Original Fallout designer Tim Cain, also known for co-directing The Outer Worlds at Obsidian, has published a video responding to a player's question about why violence is the "default" path in so many big budget RPGs. That's specifically RPGs with "AAA" budgets, whatever AAA means these days. Cain is, of course, well aware that there are many RPGs from smaller teams that "evolve past the paradigm of violence being the default way in which the player interacts with the world", and that there are plenty of puzzle games, adventure games and the like in which there is no violence at all.
]]>Head over to the Epic Games Store on April 4th and you'll be able to grab The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition and Thief (2014) for free and to keep forever. Like a thief!
]]>Tim Cain wrote what is perhaps gaming’s most famous and influential monologue: the introduction to Fallout. “War never changes,” he says. “People loved it. I’m like, ‘I must be a writer.’” Yet much more recently, when Cain sat down to write his memoirs, nobody really liked what came out on the page. “I was really, really bad at it,” he says. “I had half a dozen people read it, and they all pretty much said that the stories were good, but my writing wasn’t.”
Cain’s writing strengths, as fellow Fallout originator Leonard Boyarsky has suggested, lie in shortform. Which was bad news for anyone who wanted to read the definitive account of his four decades at the heart of Interplay, Troika and Obsidian, three of the most important RPG studios of all time. Thankfully, though, it turns out Cain is a natural raconteur. The same anecdotes that appeared flat and toneless in his memoirs go down a storm on YouTube. There, for the past seven months, Cain has been delivering his stories straight to camera, as if at a dinner party with 73,500 other people. “When I started the channel, I would effectively just look at something in the book and be like, ‘I’ll tell that story today,’” he says. “Now I spend as much time answering questions and doing videos based on things people ask about.”
]]>The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition launched to entirely deserved incredulity over its dire performance problems, PC version included. Low framerates, stuttering, lighting glitches, texture popping, wonky shaders... if you could think of a technical woe, it was probably already undermining this remaster’s efforts to rework and enhance the original RPG’s visuals.
Publishers Private Division have since promised a series of updates to get the Spacer’s Choice Edition up to code, with the first of these – v1.1 – releasing late last week. I’ve given it a test on various graphics cards and credit where it’s due, it has bumped up general performance significantly, although many broken parts remain unmended.
]]>Surprise RPG remaster The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition has turned out to be even more of a PC wilter than its raised system requirements would suggest. I’ve only been bumbling around the starting planet of Terra-2 so far, and thus haven’t seen every single weather system upgrade and character model touch-up that the Spacer’s Choice Edition has to offer, but it’s made a worrying first impression in the performance department.
]]>Back once again to prove that I will literally never get tired of an "-er? I hardly know her!" joke, it's episode five of series two of the Electronic Wireless Show podcast. This week we return to a subject we've touched on before, but in more detail. With EA asking if people would like remakes of Dead Spaces 2 and 3, and The Outer Worlds getting a remastered Spacer's Choice Edition, we're having a big old thinkeroo about remakes and remasters - including which games we'd most like to see remade.
]]>As previewed by Alice Bee, The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition doesn’t simply bundle up Obsidian’s spacefaring RPG with its DLC expansions. It’s also an unexpected remaster, redoing and fine-tuning everything from companion AI and facial animations to weather effects and dynamic lighting. It’s an enticing prospect for a game that never previously counted visuals as its strong suit, though there will be a catch: the Spacer’s Choice Edition will have significantly higher PC system requirements than the 2019 original.
]]>Late last year game voted Most Likely To Make Me Accidentally Say The Name Of A Different Game and neo-old-school space RPG The Outer Worlds was rated for a mysterious Spacer's Choice Edition. Obsidian are now ready to officially reveal said wash and brush up, which is coming next week on March 7th, and bundles both DLCs for the game with remaster-y improvements to AI, VFX and technical art. To mark the occasion I got to chat with co-directors Leonard Boyarsky and Tim Cain, and producer Eric DeMilt, all of whom who made games that are stastistically likely to number among your favourites - especially if you like RPGs.
