The Outer Worlds - Obsidian (2019 - PC, XB1, PS4)

[Leafs at Knight]

The Outer Worlds is a new single-player first-person sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division.

In The Outer Worlds, you awake from hibernation on a colonist ship that was lost in transit to Halcyon, the furthest colony from Earth located at the edge of the galaxy, only to find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy it. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter various factions, all vying for power, the character you decide to become will determine how this player-driven story unfolds. In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable.

Key Features

• The player-driven story RPG: In keeping with the Obsidian tradition, how you approach The Outer Worlds is up to you. Your choices affect not only the way the story develops; but your character build, companion stories, and end game scenarios.
• You can be flawed, in a good way: New to The Outer Worlds is the idea of flaws. A compelling hero is made by the flaws they carry with them. While playing The Outer Worlds, the game tracks your experience to find what you aren't particularly good at. Keep getting attacked by Raptidons? Taking the Raptiphobia flaw gives you a debuff when confronting the vicious creatures, but rewards you with an additional character perk immediately. This optional approach to the game helps you build the character you want while exploring Halcyon.
• Lead your companions: During your journey through the furthest colony, you will meet a host of characters who will want to join your crew. Armed with unique abilities, these companions all have their own missions, motivations, and ideals. It's up to you to help them achieve their goals, or turn them to your own ends.
• Explore the corporate colony: Halcyon is a colony at the edge of the galaxy owned and operated by a corporate board. They control everything... except for the alien monsters left behind when the terraforming of the colony’s two planets didn’t exactly go according to plan. Find your ship, build your crew, and explore the settlements, space stations, and other intriguing locations throughout Halcyon.

Click to read more...

 

[syz]

ngl I was only half paying attention and I thought it was a Borderlands reveal. Guess if Gearbox isn't going to do it then somebody else may as well.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

ngl I was only half paying attention and I thought it was a Borderlands reveal. Guess if Gearbox isn't going to do it then somebody else may as well.

Doesn't really seem like Borderlands anyhow, Borderlands actually still might show up. A New Vegas successor; wonder what Bethesda with Starfield think about this.

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

Obsidian RPG? Plays like NV? Gonna keep an eye on this.

 

[Commander Clueless]

This looks awesome. I'm excited.

 

[Osprey]

Not much gameplay is shown, but it makes the point that it's from the original creators of Fallout and the developers of New Vegas, so it seems somewhat safe to assume that it'll be like Fallout in space. The look and style seem to support that, with a similar grungy, retro-futuristic style and irreverent humor. I'm very interested. With Fallout 76 not being what gamers wanted and Cyberpunk 2077 and Elder Scrolls VI both likely not going to arrive before 2020, this coming out any time next year will fill that single-player, first-person RPG hole quite nicely.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Obsidian has bled talent like crazy these last few years.

I'm skeptical this will be anywhere near the level of New Vegas.

 

[Osprey]

Obsidian has bled talent like crazy these last few years.

I'm skeptical this will be anywhere near the level of New Vegas.

While it would be nice for the whole team to still be together, you don't necessarily need that to create a worthy spiritual successor, just a few of the key creators. Most of the rest of the team is replaceable. There are many examples, like BioShock (spiritual successor to System Shock 2 by a few of its creators), Prey (same) and Two Point Hospital (spiritual successor to Theme Hospital by a few of its creators).

It appears that Josh Sawyer, the director and designer of New Vegas, is still working at Obsidian, so it's a safe bet that he's heavily involved in this. Also, Tim Cain, the man responsible for the engine and game design of the very first two Fallout games appears to be employed by Obsidian, as well, so he's probably the reason for that mention in the trailer. Those two guys presumably being involved in The Outer Worlds is a very good start, I think. We'll see, though.

 

[Turin]

While it would be nice for the whole team to still be together, you don't necessarily need that to create a worthy spiritual successor, just a few of the key creators. Most of the rest of the team is replaceable. There are many examples, like BioShock (spiritual successor to System Shock 2 by a few of its creators), Prey (same) and Two Point Hospital (spiritual successor to Theme Hospital by a few of its creators).

It appears that Josh Sawyer, the director and designer of New Vegas, is still working at Obsidian, so it's a safe bet that he's heavily involved in this. Also, Tim Cain, the man responsible for the engine and game design of the very first two Fallout games appears to be employed by Obsidian, as well, so he's probably the reason for that mention in the trailer. Those two guys presumably being involved in The Outer Worlds is a very good start, I think. We'll see, though.

Chris Avellone doesn’t work at Obsidian anymore I think, and writing/dialogue is what made that game special.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Chris Avellone doesn’t work at Obsidian anymore I think, and writing/dialogue is what made that game special.

I believe Avellone is a freelancer now, but has worked closely with Obsidian and inXile over the past while.

If they can get him for this project, that'd be awesome. If I remember correctly, though, he is currently working on Dying Light 2 and something else....System Shock maybe?

 

[Leafs at Knight]

 

[Osprey]

Chris Avellone doesn’t work at Obsidian anymore I think, and writing/dialogue is what made that game special.

