Last year’s The Outer Worlds proved to be the very epitome of a cult classic – if you missed it, you will be unaware that it’s a steampunk action-RPG, influenced by the likes of Dan Dare comics from the early 20th century and Futurama, in which you take on the venal, incompetent Board of mega-corporations running the human-colonised solar system of Halcyon into the ground (in an incompetent, high-handed manner not unlike that of Boris Johnson and his cohorts).
Developer Obsidian’s winning formula of fabulous writing, glorious art-direction and classic RPG gameplay combined to make The Outer Worlds a success, and it has now released the first item of DLC for the game, entitled Peril on Gorgon. Happily – and unsurprisingly – Peril on Gorgon builds on the game’s strengths, bringing a chunky new story to the lore of The Outer Worlds, which is every bit as fun, wacky and thought-provoking as anything in the original, and ends up presenting you with a typically head-scratching moral dilemma that will radically alter the outcome of your peregrinations on Halcyon.
Clocking in at roughly eight hours of gameplay, as long as you pursue all its side-missions, it offers decent enough value for its £11.99 price-tag – although a £19.99 Expansion Pass will buy you Peril on Gorgon plus Murder on Eridanos, the next item of DLC planned for The Outer Worlds. For those who already own The Outer Worlds, Peril on Gorgon becomes playable once you’ve completed the story component that takes place on the planet of Monarch – that is, roughly two-thirds of the way through the game.
In order to review Peril on Gorgon, we decided to start a new game rather than loading an old save – a policy that proved to be wise, since it reminded us of the sheer joy to be had from explore The Outer Worlds’ quirky, dysfunctional and glorious-looking game-world, and reminded us just how addictive a game it is. If you didn’t play the game originally, and are any sort of an action-RPG fan, it’s a must-buy, and now would be the ideal time to pick it up an edition that includes all the DLC.
One reason for that is the stunning way in which Peril on Gorgon slots so neatly into The Outer Worlds’ narrative thrust, explaining one previously head-scratching aspect of the game which we will remain cryptic about in order to avoid spoilers. The action kicks off with a parcel sent to your spaceship, The Unreliable, containing one of the game’s recording devices, with a severed forearm still attached.
The accompanying message, voiced by the unfortunately named Lucky Montana, sends you to Wilhelmina Ambrose, stalking the halls of her cavernous mansion overlooking the asteroid Gorgon. She wants you to find the journal compiled by her mother, Olivia, who was in charge of the Spacer’s Choice operation on Gorgon that developed the stimulant Adrena-Time.
Gorgon, you discover, is in a right old state (not atypically for an outpost of Halcyon) and as you fulfil your mission, you uncover a dastardly and shocking tale – albeit one which contains plenty of outbreaks of The Outer Worlds’ trademark dark humour.
Gorgon itself looks great – it has a distinctive visual style, and much more verticality than the other planets and asteroids that make up Halcyon, so at times, you must work hard to navigate around it. It also feels pretty dangerous, even for Halcyon – you forever chance upon bands of marauders, mutated primals and the odd mantisaur, and all the buildings you work your way through are heavily defended.
There are periods when you have to jump back in the Unreliable and work through mini-quests in other locations – previously unvisited areas of familiar locations in the game. Overall, Peril on Gorgon provides a satisfying chunk of classic The Outer Worlds gameplay, eschewing gimmicks and anything radically surprising, but adding further flesh to the intricate, thoroughly absorbing and very funny back-story of Halcyon and its inhabitants.
Perhaps the best accolade we can give it is that it feels as though it might as well have been in the game from the day of release, and serves as a great reminder of The Outer Worlds’ sheer replayability, due in large part to the moral decisions you have to make just before the end of each of the major story quests – all of which influence the final ending.
Peril on Gorgon reminded us just how much fun there is to be had in cutting a swathe through Halcyon’s crumbling, oppressed planets and asteroids, with their eccentric and interesting cast of deadbeats, bureaucrats and chancers. If you had fun in The Outer Worlds in the past, we’d heartily recommend using Peril on Gorgon as an excuse to revisit its charms.
