The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition

The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition is largely just a bundling of the base game and its two story DLCs -- for which I bought it -- by the game's publisher, Private Division. The original developer, Obsidian Entertainment, had very little to do with it; the extra work there is, was done by Virtuous Games instead.

You've tried the best, now try the rest

I don't know the exact differences between this version and the original game, but they definitely did do something to this one beyond bundling the DLC because I recall that at release it was reported to have entirely new issues. That was so stupidly fitting for the title, too: "It's not the best choice -- it's Spacer's Choice!"

The problems have since been fixed, however, and the game ran without issues and also a lot better than when I played it on Game Pass, albeit that was on a different graphics card. Chromatic aberration toggle was a welcome convenience addition to the options menu which in general seemed more expansive compared to what I remember it being previously.

The game still looks ugly as all hell in most locations thanks to the garish color palettes and filters. Terra II's iridescent oil slick visuals right at the beginning are the worst and Monarch's sulfuric yellow isn't much better. Environment art and design is not to my liking either but characters do look all right, even armor design, though I wish the armors came with cleaner colors.

I bought this game as part of Humble Choice -- unnecessarily, as before I got to playing it, Epic handed it out for free. I ended up playing on Epic too because it has no achievements to worry about. I might as well have played on Steam, though, with how completionist my run was once again. I think I would have needed at least two runs to 100% it, though, because I'm pretty sure there's a late game achievement you can't get with too smart of a character.

Face, meet hammer

On my first playthrough in 2019, I used long guns so this time I went melee instead. I maxed Strength and Intelligence, aiming to use science weapons. The best science -- and arguably any -- melee weapon is found pretty early on, which is kind of a shame in terms of variety in gameplay. One of the DLC additions later in the game might be equal in power but the Prismatic Hammer's heavy attack launching a frontal area-of-effect is just too good. Catching multiple enemies with an AoE sneak attack is ridiculous. And the weapon's rotating element type is a fun and practical feature.

I played again on Hard and combat became a cakewalk once more pretty quickly. I did still die here and there because I took flaws that increase damage taken from different elements. Being in melee range subjected me to a lot of occasional burst damage. But enemies sure died quickly.

Melee combat is not very enjoyable in The Outer Worlds, I have to say. It feels very awkward, particularly if you're trying to execute a sweep attack while using the Tactical Time Dilation. Even outside it, it took me many hours to get used to double-clicking into hold for the sweep attack. It didn't seem worth it in the end even with the Prismatic Hammer using all of its elements with the swing.

There is blocking with melee weapons and even perfect block but they're likewise actions you're better off skipping if you're using a weapon like the Hammer. The vast majority of enemies died to a single heavy attack from it; no use in waiting to block their attacks.

Master of all?

I spread my skill points around to be able to make every check I wanted -- which turned out to be more difficult to accomplish this time around. Already in Edgewater you'll start encountering checks of over 100 and soon they'll become 150. Early on it's impossible to reach those ranks without having specialized in the respective skill. Later, with aggressive gear and companion swapping, you can make about any check without true specialization but it definitely was a bigger challenge. My highest skill at the end was Science at only 100 base (out of 150 max).

Among other things, the Science skill affects the cost of tinkering (increasing an item's level), allowing you to get higher damage and armor values cheaper. However, even with high skill, the cost of tinkering the same item becomes untenable after a point -- except for science weapons with the expert (80) and master (100) perks. You can easily have every single science weapon always at maximum level (5 above yours) -- at least if you hoard loot like I do.

Loot weight is still a huge problem; you simply must take every single perk that increases carrying capacity. Or somehow be a player that doesn't bother looting everything -- and then be unable to buy/tinker stuff at will. The hundred different consumable variations for the inhaler are such a mess of a feature. On my first post, I wrote that ammo weighs too but that is not the case luckily. Either that was changed or I was talking nonsense. As a pure melee character now, all ammunition was just additional credits.

"Just like in the serials!"

I correctly expected the two pieces of DLC to be in style of in-universe serials -- their names alone suggests that much: Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos. What I didn't expect, is them repeating the theme of the base game. After beating it first time years ago, I have since read quite a few science fiction novels that have exact same plot points that drive The Outer Worlds: colonized worlds' fauna and flora being toxic to humans, there being more people than can be provided for, some having been left in cryosleep, lacking the means to revive them etc.

The spin The Outer Worlds puts on those issues is absurdist capitalism. The problems are being worked on but not by well-intentioned efforts, rather than unhinged, for-profit enterprises whose actions can be considered morally questionable, to say the least. This game is not the first to do that but in the Fallout games, for instance, the absurdism is largely a thing that happened in the Old World. The people are not living it in the post-apocalypse now; they're seeing the corporates as a past silly thing -- unlike the colonists of Halcyon.

I think that might be one reason The Outer Worlds doesn't feel very engaging. Characters are aware that bad things are bad but at the same time they're also apathetic to being ruled by corporate entities, blind to the egregiousness of it all. There's a dissonance in the game's atmosphere; it doesn't feel immersive to me. It's like some sort of idiocracy.

In the DLCs, your companions are surprised by the dark secrets that get uncovered along the way. And I'm there surprised that they're surprised when all of it is a mere continuation to the same theme. In Murder, the secret is half there in the open too, yet it can't be reacted to properly, everyone is farcically disinterested.

The absurdism is not necessarily even too far from reality; it's just so in-your-face in the game, lacking all subtlety, that it feels forced. Critique towards capitalism feels moot when it's being sold to you by the very thing being criticized.

What were we doing again?

The theme is the same but the DLC stories are separate, not tied to the main game plot. They're both meant for a high level character so I did them after being done with Byzantium, right before starting the final stretch of the main game. Both DLCs are long as well, which can result in you forgetting what you were doing outside them. The main game has a boss fight at the end -- or I think it has, because this time too I talked my way out of it. The person seemed very antagonistic but I was like Thanos being confronted by the Scarlet Witch, not even knowing who she was. If I had encountered the potential boss before the DLCs, I had completely forgotten about it.

Even without the DLCs, I think it's easy to lose the plot when you're clearing all the quests in Monarch Wilderness. It takes so many hours to do everything and the main point of doing it disappears somewhere in the background.

Completing all locations in a manner that leaves the factions in favorable reputation results in them sending help to the final mission. It kind of comes out of nowhere, completely unasked for. I was walking through the Tartarus prison completely incognito yet all kinds of support squads kept appearing for all hell to break loose. The final section is a tad silly too in how you skip all difficulty of it by keeping to the highest level with disguise up. The whole sequence past the point of no return really feels like it was hastily put together. The voice over in the first ending slides also still refers to a female player character as man, though the subtitles are correct. It's kind of astonishing that they never fixed that -- did they never record the other lines or something?

If I am ever to replay this game again, I think I will go complete lone wolf. It should be interesting to see how well the various solo perks balance the lack of companions -- mostly for skill checks because you sure don't need them for combat. Also: Ada and Sam are probably the most common names for AI/robot characters in games by far -- and this game has them both. It wouldn't be difficult to be original in that regard.

The Outer Worlds 2 is supposed to come out this year; we shall see how that pans out. This one does have a sequel hook that could result in something very interesting, depending on what Obsidian will make of it.