Remember; whatever happens out here, it's your fault.
I created this punny title months ago with the intention of doing an in-depth analysis of the, then newly released, Outer Worlds trailer. Yet for whatever reason, apathy or lethargy, I never got around to covering it. I just couldn't justify the reviewing of a trailer for a title that I just couldn't get myself excited for. Now I don't need to, as the game is out and I have been playing it practically non stop since release. As such this blog has evolved from a analysis to an early impressions. So let's impress. (Wait...)
Firstly, you might be wondering; "What would bring you to pre-order and binge a game that you have stated, multiple times in fact, does not interest you?" Well a couple of factors have played into that, one of which being the realization that I had been treating the game unfairly and judging it for what it wasn't instead of what it was. (An easy mistake to make as an amateur pundit.) More influential to my decision, however, were the actions of their closet competitor. I know that the folks at Obsidian would be the first one's to talk about their positive working relationship with Bethesda, but that doesn't shake the fact that an immersion-specific 50's-esque action RPG automatically sets itself in direct competition with Bethesda's Fallout. With that in mind, it should hardly be surprising to read that Bethesda's blunderous decisions of late have driven me, not just to keep my money far away from them, but to redirect that money to Obsidian's pockets. Call it my little form of protest.
On the bright side, this means that I have been able to jump into The Outer Worlds fresh faced and ready. With that unlaboured perspective, I could become concerned about the versatility of combat without becoming clouded my uninformed preconceptions. To be clear, I played the game on the highest difficulty below Supernova (For reasons I'll explain later) and what I found was that the beginning areas were actually incredibly easy to breeze through. Luckily, my experiences with the later game has proved that things can start to escalate, I even had to start employing rudimentary tactics against these darn Mantiqueens. So perhaps that particular concern is unfounded, I suppose I'll find out as I continue through.
Besides from my concerns with combat, The Outer Worlds has significantly surprised me as being an action RPG game that takes it's RPG routes to heart more than any other example of the genre. What I mean by this, is often you'll find that 'Action RPG's' tend to ditch a lot of traditional RPG mechanics in order to streamline the gameplay. Your player character may be susceptible to a few negative status effects, but the bulk load is meant for enemies. You may have put all of your points into offensive stats, but you still posses the ability to perform a basic set of rolls and dodges. As you can likely deduce from be bringing this up in the first place, The Outer Worlds dances to it's own tune in this regard. You will find your self juggling with status effects, threating over which limb you need to cripple on what enemy to make it through this fight, or just discovering how basic gameplay features need to be unlocked to be enjoyed. (It took until hour 10 for me to realize that companion abilities are locked behind you having 20 points in leadership.)
They take this to the extreme with Supernova difficulty, which is meant to be a stand in for a 'survival mode'. And before you moan, I would like to remind you that Obsidian were the one's responsible for implementing New Vegas' survival mode, which is the industry gold standard for such modes. In Supernova, you are much more susceptible to debuffs and must maintain your food and sleep in order to shake some of them. However, sleep is limited to only being possible on your own ship, meaning one has to be tactical with their mission choices. Likewise, you can only manually save the game on your ship and are beholden to limited autosaves whilst off your ship, making the prospect of dying all the more tense. Honestly, I would have jumped into this mode off-the-bat if it wasn't for the saving restriction. I needed to ensure that I knew the game inside and out before I committed to something like that.
I do owe this game, and the Devs, an apology for one conclusion that I came to during the promotional period of this game. Namely, that this seemed like a cheap imitation of Borderlands in it's humor and setting. Admittedly, I don't think the game put it's best foot forward with that first trailer, but it's hard to convey the dry wit that the writing champions without explicit context, so I'll forgive them for that. As to the setting of the game, this was one assumption that I was completely off-base on. Borderlands' world is defined by chaos, and even though they joke about the ruling hand of the corporations over people's lives, it never feels like a concept driven to it's extreme. The Outer Worlds' one the otherhand, absolutely does drive that concept to it's extreme, by having the entire Halcyon colony be literally ruled by the different companies who bought the system. In this world, every aspect of your life is corporate mandated or shaped through targeted commercialism, making life there a bureaucratic nightmare. It is a fascinating concept that could so easily be squandered if the writing team lacked the talent of Obsidian's. Everytime you come across a terminal entry with cooperate spiel that you feel tempted to skim through (As you would in a Fallout game) you always give it a look through and get a wry smile out of the subtle jokes here and there.
All of these aspects come together to form a game that was quite unlike what I was expecting. In the beginning, I though we would be getting a Fallout-esque game. Indeed, many of the impressions that you scroll past on the Internet right now will, rather lazily, title themselves 'Fallout in Space.' (The Dark Souls of review titles, one might say.) What I found, however, was something more akin to Firefly in tone and a traditional Bioware game in content. The slight tactical edge to combat, the communication/quest based friendships with your companions, the heavy 'RPG' edge, all of this makes me think that this is what Bioware could have been if they hadn't sold their creative soul to EA.
