The Outer Worlds is our first play-along game: share your thoughts here!
Welcome to our first play-along game, The Outer Worlds! As you play, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below: Are you enjoying it? Why or why not? How is it different to what you expected? Where do you think it's heading? Click "add a comment" and ramble away (use spoiler warnings to talk about the plot or anything you see in the late game).
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As a reminder, The Slow Play is basically a book club, but for games, where we all play the same game over the course of a month and talk about our experiences in a friendly space.
Picking up The Outer Worlds cheap
If you want to join the discussion, you'll probably want a copy of The Outer Worlds. Currently, it's available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, and by far the cheapest way to play it is via the Xbox Games Pass, available on both Xbox One and PC. Currently, you can get your first three months for just £1/$1, and you'll immediately be able to play The Outer Worlds. The different subscription offers are here.
If you've only got a PS4, unfortunately there's no cheap way to get it: you may well have to pay full price.
1 Comment Add a Comment?
Olly Smith
Spoilers for up to the end of Emerald Vale.
I've just finished the first area, completing what I believe to be most of the quests available there at the moment. From the immediate get-go, you can tell this is basically a "Fallout-lite" – the levelling, the combat and inventory systems all feel too familiar to New Vegas. There's even a way to slow down time that is obviously taken from Fallout's VATS mode.
I don't like the combat all that much, though. Weapons don't really have that 'punch' I was hoping for. It also might have something to do with enemy speed and animations but it feels really hard to hit anything. I'm playing on Xbox One so it might be easier on PC with keyboard and mouse, but it's super unsatisfying with a controller. So far I've only entered combat a handful of times, but I much prefer sneaking around.
Dialogue and characters, on the other hand, are where I feel this game shines best at the moment. So far I've recruited Vicar Max and Parvati, and both have very compelling backstories and fun personalities. Max in particular has some really rich dialogue if you converse with him on the ship. The same goes for some of the non-companions you meet across Emerald Vale. I especially liked doing Zoe's quest, the one who got kicked out of Edgewater for being sick, joined the Deserters expecting an exciting outlaw life but instead found it to be more peaceful, and then finally ran off and joined the Marauders. I liked this quest as it came to me at a time when I was expected to choose to divert power from either Edgewater or the Botanical Lab, and this story serves as a reminder that there are characters that don't feel like they belong with either faction.
Which I guess brings me to my next point. We spend the first few hours of the game learning about the capitalism of Spacer's Choice and how it affects Edgewater citizens. For example, people being charged for grave plots or sick people not being able to afford treatment because they can't work for it.
"Suicide's a crime. The legal term is irreparable damage to company property. What Eugene did to himself was vandalism." – a line by Phyllis Granger. Workers are literally dehumanised to the point they're referred to as company property. It's a satirical comment on the way modern corporate suits (cough Bezos cough) treat workers and view them as expendable husks ripe for exploitation.
Yeah, okay, maybe the satire is a little obvious here. Perhaps the metaphor could do with a little nuance. It's punching up though, and I think overall fit with the overall message the game has been going for so far.
Just a couple of additional gripes I have with the game: the text is still too small! Even after enabling large text, I still find myself having to squint or move closer to my TV to read certain bits. Subtitles are fine, but a lot of stuff in the inventory/menus could go a little bigger.
And this is very minor, but no third-person view after I spent 20-25 minutes in the initial character customisation? Come on, Obsidian!