The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition Detailed

The new and improved Spacer’s Choice Edition of Obsidian Entertainment’s humorous sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds will be arriving to PC and, perhaps more importantly, next-gen consoles on March 7, 2023. And slightly ahead of that date, we get this here Xbox Wire article detailing the key new features of the Spacer’s Choice Edition.

Going past the confines of a mere visual upgrade that bundles the game’s DLC in one neat package, the game’s re-release will apparently also improve its enemy and companion AI, rework some character models and animations, raise the level cap all the way to 99, and more.

Here’s the article in question:

When The Outer Worlds was released to critical success, we at Obsidian Entertainment were excited to see our community thoroughly enjoy this RPG that we felt was fun, fresh, and concise. Now that we’ve announced The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, an upgrade for the new generation of hardware, we thought we’d go over some of the cool changes we are bringing in and the thought process behind it. If you aren’t familiar with the game, here’s a quick recap:

Lost in transit while on a colonist ship bound for the edge of the galaxy, you awake decades after your planned date only to find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the colony. Explore the various planets and locations of Halcyon, including the mysterious Gorgon Asteroid and the delightful distillery on Eridanos. As you encounter various factions, all vying for power, the decisions you make determine how the narrative unfolds.

Since its release, over 5 million lucky spacers have explored the celestial bodies of Halcyon and taken an active part in the power struggle rocking the colony. Everything was going just fine. But then, just over a year later, the Xbox Series X and S arrived in people’s living rooms, pushing the boundaries of console gaming ever further. In a sense, the game was released in between two console generations. When opportunity insists on striking, it’s best to use a Prismatic Hammer.

Living on in the new console generation

With the release of this new generation of consoles, we wanted The Outer Worlds to live on for future spacers to enjoy. We wanted to make The Board proud and prevent this must-play RPG from aging prematurely as new games come rolling in, while at the same time providing a relevant, modernized space colonist experience for all newcomers to Halcyon. The technical capabilities introduced with the Xbox Series X and S made it clear there was room for improvement! Not just in how the game looks, but also regarding how the game feels.

This meant brushing up what were already some of the strengths of the core game: an engrossing storyline influenced by the in-game choices you make, quirky yet endearing companions – each with unique abilities and their own missions for you to help them complete – a freely diversified combat system yielding high-intensity encounters with your enemies, and much more…

The road to making the definitive version of The Outer Worlds

So we grabbed our spacer’s dev kits and got to work. Of course, we worked on visual improvements such as bringing 4K, 60FPS graphics, volumetric lighting, improved special effects, better particle physics, and enhancing the environments with increased asset density and visual storytelling.

But we also strived to create a smoother gaming experience by making the combat and companion AIs smarter, improved the open-world sensation through better depth, reworked the vistas already in the game, and updated weather variations. On top of that, we reworked character models and animations to improve the feel of the game. Finally, we thought this Spacer’s Choice Edition would make even more sense if it included the base game’s DLC expansions, Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos, so we did just that. Now the experience is even richer! And we increased the level cap to 99, to give players even more ways to build their character from the seven branches of the skill tree.

So, what are you waiting for, spacer? Halcyon calls to you! Get in your space pods, put yourself to cryo-sleep, and come play this hit RPG in its definitive version. The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition arrives on March 7.

If you already own The Outer Worlds base game (excluding via Xbox Game Pass) and its associated DLC, Peril on Gorgon and Murder on Eridanos, for Xbox One, you will be able to upgrade to The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition on Xbox Series X | S for a reduced purchase price.*

*Based on Private Division’s suggested retail price for The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition. Actual price may differ. Limit of one upgrade per account. See platform store for details and terms. Players who own the digital version of the base game for Xbox One must be signed into an Xbox Series console using the same Microsoft Account they used to purchase the base game and its associated DLC for Xbox One.