The first thing I'm gonna say about this game is: I freaking love it. Everything that comes after should be seen through that lens. The second thing I'm going to say is that the writers/devs on the
The Outer Worlds are sharp. You know the saying, "You can't please all of the people, all of the time"? Well, Obsidian Entertainment has shown that you really, really can.
It's been said many-a-time that "This Game" is just Skyrim with guns, or "That Game" is just Fallout in Space etc... Well,
The Outer Worlds is all that and it doesn't care what you think about plundering pop culture for kicks. There are numerous nods to other games, sure, but (and I want to emphasize this) not
only games. There are references to TV shows, movies, music, books, table-top RPGs, the list goes on, and it's not confined to the SF/F genres.
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Conversations are 1 on 1. Very Reminiscent of Oblivion.
And like early Elder Scrolls, the voice acting is hit-and-miss. |
The Outer Worlds isn't afraid to reveal it's source material, in fact it flaunts it - unashamedly - time and time again. And somehow, it works. On all kinds of levels, it works. But most of all, on the level of clever fan service in support of elegant game design. From the very beginning of this game I felt an overwhelming nostalgic twang - a feeling I haven't had since I played ES Oblivion for the very fist time, and was transported back to my Dungeons and Dragons heyday. Well,
The Outer Worlds does something very similar. It draws on the best elements of all the games/books/movies you've played/read/watched before and melds them into a package that's at once so astonishingly familiar, and undeniably unique, that you'll begin to wonder if it hasn't spontaneously popped into existence due to some unacknowledged, gamer-wide yearning for this exact product.
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| Parvati - You really can't help but admire her. |
I could talk about any number of great features in
The Outer Worlds, but instead I'll just mention the writing - because I'm a writer. For a game in which the protagonist has no voice at all, there are some instances of nuanced interactive fiction here, akin to the best of Bioware. I mean, you gotta follow the quest-line, BUT the interactions with crew-members and other denizens of the Outer Worlds are engaging, fun and sometimes touching. Parvati, in particular, is a companion the like of which I haven't seen before. Her naivety is refreshing and her bald honesty can only be described as heart-warming - to the point where I'm more than happy to forgo the main quest line and do whatever it takes to get her on that blasted date with her partner. I think we're going to see a lot of Parvati clones in RPGs to come. I could go on but I've probably written enough for now.
In short,
The Outer Worlds is funny, it's colorful, it's both nostalgic and refreshing at the same time, but most of all it's pure entertainment made by people like us who like the things we like. I feel as though you gotta give credit where it's due, and with this game, it's due.
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