I just finished my first playthrough of this title and I'm wildly impressed. It hit so many marks for me and I'm beyond excited for the sequel to come out. I won't get into how this title ended up "coming across my desk" but I'm so glad it did. Obsidian hit a home run with this and I'm so glad I took the time to do all of the side content. I haven't played the DLC content yet but I'm plenty content with the base game. The next time the DLCs go on sale I fully intend to buy them and I've got my pre-Tartarus save file ready to go for when that happens. The way the world is presented to you has an occasional oversight and/or contingency flaw but 99% of the time they handled my free exploration mentality incredibly well with tying right back into the game. For example, any time I would free roam and blast marauders to pieces, I'd find some cool stuff. Since I was doing all the side content, a lot of that stuff would come up later when someone asks me to go find that thing or clear that place and every single time the option was handled correctly, and within reasonable story progression, with an understanding that I had already done that, cleared that, or acquired that thing. I know that's not a huge thing, and seems pretty common sense, but it fails in games more frequently than you'd think and this juggled my free choice VERY well tbh. This is just one example but the game handles itself VERY well and everyone involved in the creation deserves their due respect for this one. 9.5/10 have recommended to literally everyone I know. TLDR: Game is very good, well made, tested and optimized. Fantastic side content, story content, and player agency. The occasional railroading of how you get around the map might be sometimes irritating but its a small price to pay to be forced to walk around something when along the way you're going to find plenty of valuables. This game shows an understanding of so much that came before it, give it a shot it's worth your time.
