The Outer Worlds Review

In The Outer Worlds, you play a silent protagonist who was thawed from a suspended state found on a derelict ship. Everything from birth to death and procreation and in between has been filed away and ensconced in corporate policies. While the people make up a wide variety of characters in the game, the corporations themselves have lives of their own – including catchy corporate jingles. Yes, the Halcyon system has everything a good corporate drone or law-skirting smuggler could desire.

Your choice is such an important part of The Outer Worlds. From how you interact, to what you say, and where you go is entirely up to you. Want to turn in the man who thawed you out to the authorities for a handsome reward?  You can do that. Want to kill a major quest giver while your companion screams “Why are you doing this?” You can do that. Want to talk your way through some thugs and marauders instead of killing them? Well, you can try. Sometimes it works and sometimes not so much. Every time I enter a new settlement, I can hardly wait to talk to everyone and see what’s in store for me next.

The writing is really well done with dialogue options that go beyond the simple “get quest, finish quest”. You really learn and understand people’s motives; which drives them to take the actions they do. The more you talk, the more wondrous and bizarre your choices can be from lying, intimidating, persuading, charming, perceiving, to simply being honest. The writing can really show in the banter between your companions while planetside. I personally like one character for swagger and no-nonsense attitude for suffering fools.

While the combat may be the games’ weakest point, it is by no means pedestrian. There are 4 types of weapons that each use a type of ammo. Handguns use light ammo that is very plentiful but not as proficient in damage. Long guns that use heavy ammo, which could be a sniper rifle or a heavy machine gun. Lastly are plasma weapons that use energy cells like the plasma launcher or one of my favorites, the flamethrower.  There is one weapon type that is not necessarily tied to ammo and those are the science weapons. Weird and wonderful, science weapons are your unconventional, hard-to-find think pieces like the anti-gravity weapon that throws enemies into the air. Whichever weapon you use, you’ll likely want to switch around as different enemies call for different weapons or tactics. And of course, you can always use your time dilation skill (aka you slow time), it always works in a pinch.

The Outer Worlds Review Final Thoughts:

Overall, The Outer Worlds is a beautifully crafted world with fantastic writing to boot.  All RPG lovers should feel the call of this game and not just fans of Obsidian or Fallout. It’s like playing Firefly the game; space western trapped in a well-written game.

Related:
https://coin-op.tv/the-outer-worlds-preview-hands-on/