| The Outer Worlds | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Obsidian Entertainment[a] |
| Publisher | Private Division |
| Directors | |
| Producer | Eric DeMilt |
| Designer | Charles Staples |
| Programmer | Mark DeGeorge |
| Artist | Daniel Alpert |
| Writer | Leonard Boyarsky |
| Composer | Justin E. Bell |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
| Platforms | |
| Release | October 25, 2019
|
| Genre | Action role-playing |
| Mode | Single-player |
The Outer Worlds is a 2019action role-playing game developed byObsidian Entertainment and published byPrivate Division. Set in analternate future, the game takes place in Halcyon, a distant star system colonized bymegacorporations. In the game, players assume control of a passenger from a lost colony ship, who is revived by a scientist and tasked to rescue their fellow colonists and take down the corporations responsible for the colony's downfall. The game is played from afirst-person perspective, and players can use combat, stealth, or dialog (persuasion, lying and intimidation) options when encountering potentially hostilenon-playable characters. Players can make numerous dialog decisions which influence the branching story.
Led byTim Cain andLeonard Boyarsky, the creators of theFallout series, the development ofThe Outer Worlds began in April 2016.Firefly,Futurama andDeadwood all inspired the game's world and characters. The team used striking color to depict its game world, and the team was influenced by theArt Nouveau style and the works ofAlphonse Mucha andMoebius. The game was envisioned to be narrower in scope compared to other role-playing games although a number of locations and characters were still cut due to time and budget constraints, as well as the team's unfamiliarity with using the game's engine. It was announced in December 2018 and then released forPlayStation 4,Windows, andXbox One in October 2019, with theNintendo Switch port released in June 2020. Obsidian released two downloadable content packs, and a remastered version was released in March 2023 forPlayStation 5, Windows andXbox Series X/S asThe Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition.
The Outer Worlds has received generally positive reviews. Critics generally praised the game's writing, characters, freedom of choice, and art direction, though its combat was criticized for being bland. Many critics noted its similarity to theFallout series. The Switch version was criticized for its technical issues. It was nominated for several end-of-year accolades, includingGame of the Year atThe Game Awards 2019. It was a commercial success, selling over four million units by August 2021, surpassing expectations. A sequel,The Outer Worlds 2, was released in 2025 by Obsidian and publisherXbox Game Studios.
The Outer Worlds is anaction role-playing video game played from a first-person perspective. At the beginning of the game, players create their avatar (dubbed the Stranger in-game) and are given six attribute points to distribute across six categories (strength, dexterity, intelligence, perception, charm and temperament).[1] These attributes determine the character's baseline ability in combat, stealth, and engaging in interactions with othernon-playable characters (NPCs). For instance, a character with points in strength has additional inventory space, while a character with points in charm and perception gains additional dialog options.[2] Players also choose from one of 15 aptitudes which give minor gameplay bonuses. The chosen attributes and aptitude cannot be changed after character creation but players will get more attribute points as the game progresses.[3]
A spaceship named theUnreliable serves as players' hub of operation, where players can selectfast travel destinations on different planets in the Halcyon system.[4] Each location in the game is a large, open space which can be explored freely.[5] Players encounter various NPCs who offer side quests and optional objectives and reward them withexperience and bits, which are used to purchase weapons and other items from vendors.[6][7] Players make numerousdialog decisions which influence the game's branching story. They can respond to NPCs in various ways, such as acting heroically, maniacally, or even moronically if their character's intelligence attribute is set to below average.[8] Players also need to manage their reputation among the different factions in the game. Helping a faction increases reputation, while committing crimes or killing members of a faction decreases it. High reputation with a faction provides benefits such as vendors offering discounts. Very low reputation results in members of that faction attempting to kill the player character on sight.[9]
Several NPCs can also join the player character's party as a companions and participate in combat. Each companion has their own individual skills and special attacks, and they can develop their own skill specialization over the course of the game. Each companion also has an optional quest line that can be completed. While exploring, players can bring up to two companions while the rest stay on the ship. The presence of a companion may unlock additional dialog options, and give players a passive bonus to their stats. Players can also manually direct the companions and adjust their combat AI. Each companion has their own weapons and armor, though they can be changed by players.[10] The player character and companions have a limited carrying capacity (based on the strength stat), and can enter a state of "encumbrance" if they carry too many items or wear overly heavy armor. In this state, characters can no longer sprint or fast travel.[11]
