This game is what happens when developers care what their customers are asking for. Despite this game's fairly limited budget, Obsidian have managed to make something of a spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas, at least related to all the things that make New Vegas stand out from other Fallout games. The game is not without its drawbacks, but much of that can likely be attributed to the limited budget.

Pros:
-Phenomenal dialogue. This game takes the formula that Obsidian used when developing Fallout: New Vegas and sprinkles in some fresh ideas, all while keeping the feeling that player dialogue choices make a difference. It's sad to say, but Bethesda Game Studios has been moving away from this formula a time goes on in favor of an "every character is the same" approach that severely limits the replayability of the game. Why would I play Fallout 4 again when every dialogue and character choice I make always leads to the same outcome? The Outer Worlds takes the opposite approach, and it works beautifully
-Interesting weapon mechanics. The concept of damage types for weapons as well as the unique and science weapons make the gear in this game fairly interesting. You can build a pretty good loadout for dealing with most things in the game, and there is also room for specialization. Weapon damage is based on the level of the weapon itself, rather than on a player skill (in most cases), and therefore you do not need to take ranks in Handguns or Long Guns in order to effectively use either of these types of weapons, although there are benefits to doing so.
-Engaging story: your ultimate goal for most of the game is to help an outlaw scientist obtain a bunch of chemicals so that he can revive colonists who are cryogenically frozen on a ship that was abandoned in space. But there are many different choices that you can make to advance the plot in many different ways, even going so far as allowing you to turn the scientist in to the authorities.
-Companions: The companions in this game have things to say about locations that you visit and things you do and say to other people in Halcyon. They have their own quest lines and they even interact with each other. The companions in this game more closely resemble some of the better modded companions from Skyrim (such as Inigo or Lucien) than any companion in any Fallout game, even New Vegas. In this department Obsidian have really outdone themselves.

Cons:
-Short. The story of the game (unless you're playing on supernova) will probably take you under 30 hours, however this is forgivable due to the game's small budget and the extent to which the player has control over how the story progresses. The game is short, but not boring
-Small maps. Again, can probably be attributed to the game's budget, but I would have liked to see continents or other large landmasses that were fully traversable, in terms of maps, this game more closely resembles Borderlands than Fallout. Also, the maps do feel a little empty sometimes when compared against Fallout, but this as well can probably be attributed to the budget.
-Loot system is a little too simple. I would have liked to see loot mechanics that were similar to those of Fallout 4 (frankly that and weapon mechanics are in my opinion the only things Fallout 4 got right). Again this is probably because the games budget was small, but it would have been cool to see a sort of container system similar to the one used for Fallout, where you can take any item that a dead NPC was using. In this regard, The Outer Worlds is somewhat similar to Rage, albeit still more fleshed-out.
-Lack of mod support. Again this can almost certainly be chalked up to the game's budget, but in my opinion this is the single biggest issue with the game. Mod support is the thing that keeps players coming back to BGS games (despite what BGS seems to want to believe, it's the modding community that keeps their games alive, not anything about the games themselves). Because of this I doubt that The Outer Worlds will see the same longevity that Fallout: New Vegas or Skyrim have seen, and as a result it will likely be necessary for Obsidian to put out a sequel to The Outer Worlds in a MUCH shorter timeframe than has been tolerated for The Elder Scrolls 6 (fourteen years? come on Bethesda), but this should hopefully not be as difficult as it would have been in the past now that Obsidian is owned by Microsoft.

This game is what happens when developers care what their customers are asking for. Despite this game's fairly limited budget, Obsidian have managed to make something of a spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas, at least related to all the things that make New Vegas stand out from other Fallout games. The game is not without its drawbacks, but much of that can likely be attributed to the limited budget. Pros: -Phenomenal dialogue. This game takes the formula that Obsidian used when developing Fallout: New Vegas and sprinkles in some fresh ideas, all while keeping the feeling that player dialogue choices make a difference. It's sad to say, but Bethesda Game Studios has been moving away from this formula a time goes on in favor of an "every character is the same" approach that severely limits the replayability of the game. Why would I play Fallout 4 again when every dialogue and character choice I make always leads to the same outcome? The Outer Worlds takes the opposite approach, and it works beautifully -Interesting weapon mechanics. The concept of damage types for weapons as well as the unique and science weapons make the gear in this game fairly interesting. You can build a pretty good loadout for dealing with most things in the game, and there is also room for specialization. Weapon damage is based on the level of the weapon itself, rather than on a player skill (in most cases), and therefore you do not need to take ranks in Handguns or Long Guns in order to effectively use either of these types of weapons, although there are benefits to doing so. -Engaging story: your ultimate goal for most of the game is to help an outlaw scientist obtain a bunch of chemicals so that he can revive colonists who are cryogenically frozen on a ship that was abandoned in space. But there are many different choices that you can make to advance the plot in many different ways, even going so far as allowing you to turn the scientist in to the authorities. -Companions: The companions in this game have things to say about locations that you visit and things you do and say to other people in Halcyon. They have their own quest lines and they even interact with each other. The companions in this game more closely resemble some of the better modded companions from Skyrim (such as Inigo or Lucien) than any companion in any Fallout game, even New Vegas. In this department Obsidian have really outdone themselves. Cons: -Short. The story of the game (unless you're playing on supernova) will probably take you under 30 hours, however this is forgivable due to the game's small budget and the extent to which the player has control over how the story progresses. The game is short, but not boring -Small maps. Again, can probably be attributed to the game's budget, but I would have liked to see continents or other large landmasses that were fully traversable, in terms of maps, this game more closely resembles Borderlands than Fallout. Also, the maps do feel a little empty sometimes when compared against Fallout, but this as well can probably be attributed to the budget. -Loot system is a little too simple. I would have liked to see loot mechanics that were similar to those of Fallout 4 (frankly that and weapon mechanics are in my opinion the only things Fallout 4 got right). Again this is probably because the games budget was small, but it would have been cool to see a sort of container system similar to the one used for Fallout, where you can take any item that a dead NPC was using. In this regard, The Outer Worlds is somewhat similar to Rage, albeit still more fleshed-out. -Lack of mod support. Again this can almost certainly be chalked up to the game's budget, but in my opinion this is the single biggest issue with the game. Mod support is the thing that keeps players coming back to BGS games (despite what BGS seems to want to believe, it's the modding community that keeps their games alive, not anything about the games themselves). Because of this I doubt that The Outer Worlds will see the same longevity that Fallout: New Vegas or Skyrim have seen, and as a result it will likely be necessary for Obsidian to put out a sequel to The Outer Worlds in a MUCH shorter timeframe than has been tolerated for The Elder Scrolls 6 (fourteen years? come on Bethesda), but this should hopefully not be as difficult as it would have been in the past now that Obsidian is owned by Microsoft.