The Outer Worlds beginner's guide: 5 must-know tips before take off

Source: The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds is fantastic. In our review, we called it an instant classic, praising its world-building and modernized RPG shooter gainsay. The Outer Worlds has a depth that few publishers are willing to approach these days, with deep RPG mechanics and nuances that aren't always obvious in the game'due south UI.

Here are five areas worth paying attention to before taking off for The Outer Worlds. And before we get started, possibly the near important tip of all is: read the tutorial messages!

The Outer World launches on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on Oct 25, 2022. It's also day one in Xbox Game Pass for both consoles and Windows PCs.

Related: The Outer Worlds Review

You are what yous eat (and carry)

Source: The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds' capitalistic hell is beset with dozens upon dozens of types of nutrient, drinks, and drugs. Keeping track of which-brand-does-what can exist tough, particularly since some of them can take powerful adverse effects.

Early on on in the game, I found that I was moving slowly, and my health was no longer regenerating. It turns out that the negative effects from the drug Adrena-Time stacked upwards to three, giving me a nasty, permanent debuff that wouldn't get abroad until I'd slept in a bed. Before you imbibe, exist sure to check the effects of each item in your inventory screen.

Information technology'southward also worth noting that, unless you take extra carrying capacity perks, stacks of food can weigh down your inventory space. I wondered how I'd managed to accrue maximum encumbrance and so easily, turns out threescore piles of conflicting meat weighs quite a bit. Who knew?

Inhaler arrangement loading

Source: The Outer Worlds

If, like me, you missed this during the opening, the Inhaler arrangement is how you lot'll be healing yourself in The Outer Worlds. With a high enough medical skill, you tin load up to iv items into the Inhaler for an instantaneous drug heave.

It ever uses Adreno by default, which is the game's basic health kit. If you lot load it upwardly with food, drugs like cigarettes for improved aiming, and other buffs, it becomes a potent power up for employ in combat. This has to be done via the inventory carte du jour, which is a chip dull, only it's a cornerstone of combat, particularly on the higher difficulties.

Upgrades, repairing, and tinkering

Source: The Outer Worlds

If you put 20 points into engineering or have a companion with engineering science capabilities, yous'll unlock the ability to "tinker" with weapons and armor. Tinkering allows y'all to increase the level of an particular, effectively, increasing its damage or defensive properties.

While out in the field, you'll become weapons and armor that are appropriate to your level, simply some of the game's more unique named weapons, armor, and "Science" weapons volition remain at the level y'all constitute them at unless you tinker them up.

If you detect your weapons doing ridiculously inadequate amounts of impairment, information technology may be i of the following bug:

The enemies are strong against that particular weapon (for instance, robots take more impairment from electrical weapons than regular bullets).
The weapon is damaged and must be repaired at a workbench (or in the field, if you take the skill).
The weapon is far lower level than the enemies you're trying to fight.
You lot can also augment some weapons and armor with mods to increase their potency.
Check the effective range. Shotguns in The Outer Worlds, for instance, basically want you to be inside the monster to bargain damage.

Using Time Dilation while aiming and standing all the same will allow you lot to scope out enemy weaknesses and proficiencies, which leads us to our next section.

Combat tips

Time Dilation: The most important piece of your combat arsenal (likewise having properly upgraded weapons and armor), is the Fourth dimension Dilation ability, represented by a royal bar beneath your wellness puddle.

While using Fourth dimension Dilation, fourth dimension volition irksome downwards to a crawl when y'all're standing still, giving you the chance to scan an enemy target's level, weaknesses, and some humorous season text about them. Once you begin moving or take a shot, it'll drain rapidly, so pick your attacks carefully. Striking enemies in the head volition "blind" them, lowering accurateness. An arm shot can make them driblet weapons, and leg shots will cripple them, and make them limp. The issue of a body shot will depend on your weapon. Shotguns knock enemies downwards, while pistols tin produce bleeds, and then on.

Yous can regenerate Time Dilation using drugs and other consumables, as well equally using skills.

Companion Skills: If you put twenty points into leadership (and you most definitely should), you lot'll unlock companion abilities. These differ based on who you have in the party with y'all and tin be very powerful if used properly.

They are represented on screen in the bottom left corner, on the d-pad if you're on a console. You lot can examine their effects on the companion screen on the main bill of fare. SAM's ability produces an area of effect stun, while Vicar Max's is a shut-range shotgun blast that generates a guaranteed knockdown. These tin can be nifty for interrupting enemies, pushing enemies away from yous, or finishing off an enemy that has slipped out of your line of sight.

Source: The Outer Worlds

Dashing, melee, and dodging: Enemies will leash if yous run far enough abroad from them on the larger, open-globe areas. This tin can exist useful if you've bitten off more than y'all tin can chew, aggroing a pack of wild canids, for example.

Many enemies telegraph their melee attacks before hitting you, which gives you lot a adventure to utilize the game'south dodge power. If you lot leap, then strafe left, right, or backward and jump once more while in mid-air, you'll perform a contrivance that volition remove you from harm'due south way nearly of the time. This can exist useful for getting dorsum into encompass more than quickly besides.

If y'all're playing a melee-oriented character, you'll also unlock a forward dash power, which helps y'all close gaps on ranged enemies. If you're playing a ranged-oriented character, note that a well-timed weapon fustigate tin stagger a charging enemy.

Recommended difficulty settings

Source: The Outer Worlds

You lot can modify the difficulty settings at any fourth dimension during play, ramping them up and down to your preferences. Arguably, The Outer Worlds is quite easy even on "hard" difficulty for anyone familiar with first-person shooters. I would recommend that anyone confident in FPS combat should start on hard mode. Normal mode offers a compelling but relatively pedestrian experience. And piece of cake style should be taken past those who only want to experience the story in the virtually speedy fashion or those who aren't into shooters to whatsoever significant degree.

You tin can save the game at any time through the interruption bill of fare, which can be useful for backtracking on a decision or earlier initiating combat in a hard fight. Where things become more complicated is Supernova difficulty.

Supernova difficulty is the hardest style offered by The Outer Worlds, and combat-wise, the most fun. In combat in Supernova, you really have to pick and choose your battles, ensure you're fully upgraded, and apply stims and other powerups frequently to overcome hard fights. It should be noted, as well, that your companions are subject area to perma-death in this mode, so managing their positioning, upgrades, and A.I. presets through the companion card is an accented must.

Where Supernova becomes more wearisome is in its arguably needless restrictions. In Supernova, you can only save and fast travel to your ship. Considering you can salvage whenever you want at the ship, wanting to relieve your progress to plow off the game just adds boosted punishing tedium to what would otherwise exist a very immersive gameplay style.

Update October 25, 2022: In that location is a work-around for Supernova'south saving restriction. The simple act of fast travelling to your send creates an autosave from your current location, which can exist used for quick saves in a pinch. Just goes to show that Obsidian didn't think out this mode very well, and should probably exist amended.

Supernova tin be fun and rewarding, just be aware of the limitations before going for it.

The Outer Worlds is awesome

Source: The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds is an instant-classic, and arguably the virtually promising franchise under the Xbox Game Studios flag with Obsidian now joining the Microsoft family. You can take hold of the game relatively inexpensive as part of the Xbox Game Pass, too, on both Xbox One and PC.

Are there whatsoever other gameplay tips y'all'd be interested in hearing most? Hit the comments, let us know.