The Outer Worlds Spacers Choice Edition Review (PlayStation 5)

For this The Outer Worlds Spacers Choice Edition Review we play the award-winning single-player RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division. As you explore a space colony, the character you decide to become will determine how this player-driven story unfolds. In the colony’s corporate equation, you are the unplanned variable.

The Outer Worlds Spacers Choice Edition Review Pros:

  • Decent graphics.
  • 53.73GB Download size.
  • Platinum trophy for the main game and two sets of seperate trophy lists for each DLC.
  • Initial pop-up saying the recommended player level for the DLC and which base quests have to be done beforehand.
  • Comes with both DLCs – Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos.
  • Graphics mode – performance and cinema mode (visual quality).
  • Field of view slider.
  • Graphics settings – are just chromatic aberration.
  • Controller-four layouts, lefty support, invert axis, and sensitivity sliders along with deadzone sliders for both sticks.
  • Text size slider.
  • Tutorials on/off.
  • Tutorials are pop-up text boxes as you play.
  • Four difficulties-Story, normal, hard, and Supernova.
  • Gameplay settings – head bobbing, companion helmets, player helmets, and cinematic kill cameras.
  • Can skip cutscenes.
  • Sleep in beds to advance time and regain health.
  • Character creator-attributes, skills, aptitude, appearance, and name. Appearance allows a full in-depth creator with sliders on every option.
  • Strong decent voice work.
  • Fast loading times.
  • The opening area teaches you the controls.
  • Stealth-screen changes and you can see a bar above enemies’ heads as to whether they are suspicious or alerted to you.
  • Save when you want.
  • The idle camera just goes into a 3rd person’s view panning around the screen.
  • First-person view.
  • RPG gameplay.
  • Multiple choice character interactions.
  • Tactical time dilation-limited uses but with it, you can slow down time momentarily, it lasts longer if you stay still. Over time you can unlock it so you can target/cripple certain body parts.
  • Loot all button.
  • Multiple choice encounters.
  • You can steal items but it comes at a price.
  • Interactive points or things you can pick up are highlighted when nearby.
  • EXP earned pops up on the screen with a brief description of what you got it for.
  • Unlock fast travel points.
  • Earn EXP and level up to increase your core stats and all stats in that group up to 50 then you can upgrade individual stats up to 100. every 20 levels in a state section will get you a bonus skill.
  • Perks-every 2 levels you get a point to put into your perks.
  • On-screen markers and icons for quests, side quests, and points of interest.
  • Bed-used to restore health and time dilation as well as move time forward.
  • Day/night cycle.
  • Play how you want.
  • Earn EXP for discovering new places and points of interest in the world.
  • Steal-items show in red if you can steal them but it does cause people to get mad and possibly violent and can shut off future quests.
  • Companions-they will help in combat, have skills to help your stats, increase carrying capacity and you can unlock special companion inspiration skills.
  • You have a set of controls for your Companions so you can give orders.
  • Terminals can be accessed for lore, background, and possible in-world actions.
  • Moral choices play a huge part in how you play the game and what’s available to you.
  • Loot everywhere!
  • You can do illegal activities as long as no one sees you doing them.
  • Any EXP you earn pops up on the screen.
  • Fast fluid gunplay with each gun type feeling unique and new.
  • Vending machines buy items but can also be hacked so you can sell to them. If you earn a higher enough reputation with the vending machines faction you can get better more restricted items.
  • Very charming world.
  • So easy to get sidetracked and discover your own adventures.
  • Item repair – your gear and weapons will degrade but you can repair them at workbenches, vending machines, or learn the skill yourself.
  • Workbench-repair and upgrade items.
  • Reputation with factions can go up and down and sometimes just staying out of their way heals.
  • Clear easy to navigate menus makes coming back to it after a break a lot easier.
  • Minimap bar at the tip to show markers and enemies.
  • System map-travel to any of the unlocked planets from terminals in your ship.
  • Holographic shroud plug-in ID cartridges to take on that form to allow safe passage.
  • Heavily influenced by games like Fallout, Skyrim, and the like.
  • Your companion skills combine with yours when needed.
  • Before entering a new planet/location you can assign 2 companions to go with you.
  • If you are returning to the game on a different console then take note you can skip cutscenes, fast-forward text, and conversations.
  • Handy quick select wheel for your weapons.
  • So many ways to play the game.

The Outer Worlds Review (Steam)

The Outer Worlds Spacers Choice Edition Review Cons:

  • No custom bindings for the controller.
  • The EULA text is ridiculously small.
  • Slow starter.
  • Text pop-ups don’t compensate for the size slider so you lose a load of vital information.
  • Stick in the scenery a few times.
  • The performance of the cinematic visual setting is terrible, slowdown and choppy framerate is rife.
  • At times the enemies blend into the background and it’s hard to make them out.
  • Performance mode is playable but it doesn’t run smoothly.
  • A lot to take in initially.
  • A pain to always check and equip new items.
  • Robot-looking animations.
  • Using skills like lying and intimidation doesn’t show success chance so it’s a huge gamble.
  • You accumulate a lot of side quests very quickly.
  • Handling multiple quests can be arduous.
  • Icons on the screen are no help when you have multiple icons for different quests/tasks.

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The Outer Worlds Review (Steam)

The Outer Worlds Spacers Choice Edition:

Official website.

Developer: Obsidian

Publisher: Private Division

Store Links – 

PlayStation

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Sound - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Accessibility - 8/10
  • 9/10
    Length - 9/10
  • 8/10
    Fun Factor - 8/10
8.2/10

Summary

The Outer Worlds for me is the definitive “Fallout” game. It uses the ideas and mission structure of said game series but injects a heap of humor, variety, and pizazz that it never feels like a chore, even the most mundane of tasks feels satisfying and fun to play. The Outer Worlds has excellent gin play and gun choice, not quite Borderlands level of gun choices but it’s pretty big! I loved finding new guns and melee weapons as they all handled differently, being able to mod them on the fly meant I could customize them and watch those damage numbers pop. I just found the whole experience better than the Fallout games as it didn’t feel clunky or out of date, it had a charm and wit about it where it didn’t take itself too seriously and it worked. The worlds they build are unique and an absolute joy to explore, every session I would stumble across an encampment or a series of tunnels with loot, it was just a cohesive smooth game overall. I can’t go into story stuff and I wouldn’t want to spoil it but be safe in the knowledge that the core gameplay, the worlds, and the gunplay is they’re albeit on a much smaller scale than a Fallout, but in this day and age, I found the length to be just fitting as I got my Sci-fi RPG fix and didn’t feel like I missed over things to advance the story. The Outer Worlds is an intergalactic TV show I love to binge-play. This version does seem to have a lot of performance issues which is a shame as it is a fantastic game but the issues are noticeable and definitely affect your enjoyment.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!