Get ready for another trip back to the Halcyon Colony because the second DLC for The Outer Worlds is now here. Solving the mystery surrounding the perilous Gorgon Asteroid was quite the adventure, so you can bet the bar has been raised, considering this is the last DLC that will be released for the game.

In a star system full of mysteries, danger, and conspiracies, you may think you’ve already seen everything the Halcyon Colony has to offer, but what about a good old-fashion whodunit? Well if you haven’t, there’s a place that should be right up your alley. Trade in your captain’s hat for some detective headgear because we’re hot on the trail of a killer in The Outer Worlds’ Murder on Eridanos DLC and find out if this murder mystery is worth one last trip back.

There’s a killer on the loose 

Murder on Eridanos is a brand new story arc in the Outer Worlds. Like Peril on Gorgon before it, this DLC requires you to have finished a rather hefty portion of the base game, but if you’ve finished the first DLC then you can already start Murder on Eridanos.

In the vein of a classic murder mystery, you are called to solve the murder of Ruth Bellamy, an actress who plays Halcyon Helen, the Colony’s most beloved star of the aetherwaves and spokesperson for Rizzo, Inc. and its line of beverages. The scene of the crime? The Grand Colonial Hotel on the Eridanos, the new piece of rock you’ll be able to explore in the new DLC.

Like the other major story arcs in the game, Murder on Eridanos is a self-contained narrative. In classic whodunit fashion, you will be exploring Eridanos gathering clues, interrogating persons of interest, analyzing suspects’ claims and alibis, reviewing data you’ve gathered, and ultimately determining the guilty party and seeing things through to the end. It’s all in a day’s work for the captain of the Unreliable, and just like Peril on Gorgon, the lore of The Outer Worlds is further expanded upon in this new DLC.

Not to giving anything away but if the previous DLC uncovered some secrets of Spacer’s Choice, Murder on Eridanos this time puts the spotlight on Rizzo’s, Inc. Returning players should already know how sleazy and greedy the companies ruling the Halcyon Colony are, so this is another DLC shedding more light on how far they’ll go to maintain their merciless grip on all its inhabitants, not to mention their steady income.

From captain to inspector

As an expansion, expect the same features as Peril on Gorgon. Apart from a new area to explore, there will be new equipment added to the game as well, not to mention some new Perks and Skills to obtain. As this is a murder mystery in The Outer Worlds, it should already be a given that you’ll need a tool for investigation, which is one of the new weapons you’ll be acquiring: The Discrepancy Amplifier.

This nifty new pistol will let you identify and analyze various clues around Eridanos that can point you in the right direction in solving the mystery. Eridanos is a big place to explore if you’re looking for clues, so it’s actually a big relief that the Discrepancy Amplifier will let you know of any significant clues in the area that you can scan.

Aside from the main quests which focus on you mainly investigating suspects, there will also be new side-quests, NPCs to talk to, and tasks that you can do at the same time as the main quests. Some of these will even help you understand more what happened on Eridanos as they will uncover details that are related to the parties involved. So for example, a guard may need help with something as mundane as cleaning a filthy swimming pool, but you may want to do it anyway as said pool may contain clues.

On the other hand, some have no relation at all but will at least give you an idea of some bigger mystery that Eridanos is hiding. A side-quest concerning a missing guard may sound unrelated to the main quest, but you’ll want to see it through to find out. You just might find something else. Something more… sinister.

Nothing like a vacation

With so many strange incidents happening, apart from the actual murder, it’s a wonder how the Grand Colonial Hotel on Eridanos can still remain operational and serve all its guests. From this alone, it should already be evident how different the new DLC is compared to Peril on Gorgon.

In contrast to the seemingly abandoned and eerie Gorgon Asteroid, the new area you can explore is a posh hotel, all expenses paid. It’s definitely a brighter atmosphere with all the fancy furnishings, and different NPCs like guests and employees that roam inside and outside the hotel casually going about their own business.

You can say that after a perilous romp around an abandoned asteroid, there’s nothing that says a change of scenery more like a fancy hotel surrounded by different amenities like a shady spaceport, a suspicious purpleberry orchard, and a dangerous wilderness exploitation site. Okay, so some of the surrounding areas don’t exactly sound like safe spots for an itinerary but on the bright side, it won’t be a boring hotel stay.

