Return to Gorgon.
(Editor’s note: We received a key for the purposes of this review. Because my capture program decided not to actually capture anything I will be using stock photos or prior unrelated shots for this piece. You’re not particularly missing anything visually.)
I didn’t expect The Outer Worlds to come out with new story DLC, so the announcement of Peril on Gorgon was quite the surprise when Obsidian revealed it to the world. I’ll take any excuse to return to the land of hyper capitalism and abusive corporations. The latest release from Obsidian Entertainment is a slice of life that explores more into everyone’s favorite dollar store brand; Spacer’s Choice. It’s not the best choice, it’s Spacer’s Choice.
Peril on Gorgon takes you to the abandoned colony of, where else, Gorgon. The expansion opens for players around level 25 who progress to a certain portion in the story when you are visited by a member of the intergalactic FedEx. The package you receive includes a severed arm with a radio transmitter telling you about Gorgon and a high paying job that awaits inside. The message was meant for the prior captain of The Unreliable Alex Hawthorne, but you’ll do in a pinch.
You’ll need to help Minnie Ambrose solve the mystery surrounding Gorgon, figure out what Spacer’s Choice was doing on the planet, and help clear her late-mother’s name. There’s a whole mystery surrounding this drug Adrena-Time and what Spacer’s Choice was doing on the giant floating rock, as well as what went wrong and why the company up and abandoned the project so suddenly. There are also some revelations regarding the game’s bandit population; the marauders.
Peril on Gorgon costs $14.99 and is basically worth exactly that amount of money. Your best bet is to pull a save file from before you hit the point of no return in the main campaign, but Peril on Gorgon is a slice of life that runs parallel to the main story. It’s reminiscent of the Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas expansion DLC in that it doesn’t add grand new game systems but just new missions and some new equipment and maybe a few perks.
Flaws are still entirely useless in my opinion and not worth the detriment you receive just for another perk point. The level cap has been increased to 33. There are some interesting plot points and revelations to the overall world that the game takes place in but this is really for people who finished the main game and want an excuse to go back. You can definitely finish it in the course of an afternoon, which is not surprising for a $15 DLC.
I feel like The Outer Worlds is running thin on plot as there are so many ways one can shift a story around how those corporations that we all know are evil and have no regard for the lives of their employees are doing things that are evil and show no regard for their employees. There are only so many ways one can write an internal memo talking about how a company’s latest cost cutting measure does not justify the loss in worker productivity (because they’re dead), or how a mortally wounded employee is still expected to properly recite the company slogan every 30 seconds while the surgeons work on him preferably with brand approved surgical devices. After all a post-surgery surgeon is a hungry surgeon, and that’s a potential Saltuna customer.
Personally my character has gone on a crusade burning anything that might benefit the corporations to the ground. I did enjoy the fact that you can respond to the corporate atrocities with a complete lack of surprise, because you’ve been doing this for however long and even your character can recognize that the universe sucks by default. But your companions really oversell the “how could this happen” aspect, like the writers wanted the player to know just how amazed they were with their own dark vision.
There’s still one more piece of story DLC we know about coming out of The Outer Worlds, and I think at that point we’ll have reached full saturation on the universe. Peril on Gorgon is out right now.
MMO Fallout 