A mediocre, utterly unoriginal, boring game.

[Ellorien]

Folks, first of all, I feel sorry for any of you who paid the full price for this game. I also blame myself for falling for the oldest trick -- "50% off." I did not save 30 bucks. I lost 30 bucks. And that's the sad truth, folks. This game ain't worth more than $20, and I am being generous.

Allow me to be blunt. Obsidian is not known for originality. They usually use someone else's IP.
So, it should come as no surprise that the game is a weak reiteration of Mass Effect, especially the failed ME: Andromeda. A Low Budget Junior High edition. Similarities are stunning. But the sad fact is the ME series is much, much, MUCH better, even the aforementioned failed Andromeda. In every aspect. In. Every. Aspect.

Another comparison usually made is related to the Fallout 3 and 4 and New Vegas (which is still considered a Bethesda game, lol). Folks, don't insult Bethesda with the comparison. Just don't.
I am serious. You can find multiple flaws in Beth games but they are still lightyears ahead of the pathetic pile of mediocre junk called The Outer Worlds.

Graphically, the game looks very dated. Like, 2000 dated. Music... Come to think of it, I don't remember if there was any music. Was there? Yes, totally forgettable.

Exploration is non-existent. There is no climbing or swimming as far as I can tell. No exciting locations to discover. No cool loot. No memorable enemies. No clever mini-stories scattered around (think FO4 terminals). The world is bland and bare. You run along a few corridors with invisible walls and that's about it..

Character customization is one of the nicer features but nothing to write home about. It absolutely does not matter how your character looks anyway because you will never get to see him/her in your game. And you will never hear them speak because your protagonist is mute. No cinematic dialogues that show your char. And, given the fact that the dialogues are generally verbose and full of tiresome, pretentious juvenile humor, I ended up hitting my spacebar way too often to skip them. I mean, Spacebar is your friend in this game, you will learn to appreciate it soon enough.

Very few NPC around. None has any kind of daily routine. For example, in the starting town the population is supposedly oppressed and overworked but you will never actually see anyone working inside the infamous cannery. A few idle NPC are just standing somewhere 24/7 gossiping or drinking in a bar. A guard or two are patrolling the premises. The end. Lifeless and pointless.

♥♥♥♥♥♥ women and lesbians are in charge everywhere, lol. All male NPC are totally low IQ beta losers, even the alleged villains. The "politics" are one-dimensional, in-your-face BS, everything is banal and predictable as McDonald's menu. At some point you just stop taking the game seriously.

Most quests are simply boring. I realize that tastes differ and what is boring to me can be super-exciting to someone else and vice versa but that's my opinion and I am sticking to it. There are not very many quests in this short game so to compensate for that you are awarded thousands of points for each quest completion. You even get hundreds of points for "finding" workbenches.
There are some choices and consequences -- one of the few redeeming qualities I have to mention. Having C&C is always a big plus. But trust me, you will never agonize over your choice. Because the game makes it hard to care one way or another about anyone or anything.

GUI/ inventory management, especially "food" and "medicine" is reminiscent of the worst games in history. You have to experience it first hand in order to appreciate the other game designers who you hated for their own clunky GUI in the past.

Combat and encounters are poorly designed. One of the worst I've ever seen and I've seen plenty of bad combat during my 35 years of gaming. There is nothing tactical about it. Or strategical. Or whatever. No cover, no climbing to reach a spot for effective sniping, no true backstabbing. Just pew pew, spray and pray. The time-slowing feature is awkward and, in my experience, fairly useless. No enemy variety either.

Weapon/armor customization is meh. You can't swap mods unless you invest all your points in the related skill.

Overall, I would not recommend this over-hyped game to anyone who is not a die-hard Obsidian-can-do-no-wrong fanboy.

UPDATED MY JOURNAL

EDIT: Since I found out that my thread was still popular (thanks to someone mentioning it in another forum), I thought it might be appropriate to add a comparison to Starfield which was released a year ago. There are only two similarities between these two games: both are in space and both are, shall we say, full of identity politics.

