Weekly ‘What are you playing’ thread #12

Replayed Outer Worlds for the first time since its release. Did it as a preparation for Starfield, since OW is arguably the closest direct competitor it is going to have in the “space RPG” genre

The writing is just as bad as I remember, packed with hyperbole and smugness. You know how in a lot of games there are these small employee correspondence notes you can find on computers and terminals? They usually b-word about their boss or their working conditions and rarely contain clues about the level layout. Well, Outer Worlds is just one giant employee correspondence note stretched out into a smallish vidya experience. Utterly unbearable

The one big surprise was the Peril On Gorgon DLC, which actually was good and felt reminiscent of New Vegas in some parts. A shame that the murder mystery DLC goes back to the game’s usual style and dials it up to 11

Still, the companions were written quite well and make great use of the “dialogue intrusion” mechanic that Bethesda brought in to Fallout 4. At least 1/6 of the total dialogue lines must be made up of companion comments and quips, so it is almost mandatory to have at least one of them following you around

Overall, I am certain that Outer Worlds does the skills and dialogue better than whatever mess of a system Starfield will have. They also retvrn to tradition and make most skill checks visible only if your character has enough points to use them. There are still some exceptions, but it is a way better system than the percentages from Fallout 3 or the [bussy/lmao] meters from New Vegas The locations and the exploration in OW is lacklustre though and I have no doubts that Bethesda will beat them in that department. Feels like OW is the “character-focused” space RPG, while Starfield will be the “space-focused” space RPG