Players can play offensively by using the game's assortment of firearms and melee weapons. Some weapons have unique damage types, allowing players to inflict elemental damage on enemies. Weapons are divided into rarity; the rarer the weapon, the stronger they are. Weapons break down with use but they can be repaired at workbenches with weapon parts. They can be further customized and upgraded to further improve their efficiency.[12] Weapons and armor, which boosts defense, are collected through exploring the game world, looting enemy corpses, or purchasing from vendors.[13] There are also five unique "Science Weapons" with special and unusual effects.[14] In combat players can enter a "Tactical Time Dilation" (TTD) state, which briefly slows down time and reveals opponents' health statistics. Targeting specific parts of an enemy during TTD enables players to inflict status ailments. For instance, an enemy will become crippled if their legs are attacked.[15]
Players can usestealth tactics, such hiding in long grass and avoiding enemy's line of sight to not be detected.[16] Investing in stealth skills allows players to lockpick,[17] pickpocket other NPCs,[7] and wear a disguise to infiltrate otherwise restricted areas.[18] Players can also use persuasion, lying or intimidation to avoid combat altogether.[17] A large number of quests in the game can be resolved in a non-violent ways,[19] though it is also possible to complete the game despite killing all NPCs.[20] As players progress in the game, they gain experience, allowing them tolevel up. They can then unlock perks which grant single bonuses or effects and spend points on seven different skill trees (Melee, Ranged, Defense, Dialog, Stealth, Tech and Leadership). Once sufficient points are invested in a skill tree, players can upgrade individual skills in each skill tree, and receives threshold benefits that further boost the player character's ability.[21][22] Players may also opt to gain flaws, which provide a debuff, in exchange for an additional perk point. These can be obtained when players fail certain gameplay segment repeatedly or engages in harming behaviors such as alcohol abuse or frequently falling from height.[23][24]
The Outer Worlds is set in analternate future that diverged in 1901, when U.S. PresidentWilliam McKinley is notassassinated. As a result,Theodore Roosevelt never succeeded him, and the great business trusts of the era were never broken up, leading to a hyper-corporate, class-centric society dominated by the power ofmegacorporations. In this timeline's future, following a global war and the invention offaster-than-light travel, various organizations and megacorporations begin to colonize outer space, oftenterraforming alien planets with varying results.[25] Thousands of Earth residents sign up for the chance to travel to a new star system for a fresh start. The art, architecture, and technology of the colonies display a unique blend ofArt Nouveau,steampunk, anddieselpunk aesthetics.
On this frontier is Halcyon, astar system consisting of six planets: Hephaestus, Tartarus, Terra 2, Olympus (and its moon Monarch), Typhon, and Eridanos. The system also contains the Charybdis Cluster, anasteroid cluster that includes the large colonized asteroids Scylla and Gorgon. The colony was founded and is now governed by the Halcyon Holdings Corporation, a union of ten megacorporations who collaborated in the settlement of the system, with the ultimate goal of using them as largecompany towns. Being the most distant colony from Earth, travel to Halcyon requires the usage of both an advanced,faster-than-light starship and a ten-yearcryosleep for all passengers. In 2285, two colony ships, theHope and theGroundbreaker, are dispatched to colonize Halcyon. TheGroundbreaker proceeds to colonize the planets Terra 1 (later renamed Monarch) and Terra 2 and is converted into an independent port and armored citadel by the original crew and their descendants, but theHope and its cargo disappears in transit, slipping into myth among the citizens of Halcyon.
In 2355, theHope is discovered drifting on the outskirts of the Halcyon system by scientist Phineas Vernon Welles, who manages to safely revive one of the passengers, the Stranger. Welles informs the Stranger that the Halcyon colonies have fallen on hard times due to the incompetence and greed of the megacorporation-run government (run by the Halcyon Holdings Corporate Board, composed of the founding companies' CEOs). Welles tasks the Stranger with securing the resources needed to revive the remainingHope colonists, and jettisons the Stranger in an escape pod onto Terra 2, where a smuggler, Alex Hawthorne, is waiting. The Stranger's pod inadvertently lands on top of Hawthorne, killing him instantly. The Stranger then takes over Hawthorne's ship, theUnreliable, piloted by anartificial intelligence named ADA. As the Stranger repairs their ship and explores Halcyon, they learn that Welles is wanted by the Board for acts of alleged terrorism and illegal experimentation, and must make another choice: continue helping Welles or betray him to the Board and assist with his capture.
