NPC casualties caused by the sticky RT on Phil Iwaniuk’s controller: three
The Outer Worlds
CORPORATE CLASHES, SCI-FI THRILLS... LET’S CALL IT ‘STARBUCKS WARS’ PHIL IWANIUK
PUBLISHER PRIVATE DIVISION / DEVELOPER OBSIDIAN ENTERTAINMENT / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £49.99/$59.99
So by the time you’re unfrozen from
lengthy cryostasis by an enjoyable Doc
Brown analogue, humanity’s tacit in a
kind of comfortable slavery to a group
of ten companies which control the
universe. In other words, no, life isn’t
better in The Outer Worlds’ vision of
inhabited space, either.Spoilt for choice
How violent and unpleasant it is
largely comes down to your decisions.
This is an Obsidian game, after all: the
studio that made you fret over water
supplies and suppressed vaccines in
Knights Of The Old Republic II always
presents morally murky divergent
paths, perpetually refusing to make
you feel particularly good about any
one of them. So it goes here: whether
you elect the path of violence or
painstaking do-goodery via extensive
fetch quests and talking yourself out
of fights using charisma, there’s an
atmosphere that the fight’s already
lost in The Outer Worlds.Space. It offers
humanity the chance
to wipe that greasy
slate of corruption,
environmental
damage and
inequality clean and start again in
fresh, exotic climes, and yet it so
rarely works out that way, doesn’t it?
No Man’s Sky: a universe of planets
named after sexual swearwords. Elite
Dangerous: a one-to-one replica of
our milky way featuring nothing but
things that shoot you on sight. The
Outer Worlds: well, it’s complicated.
You see, corporations have been
given free reign to exploit both
resources and workforces and have
long since overthrown the traditional
bodies of government as a result.
So when the technology arose to
colonise other planets, it was the
sleazy corporations, not nations, that
stuck their flags in that virgin terra
firma. The Spacer’s Choice nebula.
The planet Rizzo’s.
Funny that. This is the brainchild of
Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky,
co-creators of Fallout. And you really
do get that same sense here as
you do in the irradiated wasteland: the
problems you’re witnessing are the
inexorable result of human nature.
Also like Fallout, you get to shoot
stuff. Character creation is bound
to an old-school RPG system where
you pour stats into skills, and role-
play, if you will, in the manner of the
character you created. It sounds
an obvious point but there really is
a delineation between other RPGs
here: in some titles you’re a god-king
capable of besting anyone in whatever
discipline you fancy. Woe betide you if
you attempt to land a single melee hit
without having heavily invested your
skill points and perks in that area here,
though. And, for the first few hours,
even if you have. The Outer Worlds
rinses all but the most ruthlessly
effective character builds until you hit
about level ten.short
cutWHAT IS IT?
Spacefaring social
allegory with laser
guns for people who
like Fallout but not
the colour brown.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
A playable Douglas
Adams book where
corporations have
overthrown the
traditional tyrannies.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Anyone who’s spent
more than 0.33
seconds deciding
where to allocate a
skill point.084 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE
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