The Outer Worlds Beginner’s Tips: Flaws, Mods, Companions & More

The Outer Worlds is a big RPG with loads of systems and a diverse set of mechanics to keep track of. Therefore, there might be some aspects of the game that might slip past you as you set out to explore the Halcyon system. That is where these The Outer Worlds beginner’s tips comes in handy, to give you a few pointers of how the game works and also how to make your playthrough more fun.

 

Play Dumb

Many RPG systems penalize a low intelligence score severely and make the game decidedly less fun to play. Some DnD iterations even render you incapable of speech altogether. Not so in The Outer Worlds, here being stupid is more about not knowing what’s going on. Your character knows that an action will work but have no idea how. It leads to hilarious situations and even opens up new paths forward.

 

Play On Hard

The Outer Worlds is not particularly hard, and you might soon find yourself blasting through the game with little to no resistance at all. I recommend anyone with experience in these types of games to bump it up to hard. It not only makes the combat feel more intense, but it also allows some of the game’s mechanics to matter more. On normal, you don’t need to think about what perks and upgrades you choose when leveling. What’s more, you can essentially ignore the flaw-system altogether. Choosing hard will make everything matter a bit more.

 

Embrace Your Flaws

Whenever you do something stupid, like falling off a cliff or take critical hits to the skull, there is a chance you will trigger a flaw. These flaws penalize some stats while granting you an extra perk point in return. For instance, the ‘permanently concussed’ flaw will hurt your intelligence stats and skills linked to that. So why take on flaws? Well, if you are playing on normal it is safe to ignore them altogether. However, if you are playing on hard or above, the extra perk points you gain can mean the difference between life and death out in the colonies.

 

Save Some of Your Junk

You will pick up countless duplicated weapons and armor throughout The Outer Worlds. As tempting as it is to hit the junk button and be done with it, I recommend against it. Old weapons can be broken down into parts, parts which then can be used to improve your equipped gear. Low durability means low stats on the gear you equip, using spares to repair ensures that you’re always in tip-top shape.

 

Explore Everything

The areas in The Outer Worlds are a great deal smaller than the expansive landmasses in Fallout and Skyrim. This makes visiting every corner of the map a great deal more plausible than in those games. Furthermore, enemies don’t repopulate once you have killed them; there are essentially no random encounters in the game at all. This means that exploration and finding that sweet, sweet loot becomes all the more important. Take a look at the map in each area you travel to and make sure you hit up any point of interest before moving on.

 

Lockpicking and hacking are your friends

Speaking of exploring, if you plan to see all the content and pick up the best loot The Outer Worlds has to offer, be sure to emphasize lockpicking and hacking. These two skills will make sure that no door or path is barred for you. Not only will they allow you to go anywhere in the game, but they can also give you different ways of solving quests. While skulking around picking at locks and hacking everything with a keyboard, you will inevitably come across journals or quest items that can be used to pressure or otherwise coerce people you encounter.

 

Use your speech skills

Dialogue is the backbone of The Outer Worlds as the overarching system that all other parts feed into. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you put a lot of points into the speech skill tree. It is just a lot more fun to have options to play around with. Additionally, using a speech skill, like persuade or intimidate, during a conversation gives you extra XP and thus allows you to level up that much faster. So let that silver tongue work, and remember: you can always be a charming imbecile.

 

Tinker Away

As there are rather slim pickings in the loot department of The Outer Worlds, you have to make do with what you got. This is where the tinkering and modding mechanics come handy. Whenever you visit a workbench, in town or on your starship, be sure to take a gander at the tinker and mod pages. Tinkering with your weapons will raise their quality and damage output and mods can add some devastating effects to them.

 

Bring the right companion for the job

Companions are an integral part of The Outer Worlds, and bringing the right one for the job is important. They’re really good to have around whenever there is murderin’ to be done, but they also have some not as obvious uses throughout the game. For instance, they boost your skills and stats, so having the engineer Parvati in your party will make you more likely to pass engineering checks. This effect can even be improved by increasing your leadership skill. Additionally, they interact with the world around them, so bringing a priest to talk to religious zealots is bound to make things interesting.

From our The Outer Worlds review:

“The Outer Worlds is an excellent RPG with a ton of memorable moments and a brilliant, satirical tone that holds all the way till the end.”

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