The outer worlds is an RPG to control the narrative

If you belong to the category of people who believe that the Fallout: New Vegas was the best game in the series and then The outer worlds could be for you. Last week at E3, I spoke to co-director of the game, Leonard Boyarsky, for a bonus episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, diving into the heart of this cyberpunk RPG.

In a session behind closed doors on a stand owned by Private Division, the Take Two publishing label, belonging to The outer worlds, a few developers from Obsidian Entertainment gathered to show the game. Playing on a 20-minute demo, they made their way through a mission on the planet's failed colony called Monarch. It looked great, combining sci-fi shooter games and skills (plasma guns! Slow time!) With the huge dialogue trees and branch paths expected by Obsidian fans. The demo presented various ways to approach each part of the mission. It was strange, funny and fun.

Then I talked to Boyarsky about the development The outer worlds, the choice of the player, the shooter, the scope of the game, and much more. Listen to above or read an excerpt here:

Jason Schreier: This is obviously a game of choice of players, but it is also a game that explores very important political issues: business, dystopia, capitalism. Is there anything you are trying to say with this game? Is there a message you are trying to send?

Boyarsky: Ironically, when we started, it did not seem as predictable as now because we started it in April 2016. It has become a little sharper than we had hoped … Encore more than it concerns capitalism or societies, it is actually people who control stories and stories. And if people control the story you tell, they control you in some way.

We always like to make a game where the player comes from outside, and we've done it again here: you enter this world where all these people have been indoctrinated in this way of thinking, and even those who are rebel against this has been evoked in this system, so the way they plan to rebel against the system is also created by the system. The player comes in and looks around and says, "It's crazy." That's where we were, and it sounds a lot more sneaky and sharp than we might have wanted to. origin. Obviously, it speaks a lot about companies and what they are, so it's not a coincidence, but we all explore philosophical themes while having a fun and great gaming experience.

We never want it to become too heavy. We never want us to feel that we are giving a voice to people or trying to put forward a very specific point. We have striven to make sure that no matter who is in the game, they feel very realistic and their motives are realistic. When you talk to board members, they have a very realistic, or at least understandable, vision. You may not agree with that at all, but it makes sense why they think so.

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