Earlier this week, Private Division released The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, which was supposed to deliver a flat-out improved version of 2019’s sci-fi roleplaying game made by Obsidian. The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition reportedly featured the following enhancements and additions:
- Increased level cap
- All DLCs included
- Lighting and environments overhaul (including improved materials quality)
- Enhanced visual effects
- Improved facial animations
- Higher fidelity for skin and hair
- Updated lipsync for dialogues
- Dynamic weather
- Higher resolution (on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X, compared to old-gen consoles)
- Better NPC pathing for AI
- Improved animations for Marauder NPCs
- Improved performance and quicker load times
However, the latter point didn’t really turn out to be true when the game was actually released, leading countless users to protest the worse performance on the Internet. User reviews on Steam are very negative, with only 20% of the reviews recommending the game.
It doesn’t help that saves aren’t compatible with the previous version of the game. Moreover, even players who already own The Outer Worlds and all of its DLCs have to pay $9.99 to upgrade to this new edition.
What’s quite funny is that in the game, Spacer’s Choice is a greedy corporation that constantly tries to rip off and scam its customers. Its motto (‘It’s not the best choice; it’s Spacer’s Choice!’) seems weirdly fitting for The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, at least for the time being.
It should be noted that Obsidian likely didn’t have much to do with this version of the game. The Steam page lists Virtuos Games as the developer, and Obsidian Community Manager Chris apologized on Reddit while directing complaints and bug reports to the publisher, Private Division.
The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition Bug Reporting from theouterworlds
For its part, Private Division already said a patch is being prepared to fix several of the outstanding visual and performance issues spotted by players in The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition. The patch notes should be available shortly.
As a reminder, The Outer Worlds was published by Private Division. However, the sequel (announced in June 2021 with a cheeky trailer) will be published by Microsoft Game Studios, given that the Xbox company acquired Obsidian in 2018.
If you’re wondering whether The Outer Worlds is worth playing, check out Wccftech’s review.
The Outer Worlds is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from Obsidian. The first-person action RPG features a great setting, fantastic writing and remarkable, complex characters to meet. The moment-to-moment gameplay isn’t as exciting, though, failing to measure up with the best in the genre. Still, there’s plenty to like here as long as you know what you’re getting into, not to mention the potential for a sequel to be much better, particularly if the developers had a higher budget to work with.
