REVIEW: ‘The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition’ Bundles Up All The Goodness In One Package (XSX)

Back in 2019, developer Obsidian Entertainment and publisher Private Division introduced gaming fans to the off-kilter setting of The Outer Worlds. Four years later and the game has had a follow-up release on the Nintendo Switch, as well as a pair of substantial DLC expansions in Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos. With a new generation of hardware on the market, The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition looks to bring all the goodness that has been released, spiffy it up with some new technological advancements and gameplay additions and make it available in one simple package.

So let’s start with what’s new. Most of what The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition brings to the table are technical improvements. The expected elements like higher res graphics, improved performance, and more are all present in this bundle. Additionally, one of the features noted by the developer is that there have been added character animations included to bring the characters more to life. While I’m sure this is the case, I never noticed anyone behaving in any way that stood out to me. However, it has been a while since I visited the colony.

Overall, the visual improvements were nice but didn’t make the game pop too much more than I remembered it, which is a more a testament to how great the game way when it launched. I’m running on a standard 1080 display though, so some of the extra shine may have been lost on me there. While the visual improvements may have failed to have a big impact on me, the gameplay felt noticeably smoother than I remembered. The increase to 60fps helps make the player less reliant on the time dilation mechanic to hit those headshots.

The big addition to the game structure that The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition brings is the increased level cap. With the cap raised to 99, players can find even more ways to kit out the colonist in their fight against the board. For existing players, this adds another level of replayability.

A final thing that may help returning players decide if this edition is something worth picking up is its upgrade path. If you already own the core game plus the two DLC expansions, you can purchase an upgrade for a discounted price. In case you are wondering why it’s not free per XBox Smart Delivery, remember, this was published by Private Divison, not XBox Games Studios. While I didn’t have an exact price at the time of this writing, it looks like the upgrade will cost about what most such upgrades have been going for. So if you want to return to The Outer Worlds with all the bells and whistles, the upgrade seems like a reasonable way to go.

Now if you are one of the many gamers out there who haven’t played the game before, I cannot recommend it enough. Given that I’ve scored the base game and its DLCs highly in the past coupled with the gameplay improvements and a reasonable 60-dollar price point makes this the best way to experience all this game has to offer. And what an experience you are in for.

The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition is available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on March 7th.