They either get 1.5 years to create a masterpiece (KOTOR 2, Fallout: New Vegas) or they spend much longer crafting original IPs that follow basic RPG/TTRPG rules with usually an amnesiac protagonist who gathers a team of individuals who were in the protagonists past but choose to not reveal so until the very ending. (Planescape Torment), and other times they just write really cool games (Tyranny, Pentiment). The Outer Worlds is one exception to this as Joshua Sawyer (Game Director) and Chris Avellone (Main Writer) were not members of this game's development, instead, Fallout series creator Tim Cain served as contractor to Obsidian when creating this game.

If you've played the original Fallouts, you know what Tim Cain thinks of capitalism.
This game is that, with the amp turned up to 11. It genuinely has some funny dialogue and thought provoking scenes that come along with this satire, but you can only say "Big evil corporation bad!" so many times in so many ways before I start mentally tuning it all out. The setting and world-building has shown me just how badly these Interplanetary corporations are, I don't need a dialogue bark every time I walk by an NPC telling me that the company killed their childhood dog.

Obsidian shot themselves in the foot with the marketing for this by proudly displaying "FROM THE ORIGINAL CREATORS OF FALLOUT". They clearly wanted people to think of the isometric RPGs of the 90s, that Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky actually created, but EVERYONE thought of Fallout: New Vegas. This game was, is, and will be compared to New Vegas until Obsidian eventually goes out of business, and while it is sad because this game deserves to stand on its own, they really only have themselves to fault for inviting the comparison.

Now I have to unfortunately say, as much as I enjoy the worlds, companions, and questions beyond the "Capitalism Bad" exterior were genuinely some really great fun. All that said, however, The Outer Worlds is truly, and unfortunately, a forgettable game. I've beaten this game twice in the 5 years its been out and beyond the names of Dr. Welles, Pavarti, Vicar Max, some NPCs from the Groundbreaker, I could not tell you a single plot point, area of interest, or just fun place to explore in the entirety of the time I've spent playing this game. The pacing is fine, it's not like you're fed a million plot points and have to remember it all, but some companion quests like Parvati's are resolved in LITERALLY 10 minutes. Its hard to want to dive deeper into things when all I can remember from the game was that it exists, and that truly sucks.

I do genuinely recommend this game, but only if its on a discount or if you really, really, need something that isn't Starfield. This could essentially be Starfield, just with less loading screens.

Really, the only thing engaging with this game is the writing. It can be funny. But as far as gameplay, very lackluster. Areas are barren, loot is overabundant, fighting is weak whether with melee or guns, upgrading your equipment is too basic. Just overall very basic feeling game that has nothing to hook me after now the third or fourth time picking it back up, unfortunately

Set in a corporate dystopia, this game is an action farce. Too silly for any meaningful drama, Dead colonists piling up everywhere, and I could not care less about the outcome. Humor more like Borderlands than Fallout.