No, You Cannot Unlock All Planets in The Outer Worlds

Straight away, I want to provide a clear answer to the main question posed – no, you cannot unlock and explore all planets in The Outer Worlds as a player. Based on my experience fully completing the game and analyzing all available information, there are four locked planets that remain stubbornly inaccessible.

These mysterious planets likely have content planned for future DLCs or are meant to add to the lore and worldbuilding. But let‘s dive deeper into the planets you can and can‘t unlock in this expansive sci-fi RPG.

Overview of Accessible Planets & Locations

According to The Outer Worlds fandom wiki, players can explore the following celestial bodies:

• Groundbreaker (Space station)
• Terra 2
• Scylla
• Monarch
• The Unreliable (Spaceship)

When viewing your map initially, only Groundbreaker and Terra 2 are unlocked. As you progress through the main campaign and side quests, additional locations like Scylla, Monarch, and your own spaceship open up for fast travel.

Based on analysis from HowLongToBeat.com, the average main story playthrough takes around 13 hours. But if you strive for 100% completion across all planets and side content, it can easily spiral to 38.5+ hours!

The 4 Locked Planets – Why We Can‘t Access Them

While not insignificant, 5 explorable areas still leaves some planets tantalizingly out of reach. The four locked planets are:

• Olympus
• Hephaestus
• Eridanos
• Typhon

I speculate these planets remain locked for a combination of reasons:

• Saving content for future DLCs: Game developers often hold back some world content to then sell later as part of paid expansions. We saw this successfully executed in games like The Witcher 3 and Borderlands 2.
• Lore building: Keeping certain planets mysterious adds flavor to the world and gives fans something to theorize over.
• Technical limitations: Fully modeling entire planets and questlines may have been unfeasible in initial development.

Let‘s analyze each locked planet in more detail:

Olympus

Olympus has an important connection to Monarch, which we explore rather extensively. Monarch is said to be one of Olympus‘s "many moons" – confirming Olympus as a gas giant exoplanet.

Further lore describes Olympus as uninhabitable due to its chaotic atmospheric storms. This paints a volatile, harsh planet but one perhaps with rich resources still to be uncovered.

As the name suggests, Olympus ties back to Greek mythology as the home of the Gods. I loved exploring Monarch‘s distinct biomes and battling mutated creatures. Olympus promises more of that times ten!

Hephaestus

Most references in The Outer Worlds point to Hephaestus being an industrial planet focused on mining.

The Hephaestus Mining Company we frequently hear mentioned is said to have been the first to land and colonize Hephaestus. From this, I gather Hephaestus is resource-rich, enough to support profitable, large-scale mining.

In Greek myths, Hephaestus was the blacksmith God. This perfectly mirrors Hephaestus in The Outer Worlds being a rugged, mineral-dense planet.

Eridanos

Frustratingly, there is scarce information provided on Eridanos. We know Eridanos was the Greek god of rivers. Beyond tying into the water theme, the planet‘s characteristics remain a mystery.

As the only locked planet not directly referenced elsewhere, I speculate Eridanos could offer a lush, river-covered land contrasting the rocky, desert terrains predominant in the game.

But with so little to go off, Eridanos is an enigma I desperately want to see future DLC explore!

Typhon

Finally, Typhon is described as having a “hellish atmosphere” – unlikely to be habitable for humans without extensive protective gear.

Fittingly, Typhon references the monstrous storm giant in Greek mythology and father of creatures like the Hydra. His battling Zeus mirrors the violent storms seemingly enveloping the planet.

With such an extreme climate, Typhon may be purely a visual spectacle rather than somewhere we can actively adventure to. But I hold out hope for maybe visiting a secured science base or fighting unique storm creatures.

Unlocking Planets Feels Rewarding

Although we cannot access all planets, unlocking Monarch, Scylla, and your ship still feels like major achievements.

Each time the map expanded, I felt a rush of excitement speculating what that new planet or location could offer. The prospect of settings still locked away magnifies that further.

My Favorite Planet – Monarch

Monarch truly satisfied my hunger for exploration. Between its sprawling plains, sulfurous caverns, and abandoned settlements, it never gets old traversing Monarch.

I must have spent 7+ hours alone on Monarch trawling every corner. The horrific mutated beasts pose a lethal but rewarding challenge as well.

Monarch houses some exceptional side quests too. Helping a lone botanist study exotic plants or investigating lost settlements makes Monarch feel vibrant and stocked with secrets.

Potential for DLC Planet Expansions

With four locked planets practically taunting players, expansions to unlock these planets seem an inevitability.

Obsidian‘s previous RPGs saw stellar DLC add-ons, like Shivering Isles for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion back in 2007.

The Outer Worlds lays superb foundations, but the world feels ripe for expanding, especially to those off-limit planets.

Hypothetical DLC Expansions

Based on the planets‘ traits, some hypothetical DLC ideas include:

I‘d happily pay $15-20 for DLCs fleshing out those planets with 5+ hour campaigns. The lore and engine are too good to leave these worlds half-unexplored!

Outer Worlds Unlocks vs. Similar Titles

Let‘s examine how unlocking planets compares to some similar iconic RPG franchises:

The Outer Worlds clearly adopts a more restrained approach than franchises like Fallout and Mass Effect in allowing full freedom.

With Fallout and Mass Effect, you travel seamlessly to any region from the start. That builds a vaster game world initially but makes new areas feel perhaps less earned.

Meanwhile, The Outer Worlds’s structured unlocking gives a satisfying sense of progression. There is plenty waiting to be uncovered across Halcyon’s planets.

But the trade-off is less overall explorable scope confined largely to human colonies on terraformed planets and stations.

As a passionate gamer though, I welcome more handcrafted worlds brimming with secrets over near-infinite procedural generation.

Here‘s hoping we get to dig into the mysteries of at least Olympus, Hephaestus, Eridanos, and Typhon in the future!