The Outer Worlds

• 1. Introduction

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  The Outer Worlds is a 2019 action role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment, and it begins with a history that never happened. In the game's timeline, U.S. President William McKinley was never assassinated in 1901. Theodore Roosevelt therefore never succeeded him, and the great business trusts of the era were never broken up. Over the following centuries, that single change grew into a society run by corporations. A passenger from a lost colony ship wakes into that world with no idea how it works. Who built this place, and who profits from it? What can one revived stranger do about it? And how did a team of designers build a whole game around that freedom?

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• 2. The Halcyon System

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  Halcyon is a star system of six planets: Hephaestus, Tartarus, Terra 2, Olympus, Typhon and Eridanos. Olympus has a moon named Monarch. The system also holds the Charybdis Cluster, an asteroid group that includes the colonized rocks Scylla and Gorgon. No colony sits farther from Earth. Reaching it takes a faster-than-light starship and a ten-year sleep in cryogenic storage.

  Ten megacorporations bought the system together and formed the Halcyon Holdings Corporation. They run it as a network of company towns. The road to that arrangement began after a global war and the invention of faster-than-light travel. Corporations then started sponsoring the settlement of other worlds, and their terraforming gave mixed results. Thousands of people from Earth signed up anyway, hoping for a fresh start.

  In 2285, two colony ships called the Hope and the Groundbreaker left Earth for Halcyon. The Groundbreaker arrived as planned. Most of its colonists settled Terra 1, later renamed Monarch, and Terra 2. Its crew turned the ship into an independent port, and their descendants still keep it running. The Hope never arrived. It vanished in transit and slowly became a myth among the colonists.

  The two settled planets could hardly be more different. Terra 1 is feral and lawless, and its people rose up against the colony's governing board. Terra 2 is more refined and far more shaped by corporate culture.

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• 3. The Stranger's Mission

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  In 2355, a scientist named Phineas Vernon Welles finds the missing Hope adrift at the edge of the system. He manages to revive one of its thousands of frozen passengers. That passenger is the player character, known as the Stranger. Welles says the Halcyon Holdings Corporate Board, the colony's governing body, is incompetent and greedy. He wants to wake the other passengers, many of whom have skills the colony badly needs.

  His first job for the Stranger is a meeting on Terra 2 with a smuggler named Alex Hawthorne. The Stranger's escape pod lands on Hawthorne and crushes him. With no other way off the planet, the Stranger takes his ship, the Unreliable, and also his identity. Along the way the Stranger learns that the Board wants Welles for alleged terrorism and illegal human experimentation. At any point, the player can betray Welles and help the Board catch him.

  A large shipment of dimethyl sulfoxide, the chemical Welles needs for the revivals, leads the Stranger to Aloysius Clarke. Clarke is Earth's representative on Halcyon and lives in the capital city of Byzantium. The Stranger finds that he is under house arrest and has no real power. The Board used his name to secure the shipment. Its true recipient is Charles Rockwell, the Chairman of the Board.

  Rockwell's office holds the darkest secret in the story. He plans to save Halcyon's limited resources for the Board and the elite of Byzantium. Working-class colonists would be forced into cryosleep and woken only briefly for hard labor, again and again. The scheme goes by the cheerful name of the Lifetime Employment Program. The workers would be stored aboard the Hope, while its original passengers would be frozen and ejected into space. Long cryosleep eventually liquefies the human body, so the Board tests the chemical on human subjects. It wants to learn how to wake workers safely, over and over. Welles once worked on this very project. He failed to revive at least 12 of the Hope's passengers before he succeeded with the Stranger. The Stranger can then raid the Board's research facility and steal the chemicals. The frozen test subjects die in proportion to how much the player takes.

  Sophia Akande is the Board's Adjutant and the colony's de facto leader. She asks the Stranger to warp the Hope to Tartarus, home of the Labyrinth prison complex, so Welles can be seized. Welles wants the ship brought to orbit above Terra 2, close to his hidden laboratory. The ending depends on that choice. A Stranger built with low intelligence who pilots the ship manually flies it straight into Halcyon's sun, killing everyone aboard. Sending the Hope to Terra 2 brings a Board raid on the lab and Welles's imprisonment in the Labyrinth. The Stranger fights through the prison to free him and face Akande, who either surrenders or dies. Sending the Hope to Tartarus instead sends an enraged Welles there himself. He incites a riot and takes Akande hostage, and the Stranger must make him release her, peacefully or by force.

