Last year in the wake of the disappointing Fallout 76 release Obisidian came onto the scene with a promise to fill in the gap with their brand new IP, The Outer Worlds. As the makers of the highly celebrated Fallout: New Vegas this promise was believable. Upon release, I had the privilege of reviewing The Outer Worlds and came to the conclusion that they were mostly successful and I enjoyed my experience. Obsidian recently released Peril on Gorgon, the first DLC for the game and it doesn’t take much of an excuse to bring me back to the Halcyon Galaxy! Just be sure to bring your trusty Spacer’s Choice gear for maximum enjoyment; it’s not the best choice, it’s Spacer’s Choice!
Peril on Gorgon becomes available after gaining the ability to freely travel between planets. Based on some of the challenges available, it seems that this expansion is intended to be late-game content. However, once you have entered the end-game you cannot return. If you search through save files though, there should be an auto-save or backup save that was made right before entering the end-game chapter. Load that save up after downloading the DLC and it won’t be long before the events on Gorgon begin to unfold.
Everything starts with you receiving a package containing an arm. It seems that the previous owner of your ship knew a guy, that guy had an arm, and now through a series of seemingly bizarre events you now have that arm. You can also now travel to Gorgon where you will meet with the daughter of a high-ranking member of the now-abandoned Spacer’s Choice research facility. There, you are tasked with retrieving a journal that reveals corporate intrigue, nefarious deeds, and why the facility was abandoned so swiftly. Ahead of you awaits a fully realized area full of side-quests and characters to interact with.
Obsidian digs even deeper into their pulp-fiction/science-fiction inspirations with this DLC. The story and characters would feel right at home being classed as early 1900s Sci-Fi. One side quest even has you hunting for a series of comics hidden by superfans with a pretty fun reward at the end of the questline. I’m glad that Gorgon feels just as fleshed out, if not more so, than the locations in the base game. There is plenty to do! Even in the first building I entered, I found various secrets and things to discover that were tied to, and revealed, some of the plot points that awaited me. It’s a fun romp that has you stealing a Canid (space-dog) Show Trophy, battling monsters, and discovering new weapons and armor. I was exceptionally glad to see the DLC didn’t stay isolated on only Gorgon with zero impact on the rest of the galaxy. On your hunt to track down answers and unfold the mystery, you will find yourself revisiting locations. One particularly cool instance opened up previously inaccessible areas. Peril on Gorgon genuinely feels like it is a part of the overall The Outer Worlds experience and not simply just a “planet of the week” episode.
This carries over into the visuals too. While overall quality is the same as The Outer Worlds, Peril on Gorgon adds a new slew of weapons and armor, some of them being the most pulp sci-fi things I’ve ever seen. I loved being able to find and use these classic, over-the-top, wild weapons. Regardless of how much sense they made, they were fun! The scenery styling is still present, using 1950s inspired corporate advertising. Unfortunately, everyone kind of looks similar, without much variety in body-types or overall facial structure. Most character variety is in skin color, hairstyles, and hair color.
On the gameplay side of things, after having done pretty much everything in the base game before heading to the end-game content, I still couldn’t do some of the things on Gorgon. I just didn’t have a high enough skill level. I regularly found safes, with a max 150 skill difficulty rating, and conversations that required extremely high ranks in other skills to make certain conversation options available. It added a sense of “oh I can’t actually do it all” that was fairly present in the first sections, where all I had to do was typically put on the right outfit and bring along the right companion to do anything I wanted. Thankfully, wew weapons and armor help push the feeling of character progression.
If you enjoyed the base game of The Outer Worlds, I highly recommend grabbing Peril on Gorgon; it’s more of what I liked about the game. The pulp-fiction writing and weird, sometimes macabre, sense of humor are highly present. With a decent mystery to explore and far more side quests than I expected to find, Peril on Gorgon establishes itself as more than an “island of content” typical of other expansions in this genre. The story spreads across the galaxy, requiring some planet-hopping in order to track down all the leads necessary, and revisiting areas with new perspectives is enjoyable. This DLC, unfortunately, does not do anything to improve, build upon, or change the gameplay itself or the character options in terms of abilities or skills. I certainly hope there’s more to come as Peril on Gorgon is an excellent homage to pulp science fiction and feels right at home right alongside “A Princess of Mars” by Rice Burroughs.
Peril on Gorgon is now available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC for $14.99 USD. More information can be found on the official website. A digital PS4 copy was provided for review purposes by Obsidian Entertainment.