]]>Microsoft today announced The Outer Worlds 2 and I for one will be delighted to probe the many mysteries of another solar system stuck in a time loo- oh god damn it, not again. Right, right, not Outer Wilds, it's Outer Worlds, the Obsidian Entertainment RPG that's kinda like a space version of Fallout: New Vegas. Another one of those. Here, watch the trailer.
]]>Obsidian's space-y RPG The Outer Worlds has called up its second and final story expansion called Murder On Eridanos. With that title, I'm sure you know how this goes. There's a body. You're a protagonist. One way or another you're about to be in charge of figuring out who went and turned a space celebrity into a space corpse. Murder On Eridanos is out today for all your spacers looking to dig into more sci-fi corporate crimes.
]]>After a year of Epixclusivity [correction: oh god, and the Microsoft Store, I forgot], The Outer Worlds today launches on Steam and GOG. Obsidian Entertainment's sci-fi FPS-RPG feels a whole lot like a return to their days of Fallout: New Vegas, but in space. If you've been waiting for it to land on a store you like more, here you go. Or if you've been waiting for it to be cheaper, hey, it's half-price right now too.
]]>Is there anything scarier than buying products at below the recommended retail price? Almost certainly, which is why I'd hesitate to call the Epic Games Store Halloween Sale particularly spooky. It is, however, taking a massive knife to game prices across the platform, with some pretty hefty discounts of up to 80% going on a number of range of fantastic games until the sale wraps on November 3rd.
]]>Rootin' tootin' corporate space western The Outer Worlds reckons it's time to recruit some new interstellar cowboys. After a year of blasting its way around The Epic Games system, Obsidian's Fallout-lite sci-fi romp is preparing to mosey on into Steam's parlour in just under two weeks.
After all, what better place for a tale of unchecked capitalism run amok than Valve's brutally competitive storefront?
]]>The Outer... Worlds? Worlds. The Outer Worlds has today released its first expansion, Peril On Gorgon, a title which feels like it needs a campy exclamation mark.
It's the first of two narrative expansions, and set in an asteroid colony where Science has done a Bad. It also brings a couple of new weapons and armour sets, some new music, new perks and flaws, and an increased level cap to Obsidian's not-Fallout Fallout game.
]]>The first story expansion for The Outer Worlds won't be taking you to a relaxing corner of space for some well-earned relaxation. No, there's no rest for the wicked in corporate space so you'll be headed to an old research asteroid to find out what the heck has gone wrong. As you can bet based on the title, Peril On Gorgon will dunk you into the thick of it. You can catch one of the early quests in a new developer commentary video showing off a bit of the expansion coming in September.
]]>I know I'm probably biased, but for my pocket change you won't have a better time on a Wednesday night than watching our dear VidBuds Matthew and Colm hammering the heads off people in The Outer Worlds. The thing is that even in RPGs with deep choice systems, like Obsidian's space cowboy adventure, most of us don't actually do the evil thing, do we?
This is why Matthew and Colm are taking it upon themselves to be as nasty as possible and see where it gets them. They're hoping to get the worst, most horrible ending they can, the big corpo scumbags. Let us take on the karmic tarnish to your soul so you don't have to - that's the RPS guarantee! And you can watch them stream this live, right here, at 6pm BST!
]]>After posing the question ‘who actually takes the evil path in games?’ I was surprised to see the answer is ‘most RPS readers, actually’. I’m not sure if this speaks more to my delightful innocence or your inherent gitishness. Either way, Colm and I (your RPS Vid Buds) continue to step out of our comfort zone as we pursue the nastiest outcomes in The Outer Worlds. We’ve built a grade-A space bastard - manipulative, but handy with a gun when words won’t do - and murdered a dentist. It is off to a good start. So join us live for part two.