  In every version of the ending, the Stranger learns that all contact with Earth has been lost. A Board-owned ship has also vanished while trying to leave the system. If the Stranger sided with Welles, the Hope's passengers are revived and slowly improve life in the colony while the corporate oligarchy fades. If the Stranger sided with the Board, the Lifetime Employment Program takes full effect, and the workers are exploited more than ever. Either way, no rescue from Earth is coming.

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• 4. Building a Stranger

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  A new Stranger starts with six attribute points to spread across six categories: strength, dexterity, intelligence, perception, charm and temperament. Strength adds inventory space, while charm and perception open extra dialog options. Players also pick one of 15 aptitudes for a minor bonus. Neither the attributes nor the aptitude can be changed later, though more attribute points arrive as the game goes on. The team chose not to use character classes at all. Instead, players can build hybrids who excel at two of the three pillars of play: combat, stealth and dialogue. Character creation was streamlined on purpose, and it holds back full specialization until later in the game.

  Seven skill trees shape that growth: Melee, Ranged, Defense, Dialog, Stealth, Tech and Leadership. Leveling up unlocks perks, and enough points in a tree unlock threshold bonuses. Players can also accept a flaw, a permanent debuff, in exchange for an extra perk point. Flaws can arrive on their own after repeated failures or harmful habits such as alcohol abuse or frequent falls from height. The designers meant flaws to shift the difficulty without changing the experience.

  Combat revolves around a mode called Tactical Time Dilation, which briefly slows time and reveals enemy health. The designers built it so that new players would not be overwhelmed while veterans gained extra options. Aiming at a body part during the slowdown inflicts a status ailment, so an enemy hit in the legs is crippled. Weapons come in rarity tiers, wear out with use and can be repaired at workbenches with weapon parts. Five unique Science Weapons have strange special effects. The brand Spacer's Choice sells cheap, clunky guns, while other makers offer more modification slots. The designers wanted the arsenal to feel wacky and outlandish, and some weapon ideas began as gameplay bugs.

  The spaceship Unreliable serves as the player's hub, where fast-travel destinations across Halcyon are chosen. Each faction keeps its own opinion of the Stranger. Helping a faction raises its reputation, while crimes or killing its members lower it. High standing earns benefits such as vendor discounts. Very low standing means that faction's members attack on sight.

  Stealth and conversation offer different routes through the same problems. Players can hide in long grass, stay out of enemy sight lines, pick locks, pick pockets and wear disguises to enter restricted areas. Persuasion, lying and intimidation can end a confrontation before it starts. A large number of quests can be solved without violence, yet the game can also be finished after killing every character. The team built alternate ways to obtain key information in case quest givers die. A fully pacifist route was planned, but it created so many unforeseen technical issues that it was scrapped.

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• 5. Cast and Companions

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  Leonard Boyarsky led the writing team and put heavy emphasis on the characters. The player character and Phineas Welles were among the first created. The Stranger was modeled on a frozen colonist who knows nothing about the new world, so players learn about Halcyon alongside the protagonist. In a society used to corporate rule, this newcomer was meant to be an unknown variable. The Stranger is a silent protagonist, a blank slate shaped by the player's choices. Boyarsky said players can be heroic, evil or dumb. The narrative choices were designed to be morally grey, and the game shows the consequences so that players decide for themselves what they care about.

  Up to two companions can join the Stranger on a mission, while the rest wait aboard the ship. Each has individual skills, special attacks and an optional quest line. Having one along can open extra dialog options and give a passive stat bonus. The team said companions are more involved in the story than in Obsidian's earlier games. Special abilities that the player character first held were moved to the companions. That change brought them into combat and showed off their personalities. The game originally had six human companions, but one was replaced by the janitor robot SAM because of time constraints.

