Alternative History in The Outer Worlds (Topic)

As we already wrote, the world in The Outer Worlds is our alternate history, where the divergence began during the life of Albert Einstein. Now there is a specific reason for the discrepancy and the date - 1901. The main developers Leonid Boyarsky and Tim Kane spoke in detail about the alternative history of The Outer Worlds in their recent podcast.

A fan asked how much the game's timeline differs from ours. Specifically in technology and pop culture.

To this Leonid Bayarsky replied that when creating the concept of the universe, they were inspired by the Robber Barons. This was the name of the big financiers who speculated in securities on the stock exchange after the US Civil War, and also engaged in other dirty financial manipulations. When developing, they try to convey this very spirit. The game does not tell about any specific details and differences in pop culture, but they have surprises for the players that will be revealed in the next games.

Tim Kane, in turn, noticed that recently on Reddit, fans guessed one of these surprises, creating a theory that turned out to be completely true.

The essence of the theory from reddit was that in our reality the 25th US President William McKinley died, and in the universe of The Outer Worlds, he remained alive, which was a key turning point.

A moment of history

Let's take a closer look, going deeper into the history of the United States, how the death of one person suffered consequences for the whole world.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States was just beginning to become a world state and an example of democracy. In the days after the civil war and the abolition of slavery, the first large corporations competed for the monopolization of various spheres, built factories, enterprises and, without disdaining, used child labor. A picture of aggressive capitalism on the face.

In many ways, the reign of the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, led to this situation. He was born in Ohio and at the age of 48 was already the governor of this state. Even before he became president, he pushed a bill to the US Congress on record high import duties on industrial products. Using protectionism [restricting the import of imported goods into the country and replacing them with domestic counterparts], he created an environment where heavy industry companies began to flourish. Although, the farmers disliked him, as the price of land cultivation equipment increased because of this.

When the presidential election campaign began, he entered into ties with large companies of entrepreneurs who sponsored him. So he collected a colossal amount for a PR company and broke into the leader, at the same time selling his soul to the very Robber Barons and large corporations, becoming their puppet.

McKinley was a purebred supporter of imperialism. Who does not know - the seizure of territory in order to create colonies and extract resources from them. During his reign, there was a war with Spain, after which America took possession of new colonies, occupying Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii.

The president has many enemies, who invented the so-called individual terror - the murder of prominent political figures and businessmen for the sake of achieving social welfare.

Inspired by the assassination of the 20th President of America James Garfield, as well as the attempt on the life of Umberto I [the Italian monarch], he decided to assassinate the president.

After the first term, William McKinley went to the second and won the election again. He was known for walking around without security, and also often communicated with the common people.

And the world went downhill

In 1901, the president decided to take a tour of the iconic places of his country. One of these was the Buffalo Technology Show. At the exhibition, a young man approached McKinley to greet and shake hands. In his other hand he held a pistol hidden under a handkerchief. Taking the president by the hand, he shot him twice. The first bullet bounced off the button, but the second hit. They could not get her out and the president died. They wanted to kill Leon on the spot, but nevertheless they tried and sentenced to execution in the electric chair. Despite the vague ties with corporations, the people loved the president, and in the newspapers they wrote about him almost as a martyr.

The murdered president was replaced by Theodore Roosevelt, whose policies were directed against monopolization, corporations and high import taxes.

But this is where the alternate history of The Outer Worlds begins. In it, William McKinley survives and continues to be presidents. Apparently the fact that he survived the assassination attempt raised him in the eyes of the public and it is possible that this period was not his last. Be that as it may, after that his policy led to the fact that companies are increasingly being introduced into the political life of the country, and who knows how many thousands of years later in the world. Now this world has turned into what the alternate history of The Outer Worlds presents to us.

The Topic of Article: Alternative History in The Outer Worlds.
Author: Jake Pinkman