]]>For the past two years, I have confused the name Outer Wilds with The Outer Worlds. I will say one space game's name when I mean the other. I will expand one name into 'The Outer Wilds' and trim the other to 'Outer Worlds'. I will trip and combined the two into 'Outer Woilds'. I hate this. AND NOW, Outer Wilds writer Kelsey Beachum has declared she wrote for the newly-announced The Outer Worlds DLC, Peril On Gorgon. This is too much.
]]>From my understanding of Greek myths, you're not supposed to look directly at a Gorgon. That doesn't seem to be how The Outer Worlds' tales work, then, because there's a bloody asteroid of the same name that's crawling with baddies. Arriving this September, Peril On Gorgon brings in a whole new world full of conspiracies, subterfuge and good ol' fashioned gunfights in The Outer Worlds' first proper piece of story DLC.
]]>Has anyone, in the history of gaming, actually made the bad choice? I can see the renegade dialogue option staring at at me, but are we 100% sure it’s wired up to something in the game? I have my doubts. And it’s those doubts that have led to this, a new streaming series where your loyal RPS vid buds attempt to pursue the worst endings imaginable.
We plan to tackle games in their entirety over a number of weeks, starting with the moral murk of 2019’s The Outer Worlds. It’s short and has great potential for evil (like some RPS staffers I know) and should be a good time for all involved. Well, all those watching.
]]>Glaad (formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) have brought their media awards back for the 31st year, and for the second year in a row they're recognising video games "for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and the issues that affect their lives".
Last year, Jay Castello wrote about how these video game awards highlight difficulties in celebrating queer representation, and this year it's slighty better, but it still feels a bit like it's missing the point.
]]>The winter half of the yearly charity speedrunning marathon Awesome Games Done Quick kicks off this Sunday, January 5th. Donations to Games Done Quick will benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation. The week long marathon will cover a bunch of speedrunning mainstays along with some new additions from 2019.
]]>I’ve been spending the past few weeks playing co-op games with my BFF. I wanted to try Sea of Thieves, because when I’m not dreaming of being an astronaut, I’m dreaming of being a pirate. Being Scottish, I suggested we use Game Pass, Microsoft’s games subscription service, and was surprised to see that it was only £1. Then I was surprised to see that the next renewal date for my sub is April. Score!
It’s a holiday discount, so you’ll probably need to be super quick, and though it claims that it’s “your first 3 months”, I had already signed up and unsubbed from Game Pass when Sea of Thieves was first released and I still got the deal. If this doesn't work for you, you can probably sign up for a new account. Microsoft aren’t shy about putting games up there. You can enjoy Halo: Reach for a paltry amount for a few months.
]]>Party members were not being launched into space by cows then falling to their mock-deaths in The Outer Worlds, it turns out, but the truth isn't much less strange. Obsidian Entertainment last night released a big bugfix patch for their sci-fi RPG, including a fix for the problem of the game sometimes declaring you'd failed companion quests because your pal had died - even though they were clearly alive. Obsidian tried to pin down this enigmatic bug for ages but its cause had proved elusive. Quality assurance lead Taylor Swope told the story of this bughunt on Twitter, and it's good. The cause is a bit like Wile E. Coyote realising that the Road Runner has once again tricked him, and for several seconds he has been standing on thin air.
]]>What's a holiday to The Outer Worlds without Companions to share the journey with? Obsidian's latest open-world(s) RPG provides you with six different Companions to bring aboard your ship, the Unreliable, and help you in the quests and battles you'll face time after time throughout your journeys. Each Companion has different personalities, skillsets, side quests, and combat powers - and our The Outer Worlds Companions guide will walk you through each of them in turn, so you know which companions are the best for each situation you find yourself in. We've even got a list of all the perks, including the ones unlocked by completing the Companion Quest.
