It's The Outer World's replacement for Fallout's VATS mode, yet lacks that system's strategic orientation and memorable sense of impact, thus ending up as a forgettable gimmick that adds little depth or colour to combat. Take Tactical Time Dilation a side-effect of your character's sudden awakening from cryosleep which lets you slow down time at will. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, per se, but the game's array of first-person firefights and melee brawls don't quite enthral in the same way as its contemporaries, even with a fairly substantial arsenal of weapons at your disposal. The Outer Worlds frontloads its deep dialogue systems because Obsidian knows that's where its strengths lie but it's still a shame that the game's combat still feels relatively undemanding and rudimentary in comparison. "I said to the team, 'I hope this becomes your Fallout'": The directors of The Outer Worlds discuss its development (opens in new tab) These characters will react so acutely to your behaviour, the company you keep, and the events that transpire around them, it hurts my brain to even imagine how Obsidian accounted for every dialogue tree stored within their coded personas. Whether it's a potential boss fight suddenly becoming a lucrative trade partner after it turns out he's friends with one of my companions, or a total stranger expressing their disgust at my choice of clothing, I never got tired of discovering how Halcyon's inhabitants would express themselves in conversation, even if I did sometimes find myself skipping through chunks of dialogue when the exchange got too exposition heavy. In fact, I'd wager that over two thirds of my time with The Outer Worlds was spent in conversation with Halcyon's denizens, all fully formed with their own thoughts and motivations, and brought to life through strong voice performances and convincingly rendered facial animations across the board. That amount of verbiage will sound off-putting at first, but these are some of the most well written, multi-faceted, intelligent and human NPCs I've ever had the joy of getting to know, and the intricacies of conversing with them brings its own kind of rewards, making for The Outer Worlds' best moments.
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