The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos has been anticipated since the game’s first DLC, Peril on Gorgon. The Expansion Pass allowed players to pre-purchase Murder on Eridanos and play Peril on Gorgon in the meantime. Murder on Eridanos has now been out for a few days now and while it may not hit all the marks, it does hit the majority of them.
Starting this DLC is very similar to the last, where players get prompted to do a certain action to begin the storyline. In this case, players watch the video that The Outer Worlds social media has already shared, which features Halcyon Helen being attacked and killed. From there, the story kicks off and introduces players to the characters who will play big roles in the DLC.
As far as NPCs go, there are quite a few new ones in Murder on Eridanos. Some players will have heard of them before, like Spencer Woolrich who is credited alongside Halcyon Helen in Terror on Monarch, while others will be brand new. The DLC definitely paints quite a few people as suspects, so it’s up to players to complete a thorough investigation to figure out who killed Halcyon Helen.
Most of the enemies players encounter are redesigned pre-existing characters, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Instead of Marauders, players will encounter a different type of human enemy that’s even more creepy. Mantisaurs and primals make a return on Eridanos, though they’re all drunk because of Rizzo’s alcoholic products. Players will also hear of, and encounter, a redesign of mantiswarms known as “waspquitos” and redesigns of mantipillars. Some players may be unhappy with the lack of all-new enemies, but the redesigns are enough to add to The Outer Worlds without needing brand-new enemies.
There are three unique weapons that players can collect to earn an achievement. There are also higher-level versions of weapons like grenade launchers, shotguns, and pistols. While they may not be “new,” these higher-level weapons can be tinkered with to make some very powerful guns. As for consumable options, the most notable is a wider variety of Rizzo’s drinks — particularly its vodka. It may be disappointing for some players to not see entirely new weaponry outside of the science weapons, but what really drives the DLC is its story, not its weapon or consumable options.
Murder on Eridanos is a serial mystery, meaning its plot is exactly like something that the Halcyon colony would watch. It’s a bit campy and full of an interesting cast of characters whose motives players have to figure out for themselves. The overall plot stands alone from the rest of the game without feeling like it’s forced or out of place, which is always a bonus when it comes to DLC. The additional party banter is fun as well, and players can have a really nice conversation with Parvati regarding visiting Eridanos. Vicar Max and Ellie are as snarky as ever, and Nyoka’s got a quip or two as well.
For some reason, Felix’s dialogue wouldn’t trigger in-game. He’d participate in conversations as a party companion, but if the Stranger approached him individually, he’d default to his usual “what’s up, Boss?” This occurred even though all other dialogue options had been exhausted. It’s possible Felix didn’t get any new one-on-one dialogue, but that doesn’t seem likely given that every other companion had additional conversation options. Hopefully, this issue will get patched in a later update.
There were other issues within the DLC as well, but they were mostly technical. Fighting waspquitos may have been as annoying as fighting mantiswarms, but that wasn’t the issue at hand. If too many waspquitos got together and attacked the player party, the frame rate dropped astronomically. The game lagged and it made it difficult to run away from the fight, let alone win it. A similar issue happened near the back of the Grand Colonial hotel, where the screen would freeze and a big white circle would spin on-screen. Luckily the game never crashed, but this was still concerning.
What was surprising and a bit disappointing about Murder on Eridanos is the lack of memorabilia from completing any part of the DLC. Even in the original game, players can collect tons of items that symbolically represent the quests they have completed. Murder on Eridanos has a couple of options, but not nearly as many as anticipated. Obviously, these items don’t detract from the overall story, but it would have been nice to see some extra reminders of the adventure and murder-solving on Eridanos.
Additionally, Murder on Eridanos is very centralized. The story solely takes place on Eridanos. It makes sense because the plot of the DLC is localized to the area, but it wouldn’t be surprising if players were anticipating other locations to travel to after the range of the last DLC. Again, the localized story makes sense, especially in the context of the DLC, but it was a little disappointing to not have any other planets unlocked during the playthrough.
Overall, Murder on Eridanos is a solid addition to The Outer Worlds. Players are in charge of solving a murder and piecing together clues, making it an interesting and fun time. The real issue at this point is the well-documented technical difficulties that have plagued players since the DLC’s release. Hopefully, a patch will be released to fix them soon, along with the other errors that have been pointed out.
The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Game Rant reviewed the DLC on PS4.
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