Peril On Gorgon Side Quests

Pros

Branching storyline with multiple endings.
Dark, engrossing story... even if you lot have to dig a bit to find it all.
Sam streamlined only effective RPG mechanics as the original.
No forced online components or microtransactions.

Cons

Same simplistic combat every bit the original.
Recycled enemies, weapons and interiors.
Level/skill/perk additions don't change much.

Final Verdict

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Jump to Concluding Verdict

At the terminate of The Outer Worlds (cheque out our review!), we couldn't help but want to explore more of Halcyon in all its dystopic celebrity. Nearly a year after the release of The Outer Worlds, developer Obsidian Entertainment finally followed up with ane of the ii promised DLC - Peril on Gorgon. Taking place sometime subsequently the events on Monarch, but before the penultimate showdown on Tartarus, Peril on Gorgon is a relatively high-level campaign but suited for veterans of the base of operations game (the DLC announces itself as an adventure for characters level 25 or higher).

Upon traveling anywhere in the Halcyon colony in your trusty spaceship, the Unreliable, you'll have some hazardous postage stamp delivered to your - or rather, Captain Hawthorne'due south - ship, to peruse at your leisure. The contents, a Phonograph from ane of Captain Hawthorne's associates, Lucky Montoya, volition ultimately atomic number 82 you to Gorgon, where the bulk of this DLC content takes place. The game'south principal questline revolves around the Ambrose family and their legacy, which was tarnished by the failure of the Gorgon Projection, although, equally is par for the grade in Obsidian Entertainment's games, there's more than nether the surface than is initially credible.

While the Ambrose family drama is the framework around which the story is built, there much more to this narrative if youre willing to search for it.

While the Ambrose family drama is the framework effectually which the story is built, in that location much more to this narrative if youre willing to search for it.

In addition to the main questline there are several side quests that range the emotional gamut from finding an item of sentimental value for a woman whose husband got caught up in the Gorgon Project'southward demise to helping some smugglers resolve an statement about whether a fossil is the llama-shaped landmark they're looking for. Yep, from the very moment that Lucky Montoya strong-arms himself onto the Unreliable and has a hand in getting yous the job that leads y'all to Gorgon, Peril on Gorgon is indulging in the non unwelcome, corporation-mocking applesauce showcased by the main game, but the levity belies a darker, more poignant narrative that flows throughout the DLC.

While the Ambrose family drama provides yous motivation and serves as a framework for almost every story beat in the DLC, without seeking out the optional phonographs and terminals that reveal the fall of Project Gorgon the overall story of Peril on Gorgon is much less profound. With these optional bits of lore, the main story beats of corporate malfeasance and inter-generational antipathy bloom into a tale of a catastrophic, pour failure caused past top-down corporate immorality and exacerbated - repeatedly and fatally - by the more personal failures of otherwise brilliant minds who for diverse reasons didn't do plenty to check the burdensome, subversive power of a fundamentally cleaved system. Many of the story beats from the original game are echoed hither, particularly those that detail the effects of corporate dystopia, of how a supposedly amoral, profit-and-statistics-driven hierarchy can end up acting profoundly and unjustifiably immoral. Non since Bioshock take we seen a amend story told primarily through abased recordings and text, and you lot'd practise yourself a great disservice past not going out of your way to find these precious scraps of lore, equally they practise much to buoy the otherwise merely competent tale told past the DLC's main and side quests.

The outdoor areas of Gorgon provide new sights, but the interiors are overly familiar.

The bulk of Peril on Gorgon takes place, of form, on the remote asteroid Gorgon, which is a fairly sizable "open-world" expanse comparable to, say, Roseway. Gorgon features a small "civilized" area (little more than a landing pad, shop, and bar frequented by salvagers) and a hostile overworld area, but Projection Gorgon'south many facilities (some of them quite large) account for much of new playable area. In addition yous've got some new areas off of Gorgon that the story volition pull y'all to, including a new deck on Groundbreaker, a new estate in Byzantium, a mercenary ship and, largest of all, an installation orbiting Olympus. All in all, there's a lot of new ground to cover, and if you take your time, search every nook and cranny and consummate every side quest yous tin expect around ten hours of gameplay.

Peril on Gorgon is indulging in the not unwelcome, corporation-mocking absurdity showcased by the chief game, merely the levity belies a darker, more poignant narrative that flows throughout the DLC.

