The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon (PC) Review

A bunch of hours into the main campaign, and the protagonist will be informed by the wonderful piece of software that is ADA about a package that has just arrived on the Unreliable. The hero or heroine gathers the companions that are aboard the starship (if any), and they decide to go to the Gorgon asteroid, where they'll get to be a part of a somewhat intriguing detective-esque mission about corporate secrets and so on; a mission that begins after an exchange with a mysterious lady (one of the few interesting characters in here), who tasks you with helping her out with a family affair.

Sadly, this is just more of the same exact humour, fighting, and exploration that The Outer Worlds offered, with this package just extending the adventure by five to seven hours, or so, but not expanding it with anything new, be it enemies, items (apart from a weapon or two), or mechanics. Due to that, Peril on Gorgon can become way too repetitive way too soon, as most of your time will be spend fighting the same foes again and again - usually marauders, which was already a big part of the core experience.

This also uses the same resources, so everything looks as if it takes on any of the previously visited locales. Many times it actually does, as players will have to revisit the rest of the Halcyon system, where a new building or two will be available to explore. Come to think of it, this is mostly about exploring abandoned structures (mostly labs), while trying to find out about Spacer's Choice's corporate secrets, revolving secret experiments… done secretly. There's a great deal of logs to discover that add to the story, and, surprisingly, your companions do comment on the situation quite often, so make sure to not come on Gorgon alone.

Like with the main game, the most enjoyable aspect of this DLC is character interaction, and the fact that one can do things their way. At times this feels more eager to just be a straightforward shooter than an RPG, but as a whole this mostly seems to understand what makes The Outer Worlds fun. The only problem is that the mystery on offer isn't much of a mystery. Obsidian remains afraid to take any risks with this new universe it has created, so when the "shocking revelation" finally arrives, few will be impressed. Corrupt corporation is corrupt? *Yawn* been there done that…