The Outer Worlds vs Borderlands 4

• Perspective: First-Person
• Multiplayer: Single-Player Only
• Setting: Halcyon Star System
• Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Unique Feature: A satirical, anti-capitalist RPG with a unique 'Flaw' system that adapts your character's stats based on your in-game failures, and a deep, choice-driven dialogue system.

• Perspective: First-Person
• Multiplayer: 4-Player Online Co-op, 2-Player Split-Screen
• Setting: Planet Kairos
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2
• Unique Feature: A truly seamless open world with a completely overhauled movement system (grappling hook, gliding) and unprecedented depth in character and gear customization.

• The Crew of the Unreliable: The player can recruit six unique companions who live on their starship, The Unreliable. Players can bring two companions with them at any time. Companions will fight alongside the player, provide commentary on quests, and grant passive skill bonuses. Each companion also has a powerful, unique special ability that the player can command them to use in combat.
  Varies (Human, Robot)

• Co-op Teammates: The game is built from the ground up for four-player co-op. Teammates can revive each other, combine their Action Skills for devastating effects, and trade loot. A new teleport feature allows players to instantly group up.
  Human (Player)
• Echo 4: A new robot companion that provides a navigation line to objectives, replacing the traditional mini-map for exploration. It can also scan the environment for loot and enemies.
  Robot

• Science Weapons: Six unique weapons hidden throughout the Halcyon system, each tied to a specific side quest.
• Lore Terminals: Computer terminals and data pads found in every location, filled with darkly humorous corporate memos that build the game's satirical world.

• Sci-Fi
• Action RPG
• Satire
• Hyper-Capitalism
• Player Choice
• Narrative-Driven
• Space Western
• First-Person

• Sci-Fi
• Looter-Shooter
• Action RPG
• Dark Humor
• Co-op
• Space Western
• Procedural Generation
• Cel-Shading
• Revolution

• Firearms: Varies (Pistols, Long Guns, Heavy Guns)
  A wide array of firearms, from pistols and assault rifles to plasma launchers and LMGs. Weapons are made by in-game corporations and can be modified with attachments.
• Melee Weapons: Varies (One-Handed, Two-Handed)
  A variety of close-quarters weapons, from blades to large hammers, which can be enhanced with elemental damage mods.
• Science Weapons: Unique
  A set of six unique, bizarre weapons with special effects, such as the 'Shrink Ray' (shrinks enemies), 'Gloop Gun' (causes enemies to float), and 'Mandibular Rearranger' (stuns and shuffles enemy faces).

• Procedurally Generated Guns: Varies (Pistols, SMGs, Shotguns, Assault Rifles, etc.)
  Over 30 billion guns with randomized parts, stats, and elemental effects. The new 'Licensed Part' system allows for traits from different manufacturers (Jakobs, Maliwan, Tediore) to appear on any weapon.
• Ordinance: Heavy Weapons, Grenades, Throwing Weapons
  A new, dedicated gear slot for ordinance. These items operate on cooldowns or charges instead of consuming ammo, encouraging more frequent use.

• Energy Shields: The classic Borderlands shield type. Absorbs burst damage and begins a fast recharge after a short delay of not taking damage.
• Armor Shields: A new shield type designed for brawlers. Armor regenerates segments constantly, even while in combat, but is more vulnerable to corrosive damage.
• Firmware System: A new gear set system. Equipping multiple non-weapon gear pieces with the same Firmware provides powerful set bonuses. Firmware can be transferred between items.

• Armor Sets: Players can equip hundreds of different armor pieces and helmets. While there is no transmog system, the wide variety of corporate-branded gear (Spacer's Choice, Auntie Cleo's, etc.) allows for extensive cosmetic mixing and matching.

• Cosmetic Customization: A deep customization system is expected, allowing players to unlock and equip a wide variety of heads, body skins, color schemes, and emotes for their Vault Hunters to personalize their appearance.

Character progression is deeper than ever. Each of the four new Vault Hunters has three massive skill trees with over 50 levels of progression. A new endgame system called 'Specializations' replaces Badass Ranks, offering meaningful gameplay perks instead of small stat increases. SDU upgrades for inventory and ammo are also available.

The game features a single, massive, seamless open-world planet called Kairos. This is a significant evolution from the zone-based maps of previous titles, eliminating loading screens between regions and allowing for greater freedom of exploration with a completely overhauled movement system.

• The Stranger: Playable Protagonist
  A fully customizable colonist from the ship *Hope*. Their personality and skills are defined by the player, and they become the central figure in deciding the fate of the Halcyon colony.
• Parvati Holcomb: Companion
  A compassionate engineer from Edgewater who is an expert in mechanics and empathy. Her personal quest is a major highlight of the game.
• Vicar Maximillian 'Max' DeSoto: Companion
  An impassioned and conflicted Vicar of the Order of Scientific Inquiry, on a personal quest to find forbidden knowledge.
• Felix Millstone: Companion
  A rebellious, idealistic former box-loader who joins the player to fight against corporate oppression.
• Ellie Fenhill: Companion
  A pragmatic and cynical mercenary surgeon who joins the crew for profit and adventure.
• Nyoka: Companion
  A tough, hard-drinking monster hunter who is an expert on the creatures of the planet Monarch.
• SAM: Companion
  A sanitation and maintenance robot found on the *Unreliable*. After being repaired, it becomes a loyal companion that sprays acid on enemies.

• Amon, the Forgeknight: Playable Vault Hunter
  A 'sci-fi Viking' class who can forge weapons with cybernetic drones and specializes in melee and elemental damage (cryo, fire, shock).
• Vex, the Siren: Playable Vault Hunter
  One of the six mystical and powerful Sirens of the Borderlands universe, with a new set of abilities.
• Rafa, the Exo-Soldier: Playable Vault Hunter
  A heavily-armed soldier class, likely focused on gunplay and explosives.
• Harlow, the Gravitar: Playable Vault Hunter
  A class likely focused on gravity manipulation, crowd control, and area-of-effect abilities.

