The Outer Worlds developer Obsidian Entertainment has consistently shown its dedication to choosing symbolic names for planets found within the game. Though some planets are still locked, there’s a good chance that their names are indicative of what players can expect when visiting them. One planet has Greek mythological roots that hint at its purpose, Tartarus.
Tartarus is unlike any of the other Outer Worlds planets. Though it is accessible to players, it doesn’t unlock until the very end of the game for the final quest. Once players touch down on its surface, it’s the start of the end of the game. There’s no revisiting Tartarus—though there’s not really a reason to in the first place.
The final quest of The Outer Worlds undoubtedly took inspiration from the Greek myth of the same name when it comes to its gameplay. Tartarus appears in Greek mythology in two distinct ways. Tartarus was the name given to a region found far below the Underworld where the gods supposedly kept their enemies, like the Titans. This deep, abyssal region was considered the opposite of Elysium, where good souls lived beyond death.
Second, Tartarus was also regarded as a force to be reckoned with. He was not a person, more like an entity, who had one parent—Chaos. Together with Gaea, Tartarus fathered Typhon. Typhon is another planet found in The Outer Worlds and probably named after the dragon-headed beast from earlier myth. It’s not hard to see the parallels between the Tartarus of Greek myth and how the planet functions in The Outer Worlds.
Tartarus is inaccessible until the final quest of the game. The Outer Worlds map describes Tartarus as being named after its “hellish atmosphere” and home to “The Labyrinth”—the maximum-security prison that houses who The Board considers to be its most dangerous adversaries. It’s where Phineas Welles is taken after The Board infiltrates his lab, and players have the option to help Welles or kill him in the penultimate events of the game.
Players must navigate through The Pit, starting from the first floor and working their way up to the top. They have to fight or sneak their way past the guards before making it to the ultimate confrontation against the R.A.M. and Adjutant Akande. If the player is in good standing with various factions, they’ll show up to help fight against the guards, allowing for easy passage to the next level.
It’s easy to see how the Tartarus of The Outer Worlds and the one of Greek myth, whether person or place, are similar to one another. The Tartarus of myth was a prison for beings more powerful than the gods, and the planet Tartarus functions in an almost interchangeable way. Tartarus is known throughout Halcyon as the place where the worst criminals go—this is no different than the myth.
Players may also remember that one of their own crew members served time on Tartarus. Vicar Maximillian DeSoto, referred to in-game as Vicar Max, supposedly served as a prison vicar and offered OSI council to the inmates. However, it’s later revealed that OSI assigned him there because he showed an interest in heretical texts that undermine the values of the OSI. His companion quest concludes on Scylla to see if his time on Tartarus was worth it.
Though Tartarus is a prison, the planet also exports “Tartarus Sauce”—tangy mayonnaise that the residents of Halcyon dip their Fish Stix in. The sauce is so tangy because it’s full of low-level toxins. The parallels of mythology’s Tartarus and The Outer Worlds’ Tartarus are clear, and though players cannot visit this planet freely during the game, it’s definitely got some interesting gameplay.
The Outer Worlds is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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