After leaving Terra 2, the Stranger is instructed to head to Monarch, a colonized moon orbiting the gas giant Olympus, where an information broker holds the location of a batch ofdimethyl sulfoxide, a chemical Welles needs to revive the remaining colonists. Because landing on Monarch is prohibited due to a Boardtrade embargo, the Stranger must first retrieve a passkey from theGroundbreaker. The Stranger helps the Broker regain control of Monarch's airwaves so he can collect the intel. With the Broker's intel, Welles directs the Stranger to Halcyon's wealthy capital Byzantium, where the Minister of Earth, Aloysius Clarke, has just signed for a shipment ofdimethyl sulfoxide. Tracking down Clarke to his townhouse, the Stranger learns that Clarke has been placed underhouse arrest by Board Chairman Charles Rockwell, the true recipient of the chemicals.
In Rockwell's private quarters, the Stranger discovers a video in which Rockwell announces the "Lifetime Employment Program"; the Board is conspiring to place most colonists in indefinite cryosleep, ostensibly in order to save humanity but in actuality to hoard the remaining food supplies for the wealthiest citizens. In order to store these frozen workers, theHope colonists will be ejected into space, with theHope turned into a vast cryogenic warehouse. Thedimethyl sulfoxide is being used on human test subjects to attempt to recreate Welles' formula, in the hope that workers can be repeatedly pulled out of extended periods of suspended animation. The Stranger retrieves the chemicals, with or without killing the test subjects in the process.
Welles suggests using ADA and theUnreliable's power to "skip" theHope into the inner Halcyon system, placing it in orbit near his laboratory above Terra 2 so that he can begin the revival process. Sophia Akande, the Adjutant for the Board, instead proposes that the Stranger skip theHope to Tartarus, a planet home to the Board's infamous Labyrinth prison complex, so that the Board can apprehend Welles and begin killing the colonists. The Stranger infiltrates theHope and learns of what occurred during the ill-fated voyage; theHope's skip drive developed an unforeseen fault, extending the planned 10-year mission to 60 years. As food rations ran out, some of the crew turned to cannibalizing the frozen colonists in order to survive, before staging a mutiny. The Stranger also discovers that they were not the first colonist Welles attempted to reanimate; he actually tried at least twelve times prior with fatal results for the colonists involved.
Wiring ADA through to theHope's control system, the Stranger skips theHope either to Terra 2 or to Tartarus. Depending on where theHope arrives in Halcyon, the ending diverges:
Regardless of the outcome, the Stranger is informed that contact with Earth has been lost, and that a Board troopship traveling back has mysteriously disappeared in transit. The Stranger is offered leadership of the Halcyon colonies and allowed to shape humanity's future, either under the Board's Lifetime Employment Program or under the freedom brought about by the loss of the Board's influence.
The Outer Worlds was developed byObsidian Entertainment, the developer behindFallout: New Vegas.Tim Cain andLeonard Boyarsky, two creators of theFallout series, served as the game's directors. Both worked together atInterplay Entertainment andTroika Games before departing for other studios. Cain joined Obsidian in 2011, and when he was given the opportunity to create a newintellectual property for the company in April 2016, he invited Boyarsky to join him as his co-director.[26][27]
A prototype was put together six months after development began, showcasing the three pillars of gameplay: combat, stealth and dialogue.[26] The team wanted players to build and optimize their character as they see fit, so the team did not introduce anycharacter class.[28] The upgrade system allowed players to create "hybrid" characters who excel at two of three ways of gameplay (combat, stealth or dialogue). Originally the player character had access to special abilities, though they were later moved to companion skills so the companions would be more involved in combat and as a way to further highlight their personalities.[29] The team also designed options for players who favor combat over dialogue, and developed alternative ways for players to obtain essential information should the NPCs involved in quests be killed. A pacifist way of completing the game was planned, although this was scrapped because it created many unforeseen technical issues.[26]
The game was designed to be accessible to all play styles. The Tactical Time Dilation system, which briefly slows down time during combat, was designed to prevent new players from being overwhelmed, while also giving veteran players more options to defeat their opponents. Weapons in the game vary in level as well as branding. For instance, Spacer's Choice provides clunky guns at a cheap price, while other brands provide additional modification slots.[30][31] These weapons were designed to be wacky, outlandish and unconventional, and the ideas for some of them originated fromgameplay bugs.[29]Flaws were introduced as a permanent debuff to players in exchange for an additional point in a stat. They were designed to alter the game's difficulty without fundamentally changing the overall experience.[32] Character creation was significantly streamlined compared to other RPGs. The team wanted players to customize their characters as they progress, and did not want to overwhelm them with information early in the game. It also actively prevents players from specializing until later in the game, with a system that allows multiple attributes to be upgraded at once.[33]
