10 Things Nobody Wants To Admit About The Outer Worlds

10. Dialogue Checks Haven't Evolved Since 2008

The Outer Worlds
Private Division

On one hand, the fact that The Outer Worlds features robust dialogue checks at all is a good thing. Being able to pump XP into Lie, Persuade and Intimidate skills and having more than one way to bluff your way through quests and open new dialogue trees is satisfying, and adds to the classic RPG structure that Fallout and Mass Effect moved away from.

However, it's very much a classic system to a fault. For the most part, these prompts only serve to skip conventional gameplay and progress the game quicker, with the only input from the player being how much time they've put into upgrading specific skills.

It can be satisfying, but using a dialogue check rarely opens up new gameplay possibilities. Instead, they replace parts of quests entirely. Choosing the dialogue option is the gameplay.

This is how it worked back in 2008 with Fallout 3 and even before that. It's nice to see it back at all, but there should have been more evolution after over a decade.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.