The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos Gameplay Preview – A murder mystery adventure

The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos is a pretty interesting dlc for the base game. Halcyon Helen, the queen of aetherwave serials, has been found murdered in the Grand Colonial Hotel. It’s up to you to find out the true culprit and bring justice. Law speed!

The game really does play out like a murder mystery adventure. You go around talking to people to investigate clues, which often leads to new side quests. Most of the side quests are pretty interesting and flesh out the story even more, giving you a clearer picture of what happened. For example, one of the first random side quests you can run into is finding a pool full of fertilizer. One thing leads to another and you find out that the pool cleaner was most definitely killed and framed and that the pool was likely sabotaged before the launch ceremony of a new line of beverages by Rizzo.

To aid you in your gumshoe adventures, you search for clues by using a brand new item, the Discrepancy Amplifier, which is basically a fancy magnifying glass. This item talks as well. It lets you know when a clue is nearby and once activated, you can scan for things that look out of place. It’s a pretty simple and easy mechanic but it does add to the feeling of being a private eye.

The pacing and cohesiveness of the overall narrative is pretty well done. There are tons of optional dialogue options and npc conversations that make the game feel incredibly immersive. Every side quests feels like it belongs and is a piece of the whole rather than being something just tacked on. They feel like they contribute to the main narrative thread.

The pacing is quite fantastic as well. It starts a bit slow but once it ramps up, it feels like a roller coaster of non stop action. You start out investigating an orchard and suddenly you find yourself fighting a horde of mind controlling parasitic slugs that turn people into violent zombies (a potential new product from Rizzo).

The writing is also fantastic. The dialogue is chock full of self aware, satirical humor interspersed with dry jokes, and playfully silly notions. The writing is what stands out to me the most in the entire game, personally speaking.

Overall Murder on Eridanos is a fantastic addition to The Outer Worlds. The writing is superb and the narrative structure and mission design mesh together very well to create a very cohesive and action packed experience, both in the game play and exposition. They also increase the level cap by three, and add in a few new weapons and perks. Murder on Eridanos should roughly take anywhere from eight to twelve hours to complete depending on your play style and character’s stats.