Category: PC Gaming

Completed Outer Worlds.
The second DLC, Gorgon, feels so much like the starting location of the game that one of the characters makes a comment about it. The main revelation is that the marauders, which we meet across the system, aren’t just deranged humans, but they were created by Spacer’s Choice.

Unlike Murder on Eridanos which is very self-contained, this DLC does force you to go back and forth around the system a bit. But other than that, it’s rather… unremarkable.

All companion quests are mostly… non-consequential. Except Nyoka, maybe. But running around the system to help an asexual-lesbian with a date?

Honestly, I did expect some bigger guns. Maybe a minigun, or an antitank rifle? I ended up running with the same sniper rifle and LMG most of the game. And the only science weapon I found useful was the gun that makes enemy float Mass-Effect-like.

The final prisonbreak is nice, as if you helped different settlements, they come to your aid at different points in time on different levels of the panopticon.

There are no major final revelations. No, Phineas is not an alien, or The Devil. The only setup for the sequel, if one is to come, is the fact that the Earth hasn’t been communicating with the colony for 3 years, and that the last cruiser (one out of two) sent there disappeared.

And it’s nice that they put together a very thorough epilogue in the best traditions of Fallout. It does give a feeling of closure, and that it wasn’t for nothing.

I usually don’t bother with DLCs, by the time I get to them, I’m to tired of the game. But Outer Worlds gets the balance just right: not too difficult to become tiring or feel like grind, not too easy to become boring.

So, I went for “Murder on Eridanos” (clear reference to “Murder on the Nile”). Except Puerott didn’t carry a heavy machinegun with him everywhere. But at least many NPCs make jokes about that.
The new mechanic in the DLC is an investigation scope, which is a bit like Batman: Asylum series, but a scope.

The investigation takes place in a megahotel, which is full of people infested with make-happy parasites. Reminds very much of “We Happy Few”, up to the screams of “Laugh louder” when they try to club you to death.

You get ridiculous amounts of XP, but the enemies also become ridiculously tough, surviving 3 headshots from fully upgraded sniper rifle 🤪

Still impressed by the fact that upgrades change how every weapon looks. A lot of games don’t bother with that at all.

Obsidian sure knows their scifi. Quests here are named “Canid’s Cradle”, “Slaughterhouse Clive”, “Flowers for Sebastian” and “Stainless Steel Rat”
The good thing about loot autoleveling with you: you always find something useful down the path. The bad thing: you don’t have much reason to explore, because… you always find something better later on.

Funny how the locals on Monarch are like “who do we think we are, cannibals? That’s just corporate lies!”, and then there are literally at least two quests dedicated to… cannibals.

To distinguish itself from brown and green Fallout, I guess, Outer Worlds is all pink and orange.

The local version of VATS is slow-mo, not time-freeze, but it works fine as well.
Flaws system is interesting, since instead of being chosen at the start of the game, like Traits in Fallout, you get those as you go. Something like “Robophobia, -1 Dexterity when near robots, but +1 perk”.
Surprised that I did quests in the wrong order in the “toothpaste research” area, and the scientist I was about to rescue got eaten by raptors before I could do so. Forgot that timed quests existed.
There’s a quest chain to aquire unique prototype “science” weapons. The first one I’ve got is a hammer that switches between its elements with every strike. Then there’s also a shrinking pistol, which is a love-letter (or is it a love-pistol?) to the 50s sci-fi:

I can’t decide if it’s more of a New Vegas, Skyrim or Mass Effect. But it’s rather enjoyable nevertheless. Despite “moral choices” can be confusing at times, just like in New Vegas.
Compared to Borderlands, that has a very similar Wild West aesthetics and shooter mechanics, it has two advantages in my eyes. First, I don’t run out of ammunition nearly as often as in Borderlands. And second, the weapons aren’t a generated mess. Yes, you do have some better drops here and there, but overall, the arsenal is much more predictable, if a bit boring. You get your usual pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, and a LMG, much earlier than expected, I must admit.
I’m also glad that this is less of a “seamless world” and more of a set of well defined and contained areas. Again, more of an Mass Effect than New Vegas.