The Outer Worlds
By: John Cano
Reviewed on: Xbox One
What happens when you get the original creators of Fallout and they join forces with the creators of Fallout: New Vegas, combined with beautiful visuals and a Sci-fi aesthetic? You get the Outer Worlds.
The Outer Worlds was first introduced at 2018’s Gamer Awards, however the game was in development since mid-2016. The game’s aesthetics were composed of Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the creators of the Fallout series, served as the game’s directors. The duo described the game as “the combination of Boyarsky’s dark morbidity and Tim’s silliness”, and they hoped to seek a balance between silliness and drama when creating the game’s tone and narrative. As much as I’ve seen and experienced personally, it has done more than enough to escape from behind the shadow of its Fallout predecessor.
From the start of the game it feels very familiar yet different at the same time. It has everything you would expect to see in a game that’s made by the producers of Fallout. From the competing factions to the choices you make that effect the course of the story, as well as the highly detailed yet simple level up progression, made my time playing feel not only like a new adventure but something familiar.
As the game starts you are in cryo-sleep on a spaceship soaring through space to a new colony at the far edge of the galaxy. Suddenly you are awoken from your slumber by a mad scientist named Phineas Welles only to find that most of the passengers are still in hibernation. It is up to you to determine your fate and that of the colony’s, and your journey begins. As you start you are prompted by Phineas to choose your skills, like the G.O.A.T. exam that is given at the beginning of every Fallout to mold your character to fit your own unique play style. As you progress through the story, you meet different NPC’s that are associated with the many different factions of the game which in return determines the path that you will take, The Evil, Neutral, or Good and with a high replay value it’s worth seeing how it all plays out differently.
My time that I’ve spent on this game on both the main story and the games many different side quests, I’ve invested at least 60+ hours, and that’s because I’ve actually had to skip a few missions because my quest log was filling up rather quickly. It’s not only the quest and the story that is time consuming, it’s also due to the exploration of the vast lands and random encounters which sometimes lead you to hidden audio logs that can lead to weapons cache or armor stash. As well as seeing how different choices you make in game will affect the overall experience.
The mechanics of the game are very similar to that of Fallout: New Vegas, the progression and level up will make season veterans feel very comfortable transitioning to this game. For all you new comers to the game who are not familiar with the Fallout series, will find that the mechanics can run very deep but at the same time are very easy to understand when it comes to building your class.
There were some bugs, the client did close out on me a few times again I play on console. When shooting, it seemed that my shots were missing and that was me using the sights on the guns. From time to time the texture loading would lag but all in all a few more patches and I think this game can run smoother.
Audio wise, there was some sound lag. Not too bad, I’m sure a simple patch could fix that.
Visual wise, the game looks beautiful, especially in 4k. When you are running stop and just admire the scenery, just breathtaking. As previously stated, I did have some issues with texture loading but once its fixed you can really admire the scene.
The Outer Worlds is a unique and visually impressive game. The game has a decent enough story and very high replay value. The Outer Worlds has the ability for you to customize your character to fit your own unique play style, the decisions you make will ultimately affect the ending. So, if you’re looking for a game to get lost in for a few hours or days then The Outer Worlds is the right game for you.
Rating: 7.0
