I do like The Outer Worlds and I was hoping to have this discussion with some of the people who have also played it, but I can't shake the feeling that maybe a lot of the high praise it is receiving is more of a reaction to the state of RPG videogames since the lightening of their content that probably started with Skyrim in 2011.
I make this controversial statement now, but I believe that now the hype and glamor of the game's release is over, if it were to have released during the golden age of RPGs or in close proximity to another highly regarded RPG (I think the Witcher 3 is the most recent) it would not be seen as good as some people are saying it is. The game is ultimately FINE, and for some people that's good enough, which is also FINE. I also think a lot of the Praise stems from the shit canning the Fallout series has been getting recently thanks to a certain Game studio who has lost their way. That can be seen in the game's marketing when they say the whole "From the Creators of Fallout", which when you look at who from the OG Fallout team are working on it, I don't get too excited because my favorite Fallout devs and writers didn't work on the game (Chris Avellone comes to mind, others like Josh Sawyer and Brian Fargo as well). I say these names because I imagine Game development should kind of be like movies, with you seeing the people actually making the product to get a good idea of how it's going to be, especially in terms of game writing and direction. I don't mean to shit on Leonard Boyarsky or Tim Cain, I just know the others better and their previous work that if I saw their names attached to the project, I would be more interested.
I wanted to go into spoilers and stuff about the game that kind of jive with what I'm saying, but I don't want to ruin the experience for anyone and I think it's still worth playing, I just want to insert a counterpoint to the immense praise it is getting for a game that really is ultimately a FINE game.
I can do a short list of vague good and not good things I found though:
Good: Characters (Parvati, Welles, the other Companions, and so on), Gun mechanics (Basic but works), Quests (Except bits of the main quest), the game's setting and world building to an extent (would go deep into spoilers, but it winds up being fairly basic), Leveling system is unique and understandable, Slo-Mo is neat, and the Flaws.
Not-Good: The main quest (really, this game, like a lot of RPGs, shines on it side quests), the game's setting when you see how black and white it really is, the factions, like the rest of the game, are usually black and white as well, and WHY CAN'T I TAKE OFF THE HATS OF MY COMPANIONS WHAT THE SHIT. I'm missing stuff obviously, but that's all I got RN. Might add more if I think of any.
Anyway, this game is fine, you should play it, have fun, but remember if it can get a sequel to make everything better, then we will really be cooking with propane.
