MAKE SURE YOUR GAME IS UPDATED TO THE LATEST VERSION. THIS SAVE WAS CREATED ON PATCH 1.3 AND MOST LIKELY WON'T WORK RETROACTIVELY.

READ THE STICKY IN THE POSTS TAB IF YOU'RE HAVING TROUBLE LOADING THE SAVE USING THE DEFAULT INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS.
DEFINITELY DO SO BEFORE ASKING FOR ADDITIONAL TROUBLESHOOTING HELP.

I mainly created this save for testing out different choices on multiple playthroughs, without having to be constrained by not having enough skill to carry on a dialogue the way I'd want, or not being able to take a specific path because my tech skill is not enough to hack or lockpick my way through. Since the game lacks a New Game + mode (and with certain reason, as it goes against some design pillars set by the devs), this save mainly exists for those who might want to experiment without restraint, or for those who just like playing as an overpowered badass.

You start at the earliest possible convenient point: Just after smashing Hawthorne's skull with your gentle landing, but after Phineas' long-winded blabbering about Alex's stupidity. I named the character John Armstrong, obviously after Neil Armstrong, to keep in line with how Mass Effect also names several characters after famous astronauts. Weirdly enough, "Armstrong" was never used on that series (AFAIK. Probably too obvious a reference, since he's by far the most renowned), so I called dibs here. Yes, I'm simply bursting with originality.

I swear to God, I tried my best on making a good-looking character, but the heads are all so fucking hideous (both male and female) it's not even funny. Hope my result appeases to at least some people. I personally think it came out nicely.


SOME DISCLAIMERS:

I seriously DO NOT recommend using this save in a first playthrough. It was created with the intentions mentioned above, and using it as a new player might severely compromise the developers' intended experience. Gary Stu Mode can wait until you finish the game at least once!

The difficulty is set to Supernova (hardest), but you're able to dial it down on the Settings menu, if you wish (keep in mind that once brought down, it can't be set to Supernova again, unless you reload a previous Supernova save).

Even on Supernova, this character might be seriously OP. Every single attribute, skill and perk has been maxed beyond vanilla limitations*. Please don't message me about how unbalanced it is, that's the whole point.

Perks are maxed out, so don't accept any Flaws. You'll end up with a point you won't be able to spend and a debuff.

Some of my keybinds are set differently, and I believe they carry onto the save, not in some external INI file. If you want the original layout, just reset it to default on the Settings menu after loading into the game.

I reserve myself the right to simply reply with 'RTFM' if you PM me with inquiries that have been already addressed here. I have received countless messages from people asking why they can't load the save in their game and 100% of the time the solution has always boiled down to what's been written (in caps and underlined!) on the very top of this section since the beginning.


INSTALLATION:

Extract the file to the location based on which storefront you bought the game on:

Anywhere other than Windows Store (Steam/Epic/GOG/Other):
%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\The Outer Worlds\

Windows Store (two possible locations):
%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\The Outer Worlds Windows 10\<user-id>\
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\PrivateDivision.TheOuterWorldsWindows10_hv3d7yfbgr2rp\SystemAppData\wgs\<user-id>\

Xbox Game Pass uses the Windows Store directories.

Linux*²:
<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/578650/pfx/

*As in, beyond the maximum allowed when you reach the Level Cap (30). The caps are still the same, you're just capped at everything.
*² I don't know if the file is compatible with Linux-based versions of the game. I'd certainly appreciate any Linux owner willing to test and letting me know.