  Most of the companions began as basic archetypes. Ellie was described as a pirate with a dubious moral compass. Parvati was a sweet, naive mechanic who fits poorly into corporate society. Felix was a rebel without a cause who only wanted to tear down the establishment. Nyoka was envisioned as a fierce huntress, and Max as a travelling priest. Ellie and Felix are the exceptions, because they began as placeholder companions in an early vertical slice of the game. Each companion is deeply tied to a conflict. Once it is resolved, the narrative designer who wrote the character can take them in any direction.

  The Board is not drawn as a simple villain. Its representatives try to persuade the Stranger because they believe their plans are good for the colony. The game still ends with the Stranger siding with Welles or with the Board, and it offers many chances to double-cross either one. The team described Welles as a mad scientist. His creators drew on Rick from Rick & Morty and on Walter Bishop from Fringe.

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• 6. World and Tone

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  Art director Daniel Alpert described the look of the game as the Old West set in the future. Halcyon was imagined as a remote colony with a strong element of heavy machinery. The art team used Art Nouveau to portray the corporations and large cities, reflecting their elitist nature. Vibrant color came from the works of Alphonse Mucha and Moebius, and it helped the world feel alien while staying familiar. Each corporation has its own color scheme, so players can recognize company towns at a glance. Loading screens show propaganda images made by the Board, illustrating the consequences of the player's actions. Boyarsky has also credited dieselpunk art for the environments.

  The universe drew on Fallout, Firefly and Futurama. The corporations were inspired by mining towns of the early 20th century. Boyarsky called Halcyon a corporate utopia, where the Board controls every aspect of life. From birth, people are taught to put their employers above themselves. The writing team also looked to Deadwood, Brazil, True Grit, the Coen brothers and Wes Anderson.

  Roseway and its quests were among the first places built, and they served as a guide for the other locations. Each region received its own narrative that still connected to the main story. The team avoided one huge continuous environment because it would not give the pulp space opera feel they wanted. An overworld region on Terra 2, meant to link settlements such as Byzantium and Edgewater, was cut early. Budget limits played a part, and so did the team's unfamiliarity with Unreal Engine 4. The critical path ended up shorter than expected. Some scrapped ideas moved to Scylla, an asteroid location built quickly because it had no settlement and needed no intricate art. Obsidian compared the game's length to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, which takes 15-40 hours depending on playstyle. The smaller scope gave the team more time to build alternate paths and narrative choices.

  Cain and Boyarsky worried that a dystopia played straight would turn monotonous and depressing. They gave the game a humorous tone, though it explores capitalism and bureaucracy. The team did not want to lecture players or make the game politically charged. They hoped the clash between dark themes and light delivery would create emotional resonance. According to Cain, the story grows steadily darker as the player advances.

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• 7. Studio and Release

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  Tim Cain joined Obsidian in 2011, and in April 2016 he received the chance to create a new intellectual property. He invited Leonard Boyarsky to co-direct. Both are creators of the Fallout series, and they had worked together at Interplay Entertainment and Troika Games. Obsidian itself had developed Fallout: New Vegas. A prototype appeared six months after development began, showing the three pillars of combat, stealth and dialogue.

  In December 2017, Private Division, an independent publishing division under Take-Two Interactive, announced the project in its first slate of games. The first trailer premiered at The Game Awards 2018. Obsidian was in the process of being acquired by Microsoft Studios at the time. The game had been in development before that point, and Take-Two secured the publishing rights before Microsoft made its offer.

  The Outer Worlds reached PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One on the 25th of October 2019. In March 2019, it was announced that the game would launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store and Microsoft Store. The Steam version was delayed until the 23rd of October 2020, and fans reacted negatively. A Nintendo Switch version was set for the 6th of March 2020 but slipped to the 5th of June because of problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtuos developed that port.

  The first expansion, Peril on Gorgon, arrived on the 9th of September 2020. It added a new location, a new story campaign and three Science Weapons. On Gorgon, a freelancer named Lucky Montoya sends the Stranger a package with a human arm in it. A woman named Minnie Ambrose then asks the Stranger to find the journals of her mother, Olivia Ambrose, a former high-ranking scientist at Spacer's Choice. Olivia disappeared after a secret project failed. It had used a chemical found on Gorgon to make Adrena-Time, a stimulant that drives users to violence and insanity. Olivia sabotaged the project in disgust, but Minnie secretly works with Spacer's Choice to restart production. The Stranger can side with either woman, or persuade them to reconcile and build a cure for the drug's side effects.