Boyarsky led the writing team and placed a large emphasis on developing the game's characters.[34] The player character and Phineas Welles were created early in development. Inspired byFallout, the player character was a frozen colonist who is not familiar with the new world. Players will gradually learn more about the Halcyon colony and its inhabitants alongside the protagonist.[26] The player character therefore, was considered to be an unknown variable in a world where everyone has become accustomed to corporate rule.[35] The main character was asilent protagonist as the team preferred a blank state character whose action and personality were completely shaped by players as they play.[36] Boyarsky said that the game provided players with options to shape their character, who can be heroic, evil, or dumb. The narrative choices were designed to be morally grey. The game informs players of the consequences of their actions, and it is up to them to decide "what [they] care about".[37]
According to the team, the companions were "more involved" in the story ofThe Outer Worlds when compared with Obsidian's previous games.[38] Most of the companions were based on "basic archetypes" with the exception of Ellie and Felix, who originally were placeholder companions in thevertical slice of the game.[39] These characters were usually deeply involved in a conflict, and once the conflict is resolved, the narrative designer responsible for writing the character will be free to take them to any direction.[40]The Outer Worlds originally featured six human companions, but one was replaced with the janitor robot SAM due to time constraints.[34] Ellie was described as being a pirate with a dubious moral compass; Parvati was considered to be a "sweet" and "naive" mechanic who did not fit into the hyper-corporate society well; Felix was described as a "rebel without a cause" who only wanted to destroy the establishment; Nyoka was envisioned as being a fierce huntress, and Max was designed as a "travelling priest".[41][34] The Board is not depicted as a completely antagonistic figure. Representatives from the Board attempt to persuade the player character to join their cause because they feel that what they are doing is ultimately good for the colony.[42] Welles, who was compared to a "mad scientist" by the team, was inspired by Rick fromRick & Morty andWalter Bishop inFringe.[34] The game ends with the player character siding with either Welles or the Board, but it provides ample opportunities for them todouble cross anyone.[43][44]
Art director Daniel Alpert described the game's aesthetics as the "Old West" set in the future. Halcyon was envisioned to be a remote space colony with a "strong element of heavy machinery". The art team utilized theArt Nouveau style to depict the corporations and large cities in the game to reflect their elitist nature.The Outer Worlds uses vibrant colors to depict its world, and the team was inspired by works ofAlphonse Mucha andMoebius. The use of striking color also helped the world to feel more "alien", so that Halcyon will be "familiar, but also slightly different" to players.[45]Loading screens features propaganda images made by the Board to depict the consequences of players' action.[46] Each corporation also has its own color scheme, so that players can identify various company towns easily. Boyarsky has said that the environments and art style of the game were inspired bydieselpunk art.[47]
The universe of the game was inspired byFallout,Firefly, andFuturama.[27] The corporations were inspired bymining towns in the early 20th century.[26] Boyarsky described the Halcyon system as a "corporate utopia" in which the Board exerted control on every aspect of life, and people were taught to place the companies they worked for above themselves from birth.[48] While the game explores themes such ascapitalism andbureaucracy, it was not intended to be "politically charged" and the team did not want to lecture players on these topics.[49] Despite its dystopian setting, it has a humorous tone. Cain and Boyarsky felt that the subject matter was too grim and the experience would become monotonous and depressing without a change in tone. The team hoped to seek a balance between silliness and drama when creating the narrative[50] so that the juxtaposition between its dark themes and lighthearted delivery will create more "emotional resonance" with their audience. According to Cain, the tone of the story becomes progressively dark as players progress.[51] The writing team was also inspired byDeadwood,Brazil,True Grit, and the works of theCoen brothers andWes Anderson.[27][50]
