The Outer Worlds is amazing and is already cementing itself as one of 2019's best RPG's. The game is made by Obsidian Entertainment, the masterminds behind the first South Park game and the beloved Pillars of Eternity franchise. Oh, and Fallout: New Vegas, which explains why the Outer World's foundation is so heavily based on Fallout.
And, while the game is complex and intriguing, the berth of content itself is a lot more shallow than the Fallout games. Not that this isn't a 30-40 game mind you. It just isn't a 80-150 hour one like Fallout 3. Because of this design, there are a lot of little factors players are only discovering once they're so far into the game that it doesn't really matter anymore. So to help out the brand new kids, here are the ones we found.
10 Tinkering Gets Too Expensive Too Quickly
The Tinkering gimmick in Outer Worlds is basically just a fancy way of saying "upgrade". Fallout had these mechanics, but it was more repair/durability oriented as opposed to just a straight-up damage increase. Now, for the first couple levels, Tinkering is quite cheap.
Usually, the first two upgrades are under 100 Bits and then the next three are under 500. But, after that, they jump pretty exponentially, sometimes costing 3,000 just to increase a guns damage by 2-4 points. We recommend players don't even worry about Tinkering once a gun/piece of armor costs more than 700 bits to upgrade, as new versions of guns pop up frequently enough to basically invalidate this investment.
9 Way Too Many Consumables, Once Again
Much like Bethesda's post-apocalyptic franchise, The Outer Worlds is flush with different consumables. Different types of food, water, and alcohol that all serve as temporary buffs. Plus, they're great for world-building. Aspects like only finding Rizzo's food in Cascadia (a town owned by Rizzos) is a nice example of attention to detail on Obsidian's part.
That said, there are just too many! Even when running a character with high Medical who could use all 4 inhaler slots, we found ourselves buried in Consumables we would never use. So, for new players, unless you're on Supernova, feel free to sell whatever consumables you think aren't worth holding. Though we do recommend people hold onto anything that gives a temporary buff to body or mind attributes.
8 The Assault Rifle Is Perfection
Maybe it was just our build, but the Assault Rifle, more than any other gun in the game, carried us. We kept thinking that maybe we had just found a higher-tier version of it early on, but no, the Assault Rifle in Outer Worlds is just that good!
The clip is pretty big, ever more so with the Mag-Num mod, the damage per-bullet is insane, and because of TTD effects, it's a perfect weapon for stacking Debuffs on a group of enemies. The only other comparable weapon would be the Hunting Rifle, but the Assault Rifle doesn't break down nearly as much.
7 Murder Doesn't Make A Town Unapproachable Anymore
Stealth isn't the same in The Outer Worlds. In Fallout, players could get a stealth kill in a room and no one outside would be the wiser. But, if they did see, then the entire settlement or town would usually aggro onto the player. Outer Worlds is similar, but with a key difference. First of all, Reputation will decrease no matter what. But, additionally, if any enemies aggro within a small house or room, just take them all out quickly.
If the player does that, the rest of the zone should stay friendly. The best time to utilize this is in Byzantium's clothing shop. After finishing the quest for the Chimera Armor, simply take out the shopkeep and the soldiers so you can nab all those unique armor pieces without making all of Byzantium your enemy.
6 Playing Both Sides Is Easy And Worth It
The Outer Worlds is a game of extremes, the representation of a Corporate-owned galaxy is so laughably exaggerated that it's both bitter and charming. Meanwhile, Phineas's "good" path still involves a bunch of killing and espionage. So, players might think they have to choose between one or the other.
But that's simply not true. Obsidian intentionally made the systems in OW deep, meaning there are tons of variables that allow players to play both sides of the main conflict for extra EXP. Work for both Akande and Phineas's cause for double the EXP! Though, selling out Phineas might still be mandatory for this path, so keep that in mind.
5 There Are Few Armor Sets
We spent a ton of our time in the game collecting armor pieces thinking that there would be a ton to choose from. But, in reality, Outer Worlds only has about 8-10 different types of outfits. It's one of its few big flaws, we even had a hard time making a list about it. There's the corporate-style Light, Medium, and Heavy armor which is colored differently depending on the company.
Then there are the Iconoclast, Maurader, and Scientist armor types, as well as casual clothes. What we're trying to say is that Outer Worlds is lacking in variety. Yes, players have options, but not nearly as much as Fallout or even some of Fallout 3's DLC's alone.
4 Mods Are More Common Than The Game Wants You To Think
Mod weight adds up! Start getting in the habit of storing your mods on the Unreliable early, because about halfway through the game they'll add up to about 25-50 pounds. Mods pop up constantly in Outer Worlds, though collecting them early like in Edgewater is highly recommended. But, don't feel bad about selling a couple of Silver Tongue mods, because we guarantee more will pop up.
That said, there are a couple that should be saved such as corrosive magazines, Super Scopes, and Dodge boosters. Other than those, players don't need to worry about lugging around every little mod they find.
3 Companions Can Carry You
No, this doesn't include Supernova. But, on any other difficulty, companions can absolutely carry players after about the mid-point of the game. Given decent armor and weapons, certain NPC's can basically play the game for you. Our personal favorites were Parvati and Felix, both for their skill bonuses and the fact that their special moves stun enemies.
But, every single companion is fantastic. SAM, in particular, is extra bulky and is perfect for Corporate players trying to do a full bloodthirsty run. We recommend taking 2 at all times, and giving them Heavy armor and weapons. While Ellie seems like she'd only be able to use a pistol, she seems to handle herself just fine with a flamethrower.
2 The System Map Lies
Thanks to the Xbox's Game Pass, we played Outer Worlds pretty much on the day of release, for literally only a dollar. Because of that, we went into it basically blind. So, we had no idea that half of Obsidian's System Map was inaccessible. Honestly, it's one of our only complaints about the game.
Right after you leave Edgewater, you're able to see this whole wide galaxy to explore. But, after progressing through the game a bit, players find out that only about half of the planets are real, and the rest are just set decoration. Maybe they'll be saved for DLC, but at the moment it totally feels misleading.
1 Getting A Skill to 100 Is Rarely Worth It
Obsidian really fixed a lot of our problems with Fallout's leveling system in this game. Perks are unlocked every two levels, and Skills are separated into categories so players can experiment in the early game. But. more than ever, players have so many resources for buffing skills outside of their stats screen. There are perks, Armor, companions, and even consumables that massively increase certain skills both permanently and temporarily.
Because of that, there's really not much reason to get any skill to 100. The 100-level perks are nice, but nowhere near as insane as the Fallout games, and players are rewarded much more for using those points on getting all their skills to at least 50.