The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds is an RPG with an incredible amount of choices to make, to the extent that it can sometimes feel more like an adventure game. While it becomes more linear near the end, there are few games that give the player this much freedom of choice.

The Outer Worlds is Obsidian Entertainment’s magnum opus, an RPG with an enticing and multifaceted ruleset set in a dystopian capitalistic society. Its only flaws reside in the combat system and gunplay, but these are easily counterbalanced by the excellent writing and the many possibilities offered to the players. Let’s hope Obsidian will explore this setting further, possibly with a much needed sequel.

The Outer Worlds demands players put in the time and effort if they want the best it has to offer. It’s a fine game under any circumstances, but it’s a top-notch RPG with heavy consequences at almost every turn for those that are willing to immerse themselves. The Outer Worlds doesn’t tell you a story, it gives you a world full of interesting characters and asks you to tell your own.

The Outer Worlds is consistently compelling throughout, and it's a superb example of how to promote traditional RPG sensibilities in a sharp, modern experience.

Obsidian prove, once again, they know how to make a good RPG. Great story, fantastic world, important decisions and a lot of humor. If you like this genre, you cannot miss it.

The Outer Worlds is a typical Obsidian title, which guarantees a certain freedom of approach at all levels, trying to tell a good story too.

If you’re tired of waiting for new single-player adventures in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, head to the distant colonies — they have everything you wish for.

An excellent effort from Obsidian, and though The Outer Worlds doesn’t surpass its predecessors by offering a world worth visiting over and over, the adventure it presents is more than worth the time spent.

Obsidian could have easily fallen into the trap of creating a straight up Fallout clone, but the various planets in the Halcyon solar system and the types of quest available provides a good amount of variety, with excellent splashings of humour and moral dilemmas. It’s not breaking new ground, but it struts its stuff very well.

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.

With The Outer Worlds, Obsidian has found its own path in the space between Bethesda and BioWare's RPGs, and it’s a great one.

Usually, a planet has just one or two settlements and a bit of wildlands to explore. But that’s for the best – instead of exploring miles of filler content, Outer Worlds keeps you moving from planet to planet, from one tense situation to another. [Issue#241, p.34]

The Outer Worlds offers an RPG experience that brims with most of the qualities we could expect from its developers, based on their previous projects. It might not be the most ground-breaking or "deeply written" RPG of our times, but boy is it fun.

No, The Outer Worlds is by no means the biggest, most complex or epic RPG of recent years. But the latest coup from Obsidian Entertainment has its heart in the right place.

The Outer Worlds seems to be inspired by the Fallout series, but this brand new franchise can stand on its own two feet. With a complete universe full of memorable characters, interesting stories, beautiful environments and spicy choices, this is a wonderful game to lose yourself in.

Obsidian set out to make a Fallout game, but didn’t think we’d mind if they actually made it a Firefly game along the way. So now we have an anti-capitalist Firefly mired in labor issues but elevated by rapidfire gunplay, peppered with chuckles from a tryhard sense of humor.

The world may not remember it for years to come but here and now it’s worth giving it a chance – mostly because of the tragicomic atmosphere of the narrative, well fleshed out characters, and remarkable and funny dialogue. [13/2019, p.46]

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.

While it bears surface-level similarities to Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian's created a deeper and more meaningful role-playing experience in The Outer Worlds, though it can still be frustratingly old-fashioned in regards to combat and exploration.

Despite its refreshing setting and sharp dialogue, this is an almost retro-infused sci-fi adventure that relies heavily on mechanics established by Bethesdas Fallout games, while never reaching their depth nor scope. It's accessible, witty and great fun if you keep your expectations in check, even though the main story and some long-term decisions don't quite live up to their full potential.

I enjoyed the 40 hour ride through the The Outer Worlds, even though it was sometimes a bumpy one. Still, with the interesting world that was built here, it feels like there was left a lot of untapped potential on the road. Flaws similar to the Fallout series – namely a main story that is little more than a frame holding together the sandbox that the rest of the game is and correspondingly flat characters – prevent it from earning a place in the hall of fame of roleplaying-shooters next to Mass Effect.

In an alternate reality where modern Fallout retained the the focus on choice and role-playing, The Outer Worlds would be the result. Obsidian Entertainment delivers this small window into that alternate reality, a game that prizes picking the right skills to tackle weird and wild situations. The Outer Worlds shines in the writing, but the combat doesn't equally rise to the occasion. Likewise, the planets you visit could use a few more quests or interesting spots to explore. The Outer Worlds is still a fun romp though, something that will hopefully build to something bigger in the future.

There's a category of games I think of as Saturday morning cartoon games. They lack depth, but they are fluffy and easy to enjoy. As I look back on some screenshots as Pippin laser blasts a poor marauder into a pile of dust, I realise that's what The Outer Worlds is to me. If you meet it on those terms, I think you'll enjoy it.

Yes, The Outer Worlds has all that we wanted from the writers of Fallout New Vegas. But, while bringing that weird universe with a great liberty of actions, nice questing and a good amount of content (around 20 hours with replayability), the game fails to be à 2019 game. The companion system and the AI don't work quite well, and the global graphics and technical design are weak.

The problem with this isn't that it is a bad game (far from it), but the fact that it failed to reach its true potential… or maybe the expectations were simply too high, because there's nothing here that anyone can point to and say that it is terrible. Sadly, there's almost nothing that's great either, apart from the role-playing element and the quality of writing. The gunplay? Ok. The exploration? Decent. The plot? Fine. The dominant feeling here is of a game that is good enough so that you won't hate it, but also not as good for it to be the flawless classic that it could definitely be - but again, that's probably those darn high expectations speaking, because flaws or no flaws, The Outer Worlds shouldn't be missing from any RPG collection.

There is much to complain about The Outer Worlds - it is mediocre from a technical standpoint, has tons of outdated features and its story and companions are acceptable at best. Fortunately, Obsidian's new title is a well-made RPG - this is a game for those who enjoy being a nameless hero who either saves the world or destroys it without any reason whatsoever, wasting time on pointless side-quests just for the XP.

Obsidian’s RPG fulfills its potential, but only in fits and starts. Sure, its worst moments are only ever as bad as workmanlike RPG-making, but they make the stretches between some instances of genuine greatness a little more disappointing.

An enjoyable adventure, but one that hews a little too close to its FPS Fallout roots.