The game features a number of locations: Terra-1 is a feral, lawless planet whose occupants staged an uprising against the Board, while Terra-2 is more refined and more influenced bycorporatism. Roseway and its quests were among the first to be created, and served as a guide for the creation of other locations. Each region had its own narrative while being tied to the overarching story.[43] The team avoided creating a large continuous environment, because that would not generate "the space opera fantasy/pulp sci-fi fantasy feel" that the team was aiming for.[28] Several locations were cut early in development, such as an overworld region in Terra-2 that would connect various settlements such as Byzantium and Edgewater, partly due to budget constraints and partly due to the team's unfamiliarity with theUnreal Engine 4.[26] This resulted in the critical path of the game being shorter than expected. Some of the scrapped content was integrated into a location set on an asteroid (Scylla), which was created quickly since it had no settlement and did not require intricate art design. Obsidian compared the length ofThe Outer Worlds toStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, which takes players between 15 and 40 hours to complete depending on their playstyle.[52] The game's smaller scope allowed the team to focus more development time on developing alternate paths and narrative choices.[26][53]
In December 2017,Private Division, an independent publishing division underTake-Two Interactive, announced the project as their first slate of games to publish.[54] The firsttrailer for the game premiered atThe Game Awards 2018.[55] Though Obsidian was in the process of being acquired byMicrosoft Studios at the time of the game's announcement, the project had been under development before that point, and Take-Two secured the publishing rights prior to Microsoft's acquisition offer.[56]The Outer Worlds was released forPlayStation 4,Windows, andXbox One on October 25, 2019.[57] In March 2019, it was announced that the game would release exclusively on theEpic Games Store andMicrosoft Store, with its originalSteam release being delayed until October 23, 2020.[58] Fan response to the announcement was negative.[59] ANintendo Switch version was originally scheduled to be released on March 6, 2020, but was delayed to June 5 due to issues caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[60] The Switch version was developed byVirtuos.[61]
The game's first piece ofdownloadable content (DLC),Peril on Gorgon, was released on September 9, 2020.[62] The DLC pack added a new location, a new story campaign, and three new science weapons.[63] In this pack, the Stranger must investigate a science outpost located on an asteroid and uncover the mystery behind a failed science project.[64] The second DLC, titledMurder on Eridanos, was released on March 17, 2021. In this pack, the Stranger must solve the murder case of a famous actress named Halcyon Helen. Both DLC packs were included in the game'sseason pass.[65] On March 7, 2023, a remastered version of the game calledThe Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition, also developed by Virtuos, was released forPlayStation 5, PC, andXbox Series X/S.[66]Spacer's Choice Edition has updated visuals and a higherlevel cap,[67] and includes the base game and all downloadable content. The remaster has been criticized for introducing stutter to the game and generally performing worse than the original.[68][69][66]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | PC: 82/100[70] PS4: 85/100[71] XONE: 85/100[72] NS: 66/100[73] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Game Informer | 9.25/10[74] |
| GameSpot | 9/10[75] (Switch) 6/10[76] |
| GamesRadar+ | 4/5[77] |
| IGN | 8.5/10[78] |
| PC Gamer (US) | 79/100[79] |
| The Guardian | 5/5[80] |
| VentureBeat | 91/100[81] |
| VG247 | 3/5[82] |
The Outer Worlds received "generally favorable" reviews from critics for most platforms, with the exception of the Nintendo Switch version which received "mixed or average" reviews, according toreview aggregator websiteMetacritic.[70][71][72][73] The Switch version was criticized for its downgraded visuals and technical limitations.[78][83][76]
Many critics noted its similarity toFallout games. Sam Machkovech fromArs Technica wrote that the game was a "dizzying, dense shot at reclaiming the indisputable glory ofFallout: New Vegas".[84] Adam Rosenberg fromMashable also remarked thatThe Outer Worlds was essentially aFallout game but one with its own distinct sense of identity.[85] The free-form character building was strongly praised by critics for allowing each player to have a distinct experience, encouraging them to experiment with different gameplay styles, and increasing the game's replayability.[77][81][84] Joe Juba fromGame Informer wrote that the game's flexibility made the game "satisfying" to play for supporting various play styles, and compared its space-faring narrative toMass Effect.[74] Its use of Unreal Engine was praised byGameSpot's Edmond Tran for making exploration and combat feel better than those fromFallout games.[75] Some critics felt Obsidian played too safe with the title, withEurogamer's Edwin Evans-Thirlwell calling the game forgettable.[82][86]