  The second expansion, Murder on Eridanos, followed on the 17th of March 2021. The Stranger is summoned to the Grand Colonial Hotel above the gas giant Eridanos to solve the murder of the actress Ruth Bellamy, famous as the action hero Halcyon Helen. Then a living Ruth Bellamy attacks a nearby distillery owned by the corporation Rizzo's. The victim was her twin sister Belinda, who had been secretly sharing the Halcyon Helen persona. The sisters had learned that a new vodka flavor was made with happiness-inducing parasites native to the planet. The distillery's administrator, Quinton Ludovico, ordered the killing as a cover-up. The Stranger can help Ruth destroy the distillery or protect it and let the parasites spread. Both expansions were included in the season pass.

  On the 7th of March 2023, Virtuos also released a remaster called The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition for PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox Series X/S. It has updated visuals, a higher level cap, the base game and all expansions. Critics said it introduced stutter and generally ran worse than the original. In April 2026, it was announced that the original game and its expansions would be delisted on the 27th of May on every platform carrying the remaster. Owners of the base game would receive the Spacer's Choice Edition for free. A May update was also planned, adding balance changes and the ability to use grenades.

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• 8. Praise and Criticism

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  Metacritic recorded generally favorable reviews for most versions of The Outer Worlds. The Nintendo Switch version received mixed or average scores because of downgraded visuals and technical limitations. Many critics noted a strong resemblance to Fallout. Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica called the game a "dizzying, dense shot at reclaiming the indisputable glory of Fallout: New Vegas". Adam Rosenberg of Mashable said it was essentially a Fallout game with its own identity. Free-form character building drew strong praise for letting every player have a distinct experience. Joe Juba of Game Informer found its flexibility satisfying and compared the space-faring story to Mass Effect. Edmond Tran of GameSpot said Unreal Engine made exploration and combat feel better than in the Fallout games. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell of Eurogamer felt Obsidian played it too safe and called the game forgettable.

  Combat divided reviewers. Alex Avard of GamesRadar found it rudimentary, and Jason Wilson of VentureBeat called it bland, with unimaginative weapons. Matt Martin of VG247 felt combat got in the way of exploration. Tom Senior of PC Gamer found the systems uncomplicated and lacking depth. Several critics also found the standard difficulty too easy, and others noted a lack of enemy variety. Steve Boxer of The Guardian liked that the game was not too complicated. Tran praised the fast and hectic fights. Dan Stapleton of IGN admired clever touches such as the perks and flaws, and said Tactical Time Dilation made play faster and more precise.

  Writing won the warmest words. Boxer praised the script as "razor-sharp" and enjoyed its comedy. Avard called the characters the most well written, multi-faceted, intelligent and human he had met in a video game. Wilson thought humor was the best part and described it as a "funny and an effective critique of corporate culture". Machkovech and Evans-Thirlwell disagreed, finding the portrayal of capitalism monotonous and the sci-fi tropes stale. The story itself drew mixed opinions. Avard called it a "masterfully constructed branching narrative". Several critics found the opening slow and aimless, with the wider plot fading into the background. Juba criticized the quest design as dated, because choices usually meant siding with one of two factions or earning a third option through side quests. Fraser Brown of PC Gamer called it Obsidian's "most conservative RPG" and compared it unfavorably with Disco Elysium, released in the same month.

  In the UK, it was the fourth best-selling retail game in its week of release. In the US, it ranked second behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). In November 2019, Take-Two Interactive said it had been a commercial success that significantly exceeded expectations. By August 2021, it had sold over four million units, one of Private Division's best-selling games. It was nominated for several end-of-year awards, including Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2019.

  A sequel, The Outer Worlds 2, was announced on the 13th of June 2021 at the joint Xbox and Bethesda E3 presentation. It was released on the 29th of October 2025 for Windows, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. In August 2024, it was revealed that the series would appear in Secret Level, a video game anthology for Amazon Prime Video. The episode, titled The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep, was released on the 17th of December 2024.

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