The Outer Worlds was one of the most killer RPG releases of 2019, delivering a Fallout-esque sci-fi role-playing game to a world that had been deprived of a solo Fallout experience since 2015. It brings the player to the far-off star system known as Halcyon which has been carved up by predatory corporations, leaving a dangerous string of colonies eternally on the brink of disaster.
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As incredible as this Obsidian Entertainment RPG was, there is always room for improvement, and players often pick up on things that were overlooked on the road to a game's launching. Other times, a player can come up with their own way of improving the game for themselves specifically. That's where mods come in.
All mods mentioned in this article can be found on Nexus Mods, and links will be provided with each entry.
10 Neutral LUT
When it comes to altering a game with a mod, the visuals are usually among the first things that come to mind. While The Outer Worlds' vibrant color palette is one of the main things many players enjoy about the game, it's not for everyone. That's where the Neutral LUT ReShade mod comes in, adding a more neutral color tone as well as making shadowed areas more visible for the player's benefit.
While The Outer Worlds' tone is more comedic and over-the-top than many of its contemporaries, it's understandable that some players would want a visual environment that feels more grounded and fitting for the roleplaying experience they wish to have. This mod was designed and uploaded to Nexus Mods by user AQtun81.
9 Obsidian ReShade
On the other end of things, some players have worked to make The Outer Worlds even more vibrant and lively than it originally was. The Obsidian ReShade mod is intended to do just that, improving the colors, sharpness, and HDR of the game's graphics. This one comes from Nexus Mods user Jb0238177, who also recommends upping the gamma to 72% for the latest version of this mod.
While the visuals of The Outer Worlds are stunning, there's always room to try something a little different in the name of improving a player's experience.
8 Supernova Patch
Supernova is the highest difficulty setting in The Outer Worlds. In addition to making combat more deadly, it achieves this by hampering the player in several ways, including placing restrictions on saving and fast traveling. The Supernova Patch by Nexus Mod user Expired6978 allows the player to save and fast travel unrestricted even in Supernova mode as well as customizing the difficulty settings in Supernova on a case-by-case basis.
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Giving a player more freedom is almost always appreciated, and this is an excellent example of a modder giving the player options that the devs may have overlooked.
7 Dev-Console Unlock Guide
This is less of a mod and more of a guide for players to make their own tweaks to the game. The Dev-Console Unlock Guide was authored by Otis_Inf and Sunbeam and uploaded by Nexus Mod user stoker25. It provides the first steps needed for a player to mod their game on their own by showing them how to access the Unreal Engine 4 developer console within Outer Worlds.
That said, the user will need to download the dynamic link library (DLL) separately, though the guide also shows how to access that as well.
6 Ultimate New Game Plus Save
Who hasn't played The Outer Worlds and wished they were a majestic titan trodding over their enemies with ease and talking their way through any situation without any trouble? If so, the Ultimate New Game Plus Save mod by author MrWheyne and uploader SupremoGuerreiro is definitely worth a download.
This save file allows the player to experience The Outer Worlds with every stat maxed out, making combat a breeze and allowing the player to pass every skill check with no problem. That said, the guide does recommend not using this on the first The Outer Worlds playthrough, as it interferes with how the game is intended to be experienced.
5 ADA Replacements
This isn't a specific mod as much as a common genre of mods that exists in the Outer Worlds community. ADA is the ship artificial intelligence that helps guide the player through Halcyon, but many players have opted to replace ADA's avatar with one of their own choosing.
This ranges from Jenna by Sladernimo, to Amadeus by MasterZeroFX, to Petra from Fire Emblem by SuperSalad. Everyone should get some say in what their ship's AI looks and sounds like, and these mods allow the player to do just that.
4 Outer Souls - Deprived
Have you ever played The Outer Worlds and just wished that it would challenge you a little more? Then check out Outer Souls - Deprived by user Kyim to fulfill these wishes. This is a modified version of Supernova that removes health regeneration, makes reloading slower, speeds up weapon degradation, lowers stats to their minimum, and throws on another myriad of player character downgrades to make the game a true challenge.
This is an experience specifically tailored to those who want to face a new level of difficulty in The Outer Worlds, so prepare to die before diving into this one.
3 WOW Maximum Performance Boost
The "Wonderfully Optimized Worlds" Maximum Performance Boost by user sp0ckraters kicks up the optimization of The Outer Worlds with settings that it claims are recommended by Unreal Engine 4 developers. Whether or not that is truly the case, it does improve the performance of The Outer Worlds on less powerful PCs, so it's doing some good in the world.
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Not every gamer has a powerful PC, and The Outer Worlds is still a fairly new game, so it's nice to see a mod like this on Nexus that is looking out for players with less powerful systems.
2 Really Hardcore Mode
Another difficulty-enhancing mod for The Outer Worlds comes from Wolf7808 with Really Hardcore Mode. This one is simpler than the "Outer Souls - Deprived" mod in that it removes all skill and attribute bonuses.
The more options that a player has, the better, so Really Hardcore Mode is another very welcome addition to the Outer Worlds modding catalog.
1 The Tweaked Outer Worlds
The most popular mod for The Outer Worlds on Nexus Mods is The Tweaked Outer Worlds by AsyxA. This one is a relatively straightforward mod intended to improve the performance of the game on all PC setups. It mainly removes GFX effects and mouth smoothing, which otherwise can't be altered within the game on an individual basis. However, it has been updated since its original upload to modify the game in other regards.
Smoothing out the game's optimization is one of the most appreciated services of the modding community. Mods like this are often considered a necessary add-on for many PC gamers.