I love role play games. But the old formula of elves and gnomes fantasy is so tired, not least because of 15 years of succesful World of Warcraft gaming. Therefore some new energy is needed, but it has been some poor offerings in later years on this account.
The most popular one to challenge the classic style of RPG would be the Fallout series. Fallout 3 was hugely popular, While Fallout 4 started to halt the enthusiasm a bit. This was nothing to the reaction that followed the release of Fallout 76, which was basically a catastrophe. I have not played it myself but only read the reviews. That is all I need.
Another non-medieval style rpg, franchise that was very popular, was Mass Effect. This was a pretty groundbreaking series, that took rpg to space, even if it at times was kind of streamlined story wise, it was diverse and surprising, while having a decently engaging plot. But this was basically halted by the awful Mass Effect Andromeda that tanked like a lead balloon.
So. A week a go The Outer Worlds was released. This is made by a company called Obsidian, who made one of the chapters in the Fallout series. This time they take the plunge themselves, maybe to take a big chunk of the rpg market, that has been stalling for years now.
Outer Worlds is a pure space rpg. It takes literally all the best from any other game that it is inspired by and molds it into a unique and smooth blend. It has a clear Fallout feeling and it surely has a lot of inspiration from Mass Effect. It has a bit of System Shock and Half Life over it also if only at a more superficial level. But the rpg elements are serious enough. You level up (to 30 I believe) and your stats must be applied and chosen by the player. There are certain perks also and a lot of customisation of weapons and armor etc.
The maps that you operate in are not exactly wide open but more confined and concentrated, so that the qualities of the graphics and the gameplay is not diluted by miles and miles of no good areas. At first I was a little disappointed with this. I mean, we are in outer space and the sensation of the wide open sareas is sort of expected. But after a few afterthoughts, I have come to like this format.
It keeps you more focused and with an eye on your tasks. For instance in the first map there is a bigger city and then a few collection of houses and barracks on the outskirts. Yet I spend 4-5 hours in this seemingly "small" map and was never really bored. It felt just as "big" as other "bigger" maps in other games, the plot line just wasnt a straight line but an intermingled one across it.
The graphics are different. They are slightly "psychedelic" or "neon" like. Not terribly unlike Mass Effect Andromeda to be honest, except for the cities. This goes well with the underlying concept of "late stage corrupt capitalism" that lies underneath the story in the game. I must admit that philosophically it is fallcious that the free market would turn into a monopoly of "slave" labor controlling everyone, without a state in place in the first place ... but I will let this one slip
The NPCs are interesting and have a lot of personality. As in Mass Effect you can party up with some of them and customize the party when you leave your space ship. This is good fun in my opinion. They are commenting and uttering emotion during combat of if they get bored. A bit like in Baldurs Gate i suppose (If anyone remembers :-))
I played for a total of around 10 hours now and it is a great game. It is bug free, I have not encountered anything, except for a few small freezes of the character. I play on PS4 and I will not neceessarily hold it against the developers. It seems very smooth in the sense that all aspects seemsbalanced so that the rpg elements dont overshadow the story or the action. The quests are pretty decent and fits the story while giving meaning within the local map.
The few negative things would be. Too many loading screens. The critters you encounter are a bit like inflated balloons or something, and the shake weirdly before the finally lay to rest after a dose of lead. And as smooth as the game is it could be said to be almost too smooth and predictable. There is not really anything new here, they just do everything that is seen in other games better.
9/10
