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THE OUTER WORLDS (XONE)
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Publisher: Private Division.
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment. Released: October 2019. Genre: WRPG. Other versions: PC; PS4; SWI. Posted 11th June 2020. By Shane Battams © 2020 |
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After cutting their teeth on a number of increasingly successful role-playing games, settling financial hardships with crowdfunding and having recently been acquired by Microsoft, The Outer Worlds marks perhaps one of the strongest efforts from Obsidian. It’s a stupendously engaging RPG that deftly blends an engrossing world, a thoroughly tractable experience and effective, dark humour with excellent results. With plenty of polish this time around, it makes Bethesda’s competing series’ pale in comparison. If you have any interest in western-RPGs, The Outer Worlds is simply a must-buy.
Awakening from deep-sleep, the hero of the piece finds a world shaped by powerful mega-corporations, who have come to run colonies and terraform planets. As you explore this incongruous society, a multitude of characters and factions appear, often allowing for a great deal of freedom in how you react and shape their perception of you. The main thread is engaging, with Phineas the mad scientist serving as a likeable guide through these worlds and some interesting twists along the way. The excitement comes from how you can manipulate factions and characters, changing the outcome of quests and offering incentive to play through again. The moral ambiguity of these decisions adds to the intrigue, with the lack of a clear-cut, good/bad karma system making key choices less obvious.
As you'd expect from Obsidian, The Outer Worlds is a deep, satisfying WRPG with tonnes to see and do
Thrust into the world of Halcyon, The Outer Worlds lets you mould your character with different builds. You can put points into combat proficiency, speech bonuses and scientific skills. Each aspect feels well thought out, with mechanics that propel these systems. Combat, allowing you to utilise melee or guns, works well with smooth shooting and decent blunt weapon combat. You can also use a workbench to add elemental damage, improve stats and tinker to add more damage. Stealth is good too, with clear line of sight and lockpicking allowing you to bypass some conflicts. Or, as you approach key NPCs, you can talk your way out of a situation, relying on either your charm, threats or lies. This freedom of growth allows you to enjoy the game in a myriad of ways, whether you talk yourself out of a fight, sneak by using hacking, or complete a mission with brute force.
Speaking of which, along with a series of main quests, The Outer Worlds offers dozens of side missions along the way. These are divvied into several categories, which focus on Factions, companions and tasks. While the latter often boils to simplistic collection quests, the other two are deep, layered missions which often offer multiple conclusions. Companion Quests vary in length, but offer a cool insight to the handful of characters you recruit along the way. These companions are quite customisable too, allowing you to equip weapons and armour, set their attack pattern and even dismiss them if you feel inclined. There’s a ton of ways to change, mould and experiment during your time with The Outer Worlds, and it feels remarkably deep. Taking in all the sights can easily amount to 40 hours of gameplay, and seeing the different outcomes definitely welcomes more playthroughs.
Speaking of which, along with a series of main quests, The Outer Worlds offers dozens of side missions along the way. These are divvied into several categories, which focus on Factions, companions and tasks. While the latter often boils to simplistic collection quests, the other two are deep, layered missions which often offer multiple conclusions. Companion Quests vary in length, but offer a cool insight to the handful of characters you recruit along the way. These companions are quite customisable too, allowing you to equip weapons and armour, set their attack pattern and even dismiss them if you feel inclined. There’s a ton of ways to change, mould and experiment during your time with The Outer Worlds, and it feels remarkably deep. Taking in all the sights can easily amount to 40 hours of gameplay, and seeing the different outcomes definitely welcomes more playthroughs.
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You can see The Outer Worlds’ influences pretty quickly, as from the first-person perspective to the malleable mission design, it feels similar to Fallout. But it would be a disservice to write it off as a mere clone. Tactical Time Dilation, a sort of substitute to VATS, slows down time and allows you to pinpoint damage, be it to the head or groin, and inflict status effects during this mode. It feels less restrictive, and offers satisfying kills nonetheless. Flaws are an interesting element, where repeated exposure to negative effects can result in an offer from the corporations, usually giving skill points at a disadvantage, such as a phobia of machines. This can bite you in the long run, where unpredictable encounters will reduce your effectiveness, and it’s quite clever. There’s also Science Weapons, a slew of outlandish artillery which includes Shrink Rays and Mind-Control Beams, and though finding them can be a drawn-out process, it proves worthwhile.
Obsidian have crafted a polished, varied world. As you navigate between different planets, these locales range from the impoverished Edgewater town to the moon-like Scylla, every locale feels densely packed with life and unique quirks, as governing corporations influence them. The Outer Worlds isn’t always the best-looking game, with texture pop-ins, odd lip-syncing and performance issues dampening the game, but the distinct style of alien planets meshed with 50s propaganda works, and it’s far more polished than some of Obsidian’s previous games, such as New Vegas. The sound is even better, with superb voice acting that helps bring the dense script to life and keep it engaging, potent and memorable effects such as the jingles which accompany branded vending machines and a darkly comic sense of humour, parodying corporate culture, entitlement and advertising, with poor NPCs being forced to recite canned lines from these corporations.
Obsidian have crafted a polished, varied world. As you navigate between different planets, these locales range from the impoverished Edgewater town to the moon-like Scylla, every locale feels densely packed with life and unique quirks, as governing corporations influence them. The Outer Worlds isn’t always the best-looking game, with texture pop-ins, odd lip-syncing and performance issues dampening the game, but the distinct style of alien planets meshed with 50s propaganda works, and it’s far more polished than some of Obsidian’s previous games, such as New Vegas. The sound is even better, with superb voice acting that helps bring the dense script to life and keep it engaging, potent and memorable effects such as the jingles which accompany branded vending machines and a darkly comic sense of humour, parodying corporate culture, entitlement and advertising, with poor NPCs being forced to recite canned lines from these corporations.
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The Outer Worlds is a rich, deep RPG that supersedes its inspirations in a myriad of ways. From the engrossing world, flexible mission design and refined mechanics, Obsidian really knocked it out the park this time. Whether you’re smooth-talking your way out of a fight, blasting hostiles into bloody chunks or sneaking through while picking clean anything in sight, it’s just thoroughly enjoyable. While the dense scope and minor technical flaws may turn some players off, and devout fans of the genre may find some aspects derivative, most will enjoy a superb role-playing game that warrants multiple playthroughs.
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VERDICT
"...an engrossing world, flexible mission design and refined mechanics. Devout WRPG fans may find aspects derivative, but most will enjoy a superb role-playing game that warrants multiple playthroughs." OVERALL: 9/10 |