On its surface, The Outer Worlds doesn’t exactly look like a game that’s been inspired by Greek mythology, as it’s typically compared to games like Fallout thanks to the post-apocalyptic society, even in its super capitalistic space, found within the game. However, Obsidian has taken great care when selecting the names of certain planets in The Outer Worlds.
For some planets, the namesake is easy to decipher after knowing the Greek myth of the same name, like the planet Olympus and its atmospheric dwellings. Others, like the Gorgon asteroid, require a little more nuance to figure out why it may have received the name it has. With that in mind, the planet Scylla is available to all players and has some unique Greek inspiration.
In Greek mythology, Scylla is mentioned alongside Charybdis, most notably in Homer’s The Odyssey. Scylla was a six-headed sea monster, while Charybdis was a whirlpool located off the coast of Sicily. Both entities were located near each other—so close, in fact, that it was basically impossible to go through that area of the strait without encountering either Scylla or Charybdis.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus was told to go by Scylla rather than Charybdis because he’d only lose a few crew members as opposed to sinking his entire ship in the whirlpool. This moment, of having to choose between Charybdis and Scylla, translates to an idiom people use today—the concept of “being stuck between a rock and a hard place.” Sometimes, avoiding one option so fervently can actually lead to falling into the other, equally bad, option.
The Outer Worlds map describes Scylla as an abandoned asteroid full of empty science labs. Exploring Scylla can definitely be a lonesome experience, save for the occasional pirate or auto-mechanical that attacks players on cue. However, Scylla is the required destination for one specific quest that perfectly ties into the Greek tale of Scylla and Charybdis.
Though Vicar Max’s personal quest takes players through various parts of Halcyon, the conclusion of his quest takes place on Scylla. At the start of the game, players meet Vicar Max in an OSI (Order of Scientific Inquiry) church where he asks them to find a heretical text for him. As players interact with Max more, they soon learn he’s looking for heretical, unorthodox answers to OSI’s teachings. He’s got a whole tragic backstory, but the most important part of his quest is the 180 he does if the meeting on Scylla goes correctly.
Keeping the myth of Scylla and Charybdis in mind, the parallels to Max’s personal quest are clear as day, even without the drug-induced hallucinations. Max spent so long searching for answers about the OSI that when he finally learned the “truth,” which wasn’t the answer to The Grand Plan after all, he gave up his belief in the OSI and embraced the chaos of the universe instead of trying to make sense of it. He steered so far from Charybdis that he fell (literally) into Scylla.
Vicar Max’s personal quest isn’t the only thing that can be accomplished on Scylla, but it’s the one that very clearly shows why the planet may have been named after the Greek myth. Scylla may not be the prettiest asteroid to visit, but with a little digging, its Greek mythological inspiration makes a lot of sense.
The Outer Worlds is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
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