Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds: Peril On Gorgon, published by Private Division, is a great addition to a quality game, but it doesn't bring enough new features to the table to justify its own price. The new DLC for The Outer Worlds costs an additional $14.99 USD but doesn't let players go past the main story, doesn't let them recruit new crew members, and doesn't offer any huge differences in the original's first-person shooter/RPG-hybrid gameplay. However, that doesn't mean it's not still an enjoyable experience, especially for people who like replaying scenarios to see different outcomes.
All of the things players loved about the original release of The Outer Worlds returns in Peril On Gorgon, in ways both beneficial and harmful. There's more corporate intrigue, more social satire, and more crazed, rage-stricken lunatics roaming the interstellar wasteland ready to kill the player and their party. Unlike the base story of The Outer Worlds, Peril On Gorgon asks players to really think about why so many crazy murderers are roaming around the game's solar system to begin with. Unfortunately, the ultimate answer to that question (and to Peril on Gorgon's central mystery) isn't as shocking as the game seems to think it is.
The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon's main questline, much like many of the other stories which take place in The Outer Worlds universe, has to do with a greedy corporation doing immoral, unnatural things (often at the expense of human lives) in exchange for often-futile hopes of profit. While The Outer Worlds DLC's main story beats are interesting, especially in the way that they re-contextualize parts of the original gameplay experience and make players question actions they may have taken months ago, they aren't unique enough to stand out from the multitudes of other in-game quests (some which are brand-new to this DLC and some which have been in the game since the start) that also deliver the same message.
The Outer Worlds: Peril On Gorgon does bring some new things to the table. There are new weapons, new enemies, new NPCs, and new locations in The Outer Worlds for players to engage with, but while most of these fit seamlessly into the game's universe, some new characters bring with them the same voice acting problems which have plagued games in this genre since Fallout: New Vegas. One important NPC in particular has lines of dialog which vary wildly in tone from sentence to sentence, and while this is a problem which was somewhat common in earlier games it feels jarringly out of place in The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon, especially considering the overall quality of the main game's audio recordings.
However, despite this inconsistency, the core story of The Outer Worlds: Peril On Gorgon is still just as well-written and filled with colorful NPCs as any of the required missions in The Outer Worlds' main release. The Outer Worlds: Peril On Gorgon's main quest (which unlocks after the mission "Radio Free Monarch" has been completed) is not overly-long, and dedicated players can easily complete it in four to six hours depending on how distracted they get by shiny objects in the distance.
The new locations included in Peril On Gorgon are filled with interesting side content and multi-layered questlines, something which is both enjoyable to play through on instinct for the first time but still also fun to go back through later and look at what all the different dialog options and decisions can lead to. There are lots of lovely little touches and well-written diary and computer entries for players to uncover, but none of it is unique enough to feel entirely new.
Players who are looking for more The Outer Worlds will likely be happy with Peril on Gorgon, but people who were hoping for something as dramatic and deadly as Fallout: New Vegas' DLC offerings like Dead Money or Lonesome Road may be left wanting. It's a great addition to a quality title, but it's not different enough to justify the separation from the main game's story, and overall Peril on Gorgon feels more like a side quest which could have been easily included in the original version of The Outer Worlds rather than costing players an extra $14.99 USD.
The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon is available to download for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 9th. An Epic Games Store code was provided to Screen Rant for the purposes of this review.