Do you remember “Fallout New Vegas?” What about the “Borderlands” franchise? Or maybe even the disappointment at launch that is “No Man’s Land?” Put these three games in a blender and the product from combining those three franchises would be Obsidian’s newest addition, “The Outer Worlds.” A role-playing game (RPG), it was released in Oct. 2018 exclusively for the Epic Games Store, with promises to be released on Steam and other platforms in 2020. 

With the talk about Obsidian’s exclusive deal with the Epic Games Store, and about how it is a bad look that will reflect poorly on the game. As a game reviewer, it is important to focus solely on the game, meaning the product itself that is released, instead of the issues surrounding it. 

The final result of this review will depend on three aspects: gameplay, graphics, and storyline (with customizability being part of the storyline). “The Outer Worlds” is being advertised as an RPG, the biggest aspect would be the storyline, and gameplay, because it will determine how pleasurable actually playing the game would be. In the last place will be the graphics, since aesthetics aren’t as important to playing the game than actually the gameplay itself. 

For the beginning of the story, your character awakens, defrosted inside a mechanical pod designed to keep you frozen during your travels across the galaxy. The one who defrosted you is a crazy scientist wanted for terrorism, Phineas Welles, and he begins to describe to you the sad state the Halcyon (the frontier colony of humans in space) is in. Of course, you’re chosen to become the catalyst of change in this story, to improve the Halcyon colony for the better, in a way you see fit. 

From there on, you are ready to travel around the Halcyon colony, there will be a ship for your travels. Ten planets ( and one space station) are ready and waiting to be explored, with each one having its own inhabitants and spectacular environment. 

One thing to keep in mind is the presence of the corporations in the Halcyon colony, each company is vying for power and land within the colony. The inhabitants who live under the rule of these companies are owned by them. To give you an example, the people who commit suicide are ruled as criminals, suicide is considered “irreparable damage to company property”. Even in death, the workers can get no rest because they have to rent out their burial grounds.