]]>The Game Awards are just around the corner, a week from today on December 12th. The show's host and producer, Geoff Keighley, is running an Ask Me Anything on Reddit today where he confirms that there are "around 10 new games/projects" being revealed at the show. To his knowledge, none of them have been leaked yet.
]]>From the very start of the game, The Outer Worlds gives you a variety of systems to play around with to customise and develop your character. Prime among them is the Perks system, which gives you the chance on every second level-up to give your character a new Perk to help give them (and you) a slightly easier or more enjoyable journey through the game.
With 42 Perks to choose from, there's quite a lot to take in here; so we've put together this The Outer Worlds Perks and Flaws guide, which will explain not only how Perks work and some great ones to start off with, but also the game's unique Flaws system and why you may want to take advantage of it.
]]>The Outer Worlds may not quite be the largest RPG we've ever seen, but it sure does have a great deal of stuff to explore and experiment with, from the first moments (or in my case, half-hour) of character creation to the many different quests, enemy types, combat mechanics, stories, and interconnected systems you'll encounter throughout your travels.
Lucky for you, our The Outer Worlds guide series looks to furnish you with all the information you need, starting with the below 25 The Outer Worlds tips and tricks on everything from dialogue options to Workbenches.
]]>Patch 1.1.1.0 for The Outer Worlds, which was expected to launch this week, ended up delayed at short notice. Developers Obsidian Entertainment have pushed the patch back slightly due a situation that was out of their control, but thankfully only to Monday the 18th of November. I can tell you that the best fix of the entire patch is an increase to dialogue and subtitle text that will prevent you from giving yourself early crow's feet and a chronic headache.
]]>The Outer Worlds weapons are pretty darn complex. They may give you a tonne of scope for choice and customisation, but each weapon has many more associated stats than we're used to seeing in games such as this - and that's not even taking into account weapon type buffs, damage types, special effects, mods, and each of the many other elements that may affect your time with a particular gun.
]]>The Workbench in The Outer Worlds, among many other useful things, gives you the ability to apply all sorts of powerful mods to your weapons and armor. This alone makes the Workbench one of the greatest tools available to you, and the best part is that you can find at least one in pretty much every region of the game, including your own ship, the Unreliable.
Our The Outer Worlds Mods & Workbench guide will ensure that you know exactly how to use this powerful piece of tech! We'll go over tinkering to improve weapons and armour, adding mods to weapons, repairing damaged equipment, and more.
]]>Armor in The Outer Worlds is one of the most important tools the game supplies you in order to stay alive in the treacherous and dangerous regions of Halcyon, Monarch, and all the other planets you'll hop between throughout your journey. Not only does equipped armor reduce the damage you take against oncoming attacks, but they also give you plenty of scope for customising your character, with many pieces of armor supplying you with extremely useful boosts to certain skills or attributes.
Our The Outer Worlds Armor guide will walk you through how Armor Rating actually works, along with a rundown of how Light Armor compares to Medium and Heavy Armor, and which you might want to take forward depending on your character and playstyle.
]]>The very first thing that you're presented with upon starting a new game of The Outer Worlds is a wonderful selection of skills and attributes to choose from to customise your character, making it very clear that Obsidian know the best part of an RPG for many players is the character creation process. With this finely crafted array of skills, you can start to carve out the path of your character before you even set foot on Halcyon - and our The Outer Worlds skills & attributes guide will help you make the choices you truly want to make right off the bat, with detailed explanations of how each skill is used in-game, and how levelling up your skills actually works in The Outer Worlds.
]]>Having weapons is cool and all and most of them deal more damage than the science weapons, but The Outer Worlds has some unique gadgets and gizmos that are worth seeking out. They're the most bizarre items, capable of shrinking foes, or making them fight each other.
]]>I understand that Obsidian fans are sort of using the existence of The Outer Worlds to dunk on Fallout 76 (because OW is the real successor to New Vegas, right?). But before it was ammunition in a weeing contest, the game was a first-person space RPG where you did a shoot at extremely angry lizards. And, much like that one friend we all have, I thought it was a lot of fun, but relied too much on tropey rib-nudges in lieu of having its own personality. So far, so space cowboy.
