There’s an entire genre of game that you could realistically call “Bethesda-likes,” massive RPGs that feature first-person combat, an emphasis on open world exploration, and an array of choices and companions. But Bethesda has remained on top of the game for so long for a reason, nothing’s been able to quite match what makes a game like Skyrim special — until 2019. The Outer Worlds is a spacefaring RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, the makers of Fallout: New Vegas, and it’s the singular game that’s managed to take the Bethesda formula and streamline into something brilliantly compacted. It’s an RPG that effectively trims that fat, and is better for it. Five years after its release, more games should be following The Outer World’s example.
The Outer Worlds is essentially an alternate history game, as much as it is a sci-fi game. The game is set in a timeline where, in 1901, U.S. President William McKinley was not assassinated, meaning Theodore Roosevelt would never succeed him. This means that the massive businesses of the era didn’t get broken up, meaning the world developed into an extremely class-centric society that’s dominated by capitalism and mega-corporations.
