Well I finished it. Short review is this: Outer Worlds is a burger made of high quality ingredients, but chef forgot to add seasoning. It also makes zero excuses for being a burger, which is why I ended up liking it more than both Pillars, they aimed for the Michelin star only to end up undercooked.
One thing I gotta praise is that the game stays remarkably loyal to its advertised formula. I ended up clocking 26 hours, completionist run wouldn't take more than 30. Small amount of content in a $60 RPG was always going to be controversial, but throughout the game Obsidian avoids the temptation to add some cheap filler content. They stick to making well-crafted levels with multiple approaches and reactivity in the quests. There's something to commend about the game that is 30 hours long but stays consistent, focused and comes out polished and finished on launch. Josh could learn a thing or two about scope control from Tim and Leon.
Overall most of the game is done well, but two biggest offenders dragging it down are loot and writing. Loot is simply horrendous and made worse by the game constantly throwing trucks of items at you. Just sorting through that shit makes you want to find a different hobby. Writing has some high points, but most of the time it lacks flavor, fails to establish the factions, fails to flesh out the setting and memorable characters and quests are rare.
The biggest strength is the core gameplay - level design, exploration and C&C are excellent, and combat while not great, is enjoyable enough at the start and becomes more enjoyable throughout the game when some of the more funky items and abilities start opening up. It's certainly a Troika game in terms of gameplay - quest and world structures are similar to Fallout 1, there are Tim Cain's trademark hilariously broken abilities and weapons, and there's a traditional sneaker/talker/fighter gameplay triad.
After Pillars 1, 2 and now TOW, I think we can conclude that this is entirely new Obsidian we're dealing with. They became famous for games where everything was shit except for the writing, but with these last 3 games they've done a complete 180 turn. They've became a developer that is technically competent and makes games that look good, run well, launch without a million bugs, area and interior designers make some gorgeous looking locations, but the writing just isn't there anymore.
I wouldn't go as far as to call it a drastic decline. They've improved as a company in many ways and every once in a while it's fun to take off my top hat and eat a burger. But the old Obsidian is gone and the real innovation in the genre is coming out of indies these days. And perhaps that's how it should be.