FWIW, Wikipedia lists John Gonzalez as the sole writer on New Vegas in the sidebar. The article does mention Avellone further down as a writer and then as project lead for the DLC content, but, according to his credits, he was also the lead designer and writer of Alpha Protocol, which was also released in 2010. What I'm guessing was the case is that Avellone was primarily occupied with Alpha Protocol and contributed to New Vegas on the side; then, after Alpha Protocol went gold, he transitioned to New Vegas full time to write its DLC content. In other words, he might be the reason why the DLC was as good as it was, but his involvement in the base New Vegas game may not have been as great as assumed. The writing of the base game may've been predominantly due to John Gonzalez, who, for all that we know, may still be at Obsidian and working on this game.

I believe Avellone is a freelancer now, but has worked closely with Obsidian and inXile over the past while.

If they can get him for this project, that'd be awesome. If I remember correctly, though, he is currently working on Dying Light 2 and something else....System Shock maybe?

Yes, his current credits include "Narrative designer" on Dying Light 2 and "Writer" on the System Shock remake. He's also serving as "Creative consultant" and "Advisor" on two other games. It's quite possible that he's serving in a similar capacity on The Outer Worlds. The first trailer does say "From the original creators [plural] of Fallout," so, if Tim Cain is one, another might be Avellone, who was designer and co-director on Fallout 2.

 

[Osprey]

I really am getting a New Vegas vibe. They even built in a system that's sort of like VATS, in which time is slowed down so that you can aim. They show and talk about that at about 8:15. They mention that it has a skill+perk system that's similar to Fallout's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and that you can solve issues by combat, stealth or talking your way out. I even noticed one dialogue option preceded with "[Lie]", which I think that I remember seeing a lot of in New Vegas. Also, even a simple thing like the up-close straight-on view of characters during dialogue is very reminiscent of New Vegas. I have no doubt now that this is meant to be a spiritual successor to that game. In fact, since the video mentions that they've been working on this for two years, I wouldn't be surprised if Obsidian approached Bethesda about making another Fallout spin-off after Fallout 4 was released and was turned down, so they created their own IP, instead. Anyways, thanks for sharing the video.

 

[Mikeaveli]

This game looks awesome. Hopefully it will hold me over until Cyberpunk comes out.

 

[RobBrown4PM]

This game is one giant middle finger to Bethesda, and with Fallout 76 imploding hard, Obsidian couldn't have released the announcement trailer at a better time.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Chris Avellone doesn’t work at Obsidian anymore I think, and writing/dialogue is what made that game special.

Chris also tore into current Obsidian management and both Pillars of Eternity games makes me think he was right cause they were rather underwhelming

 

[Blender]

This looks exactly like Fallout New Vegas in space, so yes please.

 

[Warden of the North]

The combat looks very slow. It makes Fallout 4 looks fast. Im also not sure that the New Vegas styled "open world but really open world" will quite work at this point in gaming either, so im curious if they are still following that formula.

I am interested, but not terribly blown away at this point.

 

[Morbo]

It looks pretty mediocre from a graphical and combat perspective.

 

[Osprey]

Im also not sure that the New Vegas styled "open world but really open world" will quite work at this point in gaming either, so im curious if they are still following that formula.

I think that that's probably a safe bet because the setting is said to be the Halcyon system, rather than any single planet. Even if each planet is an open world, there are likely points in the story that we have to reach before we can move on to a new planet. If so, it's probably even less open world than New Vegas. While it would be cool to have an open star system that allows us to leave and land on any planet at any time, that might not lend itself very well to good storytelling, as No Man's Sky suggested.

It looks pretty mediocre from a graphical and combat perspective.

It does look dated, especially graphically. Then again, New Vegas looked dated in 2010, especially compared to Crysis, which came out 3 whole years earlier. RPGs typically don't get high marks for their graphics and, instead, live and die by their gameplay.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

The footage was pretty much pre alpha from a month ago. Theres still close to a year until launch, and the fallout games have never looked good. This also doesn't have a AAA budget.

 

[Bocephus86]

Based on the multi-system statement, I expect a few planets that operate like ME: Andromeda - you can land in 1 or 2 places but it's a limited part of the planet & you have to (at least) go through a space ship loading screen to move from one planet to another.

I got no problem with that, especially if they can give me a New Vegas: Space.

 

[Cush]

No mod support

 

[SniperHF]

Have to say I'm not terribly enthused but I'm not much a fan of this type of shooter RPG anyway.

What I'm guessing was the case is that Avellone was primarily occupied with Alpha Protocol.

Avellone had to re-write much of Alpha Protocol when they weren't happy with the original work done by the first lead writer of the project. He was brought in to sort of rescue AP.

This also doesn't have a AAA budget.

True. But it's being announced in a way that makes people think it is one and going after a market type that generally is at that level of budget.
The expectations will be beyond what the budget level is. Which frankly isn't that unusual for Obsidian anyway.

The thing that sort of puzzles me is how people seem to randomly not accept jank in some areas but are perfectly willing to drop full price by the millions on all these various rushed to market BR games lately

No mod support

Back in my day if people wanted to mod a game they made their own damn tools and modded it regardless of support

 

[Osprey]

Back in my day if people wanted to mod a game they made their own damn tools and modded it regardless of support

Yeah, no mod support has never stopped the PC community. Just look at the huge selection of mods for the GTA games, despite them never having official mod support, the Hot Coffee mod being perhaps the most infamous one ever. There will be mods for the PC version of The Outer Worlds. It's the console versions that will really suffer from having no support.