky situation.
Although these options allow for a custom experience, none of the options provide sufficient rewards for tackling the situations in a certain way. This makes it easy to use the same approach over and over and makes the more difficult approaches seem unnecessary.
A first person perspective is used for the duration of the game, putting you right in front of the action and allowing for an up-close look at your surroundings. However, the lack of third person can make it harder to know what lurks around the corner.
The combat system used resembles that of a simple first-person shooter, with the triggers used to attack and face buttons used for actions such as jumping and crouching. The unique aspect comes from the Tactical Time Dilation meter which allows you to slow down time for a brief moment.
Despite the simple nature of the combat, the variety of weapon types can create some unique ways of dispatching enemies. For example, using lasers weapons on mechanical foes will deal more damage.
Dialogue options provide a more peaceful option for players to take. Personally, this was my favourite approach during my playthrough. Not only does this avoid conflict but using dialogue can also lead to new information and in some cases side quests.
This game provides a lot of unique dialogue options for certain skills. The basic dialogue skills are persuade, intimidate, and lie. However, certain interactions will allow for more advanced options that relate to other skills such as science and intelligence.
When it comes to the user interface, the menus are a crucial element of navigating this game. The menu system has lots of details crammed into it, but the game does a good job explaining how each section works which results in the menus never feeling too overwhelming.
The simple gameplay makes this game an ideal starter game for those not familiar with these types of RPG’s. On the other hand, the variety and depth also makes it easy for RPG veterans to get stuck into gritty details.
Characters + Customisation
The depth and development of the characters is where this game truly excels. Whether it is your own character or the characters around you, the depth of each character makes this game feel truly immersive.
This is especially true with the companion characters found in Halcyon. Having companions with you in a game is not a new trait, but The Outer Worlds uses them in a way that feels innovative. Multiple companions can be found on your journey with each having their own backstory and quest revolved around their story.
Each companion has their own perspectives on life that influence their goals and attitudes. This is reflected within their abilities as they have their own skills that can be used to assist you throughout the game.
The companion quests include some of the best storylines in the game. However, these stories do not completely veer away from the main story. The outcomes of these quests link back to the main story, making them feel more important in the process.
Even though each character has their distinctions, you are allowed to customise the companions. This makes it possible to shape each companion in a way that would help your style. Perks, armour, and weapons can be applied to either compensate for companion weaknesses or to distinct them further from one another.
This type of depth and freedom for characters not controlled by the player is extremely rare. It is made abundantly clear that the companions are a crucial element of this game, and the experience is definitely weakened without their presence, which is an option that many may take up.
That said, this game does not forget one of the most important characters, you. There are lots of customisation options that players can use to make their character their own. Armour and weapons can be used to alter character appearances and styles whilst skills and perks can activate abilities that complement their playstyle.
Customisation options like this are always appreciated in RPG’s, but these elements are somewhat expected. One element that was not expected was the flaws system. This system provided players with the opportunity to accept a flaw in order to gain an extra perk.
These flaws are tailored to your playstyle instead of just appearing randomly. For example, if you take too much damage from acid, a flaw will appear that increases the damage received from acid attacks. I have never seen a system like this in a game before, but it was a welcomed introduction that I would like to see in future games.
The customisation and character development is a crucial element to The Outer Worlds, providing players with the options needed to play the game in whichever way they choose.
Visuals + Audio
Being based in a colony far from earth, it will come as no surprise that the game possesses a heavy galactic theme. It has been suggested that the game is heavily influenced by Firefly, a TV show that has a rather large following despite only being aired for a single season.
Both the visuals and audio follow traditional space themes. The visuals are full of bright colours and each area has a different terrain whilst the audio is filled with futuristic sound effects and orchestral tracks that have similarities to Star Wars and Star Trek.
Another theme that heavily influences the visuals and audio is the presence of corporate advertising and capitalism. Many of the locations are plastered with neon advertisements and jingles from the colonies biggest companies. These adverts are used to parody capitalism and add to the satire and dark humour found throughout the story of The Outer Worlds.
The aesthetics are pleasing and succeed in bolstering the themes of the game. However, the heavy outside influence makes the audio and visuals seem less impressive as a result.
My Experience
As someone who has played multiple RPG’s, I always look forward to immersing myself into a new world. This is something that The Outer Worlds was able to provide whilst using mechanics that felt familiar.
Fallout 4 is probably the game that I had played previously that is closest to this game. This made me a bit cautious because I did not finish Fallout 4. I initially enjoyed Fallout 4, but the story fell flat after a while, and I did not enjoy the gameplay.
Because of this, the shorter story of The Outer Worlds was a benefit at the beginning of my experience. The faster pacing hooked me into the story more than Fallout 4. After a few hours, it was obvious to me that I had to finish the story.
First person shooters are one my least favourite type of games. However, the combination with the story and open world elements made this less of a deterrent for me. I really enjoyed the dialogue and interactions in this game.
The variety offered in The Outer Worlds creates a truly custom experience that made me feel that my choices were justified and gave me an experience that would have differed from someone else’s.
As the story developed, I felt as I was becoming accustomed to the world and honing my skills ready for the latter stages of the story. Then all of the sudden, I found myself in the end game. The ending does feel rather abrupt and leaves you itching for more.
The shorter story is both a blessing and a curse. It allows for a well-written and detailed experience that does not drag on. On the other hand, it makes the game feel concise in a way that makes me feel that more could have been added.
Overall, it was an enjoyable game that has a great story. I would recommend giving this game a go.
Rating
My rating for The Outer Worlds is a 4 out of 5 Stars.
It provides a great story with lots of choice and interesting themes. If you’re a space fan like me, this is the game for you.
Where to Get It
The Outer Worlds is available on Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch platforms.
The game’s retail price is £49.99.
An expansion pass is also available for an extra £20.
Xbox Game Pass can download the original game for free, but would have to pay for any bonus content.
For more information, check out this link: https://outerworlds.obsidian.net/en
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