As gamers, ꦗwe kind of tend to take gaming for granted. At the end of the day, our [insert favorite console here] will be there for us ♔to help us forget the stresses of the real world, and instead focus on killing baddies or beating the next level. But in the current circumstances, where nearly all extracurricular activities are canceled and places of gathering closed, gaming is a near necessity for those who prefer the made-up worlds of gaming to those of books, shows, or movies.
For me, The Outer Worlds has fostered an appropriate escape from the depressing reality of the real world. The novel coronavirus is at the top of largely everyone's minds, and it's hard to think about anything else but its impacts. Yet, The Outer Worlds has done an effec𒉰tive job at keeping my mind preoccupied during the current climate.
At the time of its release, The Outer Worlds was given mostly positive marks for its solid RPG mechanics, impressive overworld, and fun gunplay. These all have held true in spades. The exploration elements of The Outer Worlds, which quite clearly evoke Fallout, combined with the sci-fi themes and settings of Mass Effect, provide a great amalgamation. The game isn't the best of its class, to be sure. However, the wit of the narrative also makes me think that Obsidian's team may as well consist of screenwriters or🍸 novelists.
In a time like the COVID-19 crisis, there needed to be a world teeming with life and intricacies to draw me in. This is where The Outer Worlds stepped in. The creatures and humans of planets like Monarch weren't always the friendliest. Yet, with each discovery came a sense of reward; that I had uncovered a part of a map that stood for something more than itself. Whereas The Outer Worlds was a colorfully uniqu🌱e RPG at the time of its release, it now stands to me as a necessary form of escape.
It's hard to avoid thoughts of the coronavirus at the present moment, and it will continue to be this way for the indefinite future. But The Outer Worlds' sense of exploration and its ability to evoke the curiosity of the unknown have been hyper realized amidst the coronavirus. Whether the pandemic has served as a function of The Outer Worlds' profundity for me or The Outer Worlds is a memorable gap-filler is unknown, but I won't forget it any time soo🦋n.