In every other aspect SF is miles ahead. The main story, side quests, the cool factions and their questlines, the characters, voice acting, gameplay, top notch combat, space combat, combat in low G, enemy AI, the sheer scope, visuals, soundtrack, ship building, base building, mining/production/trade sim, weapon and armor modding, a vast skill tree, endless replayability… Just like every other Beth game SF will be played to infinity and beyond, unlike TOS which is already mostly forgotten.

[Fox]

I pretty much agree with everything you said, but I bought it anyway because it's basically a teeny tiny Fallout in space without the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game-breaking bugs everywhere. Modern gaming is getting worse and worse. What happened to epic RPGs that spanned a hundred hours of actual story and engaging gameplay with no extra DLC to buy so you can actually have the full game?

[Gvyomar]

Originally posted by Klinex:

Graphically, the game looks very dated. Like, 2000 dated

And i'm out.

C- for the effort.

XDDD

Klinex, it is an invasion.

[MaxKool007]

LMAO 2000 leve grafics. I dont think you played any games in 2000 buddy if you think this looks like that. So unreal is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ engine? lol there is NOTHING wrong with the grafics. Its a style choice if anything. They have a interesting look to them. Nice try tho. LOL. Not orginal? What do you mean they make with others IPs? Oh you mean fallout? LOL the IP they literally INVENTED lol..... you really need to learn some history bud.

[★ Smokes, Let's Go Ψ]

Originally posted by Klinex:

Graphically, the game looks very dated. Like, 2000 dated

And i'm out.

C- for the effort.

The poster has some fair points, but seems to exaggerate all of them in a dramatic sense. This example is petty apparent. I don't think OP was gaming in 2000 if they think this what games looked like 20 years ago.

TOW doesn't look AAA cutting edge, but it doesn't look bad.

I do think $60 is asking too much for it. But I also think $30 is pretty fair. (though the sale ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is scummy)

[Bisexual Lion's Pride.tar.bz2]

It sounds like you just didn't like the game. Maybe move onto something else you might like?

[GreedyLoU]

AGREED

[--T-a-u-r-u-s--]

good game for me, most points witch you state is console restriction most witch PC user can see from get go that how i see it

[ShinsFortress]

The ludicrous pricing tactic is enough to keep me away. The rest, well, 'bonus'.

I haven't paid full price for ANY game since pre-ordering <redacted> a few years ago and finding out how most of the major game elements were *bleep*..

[Peelsepuuppi]

The title alone pretty much captures the essence of this game. Mediocre, unoriginal and boring.

[Gvyomar]

Originally posted by ToveriJuri:

Mediocre, unoriginal and boring.

Those words capture too the essence of all the gossip what is happening around the game.
What a coincidence.

[Iron|Cu!]

Originally posted by ellorien:

Folks, first of all, I feel sorry for any of you who paid the full price for this game. I also blame myself for falling for the oldest trick -- "50% off." I did not save 30 bucks. I lost 30 bucks. And that's the sad truth, folks. This game ain't worth more than $20, and I am being generous.

Allow me to be blunt. Obsidian is not known for originality. They usually use someone else's IP.
So, it should come as no surprise that the game is a weak reiteration of Mass Effect, especially the failed ME: Andromeda. A Low Budget Junior High edition. Similarities are stunning. But the sad fact is the ME series is much, much, MUCH better, even the aforementioned failed Andromeda. In every aspect. In. Every. Aspect.

Another comparison usually made is related to the Fallout 3 and 4 and New Vegas (which is still considered a Bethesda game, lol). Folks, don't insult Bethesda with the comparison. Just don't.
I am serious. You can find multiple flaws in Beth games but they are still lightyears ahead of the pathetic pile of mediocre junk called The Outer Worlds.

Graphically, the game looks very dated. Like, 2000 dated. Music... Come to think of it, I don't remember if there was any music. Was there? Yes, totally forgettable.

