Obsidian Entertainment's upcoming sci-fi RPG, The Outer Worlds, will be releasing on the Nintendo Switch in 2019. Nintendo announced the news in a new video posted to their Twitter and YouTube accounts with Senior Producer Matthew Singh revealing that The Outer Worlds will be released on Nintendo Switch "following the launch of the other platforms," referring to PS4, PC, and Xbox One.
The Outer Worlds was first announced during The Game Awards last year as a new IP coming from the developers of popular RPGs, Fallout: New Vegas, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The Nintendo Switch port will be handled by Virtuos, a Singaporean developer behind many recent ports including Batman: Return to Arkham, L.A. Noire, and last years Dark Souls Remastered.
The new trailer offers a deep dive look into single-player first-person sci-fi RPG, which has been designed for fans of the Fallout series. The Outer Worlds takes place at the furthest edge of the galaxy in the Halcyon Colony, a place that has been branded and operated by corporations. As the player, you awake in a colonist ship decades after being lost in transit and soon uncover a deep conspiracy that threatens to destroy the Halcyon colony.
Obsidian has confirmed that player choice and consequence will play a significant role in The Outer Worlds, with every decision or action playing a larger role in the narrative. Producer Matthew Singh detailed a new "flaw" system as an example of how the developer is expressing character growth and progression in-game, similar to low-intelligence in Fallout. In this example, the player had received multiple hits to the head and offered a "permanent concussion," adding a flaw to the character while granting an additional perk. Companions and other characters will notice the change in your behavior and react to those changes.
It's unclear exactly how a game of this scale will be affected by the Nintendo Switch's weaker hardware as little to no information has been announced regarding The Outer Worlds size or technical requirements. But if other AAA ports such as Skyrim, DOOM or Wolfenstein: Youngblood are anything to go by, players can expect an overall similar performance with lower graphical quality.
The Outer Worlds releases on October 25 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. No release date has been announced for the Nintendo Switch.