The Outer Worlds

Intense overall intensity
Highest flag: Language — strong
AdventureRPGSci-fi

What's in it

Substances player uses or trades
High

Alcohol and consumable stimulant drugs (inhalers/injectors) are sold and used by the player for combat buffs, with an optional addiction/withdrawal mechanic.

Language strong
High

Strong profanity, including the f-word, appears in NPC dialogue.

Violence realistic
Moderate

First-person gunfire and melee against human enemies, robots, and alien creatures, with blood spray; no dismemberment or lingering gore.

Dark themes intense
Moderate

Satirical corporate dystopia involving mass exploitation, a colony left to starve, and grim frontier towns where workers die for profit.

Crime & lawlessness player commits crime
Moderate

The player can steal, pickpocket, trespass, lie, and kill NPCs, which lowers faction reputation.

Animal combat combat mechanic
Low

Standard creature combat against hostile alien beasts for quests and survival.

Sexual content suggestive
Low

Occasional crude sexual jokes and innuendo in dialogue; no depicted sexual activity.

Who can reach your kid

What it is

The Outer Worlds is a first-person science-fiction role-playing game set in a satirical corporate-run star system, where you explore planets, take quests, and shape a branching story through combat, stealth, or persuasion. Encounters can be resolved by shooting or meleeing human enemies and alien creatures, producing blood but little gore. The dialogue carries strong profanity and dark, cynical humor about corporate exploitation, and the world leans into bleak themes of mass death and indentured colonists. The player can steal, lie, intimidate, and kill NPCs, and can buy, sell, and consume alcohol and fictional drugs for stat buffs, with an optional addiction system. It is a fully single-player game with no online interaction or in-app purchases.

How it's framed

The game frames its violence and lawbreaking as consequential choices tied to a faction-reputation system, and uses biting satire to critique corporate greed rather than to glamorize it; substance use is presented mechanically as a risk-versus-reward buff with addiction penalties.

Details

Developer
Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher
Private Division
Released
2019-10-25
Metacritic 82critic score (third-party) · out of 100

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