10 Tips For Character Creation

In The Outer Worlds, it’s easy to go through character creation without much care. Many first-time players don’t realize the effects of those first few points, especially on the late parts of the game, still many hours of gameplay away. Like all the decisions in the game, if you misspend those Attributes points, your choices are permanent. There’s no going back.

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Thankfully, The Outer Worlds is very re-playable and trying new classes and builds is half the fun of the game. Though the missions are always the same, you can change how you socially interact with the world, your fighting style approach, and how your companions contribute to your efforts. So, here’s an in-depth look at some tips for character creation, along with some examples to try in your next The Outer Worlds playthrough.

10/10 Plan Ahead

Whether you decide on the fly or plan out your build, having even a vague plan is key in The Outer Worlds. It may seem like a few random points, but your initial starting build is incredibly important to your capability in the later stages of the game.

Through the first few hours, it’s easy enough to not worry about specializing in a class or area. Those first points in character creation, however, will become essential to the effectiveness of any RPG strategy. This is especially true for the higher difficulties. Being a jack of all trades in The Outer Worlds is a struggle, and prevents you from experiencing some of the game’s greatness.

9/10 Starting Over

Find yourself not impressed with your chosen play style in The Outer Worlds? Starting over is not shameful here. With its varying builds, role-playing elements, and personality-building dialogue choices, this is a highly re-playable game.

When you add in Attributes, Skills, companions, and weapons, starting a new game is plain old fun. You can be an evil melee tank that forces their way through any obstacle or a pacifist hero that inspires people. The variation of experience that The Outer Worlds gives you is truly one of the best parts of the game.

8/10 Attributes

This is the first screen after the introduction to the game. Starting out with 6 points to spend, use each one carefully because this is the most important part of your character creation process. Dictating your effectiveness in the late-game, the points spent in your Attributes cannot be offset by other things like Skills or experience.

Make sure to read through each bonus and penalty available. The system is pretty complex here because you also have the option to take reductions to some Attributes for more points to spend in others. This is where the nuance of making strong class-related decisions comes in, and why it pays to have some help starting out.

7/10 Skills

Skills are more subtle as with each level-up, you’ll spend your experience points in focused areas. A few of these skills will eventually be maxed out, but in the meantime, you’ll want to double-down on your class, play style, or preferences. Generally, some of The Outer Wilds’ play styles may not agree with you.

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If that’s the case, simply start up a new game, reset your points, and all of a sudden it feels like you’re in a different game. A fast talker, a sneaky sniper, or a companion camper, the RPG class system that your skills build into is truly a gem in The Outer Worlds. Here’s a short breakdown of Skill points:

6/10 Aptitude

Aptitude is the least important element to your character creation, but it can provide a small bonus in a class-focused build. Having options like Plus-1 to Medical Skills, the best part of the Aptitude element is the hilarious descriptions of the previous jobs and the assumptions about how they relate to their points.

For example, by having an Aptitude point into “Bureaucrat, Rank 0” you’ll receive a bonus point into Block, with the inference being that bureaucrats are good at blocking because they must have experience dodging people’s punches. Pick one that will benefit your play style and class.

5/10 Example Build: Long Guns

This build can be converted into a sniper build or a more generalized gun class as the game progresses. One of the benefits here is that you’ll often have a distance-advantage over your targets.

With a few levels of “Ranged” points, however, you’ll be taking out enemies before they know it. Focus your Skills points on Ranged, Stealth, and Leadership so your companions can pick up some slack. This is a great build for precision shooters and sneakier players.

4/10 Example Build: Dialogue & Charm

If you want to play as a silver-tongued hero who is respected and whose lies are always believed, this is the sort of build you want to start with. Great for the pacifist route, this build makes it fun to feel unstoppable in a social way.

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This is where you get your cake and eat it too. Although you’ll still be fighting enemies and creatures out in the wilderness, you’ll feel like the space-pirate who can save Halcyon on their attention-drawing aura alone. In this build, spend your Skills points on Dialog, Stealth, Tech, and Leadership.

3/10 Example Build: Melee Monster

If you’re tired of being civil, this build will make you an unbearable, unstoppable force, on and off the battlefield. This build is very fun as you’ll end up fighting most NPC’s for anything you’re trying to get from them. It can be too chaotic in the first few hours though, so don’t ruin your reputation too quickly before you get some main quest lines going.

For example, if your faction rating with the Groundbreaker people is too low, you can’t buy a Navkey from Gladys, which makes landing on Monarch very difficult. You have plenty of time to become a psycho bully if you want to, but be smart who you target early on.

2/10 Perks

Perks are the last decision that will affect your stats, builds, and abilities. These are spent both on your character and your companions, so using their abilities and classes to support your play style is a great idea. Getting one point per two levels of experience, Perks exist in 3 tiers which unlock as points are spent.

There’s no limit to how many perks can be active and the amount of points available corresponds to the player’s character-level. Some example perks are “Deadly Demonstrations,” which gives 50% more XP from companion kills, and “Cheetah,” which gives a 20% boost to sprinting speed.

1/10 Appearance

The most visual element of character creation, the Appearance tool has a wide range of capabilities. It doesn’t affect the quality of a playthrough but making your character look a certain way in response to your RPG-class type is always a great choice. Not that the charming, sweet-talker has to always be handsome, or the jerk has to look evil.

Sometimes, making your character the opposite of their nature is a fun way to approach it. Either way, you’ll have a helmet on, and it’s a first-person game, so you don’t need to spend hours honing the look of your perfect character in The Outer Worlds. You’re better off spending those points and jumping right in.

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