Obsidian Entertainment released a new gameplay video of The Outer Worlds. This is the exact same gameplay footage that was shown behind closed doors at E3 2019.
The Outer Worlds, first announced last year, puts you on a ship transferring humans to a new and remote colony located on the edge of the galaxy. The vessel gets lost on the way, and after 70 years of cryosleep, you are awakened by a scientist to assist them in waking up your shipmates.
Distant Worlds, Dangerous People
The new gameplay video begins in the city of Fallbrook, located on a world called Monarch, one of the “outer worlds.” Fallbrook is a haven for unlawful activity and is run by a woman named Catherine Malin from her tavern, Malin’s House of Hospitality. While trying to raise money for a quest, we can talk to Catherine using a classic dialog tree. We can check if she has a job us, ask her about the city or rent a room.
In this case, Catherine wants us to handle another business owner that refuses to give her her cut. After accepting the mission, we can continue chatting to reveal some helpful tips, such as possible entry points or the preferrable outcome of your task.
Our character’s charisma and intimidation skills can affect interactions with NPCs around The Outer Worlds. They give players the tools to approach these encounters how they want, like persuading people to cooperate or threating them to get them to spill information.
Right as we leave Malin’s House of Hospitality, we are introduced to two of our companions in the game: Nyoka and Ellie. Nyoka is a big game hunter, a native of Monarch, and Ellie is apparently a former surgeon turned pirate (pirates need to see a doctor too, you know).
Choose Your Gameplay
The video’s narrator explains how player choice is not only about the dialogue or how you resolve quests, but how we customize our character so we can play how we want. The weapons, perks, skills, and equipment we use and develop are all essential aspects of The Outer Worlds.
In The Outer World gameplay video, the character is built around Leadership, Engineering, and Science. Leadership makes your companions stronger, Engineering lets you modify your weapons for better damage and range, and Science enables you to tinker with the level of your guns and increase their effectiveness over the course of the game.
Bottom line, you can choose to distribute skill points in a way that fits your play style the best; not something new or surprising when dealing with an open-world RPG, but freedom in gameplay is always welcome. We’ll wait and see just how much freedom we actually do get in the final game.
On the way to our target, we stumble upon a bandit blockade were we are introduced to the Tactical Time Dilation System. Due to brain damage sustained from being frozen for 70 years, our character perception of time is slowed down. As the narrator puts it – it’s the good kind of brain damage, as it’s handy in combat.
We can also see one of Nyoka abilities: a machine-gun attack that does a nice amount of damage. At another blockade, we can see the ability to perform location-based hits that let you main, blind, or cripple your target for extra advantage in a fight.
One Colony to Rule Them All
Throughout the gameplay video, we learn about the background story of The Outer Worlds, specifically that of the planet Monarch. Apparently, Monarch was the first planet to be settled by a colony named Halcyon. The plan was to terraform the planet by wiping all local life and vegetation and replacing them with species from earth.
The plan backfired when instead of dying, the local species evolved and grew bigger, tougher, and more vicious. Most humans fled the planet leaving The Monarch Stellar Industries corporation to claim the planet as their own.
Plan of Attack
Finally, we reach the Boarst factory Catherine sent us to. There are several approaches we can take: we can go through the heavily-guarded main gate with guns blazing, sneak in through the sewers Catherine mentioned (if we have the skill to unlock the entrance), or use a holographic disguise to pass as one of the factory workers and walk on in.
The gameplay video takes the disguise option, and we then find ourselves facing a guard. We can lie to him, persuade him, or intimidate him into letting us pass, all depending on the stats and skill points. There are no percentages next to the special dialogue options, so it seems that once you have a high enough skill, you are guaranteed success. However, the holographic disguise slowly degrades over time, so we have to be cautious as we make our way to the target.
After reaching the man we were sent to kill, factory owner Clive Lumbergh, we are presented with two options: kill him and complete Catherine quest, or go back and kill Catherine for a lifetime supply of boarstwurst; tempting.
You’ll be able to make the choice once The Outer Worlds comes out on October 25, for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch version is also in the works, but that one will be released in a yet unspecified date.
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