DLC REVIEW: ‘The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos’—A Whodunnit in Halcyon (XSX)

The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos is a first-person RPG developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Private Division. It’s been a year and a half since my first visit to the far-flung Halcyon colony, and I’ve gotten the opportunity to get the band back together aboard the Unreliable for one last mission. Now, if only every game could wrap up its run as amazingly as The Outer Worlds does.

While I’ve always enjoyed everything The Outer Worlds has brought in terms of game design, the game’s stand-out element has always been its quirky personality. From the blatantly corrupt CEOs to all manner of unhinged spacers and the ever adorable Pavarti, the game has always reveled in its humorous take on this dystopian space colony.

The Outer Worlds is aware of its greatest strength and doubles down on it for the game’s swan song DLC. While the game has its fair share of action moments, players will find their time spent much more focused on interacting with Eridanos’ citizens and not hellbent on killing them. A unique situation for most of the crew, for sure.

This DLC opens with ADA offering to show the player a vid starring the famous Halcyon Helen. She’s the biggest aether wave star in the colony. However, the transmission is interrupted by startling news. The star has been murdered! Promptly following this revelation, the Unreliable is hailed by the trio of personalities in charge of the Eridanos settlement. They have heard that the player is one of the most effective freelancers in the colony. Due to some disagreements between Eridanos’ various command elements, they need a neutral person to investigate the murder.

Upon arriving at Eridanos, the first thing that will stand out to the player is how uniquely Obsidian has designed the newest settlement. Eirdanos is a gas giant, many times larger than Terra-2, with an almost completely hostile atmosphere to humans. The only reason why the settlement can survive is that it is suspended in its uppermost layers of the atmosphere. The Eridanos settlement is a series of rocks, bound together by monstrous cables and suspension bridges while being kept airborne by huge jet engines. The look of the colony and the breathtaking horizon that surrounds it is easily the most striking of all of the unique places The Outer Worlds has taken players.

Once on the ground, the crew is brought to the ultra-luxury hotel, The Grand Colonial. No sooner does the party arrive than “Murder on Eridanos“ introduces its new gameplay element, the Discrepancy Amplifier. Local scientist Dr. Goodnight has developed the Discrepancy Amplifier to detect places where an unexpected event has occurred. While the logic behind this contraption is a bit iffy, it feels at home in its setting. Whenever the player passes by a location where one of these discrepancies is present, the player is cued in by the weapon’s sarcastic A.I. Quickly scanning the area will reveal various plot elements from clues surrounding causes of death to footprints to follow. This device is the lynchpin to the player’s investigation.

Overall, I enjoyed this item’s execution, aside from some sequences that required a bit of overly intense searching for footprints. The item works smoothly and keeps the player’s search for clues fluid and easy throughout “Murder on Eridanos“ five to eight-hour run time.

Within its story, the part of the game that truly excels is how much it rewards the player for their thoroughness. Players will want to take a little extra time to search the areas they are directed to and take the time to finish optional main story objectives. These will yield more critical conversation options, allowing the player a better bargaining position in these moments.

These conversation moments are some of the best of the entire game. Wonderful dialogue from both new cast members and the old standbys in the crew are delivered perfectly. Each new character is presented fully fleshed-out as they each push to accomplish their given goals. This fresh personality, combined with the crew’s continued flawless implementation, makes every dialogue interaction a delight to see unfold.

While “Murder on Eridanos“ is probably my favorite portion of the entire The Outer Worlds experience, it isn’t without blemish. The only noticeable failure it has comes with its combat. Focusing on the non-combat elements was a good call because they’ve always been the game’s greatest strength and because the variety of enemy encounters is drastically more limited than the previous expansion “Peril on Gorgon.” With mostly a meager three different enemy types forming the bulk of the combat encounters, anymore fighting than what is in the game currently would have likely grown stale. Happily, it is kept from lingering long enough to be too big of a detriment to the experience.

When all is said and done, The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos is a marvelous farewell to the memorable cast and locales that this game has delivered to players. If you have enjoyed the quirky adventures of the Unreliable’s “heroic” crew, you owe it to yourself to experience this last hurrah in Halcyon.

The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos is available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.