But one thing about The Outer Wilds that utterly delighted me was when I had to open a door that led to a different area. Because then I got to see a loading screen. And they're the purdiest-lookin' loading screens I ever did done saw.
]]>Did you find the main campaign in The Outer Worlds just a little too easy? Well the Supernova difficulty is where the real challenge is and if you're not prepared for the worst, you can easily die over and over, or even worse - lose your companions. Of course, you don't want that to happen, so we've played a little bit of the game and scoured the internet to get tips to help you survive supernova difficulty in The Outer Worlds.
]]>With all the corporations in The Outer Worlds vying for your attention, it can be difficult to know how to effectively use them and which ones you should be seeking out. Some may have the same effects, but last far longer, while the bulk of products out there are just the same type of item repackaged.
]]>Diplomacy is a big part of The Outer Worlds. You can make or break your reputation with a faction based on decisions made, whether you were caught doing crimes, or other good and bad deeds. The game assigns statuses, but it can be a tad confusing trying to work out what each one gives you.
]]>I spent a good part of the weekend exploring The Outer Worlds. Just pottering about, as you do, looking for space adventures and feeling bad about the dead sprats (until I met a large and angry one, and now they all need to die). I also spent some of that time changing the game to my liking, and what I couldn’t do in the settings, I did with some ini tweaks. I have cast aside my intro videos, debloated the HUD, and given mouse acceleration the old heave-ho.
]]>Sometimes stealth is the answer for completing a quest in The Outer Worlds, but how do you get around without being seen? Sneaking behind boxes can only go so far and in space, cardboard boxes and cheaply made disguises won't cut it. You'll need the highly experimental holographic shroud.
]]>The time to take a trip to The Outer Worlds has finally arrived. Not to be confused with the Outer Wilds, you understand. Oh no, that's a different space shuttle bus altogether. The Outer Worlds is Obsidian's new intergalactic RPG, the folks wot made Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, and I've been taking a look at how well it runs on PC. The answer, you'll be pleased to hear, is pretty darn smooth. As with most big games these days, though, there are always ways to help improve performance if your PC's struggling a bit. So read on, fellow space travellers, to see what top tips you can employ to boost the game's frame rate right up into the next galaxy.
]]>At the stroke of midnight, Obsidian Entertainment blasted off into The Outer Worlds. It's a new first-person sci-fi RPG from the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas and Alpha Protocol, exploring strange space colonies in quite a NuFallout-y way. It's not one to break bold new ground (and even with the name, I've accidentally called it"Outer Wilds" thrice so far today) but it does those Obsidian things and it does them solidly, and that sounds comforting in these uncertain times.
]]>The Outer Worlds is not as large as a certain game of similar ilk, but inside the small package is a great deal of things to discover. One thing you should get the hang of very quickly is how to use the Tactical Time Dilation, or TTD for short. But how do you use it and what are the debuffs?
]]>There are a few times, during Obsidian's rootin' tootin' shootin' lootin' first person space cowboy RPG The Outer Worlds, where the game lampshades the tropes it uses. One of them really stood out to me. An information broker asked me to clear the airwaves he used for his radio signals, meaning I had to convince two rival faction leaders to stop broadcasting. This meant having to do a task for each of them, with each task involving a sub-task.
When I handed the quests in, they both had more errands. And so on and so forth. When I finally returned to the broker and he asked me to reset his satellite relay, I was like "Oh, I bet I have to press three different switches now or whatever", and he was like "No, don't be ridiculous, that is a stupid system, who would design that, it's just one button." And while it's all very well to put that little joke in your game, it won't change the fact that the rest of it is all about finding sets of three switches.
