Outer Worlds wowed gamers last year with its unique and idiosyncratic stance on gameplay.
Thrusting gamers into a world of space villainy and subterfuge, players take control of a player-crafted character who has just woken up from a deep cryogenic stasis.
It is easy to make some Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 4 comparisons, as a lot of the game’s framework is vastly similar.
And it is no wonder, as Outer Worlds’ developer – Obsidian Entertainment – was responsible for bringing Fallout: New Vegas to screens; for better or for worse.
A lot of this style can be felt within the bones of Outer Worlds, from the character creation all the way to the combat.
Viewing the galaxy in first person, players embark on various quests and missions given by the plentiful residents of the game, in exchange for experience, cash, and loot.
One of the most incredible aspects of the game is the vast and sprawling conversation system.
Utilising skills such as intimidation, persuasion, and blatant deception, players can usually find a way to get what they want.
When players aren’t talking their way out of horrific situations, they will no doubt be blasting the bad guys instead.
Perhaps surprisingly, the combat feels closer to the Borderlands franchise than early Fallout games.
Numbers that appear over enemies’ heads show how damage you’re dealing and how effective your weapons are in any given situation.
Although this is a good way of showing how over or underpowered you are in any given situation, it does take a bit of weight out of the combat.
This is remedied a little by the introduction of a time manipulation mechanic, which allows players to take a second to be more precise with their shot, and decide what to do next.
The slo-mo mechanic is extremely fun to use, and might just be the best part of the game’s combat – even if it can feel a little overpowered at times.
Indeed, walking into a room, activating slow-motion and mowing down the first few mobs with a high-powered machine gun loses its charm after the same set of enemies roll through the door for the third or fourth time.
Outside of combat, the game places a lot of emphasis in crafting and repairing weapons and armour.
This is not something that is explicitly explained at first, but it is a very deep and engaging system if players choose to go down that route.
Alternatively, you can just as easily go through the game picking up weapons and armour left by enemies, so there’s plenty of versatility.
Unfortunately, while there is so much to love about Outer Worlds, this particular version is let down by the Nintendo Switch itself.
Texture pop-in and extended load times are present from the off, although both of these issues are improved marginally when the console is in docked mode.
Indeed, many aspects of the game are prone to pop-in – including entire non-playable characters and even some enemies.
On one occasion I was attacked and almost killed by an invisible creature that hadn’t rendered.
While texture pop-in is understandable and easy to overlook in such an ambitious game, characters failing to render is far less forgiveable. Hopefully this will be patched out soon.
Outer Worlds is an exceptional game, and ought to be experienced by anyone who is interested in action RPGs and cyberpunk-style stories.
Unfortunately, however, the Nintendo Switch is not the best place to play it.
VERDICT: 2.5/5