Just a Reminder: The Outer Worlds Releases 10/25

Obsidian's first major release since being aquired by Microsoft Gaming: The Outer Worlds will be released in just a few days on 10/25.

I splurged and pre-ordered this one. Always been a fan of their development house and this looks like it will be fun, in a sort of a dark, crazy violent way?

Here's the original announcement trailer for it as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGLTgt0EEqc

TM

Thanks, Trail!

Ana

Thanks, Trail. My son has preordered it for the Playstation 4.

This look great, Trail! I'm thinking I might have to splurge!

For the PC version, I believe this game is going to be an Epic Games exclusive for a while, in which case we will not be seeing it on Steam and GOG right away.

Yes, that's correct. EPIC is working to get a share of cloud gaming. I've got a couple games through them (Fortnite, Borderlands 3), fairly similar to Steam so far, except the interface isn't as pretty and has less features. I'm sure with all the revenue they've picked up with Fornite, we'll keep seeing them competing with the other platforms for exclusive releases.

Well, okay then. This one looks just about right.

Well this looks interesting, might have to put this on my to play list. Thanks

Well, I guess they are letting the pre-order folks download early, or I got the date wrong?

In any event, I actually have some time this evening, so just started downloading. Will give it a go and let you know my initial reactions.

TM

UPDATE: So, I only spent about an hour and a 1/2 playing, which brought me through the tutorial, and level 2 (look ma' no hands). The game has a very familiar feel. While the settings/surrounding are unique from their previous efforts, I'm getting a Fallout: New Vegas vibe from it. The story so far is interesting, taking place in a sort of a hyper-corporate run society. It feels like the same FO:NV graphics engine and the game mechanics are very simiar; WASD, CTRL to crouch and sneak, shift to run and so on. The character intro scene is bascially a revised version of the old country doctor from FO:NV checking you over. Feels like a shooter RPG hybrid as well. Other than that, what I've seen of combat is OK, mostly mouse controlled - Hold "R" to arm (or disarm) left click to fire or hit, hold right mouse to aim, middle mouse wheel controls weapon selection. There's 4 difficulty levels including a Story mode in case you want to get to know the game before jumping in guns a-blazin'. I'm playing on Normal, which is very manageable at the intro levels. The game did mention in the beginning that it uses an Auto-Save system. I sort of forgot about that while playing so didn't test out if you could save games adhoc in the middle of gameplay. I was able to manually save when exiting, and there wasn't any mention of checkpoints, which is a good thing.

That's about it for now, didn't have much time to play this evening. I'm not flying back out until Monday, so I'll have some more time over the weekend to play a bit.

I think this might be my next purchase. Almost finished Enderal, and then I have to finish my current Original Sin. But I do look forward to some Fallout vibe, and this looks pretty cool.

Let us know what you think of the game if you decide to pick it up, hagatha.

Thank you for those first impressions, Trail.

I get the feeling that the writers and designers of this game grew up reading Mad magazine and collecting Wacky Packs It's such an exercise in corporatism gone wild, that everyone and pretty much everything is a parody. The whole "owe my soul to the company store" thing is the heart of this game. The NPC's attitudes actually takes a little getting used to, all but a few I've come across are sort of creepy in a Stepford Wives way.

Gameplay is staying consistent, and luckily it is a free save system, because I've gotten killed quite a few times walking into unfamiliar situations. There are plenty of bad guys and beasties to spare in the game.
Hagatha, you'll like the fact that Stealth is one of the major skill sets in the game.

It's really a mash-up, definitley an RPG/FPS hybrid with pretty intuitive chararacter development and advancement. It's science fiction based, but with a western feel. There is also a crafting element for weapons and armor, still getting the hang of that aspect. I've picked up a companion, but it's for a specific quest, so I'm not able to manage her inventory or skill yet, at least that I can see. Like earlier games, they provide a companion portrait that shows their health stat, so you know if a fire fight is going south. Been picking up lots of the usual scavanger hunt and "go here and do this" style quests. Still haven't figures out what or if there is a main quest line yet, but I kind of get the idea it has to do with the corporate super powers running the place.

I'm still very, very early in the game, but with that caveat in mind, I'm actually beginning to like it.

Ah. Mad Magazine. I grew up with Alfred E. Neuman's gap-toothed smile because my father used to buy it (my father was also responsible for my very early love of science fiction). It was very silly and could be very funny. Or just lame. And its lameness was also funny. What, me worry?

I think I might buy this game, but I'll wait a bit since I have two games going right now and I have a bad habit of abandoning things in mid-stream for the shiny new object.

Any more feedback?

My son finished the game and thought it was fantastic.

I guess my real question now is, is it single-player? I can't find the information on their web site.

It's single-player.

Thanks! It's definitely on my list now.

Just a note about getting it on Epic Games: I'm not sure if this is a new development or specifically related to installing on Win 10, as the first time I downloaded the game on my old Win 7 PC it didn't take that long. I recently upgraded my older gaming computer from Win 7 to 10 and did not have a very speedy experience.

It seems they don't use the download-then-install method, they install as the game is downloading, which is a ridiculously slow process. So, best strategy is to start up the download and go about your business for the day or do it over night. If you have a Microsoft Account and are familiar with their game app, you can also download if from the Microsoft Store here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-outer-worlds/9mwd2z8l1fbq?activetab=pivot:overviewtab.

I personally don't have any experience with the Microsoft gaming from the PC side, only through my xbox.


TM