That Outer Worlds upgrade to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S seemed to come out of nowhere. Announced just a few weeks ago, the Spacer’s Choice version of the 2019 sci-fi RPG shooter arrives well after other PS4 and Xbox One games received their next-gen updates. And now that it’s finally here, players are discovering all sorts of problems.
Out March 7 The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition packages together existing paid DLCs Danger to the Gorgon and Murder of Eridanos, promising visual upgrades, improved performance, and a host of other improvements. And after playing for an hour on the Xbox Series S, I can confirm that the environmental textures, volumetric lighting, and other small details make it the most beautiful version of Obsidian Entertainment’s action RPG about space pirates and corporate espionage yet.
Unfortunately, performance isn’t smooth at all when it comes to things like frame rate. Cinematic mode can be tough, and performance mode, which targets 60 FPS, often stutters when entering a new area or fighting enemies in a particularly large environment. And I am far from an outlier. Actually players across Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5and new pc version are all reporting issues. “It’s not the best choice, it’s the Spacer’s Choice,” reads the slogan of the in-game company synonymous with cost savings. Many have already made similar jokes about the new edition.
The consensus seems to be that while the visual upgrades are welcome, they hardly compensate new strain while traveling around the world. Load times are faster on the new consoles, but they were already decent on the backwards compatible versions. It simply doesn’t feel good to play in its current form, a particularly hard pill to swallow considering Spacer’s Choice Edition is a whopping $60 (currently discounted to $48 for a limited time)and even players who already own the base game and existing DLC must pay $10 to upgrade.
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That’s because, instead of releasing a simple upgrade, Spacer’s Choice Edition is technically an entirely separate version of the game. It takes up a separate slot in your console and Steam library, and you can’t transfer your existing save to it. Unlike the base version, it is also not on Game Pass. And players who own physical copies of the game are in trouble even access to the paid upgrade option.
While Obsidian Entertainment is owned by Microsoft, The outer worlds was released by Private Division, one of Take-Two’s labels. Notably, Private Division was also the publisher of Remedy Entertainment’s excellent paranormal shooter Steeringwho went through his own paid next generation upgrade kerfuffle. Some players are currently lobby each other to fill out support tickets on the publisher’s website about the status of the new version. Private Division did not immediately respond to a request for comment.