The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition has received a patch intended to address visual and performance issues that came as a drawback of the remastered experience. The update promised higher resolutions, improved visuals, and an increased level cap, but many that returned to The Outer Worlds were forced to endure a significantly more unstable game.
Some eyebrows were raised when publisher Private Division announced a remaster for 2019's The Outer Worlds, a not-even four-year-old title that, while not graphically revolutionary, certainly could not have been described as aesthetically lacking. Nonetheless, the Spacer's Choice Edition promised improved visuals, every piece of DLC, and a variety of other additions as part of the remastered collection. However, those who owned the base game and all of its expansions were still expected to pay $9.99 for the upgrade.
The controversial situation became even more dire upon the Spacer's Choice Edition release, with many players reporting a substantial reduction in performance and a higher frequency of bugs. The patch notes for version 1.1 highlighted improvements such as ensuring enemies can no longer be invisible to the player and textures do not randomly flicker. Those on Xbox are yet to receive the patch, as it was delayed to the middle of this week for an undisclosed reason.
Three days later and it seems version 1.1 has done little to resolve the prior issues, with dozens of replies to the above tweet citing virtually no differences before and after the patch. Private Division replied to one person claiming to be experiencing 20 FPS with an RTX 3060 graphics card, noting that it is still working on further patches and suggesting that they submit a customer service request. The patch notes specifically mentioned improvements for PC players using higher-end graphics cards, but many with powerful setups are still facing difficulties. Kerbel Space Program 2, another title published by Private Division, had players demanding refunds after it was released into Early Access with missing features and bugs that rendered the game virtually unplayable.
At the time of writing, there is no knowledge as to when another patch can be expected, seemingly left entirely to Private Division as Obsidian continues to work on both Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2. Little is known about the sequel to Obsidian's spacefaring RPG, but a new cast of crew members and a transition away from Halcyon (the star system featured in the first game) have both been confirmed. Hopefully the original game can be fully playable soon as fans patiently wait for a sequel that is likely still years away.
Outer Wilds Update 1.1 Patch Notes
Top Community Issues:
- Adjusted settings for Ultra and Very High graphic modes, improving experience for PC players on higher end graphics cards
- Fixed issues with SSGI being set inappropriately high on PC affecting performance
- Updated SSR values to improve cinematic mode on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation®5
- Updated dynamic resolution on PC
- Improved framerate in performance modes for both Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation®5
Performance:
- PSO experience improved to mitigate hitching during shader compilation
- SSGI auto settings updated preventing scenarios where it would toggle on unexpectedly
Stability:
- Solved rare crash on PS5 in Roseway
- Fixed chance for Xbox Series X|S consoles to crash during long syncs
- Prevent temporary memory leaks from appearing in UI screens on Xbox Series X|S consoles
General:
- Various HLOD improvements to reduce popping on all platforms
- Fix many instances of flickering textures on all platforms
- Reduce chance for characters hair to glow on all platforms
- Fixed two instances of invisible enemies on all platforms
- Fixed invisible trip mine beam on all platforms
- Improved texture resolution on the Xbox Series S
- Fixed skin shading issues seen on some companions on the Xbox Series S
The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition is currently available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.