But because science weapons draw from your science skill instead, traditionally combat-focused builds won’t get the most out them. Normally, a weapon’s effectiveness is based on your character’s proficiency with its category – handguns, for example. But if you’re exploring, these are some pretty big rewards for finding those side quests.” “They’re a little rarer,” says lead designer Charles Staples. Some science weapons are easier to find than others, but most of them aren’t handed to you through the course of the main campaign. It’s fun! But it’s not crazy enough.”Įxplore. It was originally going to be a science weapon because it shot out bouncing fireballs.

“We had one science weapon that didn’t go far enough, and now it’s a regular weapon in the game,” Cain says. We also know that the threshold for craziness is pretty high – you can’t just add some goofy ammo and make the cut. However, we do know that one of the melee options is internally referred to as “the Ugly Stick,” so that hints at some interesting effects. The team at Obsidian isn’t currently sharing any specific of science weapons beyond the shrink ray. “But then it will just be a matter of making it balanced enough where it still feels like a meaningful end to the game for most players.” If you want to use it on one of the formidable mega-fauna, go for it you get what Cain refers to as a “mini-mega.” But what about the final boss? “Right now, yes,” Staples says. You might assume that an effect that powerful will not work on more powerful foes – that they might have immunities to shrink ray. “As you gain a higher science skill, it shrinks them more. “It changes effectiveness based on your science skill,” says lead designer Charles Staples. But the more practical benefit comes from reducing their damage threshold in other words, enemies that are normally resistant to damage are much more susceptible to it the smaller they get. In addition to making enemies very small, the shrink ray also increases the pitch of their sound effects and deals a small amount of damage. “The artists didn’t want to use extreme values on it, because then things can’t move around, then can’t get through doors.” So what happens when you experiment with those extreme values in the form of a handheld gun? A shrink ray. “The scaling can be used for a lot more than what the artists were using it for,” Cain says. Visually, these beasts are scaled up from their regular counterparts – but the technology that produces that effect goes in both directions. Out in the wilderness of The Outer Worlds, you may encounter “mega-fauna,” which are especially large versions of specific creature types. The concept came from an unexpected place: huge monsters. During our time at Obsidian Entertainment, we talked to the team in detail about one of these weapons – the shrink ray – and about how the science weapons in general are implemented in The Outer Worlds.Īccording to co-director Tim Cain, science weapons are designed to have “inexplicable effects that we thought would be funny, and we didn’t care in any way if they were realistic.” The shrink ray is a perfect example of this philosophy: It collapses the space between atoms, causing creatures hit by its continuous beam to grow smaller (and stay that way as long as the beam remains focused on them). These unique items are difficult to find, but thorough explorers who amass a collection of them are treated to a variety of outlandish and entertaining effects.

The Outer Worlds isn’t exactly a serious or believable game, but it generally adheres to its own internal logic.

The outer worlds unique weapons