The Outer Worlds Perils on Gorgon Review

Releasing to major fans of Fallout New Vegas, The Outer Worlds entered into our consoles to a middling post-release response, while sales were great there wasn’t an overflowing discussion around the game post-launch. Dedicated fans can be found within the player base of the new sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, and so many were waiting for expansions on their new favourite game. 11 months after its initial release, TOW sees its first DLC in the form of Perils on Gorgon. For such a long period of time between release and expansion, some may see it as a little too late for new content. Adding in a new Asteroid to explore, monsters to face off against, and equip your space cowboy with new science weapons. Was the long wait worth it?

Starting as a side story to the main game, Perils of Gorgon sees you alter your headlong drive into the story just after completing Monarch. Being close to the end of the game, depending on if you’re making a beeline to that end screen, most players won’t be able to jump into the DLC. With a lack of “play DLC” button on the main screen, that a few other franchises like to do, newcomers will need to pass a majority of the game to reach the new content. For those interested in getting the DLC and haven’t played the game, beating Monarch leaves you with around 5-10 hours of story to go. The main mission you need to complete is “Radio Free Monarch”, and you should not land on Tartarus, as that is a point of no return in the game. Though with my review of the base game, you may know it only lasts around 30 hours for a first run, 12 if you’ve played it before.

Getting past the requirements to get into the DLC, you will receive a message offering you a delivery, beginning the long line of quests through into the asteroid. Starting around level 20ish, you will meet up with Lucky Montoya, another person who knew the previous owner of the ship we “borrowed” from Captain Hawthorne. Another addition to the tale of Hawthorne that paints him in a much brighter light, than his head-injury death would lead you to believe.

Following the message brings you to an almost deserted scientific outpost, with the main mission of exploring the facility and learning its secrets. Though it couldn’t be TOW without some killer robots and creatures who have seen too many scientist needles. Combat, investigation, and more of that roleplaying goodness.

Similarly to the length of the base game, a somewhat short 30 hour RPG (even less if you skip side quests), the DLC will net you around 5 hours of extra game time. When compared to other DLCs this can feel like quite a lot, and with the additional paths to take as well as actions you can rack up to around 10 hours total.

With new enemies comes new loot combined with more experience. The level cap raises to 33 from 30, allowing more perks, flaws, and customisation. POG introduces a few new science weapons too which fit some of the new perks on offer, the light pistol in particular suited me well in my run. The DLC also takes you to some old locations, breathing a little life into the empty cities you leave behind, but that’s only if you did a kill everything run.

The heavier focus on investigation, looting, as well as a mystery makes the DLC a nice change from normal run-and-gun gameplay or diplomacy between factions. It wouldn’t be TOW though without a hard choice here or there that can affect an entire area or an NPC you grew attached to.

While it does add in some underused elements of the base game, they are still a part of the base game, with the only real new additions being new weapons and a fancy new area to traverse. If you disliked the gameplay before, this is more of it, so it’ll be a win for those who loved it.

The difficulty of the DLC is hard to talk about, as it is set up as a near-end game kind of affair, but since the levels and loot are made to this degree some players may find themselves under-levelled or over-levelled depending on their play styles.

Overall, Perils on Gorgon gets an 8/10. It adds in some nice new science weapons, perks, and flaws but recycles too much of the previous gameplay. The mystery approach to a story is a welcome change, though the base game did have smatterings of this about its worlds. With all the positives and negatives of the base game, Perils on Gorgon sticks to it heavily, so if you liked the base game you’ll like this, but the same goes for if you hated the base game.

The Outer Worlds Perils on Gorgon was reviewed on PS4

The Outer Worlds Perils on Gorgon is also available on PC and Xbox One, might come to Nintendo Switch.

Grab this version of the game here for $14.99

More information can be found by visiting www.TheOuterWorlds.com.

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