The bigger picture

Murder on Eridanos has all the makings of something special as far as The Outer Worlds is concerned. It’s a brand new area with new quests, new equipment, and there’s a murder mystery to solve. The big question now is putting all of these together, how does the experience feel as one total package? It’s actually going to depend on your expectations going into this new DLC.

To get some gripes out of the way, Murder on Eridanos isn’t exactly perfect. My time on Eridanos did require me to return often to my provided penthouse suite, which serves as the base of operations for the captain and his crew, but it was simply a pain moving the cursor around because the damn icons were too close to each other (see screenshot above, that’s the most zoomed in view). Often times, I wanted to fast travel to point B but can’t since the icon for Point A is so close to it, and it became frustrating to the point that I’d rather move my cursor to some fast travel point near my target and just walk from there. This is exacerbated by the fact that if you’re playing on a PS4 / Xbox One, the loading times will definitely add up since you’ll need to go back and forth from your penthouse.

With the bar raised after Peril on Gorgon, it also would have been nice to see some significantly more varied armor designs for the last DLC that the game will be getting. Sadly, like Peril, Eridanos didn’t have anything drastically new to offer as far as armor design is concerned. By the end of the campaign, the equipment I’ve accumulated feel no different from the ones I already got playing the main campaign, with some standouts being fancy threads or hotel uniforms which aren’t too special at all.

And then there’s that whole deal regarding the murder mystery that should be at the center of this whole DLC.

Every now and then, we enjoy solving a good mystery, and that was the expectation going into Murder on Eridanos. The developers definitely knew what they were doing here. The list of suspects you can interrogate? Check. Uncovering clues to determine who’s lying? Check. A board with strings connecting people and places where you can review all clues and details you’ve gathered? Yes that’s here too. In terms of ticking off a list of murder mystery tropes, this DLC has got it down.

Without spoiling anything, no matter how thorough you’re investigation turns out to be, and this means doing nearly all possible quests to make sure you don’t miss any details, the campaign will still progress towards the same endgame where, in true Outer Worlds fashion, you get to decide how to finish the story. In other words, should you just feel like doing all necessary main quests just to advance the story, it’s going to be the same final quests that will be unlocked.

It would have been great to see some variety in how it all plays out, especially since the mystery part of the DLC was pretty engaging. Maybe if you didn’t uncover enough clues or did enough side quests, you would miss out on a few things on the final mission as opposed to completing every 100%? Considering how Obsidian are known for compelling storylines, it would have made for a fantastic finish.

Taking Outer Worlds for what it is, Murder on Eridanos has a lot of content that you can lose time in. Doing nearly everything actually took almost 7 hours or so, and you’ll be sure to have a good time if you’ve been playing The Outer Worlds from the very beginning.

On the other hand, for a DLC being touted as a murder mystery, solving said mystery didn’t feel like a big payoff considering that you’re going towards the same endgame. It’s good, but could have definitely been better.

What we liked:

• New DLC inclusions like new equipment and skills
• Very different from Peril on Gorgon
• Investigating the murder mystery was a refreshingly new experience
• Campaign as a whole was engaging enough to finish

What we did not like:

• Not a lot of new equipment designs
• Frustrating fast travel points to use
• Unsatisfying conclusion to the murder mystery part of the campaign

Verdict:

The murder mystery aspect of Murder on Eridanos may have felt lacking, admittedly, but it’s important to look at the DLC as a whole experience from an Outer Worlds player and from that point of view, this DLC is still pretty much worth it. Despite a lacking murder mystery payoff, the overall story of the campaign still had some twists and turns that will make you want to play it to completion.

The continued world building brought about by the DLC was a fun experience, especially if you’ve played the based game, as you learn more about the inner workings of the Grand Colonial hotel by talking to various NPCs and visiting its different facilities. There is also enough replay value should you want a different outcome from your first playthrough. As what you’d expect from The Outer Worlds as a whole, Murder on Eridanos will let you roleplay however you want.

There may be just one endgame you’ll be going towards but you’re still free to decide to be a hero, villain, or jackass in closing the case. And that, after all, is Outer Worlds’ biggest strength and a major factor to consider. So by all means, feel free to get Murder on Eridanos. Or better yet if you haven’t gotten Peril on Gorgon yet, these two DLCs pretty much completes the entire Outer Worlds experience and ends the story on a high note.

*The Outer Worlds: Murder On Eridanos DLC was reviewed on a PS5 via a review code provided by the publishers.