Obsidian returns to The Outer Worlds after 3 years to add a whole new weapon type, fix bugs, and delist its OG version

4 days ago 5

Update: This article somehow got absolutely mangled by our CMS when first published, resulting in a lot of repeated text. It should now be fixed, and I apologise for the error.

Regular readers of PC Gamer dot com slash author slash Joshua dash Wolens will know that, so far as I'm concerned, no videogames news is as exciting as "An old game is getting a patch for some reason." Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 hitting 2.7 out of nowhere? Ecstasy. Pillars of Eternity getting turn-based mode? Hold me up, I'm feeling faint.

Today's resurrection: The Outer Worlds 1. Specifically, its Spacer's Choice remaster edition, which got a relatively minor update today "to test our release pipeline and fix a few issues that are in the game," and will be getting a far more stonking one in the hopefully near future: "The second patch will be larger bringing performance fixes, lighting changes, a host of other quest and gameplay fixes, and bringing in a brand-new feature to the original game: grenades!"

Which is pretty cool, if you ask me, but it's all leading to something more ambivalent: the original version of The Outer Worlds is getting delisted from PC storefronts come May 27. If you already own that version, fret not: it won't disappear from your library. As an added bonus for original-version owners, they'll all get the Spacer's Choice edition free, just so long as it's in their library before May 27.

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The Spacer's Choice edition was, you might remember, tarred and feathered when it first launched for being rammed full of bugs. Virtuos and Obsidian have chipped away at those bugs since those days, though, and when I played the game a couple of years ago I found it in a mostly serviceable state.

Still, I suspect it's still just claggy enough that the Microsoft/Obsidian overmind anticipated potential controversy if they just elevated it to being the default edition without doing any work at all, so I'm glad they pre-empted it by coming back to do more work and even bolting on a whole new weapon type.

I'd prefer if that work got done and the original was still available for purchase, just for archival reasons, but I suppose that's not the world we live in.

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One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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