Obsidian is back for another round with The Outer Worlds, the acclaimed but also divisive RPG that could be labeled as a Fallout spin-off and no one would be too bothered about it. This time, we get the The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition which includes the base game and its DLC, Murder on Eridanos and Peril on Gorgon. Furthermore, it brings an increased level cap and allegedly improved performance, graphics, additional animations, and all that jazz. But is it all that it’s touted to be?

The Outer World Is Your Oyster

Those who have played The Outer Worlds, or any Obsidian RPG for that matter, already know what’s in store for them. A sprawling adventure where choices matter and consequences hit hard and fast, The Outer Worlds gives you plenty opportunities to carve your own path and leave a trail of dead bodies in your wake, or just do your best and try to please everyone, something that is almost impossible due to the often conflicting choices. It’s this moral ambiguity that makes The Outer Worlds a remarkable showcase for player freedom and planning ahead, something that most games never aim for, let alone execute it.

On the other hand, Obsidian is also known for delivering technically flawed games. Although character creation is insignificant in the scope of things, the true abominations that can be randomized in this process shouldn’t be allowed to exist – including females with full beards and thick moustaches. The randomization is a horror show beyond words and should see some restrictions set in place, so either you spend a few minutes creating a visually acceptable avatar or be thankful that you don’t get to see your character’s face too often.

Then we have the deluge of bugs and unplanned issues, such as corpses blinking on and off in front of you, the extremely poor performance and graphical niggles, flickering, bad optimization, random frame drops, and more. For an alleged ultimate edition and already with one patch released, it’s certainly not the ideal experience. Obviously, your mileage may vary according to your specs, so the most glaring issues may end up not affecting you at all.

But most of it is offset by the actual playground, with all the freedom, vast possibilities during questing, and great writing. There’s a clear satire on capitalism and the thirst for money – something that this edition is ironically being accused of by some disgruntled players –, with some great missions, which added to the companion stories make for a great playtime. The Outer Worlds is the kind of game that, much like the Fallout series, deserves two, three, or more runs just to see how your choices matter and affect the story progress, how your decisions could have saved an entire city from collapse, had you been convinced by their arguments.

Flawed Perfection

It’s easy to enjoy The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, but it’s also hard not to think that it could have been so much more, the ultimate way to play a great game. This release doesn’t feel essential, although it does make the game look better in places, but the downside of that is the persistence of graphical and performance issues, now with a few new ones added into the mix.

Still, The Outer Worlds deserves to be cherished in its original form or in this Spacer’s Choice Edition, as what it offers is absolutely worth the money – it’s the kind of game that you play for hours and ponder about until you return to it the next day; it makes you think over the decisions you make as they sometimes relate to your very own life choices. You’re always one second away from snapping and using your heavy machine gun to wipe out an entire city, and that’s why The Outer Worlds is special, despite its flaws – it’s a rare kind of game that begs you to overlook its issues and enjoy a story where you choose your destiny, even if frames drop and textures flicker out of nowhere.

Pros

• So much freedom and options
• Moral ambiguity: the game
• Vast world and interesting companions
• Solid shooting with pleasant tactical depth
• Even more hours with the two DLC

Cons

• Less bugs here, more bugs there
• Performance wildly varies

Rating: 8/10