The Outer Worlds: 5 things you need to know about Obsidian's new SCi-fi RPG

Obsidian Entertainment, the people behind the Pillars of Eternity series and the Fallout New Vegas which they never fail to mention apparently, just announced their next big Sci-fi RPG called "The Outer Worlds" just a while back at The Game Awards 2018.

Now, The Outer Worlds is a completely new IP for Obsidian, a new universe they have crafted which actually looks like a blend of the Fallout as well as the Mass Effect universe, which is a great thing because the last game of both the franchise sucked right? (I'm looking at you Mass Effect Andromeda & Fallout 76.)

Anyways the point is, there is a whole audience waiting for such a game to release, I mean come on, who doesn't want a good quality single player "actual" RPG with no microtransactions or loot boxes right?

Anyways, Game Informer released the gameplay footage of the game which I highly recommend you guys watch before reading this article further.

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Something your taste? Well here are 5 major details you need to know about the game if it got you excited.

#1 It's not Fallout New Vegas

Ya, let's just narrow down our expectations a little. The Outer Worlds is not going to be the biggest open world game with lots and lots of activities to dwell into, dynamic day-night weather system and all that like in The Witcher 3 and Fallout New Vegas, It won't break boundaries in the gaming industry like these games, no.

The Outer World ain't here to do any of that. It is a semi AAA game with a more grounded experience. It has only two planets that you get to explore which is of course quite big and you're free to explore its environment but it's not completely open world.

One of the planets, where humanity strives, is called Haylcon. The gameplay shown so far is of this planet only, however, we do get a glimpse of the other one in the reveal trailer a little bit.

#2 Companions

Just like in Fallout games you can have companions to go along with you on your journey across this sci-fi universe. By far we have seen that you can carry along two companions with you though it's still a mystery whether you can have more at a time.

Every companion is an interesting character on its own and has different abilities that can come in handy during the gameplay and even in the narrative segments.

Your companion can leave you midway if you piss them off too much and then you have to pursue them again to join your party.

However, to our disappointment, you can't romance any of the characters which Obsidian Entertainment confirmed that it was a very thoughtful decision.

#3 Fear System

The Outer World is your true RPG and hence one of the interesting mechanics the game offers you is the Fear System.

Suppose you have been fighting a similar type of enemy a lot, then the game offers to debuff your character, that means your character will be less effective in combat with that particular type of enemy and in return, you gain a perk point.

Now isn't that a fair deal? This can give players a heck lot of customisation and role play options and I can't wait to try it for myself.

#4 Time Dilation (VATS rip-off)

Remember VATS from the Fallout games?

The ability to slow down time and target specific body part of your enemy to buff up damage?

Well, it sort of returns in The Outer Worlds in the form of something called Time Dilation.

As seen in the Game Informer gameplay footage, Time Dilation slows down the time and gives you a much-needed space to pull of a headshot. Now, how cool is that?

Of course, they couldn't have exactly copied because of the copyright issues but still seems pretty close to it.

#5 NPCs can die

I can't explain how good of an option this is. RPGs are all about giving player freedom and choice to approach the game however they want. Though I do agree that killing off an important NPC, even by mistake can break the game and lead to a downhill conclusion of the story.

It would be interesting to see how Obsidian pulls this off without breaking the game. Also, this won't be like kneeling down as seen in the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, if you can kill an NPC in The Outer Worlds, they actually die.

This is what the Senior Narrative Designer Kathryn Megan Stark had to say about this interesting feature-

“As a designer, I’m always tempted to just have it made so that you can’t kill this person or that person! But we have a philosophy where we feel like it makes for a better gameplay experience to allow the player to do these sorts of things. You can even kill the scientist if you want.”

The Outer Worlds is currently scheduled to release somewhat in 2019 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

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