Just when you think that Obsidian forgot about The Outer Worlds, a wild DLC appears. Peril on Gorgon is the first of the two narrative expansions for The Outer Worlds. You dive into this film-noire style adventure right after finishing one of the main quest, Radio Free Monarch. The Captain and the crew of the Unreliable discover a severed arm that holds a cryptic message to pick up where a former private investigator colleague of Alex Hawthorne, left off. You are contacted by the mysterious Minnie Ambrose to find her mother’s diary. The trail and meetings lead you to the all-new DLC open area, Gorgon.
Right out of the gate, the new music and dialogue set up this mystery adventure with suspense just like one of the in-game beloved serials. I highly recommend taking the time to listen to some of the scores by themselves. The unique mix of spacey electronic music somehow seems vintage and futuristic, further setting the tone of this campy DLC. However, when I say campy I must stress it is CAMPY. The plot is predictable given its genre. If your companion says “something seems fishy about that fella,” not only will that character definitely be hiding something but also holding a can of saltuna. Unfortunately, I was able to guess the ending of this 15-hour expansion around the two-hour mark. Of course, it is still fun to play to get to the ending and see what your decisions impact.
While solving the mystery of what really happened on Gorgon is quite easy, the combat is not. The fights on Gorgon feature brand new types of creatures and enemies that all have special mutated abilities from the labs on Gorgon. These fights are mostly unavoidable which could be problematic for full stealth or speech characters. Even my long gun/science weapon captain had some trouble tackling these encounters. You will be put to the test when deciding which weapons to equip in order to exploit these new enemies’ weaknesses. The weaknesses and base game effects like Blind or Cower help out the main quest fights dramatically. Side quests were a little different. Speech checks and stealth routes galore. Core gameplay-wise, it brings a little bit of fun difficulty for any build.
Like in my earlier review of The Outer Worlds, the companions are a great addition to the game. Despite its campy tone, your crew is more rooted in the reality of the happenings of the plot and react accordingly. Having the companions ground the story to some sort of emotional heart keeps Peril on Gorgon from being entirely one-note. I highly recommend switching up what companions you take with you to see the entire crew’s point of view of the situation. However, like many DLCs of similar games, the companions react to Gorgon in a vacuum ignoring what is happening in the base game. This could be due to the fact the DLC can be played in the middle of the main quest so companions like Nyota are practically brand new in the progression of the game. I’d love to see Murder on Eridanos, the second expansion take place after the main quest in this case. Peril on Gorgon adds mostly breadth but not the depth to The Outer Worlds but in an entertaining way.
Peril on Gorgon is currently available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC for $14.99. Xbox Game Pass Users will receive a 10% discount on the DLC. The base game and DLC will also be available on Steam on October 23rd. Peril on Gorgon is available as part of an expansion pass which includes the second DLC, Murder on Eridanos, for a discounted total price of $24.99. More details regarding the second expansion will be revealed at a later date.
