The Outer Worlds Review: Much More Than Fallout In Space
Minor Criticisms
Yet graphics aren’t everything. Sure it helps if your game looks amazing, but do you really care when playing the likes of New Vegas that the models are a bit janky when the gameplay is so good? Of course not, and it’s here where The Outer Worlds shines. Quests are varied and the amount of areas you can explore is vast.
The game isn’t open world in the same way that others might be, instead sending the player to levels that represent parts of a planet. This is good in the sense that it feels like you’re accomplishing a lot by unlocking new areas of a solar system, but the levels themselves can feel quite small, and as a result create some farcical moments.
For example, it takes the wind out of my sails a little when a quest that has me hunting down scientists who’ve gone missing after splicing genes with creatures in a “secret” lab when said facility is little more than 100 meters down the road. It makes the areas feel a lot smaller than I expected, and it’s hard to invest in some quests because the journey to get there is so short. Things aren’t helped by a tonne of load times between these small areas meaning that sometimes it can feel like you’re sprinting then grinding to a halt then sprinting again which drains some of the atmosphere.
As a final nitpick, the text on screen is relatively small meaning that you’re going to have to squint to read all the details of your new items and entry logs. I wonder if that will be a problem for those playing at a distance from their monitors and if so whether they are going to add in a slider to increase text size for those who struggle with reading.
Yet are these problems enough for me to disregard the game? Well I’m starting the game again with a new character after rolling through it once so you tell me. Creating a customised captain and growing out their skills in all manner of ways was an utter joy and after making a crackpot stealthy sniper I’m now running a tanky melee build without companions to create a completely different experience. I barely scratched the surface of the side quests with every one of the well acted populace almost brimming to the top with quests and tasks.
It’s a joy to level up your squad and sink points into buffing their gear, and it feels like a massive comedic road trip movie with a lot of surprises along the way. If you wanted this to be New Vegas but in space, then you’re on the right lines, but The Outer Worlds is so much more and I’m glad to see Obsidian putting real love into this title.
Rating: ★★★★☆