The action RPG The Outer Worlds, a game where awkward attempts at forced humor badly undercut any investment in its story. Obsidian and BioWare both connect back to Black Isle Studios, the publisher of the original Baldur’s Gate. Obsidian’s formative hits were sequels to BioWare-developed games, and Obsidian’s skilled storytellers arguably outdid BioWare in most cases. The shift to pursuing studio-owned Intellectual Property is an understandable one.

Among those who have played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, many agree that KotoR 2 has a better story than its predecessor. This is doubly true when comparing Neverwinter Nights 2 with the prior game. These early Obsidian hits helped define a house style of sorts for the studio, and it carried this over into Fallout: New Vegas, a game that is widely considered the best in the franchise. While not every game was a critical and commercial success, Obsidian gave every RPG it developed a deeply engrossing story prior to The Outer Worlds’ release.

The Outer Worlds Undercut Its Drama With Forced Humor

Obsidian Failed To Balance Humor & Gravitas, Making Outer Worlds A Joke

Some players enjoyed The Outer Worlds’ gameplay, but few thought its story was on par with games like Pillars of Eternity or KotoR 2. The biggest hurdle to enjoying The Outer Worlds was its insistence on putting humor above drama. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, The Outer Worlds’ co-director Leonard Boyarski noted two of the game’s major influences were Firefly and Futurama. When compared to games, it's more of a Fallout analogue than it is Obsidian’s answer to Mass Effect.

A few games, like Disco Elysium, can balance sidesplitting humor with weighty stakes and masterclass character development, but it's not easy to do. The Outer Worlds' Phineas was Rick Sanchez-inspired, but the game rarely approached the humor of a good Rick and Morty episode or even that of the similarly-toned game High On Life.

The Other Worlds had a fairly fascinating and compelling premise on paper. It deals initially with conflicts between hard-working colonists and the far-future capitalists who funded colonization efforts, in essence. These could have been presented with all the gravitas of the class struggles in Disco Elysium, but in The Outer Worlds, both sides are reduced to ridiculous caricatures, leaving no one to empathize with.

The poor judgment Obsidian exercised may have been about more than humor. Boyarski also said that The Other Worlds is not political, despite its inherently anti-capitalist, anti-corporate themes. In an interview with VGC, he explained, “I don’t want people thinking this is a really hard, politically-charged game; it’s supposed to be fun, it’s supposed to be humorous.” To countless RPG fans, however, deeply immersive and hard-hitting narratives are fun, and that's exactly the kind of fun that made Obsidian a studio worth caring about in the first place. Shying away from this did no favors to The Outer Worlds’ story.

Avowed Leans Into Obsidian's Strengths In Its Storytelling

The Game Treats Its Characters As People & Grants Its Narrative Added Weight

Fortunately, Avowed returns to Obsidian’s classic storytelling, with real dramatic stakes that aren't constantly undercut by grating humor or a reticence to showcase meaningful themes. The Living Lands is presented as a fully realized place populated by real people with real concerns, not the outlandish buffoons that plagued The Outer Worlds. Avowed doesn't hide its anti-imperialism message behind gags and nonsense like The Outer Worlds did with its critiques of corporations and capitalism. It is willing to present complex, challenging subject matter and trust that RPG fans are mature enough to handle it.

While The Outer Worlds was too silly for its own good, Avowed could be a tabletop RPG with its masterful world-building, diverse cultures, and nuanced conflicts that promote immersive role-playing. The characters in Avowed are believable people, and players can become emotionally invested in their struggles. This includes party and NPCs, like the various village leaders forced to make difficult choices for the good of their people. When there is humor, usually a joke from an ally like Kai or Yatzli, it adds to their humanity instead of detracting from it, because it is part of who they are.

Games like Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity, and even Alpha Protocol didn’t opt to reduce themselves to the level of Futurama episodes out of fear of being perceived as “political.”

While Obsidian's recent game Pentiment isn't exactly an RPG like Avowed, it also did a better job balancing humor and dire stakes, letting you execute innocent people with its ambiguous mystery format. When a game like The Outer Worlds pushes so hard to keep things light and apolitical, it dehumanizes the people it depicts. Dramatic conflicts should be weighty and meaningful. Political messages in fictitious analogies are features, not bugs, as proven by everything from The Twilight Zone to Disco Elysium. Players cannot be invested in loosely drawn, cartoonish conflicts designed to avoid any real-world political connections.

Obsidian Can Follow Avowed's Good Example In The Future

By Avoiding Humor & Fearlessly Embracing Political Messages, Obsidian Can Thrive

Obsidian does not need Outer Worlds 2 to compete with Starfield in the size of its maps and worlds, but it does need to step up its storytelling and seriousness. While far from a perfect story, Starfield’s central narrative was compelling, and it did not sabotage its drama with excess humor like the first Outer Worlds did. The house style of storytelling Obsidian popularized itself with is well regarded for a reason. Games like Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity, and even Alpha Protocol, didn’t opt to reduce themselves to the level of Futurama episodes out of fear of being perceived as “political.”

It takes a rare talent to merge relentless humor and even more relentless drama, like Disco Elysium did, and we may never see that lightning strike again, since the original team of ZA/UM has disbanded (unwillingly in most cases). Even so, there are still plenty of opportunities for games to tell meaningful stories by avoiding a complete descent into silliness.

Instead of aiming for the gravitas of a science fiction epic, The Outer Worlds tried to have all the drama of a South Park episode. Avowed is a reminder that Obsidian can still tell quality stories that players can care about, but the studio needs to avoid an over-reliance on humor and play to its strengths. Avowed shines in every area The Outer Worlds failed.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, VGC