Gameplay was considered to be serviceable, with several critics noting the lack of enemy variety.[84][81] Alex Award fromGamesRadar found it to be rudimentary and compared it unfavorably with otherfirst-person shooters,[77] whileVentureBeat's Jason Wilson found the combat to be bland and the choice of weapons to be unimaginative.[81] Several critics wrote that the gameplay was too easy in its standard difficulty mode.[84][85] Matt Martin fromVG247 felt that combat was uninteresting and an obstacle for exploration,[82] Tom Senior fromPC Gamer felt that its system were uncomplicated and generally lacked depth,[79] while Steve Boxer, writing forThe Guardian, praised the game not being too "complicated" to play.[80] Tran praised the combat system for being fast-paced and hectic, and liked how the game offered numerous opportunities for players to progress.[75] Dan Stapleton fromIGN also wrote that Obsidian distinguishedThe Outer Worlds with "clever" adjustments such as the skills and perks systems, and original features such as flaws, and remarked the TTD system enabled faster and more precise gameplay.[78] The game's environment diversity and art style were praised by critics for further enhancing its worldbuilding and making the experience feel consistently fresh.[84][77][75][78][79]
The narrative received generally positive reviews. Boxer strongly praised the game's writing, calling them "razor-sharp", and enjoyed the game's comedic tone. He further praised the game's characters for being emotionally resonant.[80] Avard also called the characters "the most well written, multi-faceted, intelligent and human NPCs" he had ever encountered in a video game, and liked the morally grey choices players had to make in the game.[77] Wilson wrote that humor was the best part ofThe Outer Worlds, describing it as a "funny and an effective critique of corporate culture",[81] though Machkovech and Evans-Thirlwell found the game's depiction of capitalism and usage of stale sci-fi tropes to be monotonous and one-dimensional.[86][84] While the writing was praised, the story received mixed opinions.[80] Avard described it as a "masterfully constructed branching narrative" and Stapleton, despite remarking that the game was not as big as those fromBioWare andBethesda Game Studios, wrote that the game nonetheless "packs in a large portion of flexible quests and conflicts" within its smaller locations.[77] Several critics found the opening segment of the game to be slow and aimless, as the wider overarching story faded into background.[78][84] Juba criticized the outdated quest design as choices always involved siding with one of two factions or finding an optimal third option through completing side quests.[74] Fraser Brown, also fromPC Gamer, called the game Obsidian's "most conservative RPG", and that decisions made by players rarely felt impactful. He compared the game unfavorably toDisco Elysium, which was released in the same month.[87]
In the UK, it was the fourth best-selling game at retail in its week of release.[88] It was the second best-selling video game in the US, behind onlyCall of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019).[89] In November 2019, Take-Two Interactive revealed that the game had been a commercial success, significantly exceeding the company's expectations.[90] By August 2021, it had sold over four million units, becoming one of Private Division's most successful games.[91]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Game Critics Awards | Best of Show | Nominated | [92] |
| Best Original Game | Won | |||
| Best PC Game | Nominated | |||
| Best Role-Playing Game | Nominated | |||
| 2019 Golden Joystick Awards | Ultimate Game of the Year | Nominated | [93] | |
| The Game Awards 2019 | Game of the Year | Nominated | [94] | |
| Best Narrative | Nominated | |||
| Best Performance (Ashly Burch) | Nominated | |||
| Best RPG | Nominated | |||
| 2020 | New York Game Awards | Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year | Won | [95] |
| Statue of Liberty Award for Best World | Nominated | |||
| Herman Melville Award for Best Writing | Nominated | |||
| 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards | Role-Playing Game of the Year | Won | [96][97] | |
| Outstanding Achievement in Story | Nominated | |||
| 20th Game Developers Choice Awards | Best Narrative | Nominated | [98] | |
| SXSW Gaming Awards | Most Promising New Intellectual Property | Won | [99][100] | |
| Excellence in Visual Achievement | Nominated | |||
| 16th British Academy Games Awards | Narrative | Nominated | [101] | |
| 2020Nebula Awards | Game Writing | Won | [102] | |
| GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Video Game | Won | [103] |
On 13 June 2021, at Xbox and Bethesda's joint E3 presentation,The Outer Worlds 2 was announced.[104] The game was released on October 29, 2025 for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and Series S.[105]
In August 2024, it was revealed that the series would feature inSecret Level, a video gameanthology series forAmazon Prime Video. That episode,The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep, was released on December 17, 2024.[106]
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