There we are; finally the update we've been waiting a freakin' age for! On the Microsoft game reveal event for some reason... (What sort of weird deal does Microsoft and Obsidian have going on?) Even though 'The Outer Worlds' launched at the tail end of last year it still made a huge splash. (And I'm still going to write up thoughts on the game soon, I promise.) People raved about the title, calling it the return to old school Action RPG's that we've been missing since the downfall of Fallout. And you know what, they're right. The game was every bit the magic Obsidian touch that all of us loved so much. And so it was in that light that an important question was asked; "where's the DLC? I know it's in the works, gimme the damn DLC!". And after months of silence, finally here's something to sink out teeth into, should we please.
'Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon' promises to give us even more of that Outer Worlds goodness we all loved whilst giving us a unique situation we haven't been in before in the game. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The trailer for the 'Peril on Gorgon' actually hit some rather reminiscent notes coming from a studio as storied as Obsidian. It was themed around that 50's sci-fi-pulp style that reminded me of the original 'Old World Blues' trailer which has a similar style to it and thus remains one of my favourite bits of writing in the fallout franchise ever. ("Get your brain back!") Unfortunately, we didn't actually see much of what the DLC was about, just saw an overview of the landspace and not really a whole lot stood out as "That's brand new, I want to see that!" But not all is for naught because The Outer Worlds team did, actually, go into much more detail in person.
This DLC will be set to take place on the asteroid of Gorgon, a place which, lo-and-behold, was a former science station that fell into disrepair. (Is any institution in the Halcyon colony not in disrepair?) This little bit of story content is being made to slot neatly into the main campaign, and is said to contain about as much content as Monarch did for the main game. (Which was easily the biggest planet in Outer Worlds, so that bodes well.) Of course, as with any DLC for a game like these there are the standard things you'd expect; as in an increased Level Cap, new weapons and armour, and a few new skills, but seeing as how the gameplay was never really the shining point of Outer Worlds (Nor the fashion. Definitely not the fashion.) I'm pretty much take or it leave it in this regard. No, what I really want to know about is whether or not the story has any heft to it, and lucky for me, I think that it might.
From what sparse details there are to go on, we've been told that this DLC will involve an investigative dive into a Spacer's Choice facility in search of the secret behind adrena-time and why this product was cancelled by the higher brass. It's a concept that leans into my favourite aspects of Outer Worlds, conspiracy and uncovering corporate secrets, calling back to that classic 'Deus Ex' feeling that I crave for so dearly. As the place is said to be defunct we can probably expect a lot of the story to be told through terminals and the environment, and some of the NPCs in the trailer to fill our the world, although i'll bet there's going to be some wild Scientist left over to provide that slight antagonistic hook. As much as I'd love a story deftly told with no NPCs, there's too many folk out there who are convinced that 'No voice acting' means 'taking the easy way out' and will get all upset. (Personally, I like the kind of quests where you drive your own narrative)
If I were to compare this with any of Obsidian's past work, I'll admit I'm getting pretty strong 'Dead Money' vibes from 'Fallout: New Vegas', which works perfect for me. That was a story about an old world casino that was said to be flush with gold and was set to be the newest wonder of the modern world before the bombs fell and claimed it beneath a toxic cloud. That is, admittedly, more of an NPC driven affair; with the protagonist being kidnapped and forced to work alongside a bunch of iffy co-conspirators in order to break into the casino-vault, but the majority of the playstyle was spent in brooding isolation as you picked through the remains of a dead resort and pieced it's mysterious narrative together. And yes, one might point out that this was the aesthetic of Fallout at the time, but I don't think that means Outer Worlds can't learn from its older brother.
That being said, I'd be lying if I didn't say that this premise failed to capture the same level of 'pizzazz' as anything that I can remember from Obsidian's past. It's not a deadly delve into a toxic casino occupied only by ghosts and Ghosts. It's not a journey inside the weird and bizarre extremities of science unchecked. It's not a climatic culmination of a subtly told meta-storyline. It's not- actually 'Honest Hearts' kinda sucked- I say this DLC sounds about on the same level as that. I'm not seeing any grand narrative in work here, or exciting experience unlike any we've seen from the base game, this just feels like the team is playing it safe. (Which is also my takeaway from the full game, but I'll get to that in another blog.) What's more exciting is their DLC coming next year which promises to give players a shot at solving a murder mystery. Maybe that would be more up my alley.
If I were to cast my eye of wild speculation at this DLC and what secrets it might still be hiding; I hope that the team of the Unreliable actually have a part to play in this beyond being the player's bodyguards. What would be ideal in my eyes would be a little bit of a micro Citadel-DLC set-up; wherein the moment you land your team would go their separate ways and you can meet up with to help with their individual cases over the asteroid. I think with that sort of design there could be opportunity to mount short stories with the companions we love as well as flesh out those who really didn't go anywhere in the maingame. (>cough< Felix >cough<) But that's only applicable if Obsidian are looking at this as an opportunity to fix the issues with the maingame, and I'm still not entirely sure if that's the case.
Long story short, I'm down for more Outer Worlds any day of the week and Peril on Gorgon is pretty much already in my library; but if I weren't already sold by the mere concept of an Obsidian DLC, I wouldn't be signing off just yet. There's just little to nothing that makes me sit up and pay attention, making this feel more like an update to a tired MMO than a brand new offering from one of my favourite RPG companies still in business and good repute. Of course, like always, I'm ready and willing to be astronomically off-base with this assessment, and for Peril on Gorgon to blow me away with either it's gameplay, locale or sheer brazen narrative risktaking. But I'm not feeling it right now, so it would be one heck of a surprise if it did. (Finger's crossed on this one.)
No comments:
Post a Comment