The second and final expansion for The Outer Worlds is out today, and as the trailer above demonstrates it’s jam-packed with the vanilla game’s trademark quirk. ‘Murder on Eridanos’ takes you to the titular planet in order to figure out who murdered Halcyon Helen, star of the in-game TV serial Terror on Monarch.
Halcyon Helen was also the brand spokesperson for Rizzo’s Spectrum Brown Vodka, which I kinda want to try. She’s been found dead in Eridanos’s Grand Colonial Hotel, which seems to have its own hedge maze. Anyway, detective work seems to play a big part in this expansion, as a new ‘Discrepancy Amplifier’ is introduced as a device for ferreting out clues.
Aside from the story quests there are three new science weapons, new armor types, enemies and a new perk and flaw. The level cap has also been increased by 3. Murder on Eridanos costs $15 / £12 / AU$22.95, or if you already have the expansion pass it’ll come at no extra cost.
The Outer Worlds couldn’t quite live up to Fallout: New Vegas, to which it was compared by dint of Obsidian’s involvement, but it was still a good time. Tom wrote that it’s “an entertaining, uncomplicated RPG in a colourful universe,” and its first expansion, Peril on Gorgon, was apparently decent. Whether we’ll ever get a sequel is anyone’s guess at this stage: since the game was first announced, Microsoft acquired Obsidian, and Obsidian is currently developing Avowed.
