10 Things Nobody Wants To Admit About The Outer Worlds

8. The Pacing Is All Over The Place

The Outer Worlds, as enjoyable as it is, has such a weird flow. The central plot is all about your unfrozen hero trying to save the rest of the Hope's crew, but that quickly takes a back seat to shenanigans. It's always a presence, but it's clear the game is more interested in the conflicts between the different factions you come into contact with, and the majority of your time is spent getting a feel for each one, and then doing a bunch of missions for them.

The thing is though, each new world comes with their own characters and settlements. Consequently the game plays out in distinct chunks, where you land on a world, spend an hour or two exploring towns and talking to everyone, and then a bunch of hours venturing out to do the ten quests you just logged.

Consequently, you can go ages without shooting anything, and then even longer without talking to anyone. It's not a major problem, but it can make it feel as though you aren't progressing all that much. Likewise, it's difficult to know how far through the game you are because the main plot takes such a back seat.

The core components are great, but they're pieced together in a strange way.