Join the party!
My eyes insisted on staying extra shut this morning, and the culprit is clear:The Outer Worlds.
I traded away a good night’s rest to comb through the opening planet in Obsidian’s just-launchedFallout-as-hell RPG, a choice I suspect many of you made as well. I see you.I see all of you!
Could I have spent less time on the character creator? Absolutely. But also,heck no–my hero’s cheekbones needed to look just right and, until they did, from every possible angle, I couldn’t move on.
Could I have glossed over some of those early side quests in order to kick off the galaxy-spanning adventure sooner? Probably. But then I might’ve missed recruiting one of the early companions. Half the reason I even play games likeThe Outer Worldsis to hang out with a rag-tag group of buddies. There was also no way I was gonna leave The Frightened Engineer partially completed in my quest list.
Did I need to loot every single drawer, container, and fridge in sight? Technically speaking, no. But then I poured a bunch of bits into incremental weapon upgrades, and that fancy new armor I was eying for Parvati wasn’t going to pay for itself. There are so many tempting ways to spend money in this game.
It’s still early, but I thinkThe Outer Worldsis going to make a lot of people, myself included, very happy. Familiar, but not too familiar. Funny, but not in a forced or overbearing way. It’s comfy, y’know?
So many never-ended video games this year have asked for their audience’s full attention, to the point where if you’re busy even for a week–just to help your poor grandma move!–you missed the cool new talked-about thing, and suddenly, you’ve fallen behind schedule. It’s a tough feeling to recover from.
I’m relieved knowing thatThe Outer Worldsisn’t a huge, ongoing commitment. I also appreciate that it’s not a fully open-world experience because some dude decided that’s what every game should strive to be. It seems manageable! Eventually, I’ll reach a final choice, try to talk my way through, and see an ending–my ending–and that’ll be that. I can move onto my next game without an ounce of guilt.
If you’re playingThe Outer Worlds, cool. Let’s hear it. If you can’t yet, also cool. We can still chat.