]]>Obsidian Entertainment are blasting off to The Outer Worlds, and prematurely zlorped their launch trailer out. The new first-person RPG from the gang behind Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars Of Eternity explores a silly sci-fi world of aliens and moonmen, striking a tone I would crudely say looks to me like 'New Vegas in space with Borderlands wackiness'. You will tut at me, and probably be correct to, then go "Ah no, I get it" after watching the trailer below.
]]>For a while there, when I asked the filing system of my brain for The Outer Worlds it would throw up a card for that just said "The space one that isn't Outer Wilds". I only have so much processing power, and I will still call each of those games by the other's name at least once per time I bring either of them up. But after playing the hands-on preview, The Outer World's filing card has an addition in crayon that says "Yes. Good. Keep doing that" and also probably some grabby sticky fingerprints in jam from me, the urgent toddler.
]]>E3 2019 is finished! More importantly, we have almost recovered from E3 2019. To celebrate their convalescence, Alice B and Matt piled into the podcast studio for a 40-minute post-show chat about their favourite games from the show and thoughts on the many E3 press conferences.
]]>I've just seen a game that reminds me of Deus Ex. It's set in a dystopia where corporations call the shots, and you can approach situations how you see fit. Guards can be persuaded, tricked, intimated or shot. Robots can be hacked. Sewers can be snuck through, if you can first lockpick the entrance.
There are no punks in sight. I'm talking about The Outer Worlds, a first person sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment. I only got a hands off peek at E3, and one carefully curated slice might not represent the whole cake. But gosh, that slice looked delicious.
]]>Obsidian Entertainment's oddball sci-fi FPS-RPG The Outer Worlds will first launch on October 25th, Microsoft announced during the night's newsblast. What surprised me in the trailer is a feature I'd missed: the game has a shrink ray which blasts wibbly shrinkbeams until the target becomes diddy. A must-have weapon. I know young Matt will meet Obsidian at E3 later this week so I must press him to press them for an answer to the pressing question: can I shrink myself by shooting the ray into a mirror?
]]>Obsidian Entertainment have a pretty great track record when it comes to singleplayer RPGs, and from what we've seen so far of The Outer Worlds, their latest project looks set to become another colourful feather in their cap. With the Xbox press conference of E3 2019 now past us, we've updated the below The Outer Worlds guide with all the latest information on the game's release date, details on combat and story, all The Outer Worlds trailers so far, and much more.
]]>Trying to keep up with E3 2019 is a fool's errand, and the foaming river of content streaming down the internet's face doesn't always make it easier. So here's a round-up of every news story from the show we think matters to you, with links to our full stories (and bantful liveblogs) where relevant. We'll be updating this hourly, so keep coming back.
]]>E3 is getting started this weekend, otherwise known as the Encredible Electricity Experience, or sometimes simply “Hellweek”. It’s a very busy and exciting time to be a videogame liker, but you might need some help. Allow the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, to be your digital sherpa through this storm of fictional bullets and lightsabers. Let’s talk about what we’re looking forward to seeing, and the games that probably won’t appear (but that we wish would).
]]>Epic Games are getting serious about going head-to-head with Valve with their store, and have the war-chest to prove it. They've just announced a slew of exclusives, including Obsidian's highly anticipated The Outer Worlds, and Remedy's upcoming horror shooter Control. Frogwares's cthulhoid detective mystery The Sinking City will be making its debut on the upstart storefront too. This is on top of Epic's surprise announcement that Quantic Dream's formerly PlayStation-exclusive library is coming to PC via their store. See the list of announced exclusives below.
]]>Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind RPGs from Alpha Protocol through Fallout: New Vegas to Pillars Of Eternity, tonight announced The Outer Worlds, a new singleplayer first-person RPG with a space-western twang. As a space colonist who was deep frozen when their ship got lost, we end up in the arse end of the galaxy on a planet many factions are fighting over. It's a bit of a silly one too, a bit like Borderlands but hopefully not filled with gits? Trailer below.
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