They say history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. From The Outer Worlds’ first rhyme — “You’ve tried the best, now try the rest” — it’s couplets all the way down. The game is the work of Obsidian, with many of the surprisingly vast development team hailing from the old Fallout games, plus 2010’s New Vegas, which leaves its mark most noticeably on the gameplay, partner system and script, but there are other evident influences glued onto each stanza, from a Bioshock Infinite-esque Gilded Age aesthetic to literary references scattered throughout the mission names.
None of which is to say that The Outer Worlds is bad — in fact, if it borrows liberally, it does so with great skill. A classic meal well cooked is still worth eating, and it’s food which is at the heart of the primary plot dilemma. The space colony of Halcyon, ten years’ faster than light travel from Earth, is a corporate dystopia running out of food. There is no alien intelligence in Halcyon, just a smattering of gorgeous neon landscapes populated by hostile wildlife — and vegetables are not easy to come by.
Into this slow deterioration is thrown the player, unfrozen from cryosleep on a colony ship called the Hope by a mad scientist stereotype. Adopting the identity of an unfortunate agent sent to meet your landing pod, you are tasked with scouring the system, completing quests with a colourful cast of…
