My name is Walter. I like long walks through raptinoid infested caves and frolicking through fields full of acid spitting Mantiqueens. Officially I’m just a survivor from the abandoned colony ship, Hope. Unofficially, I’m a buccaneering space pirate, smuggling goods here and there, taking out bad guys and sparing not-so-bad guys from their vengeful former employers’ wrath.

Because of a lot of this pirating, I’m saving Halcyon from its corporate overlord, the Board. Most of my quests undermine the bureaucracy put in place. Without people like me, the settlements I come across would be a lot more subservient to them corporations than they already are. 

Did you know that most people in Halcyon work for companies under the Board umbrella? For decades, outside of outlaws, marauders and the two independent settlements, the Groundbreaker and MSI, everyone but citizens of Byzantium, home to the Board’s elite, are subject to indentured servitude? Healthcare is only provided to the company men and women who meet their daily quotas and stand above their peers in review. Not me though. I live on my ship, the Unreliable, with my ragtag crew of people who on the surface are on board for personal gain, all have a vested interested in helping me, their captain. Whether I want to play Mr. Nice Guy and save Halcyon from the Board’s yolk or live a cushier life as a company man, my crew is committed to the cause.

By Wyatt Meffert

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The Game:

Here’s how the Outerworld’s works.

Six crew members can join your adventures, but only two of them can venture outside of the ship with your character. Three’s plenty when it comes to squad-based combat and participation in dialogue. Doubt anyone would like to have eight people waiting to talk (myself, the whole crew and whomever we speak with for quest progression). Every crew member, also known as “companions,” has one unique ability that can be activated to unleash massive damage. They can all, besides one specific companion, equip any of the armor and weapons that you pick up.

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Speaking of picking up armor and weapons, your hero has a carrying capacity that can be buffed several ways – with strength you can decide to endow your hero with, armor mods, and with character perks earned every other level. The weight of consumable items, which Halcyon is covered in, can be halved in the perk system too. 

And for fighting, well, say you want to go ham on some baddies with your flamethrower and hammer, or maybe you just want to focus on using the flamethrower and some other ranged weapons, you can do that too. You can mix and match attributes and skill points to help enhance your play style. Or hell, you can focus on your character’s dialogue skills instead. Persuasion and intimidation go a long way in the dialogue between you and NPCs, as well as combat. As soon as you hit someone with a bullet or bat, they can cower in fear or flee. Guess a good intimidation score makes the bullets mighty more scary, or something.  

The point is, you lay how you want here, and see the game reward you for doing it.

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The Good:

As mentioned earlier, you can equip your hero with a silver tongue and talk your way out of any situation. Technically there is no talking your way out of a fight with a mantiqueen when on a quest to kill one, but you can certainly confuse and fear it with your charismatic bullets though. On the other hand, if you’re not much of a talker, you can be a fighter and complete the game, maybe not with the “best” or most diplomatic record, but saving countless lives nonetheless. How you win battles is up to you. The number of options and versatility in this game is much appreciated.

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Halcyon looks superb. The landscapes and character design gets two thumbs up. Sure, The Outer Worlds borrows a lot from Bethesda’s Fallout series, but it also stands apart in how colorful its landscapes and settlements’ buildings often are. Plus, there are some cool looking automechs and creatures you end up fighting.

The artdeco inspired architecture, load screens and advertisements (than ks to the Board) are all easy on the eye, especially when there is humor included in the ads. About the humor; that’s another thing the game has an abundance of. Companions and other NPCs always had something funny to say. Whether it was my crew members arguing or complimenting another, other NPCs complaining about their day or how you inconvenienced them by making them look bad under the Board’s watchful eyes, humor was well delivered and timed.

And thankfully, Ammo is not hard to come by. None of the resources are and I liked not having to micromanage things like ammo, lockpicks and health items. There are multiple endings too, which will likely draw me back to the game down the road. Its re-playability gives The Outer Worlds even more value than it already has in one focused, well-explored play through.

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The Mixed:

While the dialogue was great and helped drive the game forward, keeping my attention for dozens of hours, the game relied too heavily on it. There were moments in the game where I wanted a positive outcome for a faction or settlement, and the only way I could achieve that outcome was with capped or near-capped persuasion. As amusing as everyone’s dialogue can be, sometimes I would have preferred the <Attack> option and to not worry about a future side quest being kept from me. To some that’s a good thing; the game keeping one on their toes and making them carefully decide what to do during a pivotal moment. Sometimes I don’t have the patience for that though, especially when there is a faction or NPC I don’t care for.

The Bad:

I know the Outerworlds is not Uncharted or Spiderman, but I’d like to at least latch onto rocks and ledges that the hero just slides or bumps off when a jump isn’t well executed. Consequently, movement feels dated. During stealth sequences, the AI seemed dumb, and would stand where they were when first alerted to my presence, staring blankly at my last spotted location, then continue their scripted route after five or so seconds. When it came to being chased or followed by unfriendly (but not hostile) NPCs, they would run up to me because I dropped a disguise or stayed in their view for too long. Then I could persuade, intimidate or bribe them into letting me go. I could meet them a couple more times without leaving the area and could talk them down or pay them to go away. Overall, Outerworlds’, AI was not good, and it often pulled me out of the otherwise great world presented.

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The Verdict:

The Outer Worlds is a beautiful sci-fi RPG with characters that borrow visuals from an older period on Earth and have their own quirks and ways of life that make Halcyon believable and immersive. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys sci-fi RPGs, unless they do not care at all for dialogue, because that’s this game’s focus and where it really shines. It helps the game rise above what is sometimes less-than-optimal gameplay. Outer Worlds is a good game overall, but I hope Obsidian gives us either a sequel or another story-rich RPG that includes some quality of life improvements, like better interactions between the hero and their terrain. Better AI would help too.

The Outer Worlds is available now on the Microsoft Store, or through Epic. Outer Worlds is included in Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, and owners of that will get the game for free via the online store.