Exploration is non-existent. There is no climbing or swimming as far as I can tell. No exiting locations to discover. No cool loot. No memorable enemies. No clever mini-stories scattered around (think FO4 terminals). The world is bland and bare. You run along a few corridors with invisible walls and that's about it..

Character customization is one of the nicer features but nothing to write home about. It absolutely does not matter how your character looks anyway because you will never get to see him/her in your game. And you will never hear them speak because your protagonist is mute. No cinematic dialogues that show your char. And, given the fact that the dialogues are generally verbose and full of tiresome, pretentious juvenile humor, I ended up hitting my spacebar way too often to skip them. I mean, Spacebar is your friend in this game, you will learn to appreciate it soon enough.

Very few NPC around. None has any kind of daily routine. For example, in the starting town the population is supposedly oppressed and overworked but you will never actually see anyone working inside the infamous cannery. A few idle NPC are just standing somewhere 24/7 gossiping or drinking in a bar. A guard or two are patrolling the premises. The end. Lifeless and pointless.

♥♥♥♥♥♥ women and lesbians are in charge everywhere, lol. All male NPC are totally low IQ beta losers, even the alleged villains. The "politics" are one-dimensional, in-your-face BS, everything is banal and predictable as McDonald's menu. At some point you just stop taking the game seriously.

Most quests are simply boring. I realize that tastes differ and what is boring to me can be super-exiting to someone else and vice versa but that's my opinion and I am sticking to it. There are not very many quests in this short game so to compensate for that you are awarded thousands of points for each quest completion. You even get hundreds of points for "finding" workbenches.
There are some choices and consequences -- one of the few redeeming qualities I have to mention. Having C&C is always a big plus. But trust me, you will never agonize over your choice. Because the game makes it hard to care one way or another about anyone or anything.

GUI/ inventory management, especially "food" and "medicine" is reminiscent of the worst games in history. You have to experience it first hand in order to appreciate the other game designers who you hated for their own clunky GUI in the past.

Combat and encounters are poorly designed. One of the worst I've ever seen and I've seen plenty of bad combat during my 35 years of gaming. There is nothing tactical about it. Or strategical. Or whatever. No cover, no climbing to reach a spot for effective sniping, no true backstabbing. Just pew pew, spray and pray. The time-slowing feature is awkward and, in my experience, fairly useless. No enemy variety either.

Weapon/armor customization is meh. You can't swap mods unless you invest all your points in the related skill.

Overall, I would not recommend this over-hyped game to anyone who is not a die-hard Obsidian-can-do-no-wrong fanboy.

I agree with you. I'm not sad I bought it for 30$, but yep, expected much, much more. I will finish it, and probablly forget it and never play it again. I guess, it's not weird it was exclusive at EPIC for a year... It's really barebones..

[Prime_Zero]

I just don't see why people are hating on this game aside from the 1 year delayed release which ya @#$#ed @#$#, but are you guys rushing through it or something. Not sure how far I am, but I am off the first planet now and loving this game. I have enjoyed the characters in it and the quest lines for crew member's, this game kinda reminds me a lot of Firefly. That 30$ was well worth it for me, so far the quests are pretty good I am liking them, the graphics are amazing. And as some one who played pc games from the 2000's id say this is not even close to how bad they were back then so gonna asume that was your way of saying your weren't happy with the style or level of graphics. As for how short it is, seems long enough to me, been playing it since release. So starting to think all the people complaining about that are people with no lives or a lot of free time on there hands.

I went in not comparing this game to any thing, just going in like its any other game and I have been having a great time with it. My hype for this game simmered down long ago and I questioned buying it now or when it would be 9.99$ Still happy with my choice.

Guess this game isn't everyone's cup of tea, just doesn't float everyone's boat but that's how life / games are every game can't please every one. Its getting a bit lame seeing all these constant rants about the game, feels like the same thing said over and over. Wish people would move on already on that, but guess it'll take a few weeks or month for that lol.

