When External worlds was released to critical success, we at Obsidian Entertainment were delighted to see that our community really enjoyed this role-playing game, which we thought was fun, fresh and concise. Now that we have announced Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, an update for the next generation of hardware, we thought we’d take a look at some of the interesting changes we’re making and the thought process behind them. If you’re not familiar with the game, here’s a quick rundown:
Lost on a colonist ship bound for the edge of the galaxy, you wake up decades later to find yourself at the center of a deep conspiracy that threatens to destroy the colony. Explore the various planets and locations of Halcyon, including the mysterious Gorgon asteroid and the magnificent distillery on Eridanos. As you face different factions vying for power, the decisions you make determine how the story unfolds.
Since its release, more than 5 million lucky astronauts have explored Halcyon’s celestial bodies and taken an active part in the power struggle that rocked the colony. Everything was going just great. But then, just over a year later, the Xbox Series X and S appeared in people’s living rooms, pushing the boundaries of console gaming even further. In a sense, the game was released between two generations of consoles. When there is an opportunity to strike, it is best to use a prismatic hammer.
Life in a new generation of consoles
With the release of this new generation of consoles, we wanted to External worlds live on to enjoy future spacers. We wanted to make The Board proud and prevent this must-have role-playing game from aging prematurely as new games come out, while at the same time providing a relevant, modernized space colonist experience for all newbies to Halcyon. The technical capabilities presented in the Xbox Series X and S showed that there is room for improvement! Not just in how the game looks, but how the game plays feels.
This meant enhancing what were already the core game’s strengths: an engaging storyline influenced by your gameplay choices, quirky but lovable sidekicks – each with unique abilities and their own missions to help them complete – a freely diversified combat system , which provides intense battles with your enemies, and much more…
The path to creating the final version of The Outer Worlds
So we grabbed our Spacer developer kits and got to work. Of course, we’ve worked on visual enhancements such as 4K, 60fps graphics, 3D lighting, improved special effects, better particle physics, and improved environments with increased resource density and visual storytelling.
But we also aimed to create a smoother gameplay experience by making the combat and accompanying AI smarter, improving the open-world feel with better depth, redesigning the windows already in the game, and updating the weather changes. Additionally, we’ve redesigned the character models and animations to improve the gameplay experience. Finally, we thought this edition of Spacer’s Choice would make even more sense if it included additions to the base game, Danger for the Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos, so we did just that. Now the experience is even richer! And we’ve increased the level cap to 99 to give players even more ways to build their character through the seven branches of the skill tree.
So what are you waiting for spacer? Halcyon is calling you! Get into your space pods, put yourself in cryosleep mode and come play this hit role-playing game in its ultimate version. Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition arrives March 7.
If you already own External worlds base game (excluding Xbox Game Pass) and associated DLC, Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos, for Xbox One, you will be able to upgrade to Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition on Xbox Series X | S for the reduced purchase price.*
*Based on Private Division suggested retail price Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition. Actual price may vary. Limit one update per account. For more details and terms, see the platform store. Players who own the digital version of the Xbox One base game must sign in to their Xbox Series console using the same Microsoft account they used to purchase the Xbox One base game and associated DLC.