• Main Story Quests
  A cinematic campaign that follows the player's quest to save the Halcyon colony, forcing them to make major decisions that will determine the fate of the factions and the system.
• Companion Quests
  Deep, multi-part loyalty missions for each of the six companions. Completing these quests explores their personal backstories and unlocks their most powerful abilities.
• Faction Quests
  Optional questlines for the various corporations and groups in the game (like Spacer's Choice or the Iconoclasts). Player actions in these quests will raise or lower their reputation with each faction.

• Main Story Quests
  A cinematic campaign that follows the new Vault Hunters as they join a revolution to overthrow the tyrannical Timekeeper on the prison planet of Kairos.
• Side Quests
  A massive number of optional missions featuring the series' signature humor and eccentric characters. These provide XP, powerful loot, and SDU tokens.
• Dynamic World Events
  Repeatable, randomly appearing objectives like Airship Wrecks, Coliseums, and Meteor Events that offer tiered rewards based on performance.
• Rift Champions
  Randomly spawning open-world bosses that provide a significant challenge and a high chance for high-quality, world-drop legendary loot.

• Q: What is The Outer Worlds?
  A: It is a single-player, first-person action RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, the original creators of Fallout. It's set in a satirical, hyper-capitalist space colony and is heavily focused on player choice, branching dialogue, and companion characters.
• Q: Is it an open-world game?
  A: No, it is not a single seamless open world. It features a series of large, separate 'open-zone' maps on different planets that you travel between using your spaceship.
• Q: What is the 'Flaw' system?
  A: It's a unique mechanic where the game offers you a permanent, negative debuff (a Flaw) based on your gameplay, such as a fear of robots after fighting them a lot. If you accept the Flaw, you immediately get a free Perk point, allowing for unique role-playing.
• Q: Is it like Fallout: New Vegas?
  A: It shares a lot of the same DNA. It was led by the same directors as Fallout, and features similar dark humor, satirical themes, faction reputation systems, and deep, choice-driven quest design.

• Q: What is new about the world in Borderlands 4?
  A: It is set on a single, massive, and completely seamless open-world planet called Kairos. This is a first for the series, eliminating loading screens between zones.
• Q: How is movement different?
  A: The game has a completely new movement system with a double jump, glide, dash, wall climb, and a grappling hook, allowing for much more verticality and freedom than previous games.
• Q: How deep is the character customization?
  A: It is significantly deeper. Each of the four new Vault Hunters has three massive skill trees with over 80 passive abilities, inspired by the complexity of ARPGs like Path of Exile. A new endgame 'Specialization' system also adds meaningful choices beyond max level.
• Q: What is the new 'Licensed Part' system?
  A: It's a new loot feature where weapons can randomly drop with signature traits from different manufacturers. For example, a Maliwan SMG might have the Jakobs ricochet effect, creating a huge number of new weapon combinations.

• OFFICIAL PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS for the original 2019 release. A 'Spacer's Choice Edition' with higher requirements was released in 2023. The following extrapolations for modern laptops are based on the original, well-optimized release.
• Laptop Performance Note: Laptop versions of the listed desktop GPUs require comparable performance. Given the game's age and optimization, most modern gaming laptops will run The Outer Worlds at high settings and framerates without issue.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Not a critical factor for this title, as even lower-power laptop GPUs can easily run the game at high framerates.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The game is not overly demanding, but good cooling is always beneficial for maintaining consistent performance during long sessions.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: The game is not CPU-intensive by modern standards, and most modern mobile CPUs will handle it without issue.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus can help reduce system latency, which is beneficial for the game's first-person shooter combat.
• Game Name: The Outer Worlds

• SPECULATIVE PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS. As the game is a next-generation title built on Unreal Engine 5, these are hypothetical projections and do not represent official information.
• Laptop Performance Note: A future title like this would demand a high-performance gaming laptop. Actual performance would vary significantly based on the final game's optimization and the laptop's specific hardware configuration.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Maximum TGP for the laptop's GPU would be essential to handle the advanced graphical features of Unreal Engine 5 and the chaotic, effects-heavy combat.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: Next-gen games will require laptops with cutting-edge cooling solutions to prevent thermal throttling and sustain performance during intense firefights.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: A powerful multi-core mobile CPU will be critical for handling the procedural gun generation system, complex enemy AI, and physics calculations.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus would remain a critical feature for reducing latency and ensuring the best possible performance and responsiveness in a co-op shooter.
• Game Name: Borderlands 4

• G P U T G P: Not a critical factor for this title, as even lower-power laptop GPUs can easily run the game at high framerates.
• Cooling Thermals: The game is not overly demanding, but good cooling is always beneficial for maintaining consistent performance during long sessions.
• C P U Power Limits: The game is not CPU-intensive by modern standards, and most modern mobile CPUs will handle it without issue.
• M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus can help reduce system latency, which is beneficial for the game's first-person shooter combat.

• G P U T G P: Maximum TGP for the laptop's GPU would be essential to handle the advanced graphical features of Unreal Engine 5 and the chaotic, effects-heavy combat.
• Cooling Thermals: Next-gen games will require laptops with cutting-edge cooling solutions to prevent thermal throttling and sustain performance during intense firefights.
• C P U Power Limits: A powerful multi-core mobile CPU will be critical for handling the procedural gun generation system, complex enemy AI, and physics calculations.
• M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus would remain a critical feature for reducing latency and ensuring the best possible performance and responsiveness in a co-op shooter.