Despite recent studio-wide layoffs impacting Obsidian Entertainment, the developer's 2019 RPG, The Outer Worlds, is being recognized for its exceptional quality and considered by some a spiritual successor to the beloved Fallout: New Vegas. The game offers a focused experience, standing apart from the trend of increasingly open-ended RPGs.
Unlike the sprawling worlds of contemporaries like The Witcher 3 or Fallout 4, The Outer Worlds prioritizes a condensed playthrough of 20 to 30 hours. This design choice allows for a more tightly crafted narrative and a more vibrant, original setting. The game is set in the Halcyon system in 2355, where colonists are subjugated by a consortium of Earth-based megacorporations. The narrative kicks off when a lost colony ship, the Hope, is discovered, and a single passenger is revived by a revolutionary aiming to overthrow corporate rule.
The game's aesthetic blends Art Nouveau and Western influences with steampunk elements, creating a unique visual identity for each corporation and planet. This stylistic choice, coupled with a pervasive sense of irony, provides a compelling counterpoint to the harsh realities of corporate exploitation depicted in the story. This thematic depth, explored in other sci-fi works, is given an original spin in The Outer Worlds through its blend of tragedy and satire.
The focused narrative ensures that player choices carry significant weight. The story of the player character, the Stranger, feels more personal than those in larger RPGs, avoiding the need to engage in numerous side quests or explore every corner of the map. This directness contributes to a more impactful storytelling experience.
Furthermore, The Outer Worlds' non-player characters are a significant strength. The companions are deeply written, offering engaging banter and compelling personal quests. The game treats its companions with a level of respect rarely seen in the genre, allowing their stories to unfold as distinctly theirs rather than mere extensions of the player's journey. A notable example is the game's handling of romance, which is minimal and player-driven, exemplified by a quest where players can help the companion Parvati overcome her shyness to pursue a relationship with another character.
While the game's gameplay mechanics are acknowledged as somewhat basic and its enemy and weapon variety could be greater, these aspects are overshadowed by the strength of its world-building, story, and characters. The game's "flaws system," which offers additional character points in exchange for a permanent debuff, is highlighted as an organic and engaging gameplay mechanic. The weapons themselves are noted for their imaginative designs, some of which were inspired by gameplay bugs.
Despite potential criticisms of the sequel, The Outer Worlds 2, leaning too heavily into open-world design at the expense of narrative depth, the original game's success lies in its ability to deliver an immersive experience through its cohesive setting, story, and characters. Its shorter runtime is also viewed as a positive, allowing for exploration of different choices and endings without an overwhelming time commitment. The Outer Worlds stands as a testament to the fact that a compelling RPG experience does not require an endless open world, proving itself a worthy successor to the legacy of games like Fallout: New Vegas.