Following over a decade of working on separate projects as different companies, you'd be forgiven for thinking that 'getting the band back together' for The Outer Worlds would come with certain challenges, or at least a lengthy adjustment period.

Following a delay from the end of March, The Outer Worlds can now be played on Nintendo's console.

The game gave Cain and Boyarsky the opportunity to fashion a totally new IP, although one infused with the same spirit of their past games.

"That’s a tough question, because there are things I like at every stage, from “the sky's the limit” beginning to the “wow, look what we made” final stage.

But I guess I like one of the stages in the middle, when you have the whole team hired and everyone is on the same page design-wise and understands what the game is going to be.".

"That’s a great time because people are creating lots of things in parallel, and every day you see something new in the game.

The game doesn’t look or play like the shipping version (the lighting usually isn’t in, there are placeholder creatures and quests, and lots of bugs and crashes), but I love it anyway.

The pulp sci-fi themes of The Outer Worlds gives it a distinctive feel that comes from Cain's personal influences.

Despite the pulpy space opera angle, the flavour and spirit of Fallout is readily felt in The Outer Worlds, from broad-stroke themes down to gameplay mechanics like Tactical Time Dilation, a combat system that enables the player to slow down time.

After that came out in 2001, you could say that post-apoc was out of our systems, and we made games that explored new territory for us, like Vampire Bloodlines and Temple of Elemental Evil.

We were given Fallout and Firefly as touchstones for our new game, and we felt ready to dive back in and see what new things we could bring to the table.".

We were given Fallout and Firefly as touchstones for our new game, and we felt ready to dive back in.

"I had been trying to make a flaw-like game mechanic since the original Fallout." The Outer Worlds features a Flaws system - a selection of negative (and permanent) attributes that manifest as options if you die a number of times in the same manner.

It's a mechanic Cain had been wanting to implement for a long time and The Outer Worlds provided the perfect opportunity to realise a system that had never quite worked before.

I’d like to say that they failed to see the magnificence of the design, but really, the mechanic just wasn’t ready yet, and for some of those games, it wasn’t a good fit.".

Compared to some of their previous games, The Outer Worlds was a smaller project that ended up much grander than its modest resources might suggest, largely thanks to the skills of Obsidian’s veteran team.

"Because of relatively tight time and budget, compared to AAA games, we constantly had to scope down," says Cain.

Naturally, Switch owners were excited to hear news of a port courtesy of Virtuos, the studio behind a variety of excellent Switch ports, including L.A.

Speaking via email, the game's production director Eric DeMilt had nothing but good things to say about the company, and reiterates that it was Virtuos' proof-of-concept that persuaded them a Switch port could really work.

"Their prototype was excellent and did convince us that they were the right developer to bring the game to the Switch.

The Outer Worlds was originally set to launch on Switch back in March, although the COVID-19 pandemic altered those plans, with Virtuos experiencing repercussions that people and companies all over the world have dealt with to a greater or lesser extent over the past months.

We got our first look at what a post-COVID world might look like through the Virtuos dev team.

Other than once or twice in a group setting, I never even spoke to anyone from Microsoft while making The Outer Worlds.".

Audio, from effects to music, is also easier for audio designers to add to the game, without taking down a programmer every time they wanted something new.".

These fast cycles meant more ideas could be developed and make it into the final game in the same time period.".

We ask if he has a personal favourite character build or playstyle in The Outer Worlds, or if after so many playtests he just goes with the flow.

"I usually like dumb playthroughs and sniper playthroughs (and sometimes dumb snipers), but on this game, my favorite build was Dr!

In the time since Switch launched back in 2017, the console has become an unlikely home to several excellent classic RPGs, including a brilliant port of Pillars of Eternity, another Obsidian joint.

The Outer Worlds is published by Private Division, they’ve been excellent partners and involve us in decisions like this, but at the end of the day it is their call.".

However, DeMilt hints that should the Switch port sell well, Obsidian has ideas and the desire for more adventures in The Outer Worlds on Nintendo's platform.

"I hope that both Private Division and Switch players want to see more Outer Worlds content on the Switch in the future.".

"The Switch is a great piece of hardware," says DeMilt.

"It is really cool to see a full featured “Obsidian RPG” like The Outer Worlds running on a handheld, and to be able to take that experience with you wherever you want to play it.".

With more Outer Worlds content potentially in the works, it seems we haven't seen the last of Obsidian on Nintendo's console, but we wonder what the future holds for Tim Cain specifically?

The Outer Worlds is out now on Switch - find out the NL verdict on Virtuos' port in our review.

I can’t wait to play The Outer Worlds!

And critics seem to agree, the game is super fun on Switch.

They made a great decision not adding dating mechanics, it makes you feel like your character has the crew’s best interests at heart instead of how Shepard is constantly trying to get into everyone’s pants.

Yeah, the DigitalFoundry video also cited several instances where the enemy AI just stopped doing anything and stood there waiting to be shot, which seems like a pretty big non-cosmetic downside to the port

Then what were all of those video game magazines with reviews for a million games for

Really hope The Outer Worlds gets a patch or two down the line to bring it up to snuff

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