Main cast: Brenock O’Connor (Amos), Raffey Cassidy (Felicity Karo), Fenella Woolgar (Dr Langdon), Nicholas A Newman (Street Advertiser), Joanne Henry (Interviewer), and Jamie Treacher (Chairman Courtright)
Directors: Bengt-Anton Runsten and Dave Wilson

Ah yes, The Outer Worlds, which was so hyped up prior to release because it was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the same folks behind Fallout: New Vegas. That game is still touted by many as the best game in the Fallout series, but alas, while the developer is the same, the people running the show are not.

While I didn’t play that game, I hear that the game is the epitome of “just okay” and are quickly forgotten shortly after it was released in 2019. The critics loved it because it had a lot of real-world politics shoved in with all the subtlety of a peaceful protest, while some people complain about the dodgy animation and dated combat.

Oh well, with a sequel coming out soon, I suppose it is natural that this episode shows up. Secret Level is, after all, a big advertisement billboard for modern AAA slop games.

The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep is about a nobody, Amos, that gives up everything, even his limbs, to the mega-corporation overlords just to be with Felicity, the woman he loves. Only, she tells him that she has to follow her dreams to be a big, strong girlboss and drops him like a sack of rancid hot potatoes despite everything he had done to be with her. That’s really cold, if you ask me.

This episode feels more like an introduction as to how cold and evil big corporations have taken over everything and how this only crushes the normies, the very premise of the games. However, because Amos and Felicity have absolutely zilch character development, the take home message here is that men shouldn’t brainlessly simp over women.

I’m not sure how progressive such a message is in the current day, but then again, does an expensive video game made and distributed by big corporations has any leg to stand on when it comes to lecturing people about how big corporations are bad? Everything just feels performative… the story of modern-day video game slop, in other words.

Anyway, the animation and graphics are nice to look at, for what that is worth.