There'southward plenty of play-time on offer for the $xiv.99 asking price, the novelty of the content - story aside - is less laudable. Gorgon has a somewhat dissimilar aesthetic than the other planets and asteroids you've visited, but the interiors - comprising much of the DLC'south content - are overly familiar by now. Exacerbating this is the fact that at that place are no new enemies in Peril on Gorgon, discounting palette-swapped elemental variants of Primals and Mantids, and a new automechanical drone that heals enemies. Y'all'll largely be dealing with the aforementioned automechanicals, marauders, and fauna you've fought throughout Halcyon, and while there's a new tier of weapons you can go your hands on, these are just numerically-incremented variants of gear you've already seen two iterations of. At to the lowest degree the new unique weapons - of which there are plenty of - occasionally deviate functionally from the norm… although not all of these novelties are terribly useful.

Youll largely be fighting the same enemies using the same tactics as in the original game.

Youll largely exist fighting the aforementioned enemies using the same tactics as in the original game.

Gameplay in The Outer Worlds, while serviceable enough, was always fairly limited, and while information technology was arguably sufficient to carry the relatively short campaign of the original game, calculation a few actress hours without any significant additions or innovations does inject some tedium into the core gameplay loop that wasn't quite as pronounced in the original game. You lot still have Tactical Time Dilation (TTD) to slow downwardly fourth dimension, and depending on your skill betoken investments, you may be able to command your companion to unleash a unique companion ability, which are the only two options y'all take once combat has started aside from direct attacking with ane of the upwards to four weapons you can take fix at a time.

Fortunately, combat isn't e'er a foregone conclusion, as y'all can normally make use of diverse skills to bypass battles entirely, or at least shift the odds in your favor a bit before you do engage. These options typically include making utilise of various Dialog skills (Persuade, Lie or Intimidate) to talk your way out of trouble or Stealth skills (Sneak, Hack, Lockpick) to assassinate, deactivate or otherwise bypass foes. Sadly, all the same, the Holographic Shroud doesn't make an appearance this DLC, and so if you were expecting i of the main game'southward infiltration segments to brand an appearance, yous may be disappointed.

Gorgon has a somewhat different aesthetic than the other planets and asteroids you lot've visited, but the interiors - comprising much of the DLC'south content - are overly familiar by now.

Variable difficulty levels, modifiable and upgradable weapons and armor, elemental harm types which are more than or less effective against different enemies, and an inhaler that tin can mix upwardly to 4 dissimilar consumables to provide an array of buffs and debuffs are all still present in Peril on Gorgon and aid round out the experience, but how many of these you lot'll be able to apply and to what extent you'll be able to utilize them depends largely on your build. The Outer Worlds is an RPG, first and foremost, and while the gameplay loop may not have evolved in Peril on Gorgon, the core RPG mechanics were already rock-solid enough to potentially benefit from mere iteration.

Peril on Gorgon features a higher level cap, skill cap and new perks.

To that cease, the level cap has been expanded to 33, another tier of skill mastery has been added (yous can invest up to 150 points into a single skill to obtain Virtuoso rank) and two new perks per tier (six in total) are now available, although the results of this, as well, are a bit of a mixed bag. The higher level cap only grants a paltry thirty Skill Points, which is nowhere nearly sufficient to brand up for the new top-tier skill checks, much less to warrant investing 150 points into whatsoever single skill to hit the Virtuoso mastery rank. What worked in the original game will become you through Peril on Gorgon well enough, as investing 60 points into Inspiration to maximize the skill point gains your companions give and bringing along whatever companion(s) you need for the task at paw volition permit yous to pass any skill check pops upwards, but it is a bit of a shame that, in our experience, all the aforementioned additions brought by Peril on Gorgon really just amounted to a handful of skill points, one or two relevant perks, and the ability to upgrade our weapons and armor a fleck more. Optimistically, there'due south promise we could run into things expanded in a more interesting, meaningful way in the future, but for now, Peril on Gorgon doesn't shake things upwards much.

In that location's a great story you lot can unearth on Gorgon if you lot're willing to dig for it, and the more phonographs you uncover and the more terminals you pour through, the meliorate the overall experience volition exist. If you enjoyed The Outer Worlds and wanted more than of information technology, Peril on Gorgon delivers, and in that location's just plenty content and at a expert enough cost point to justify the expense. If yous were hoping for a DLC that would significantly expand on the base game, or felt the tedium building with any of the aspects of the original, Peril on Gorgon might not be what you're looking for.