The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds is about labor issues: workers and their supervisors, supervisors and their managers, managers and their directors, directors and their owners. Boss fights are mostly just fights with people’s bosses. Worker reforms, right sizing, relocations, corporate loyalty--and the breaking down of those structures. The gameplay is fast, sometimes too fast. The art style is overly busy. The stories are pulpy and a couple of your companions are always worth talking to. Something tells me, though, that I will always be forgetting how good The Outer Worlds is.

The Outer Worlds is a disappointment – especially coming from Obsidian Entertainment. While it hits all the marks that an open-world, sci-fi RPG game should, it never innovates or generates interesting enough gameplay to make it a classic.

Quests are snappy, often hilarious and deeply addictive. It’s let down a little by some limp combat, sure - but it’s still the best western RPG I’ve played in a long time. It’s also the best game to fill that Bethesda-sized hole in your heart, I guarantee it.

In the forty plus hours that it took me to complete my first run on hard, the moment the credits finished rolling I immediately jumped back in to start another run and I am planning to attempt the more perma-death focused ‘Supernova’ difficulty for my time off at Christmas. There really is not downside to playing this game and it has all the making of the start of a fantastic series for Obsidian. Plus, if you have Xbox Game Pass you can play this right now, which alone is a very good reason to go play in this majestic sci-fi adventure. Play this now, you will not regret it.

With relevant and humorous commentary on corporate greed and bureaucracy underpinning this smaller scale but highly replayable new IP, The Outer Worlds excels as a Fallout-style RPG thanks to great writing, interesting choices and memorable characters.

The Outer Worlds is one of the most polished and best games of this type, undoubtedly helped by the smaller scope. Focusing and doubling down on the right areas while telling a story that often asks thought-provoking and difficult questions, the game provides a memorable time without overstaying its welcome.

Even if the game looks a little dated, the art style still offers gorgeous scenery to make this game shine. If you’re a fan of games like Fallout or The Elder Scrolls, then The Outer Worlds is definitely for you. Even if not, the Halcyon system is always welcoming new recruits to start their space cowboy journey.

Obsidian has created an instant classic with this game. The whole time I was playing I just wanted more and more from the game and it kept delivering. It’s truly a great game to simply enjoy for the sake of enjoying great content.