That is all I have to say about The Outer Worlds presently, I intend to only start a full review once I've beasted through on Supernova, so don't expect anything soon. I am enjoying the game a lot right now, and believe that it has the potential to become a favourite depending on how the story and gameplay plays out as I get further on. I will say, however, that I'm concerned as to how much legs this concept has. I know Obsidian have talked about The Outer Worlds potentially starting a new franchise, but the whole 'space cowboys versus the cooperations' thing doesn't really feel like it invites a slew of new stories. I'm just not sure that the game's universe is large enough to support a franchise. Then again, one could have said the same for the first Fallout game, and that series went on for twenty years before Bethesda murdered it. I suppose we shall see how things play out for Obsidian in the future, and if this game is successful enough to warrant a sequel.
Firstly, you might be wondering; "What would bring you to pre-order and binge a game that you have stated, multiple times in fact, does not interest you?" Well a couple of factors have played into that, one of which being the realization that I had been treating the game unfairly and judging it for what it wasn't instead of what it was. (An easy mistake to make as an amateur pundit.) More influential to my decision, however, were the actions of their closet competitor. I know that the folks at Obsidian would be the first one's to talk about their positive working relationship with Bethesda, but that doesn't shake the fact that an immersion-specific 50's-esque action RPG automatically sets itself in direct competition with Bethesda's Fallout. With that in mind, it should hardly be surprising to read that Bethesda's blunderous decisions of late have driven me, not just to keep my money far away from them, but to redirect that money to Obsidian's pockets. Call it my little form of protest.
On the bright side, this means that I have been able to jump into The Outer Worlds fresh faced and ready. With that unlaboured perspective, I could become concerned about the versatility of combat without becoming clouded my uninformed preconceptions. To be clear, I played the game on the highest difficulty below Supernova (For reasons I'll explain later) and what I found was that the beginning areas were actually incredibly easy to breeze through. Luckily, my experiences with the later game has proved that things can start to escalate, I even had to start employing rudimentary tactics against these darn Mantiqueens. So perhaps that particular concern is unfounded, I suppose I'll find out as I continue through.
Besides from my concerns with combat, The Outer Worlds has significantly surprised me as being an action RPG game that takes it's RPG routes to heart more than any other example of the genre. What I mean by this, is often you'll find that 'Action RPG's' tend to ditch a lot of traditional RPG mechanics in order to streamline the gameplay. Your player character may be susceptible to a few negative status effects, but the bulk load is meant for enemies. You may have put all of your points into offensive stats, but you still posses the ability to perform a basic set of rolls and dodges. As you can likely deduce from be bringing this up in the first place, The Outer Worlds dances to it's own tune in this regard. You will find your self juggling with status effects, threating over which limb you need to cripple on what enemy to make it through this fight, or just discovering how basic gameplay features need to be unlocked to be enjoyed. (It took until hour 10 for me to realize that companion abilities are locked behind you having 20 points in leadership.)
They take this to the extreme with Supernova difficulty, which is meant to be a stand in for a 'survival mode'. And before you moan, I would like to remind you that Obsidian were the one's responsible for implementing New Vegas' survival mode, which is the industry gold standard for such modes. In Supernova, you are much more susceptible to debuffs and must maintain your food and sleep in order to shake some of them. However, sleep is limited to only being possible on your own ship, meaning one has to be tactical with their mission choices. Likewise, you can only manually save the game on your ship and are beholden to limited autosaves whilst off your ship, making the prospect of dying all the more tense. Honestly, I would have jumped into this mode off-the-bat if it wasn't for the saving restriction. I needed to ensure that I knew the game inside and out before I committed to something like that.
I do owe this game, and the Devs, an apology for one conclusion that I came to during the promotional period of this game. Namely, that this seemed like a cheap imitation of Borderlands in it's humor and setting. Admittedly, I don't think the game put it's best foot forward with that first trailer, but it's hard to convey the dry wit that the writing champions without explicit context, so I'll forgive them for that. As to the setting of the game, this was one assumption that I was completely off-base on. Borderlands' world is defined by chaos, and even though they joke about the ruling hand of the corporations over people's lives, it never feels like a concept driven to it's extreme. The Outer Worlds' one the otherhand, absolutely does drive that concept to it's extreme, by having the entire Halcyon colony be literally ruled by the different companies who bought the system. In this world, every aspect of your life is corporate mandated or shaped through targeted commercialism, making life there a bureaucratic nightmare. It is a fascinating concept that could so easily be squandered if the writing team lacked the talent of Obsidian's. Everytime you come across a terminal entry with cooperate spiel that you feel tempted to skim through (As you would in a Fallout game) you always give it a look through and get a wry smile out of the subtle jokes here and there.
That is all I have to say about The Outer Worlds presently, I intend to only start a full review once I've beasted through on Supernova, so don't expect anything soon. I am enjoying the game a lot right now, and believe that it has the potential to become a favourite depending on how the story and gameplay plays out as I get further on. I will say, however, that I'm concerned as to how much legs this concept has. I know Obsidian have talked about The Outer Worlds potentially starting a new franchise, but the whole 'space cowboys versus the cooperations' thing doesn't really feel like it invites a slew of new stories. I'm just not sure that the game's universe is large enough to support a franchise. Then again, one could have said the same for the first Fallout game, and that series went on for twenty years before Bethesda murdered it. I suppose we shall see how things play out for Obsidian in the future, and if this game is successful enough to warrant a sequel.
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