[Nats]

I've played a bit of it on Gamepass and it was indeed pretty unremarkable. When you play Fallout 3 and 4 they blow you away. It's certainly nothing like those games. I am glad not to have bought it. But then what with Cyberpunk just around the corner, why would I buy a game now, when it just wont get played? I have Fallout 4 to keep me going for a few more weeks. But I don't waste my money buying any old rubbish.

[MGB | Screaming Internally]

Originally posted by ellorien:

♥♥♥♥♥♥ women and lesbians are in charge everywhere, lol.

There it is. Could've just started with that so I didn't have to waste my time reading the rest of it.

[archonsod]

Originally posted by ellorien:

So, it should come as no surprise that the game is a weak reiteration of Mass Effect, especially the failed ME: Andromeda.

Utter surprise to me. I don't actually see any resemblance to Mass Effect beyond the fact they both have spaceships in them. I can see the obvious FO:NV similarities and the, for want of a better word, dungeons certainly bear similarities to Alpha Protocol's design.

Exploration is non-existent. There is no climbing or swimming as far as I can tell. No exiting locations to discover. No cool loot. No memorable enemies. No clever mini-stories scattered around (think FO4 terminals). The world is bland and bare. You run along a few corridors with invisible walls and that's about it..

The walls certainly aren't invisible :P

The cookie cutter level design is a problem though. Very few locations have their own distinct feel, and a lot of the interior maps feel remarkably similar whether it's supposed to be a factory or a hangar bay. It's particularly telling when it comes to the settlements; not only are they similar in layout and design but they don't really feel different to each other, even when on a different planet and owned by a different corporation. I'm guessing that's intentional, but the unfortunate effect is that it strips any sense of character from the settlements to the point you quickly stop caring about them beyond being a place to pick up and turn in quests.

Very few NPC around. None has any kind of daily routine. For example, in the starting town the population is supposedly oppressed and overworked but you will never actually see anyone working inside the infamous cannery.

On the contrary, there's plenty of NPC's wandering around, it's just far too many of them are generic nameless NPC's who simply repeat the same one or two barks per location. Occasionally, usually when first entering a location, you'll run across some scripted incidental dialogue between a couple but once it's done (whether you stayed to listen or not) that's it, they'll return to sitting somewhere or wandering and just repeating the generic NPC barks.

Combat and encounters are poorly designed.

If they were poorly designed it'd at least be notable. The problem is that they follow exactly the same design shooters have been using for the past three decades - stick a few pieces of obvious cover around, have some random exploding barrels strewn about the place and then place group of enemies in the centre. Interior levels come straight out of the Deux Ex / System Shock school of predictable patrol patterns and 'skip this room' ventilation shafts.
It's not helped by the combat system being so dull. The only real difference between guns is whether they're single, semi-auto or automatic (with spread for shotguns). Beyond that it's just the DPS number you need to worry about; different ammunition in theory does extra damage to specific targets, but in practice simple raw damage output beats it every time. Pick your favourite bullet hose and just hold on the target till they stop moving. It doesn't need the huge variation of Borderlands, but even Mass Effect had Biotics to spice things up - the closest we have here are the special attacks companions can unleash if you have the requisite skill level, but even those are usually inferior to simply hosing everything down with bullets.
AI is another problem with enemies simply closing to relevant weapon range and attacking. Occasionally ranged enemies will make use of cover if they remember it, particularly when reloading, but 99% of all combats can be won simply by circle strafing the target like it's 1999.

Originally posted by Prime_Zero:

Guess this game isn't everyone's cup of tea, just doesn't float everyone's boat but that's how life / games are every game can't please every one.

Nor should they try to. I'm sure people will love this game despite it's flaws just as they did with Tyranny, which suffered from the same descent into blandness. Like Tyranny, the criticism isn't really that the game is bad, it's that it trips up on some pretty basic mistakes that Obsidian really shouldn't be making at this point. Particularly given they've already demonstrated competence in putting together this style of game previously (FO:NV, Alpha Protocol ...)