Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming FPS/RPG The Outer Worlds will be a big game, but it won’t take hundreds of hours to complete. Speaking to Game Informer in an interview for its March issue, co-director Leonard Boyarsku confirmed that the game’s size will be akin to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 or “maybe a little bit smaller”. Overall, 15 to 40 hours for completion seems about right, as per Boyarsky and co-director Tim Cain.
Cain reaffirmed that The Outer Worlds would not be a vast open world that players could explore for tons of hours. “People are speculating, like, hundreds of hours of gameplay… and no.” Instead, the completion time is more based on how one plays. Stealth players will take longer than those who dive directly into combat, as per Cain.
Since there’s a greater focus on the game being “reactive and replayable”, as per Boyarsky, it will be shorter overall. “We’ve decided to put our effort into the reactivity and replayability—because of our size and budget, those necessitate a smaller, more tightly controlled game than a giant sandbox open world where you can run everywhere.”
Obsidian is adamant that The Outer Worlds is a game that fans of the company will love. From what we know about the game so far, one’s choices will determine how the world reacts, the progression of the story, the different companions you’ll take on, and much more. The Outer Worlds will be releasing later this year on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It will retail for $60 and receive physical release on Xbox One and PS4 (but not PC).