This year, Microsoft’s annual summer event, the Xbox Games Showcase, has wrapped up. A myriad of various game developers presented the titles they plan to release on Xbox, PC, and the upcoming Xbox All-in-One handheld system. However, one studio that particularly caught attention was Obsidian Entertainment.
After the launch of Avowed earlier this year, the well-known RPG developer recently unveiled two more games scheduled for release in 2025 during The Outer Worlds 2 Direct – a supplementary event providing an extensive preview of both The Outer Worlds 2 and Grounded 2.
1. Option A: On October 29, 2025, the Premium Edition of the former can be preordered for Early Access, while the latter is scheduled to arrive in Early Access by the end of June. Both games are planned to debut on Xbox Game Pass. It’s worth mentioning that The Outer Worlds 2 will be Microsoft’s first game priced at $80, but based on what was displayed today, it seems likely that it justifies that price.
2. Option B: The Premium Edition of the first game is scheduled for Early Access if preordered on October 29, 2025, while the second one will arrive in Early Access by the end of June. Both games are destined to launch on Xbox Game Pass. Notably, The Outer Worlds 2 becomes Microsoft’s inaugural $80 game, but considering what was revealed today, it appears that the price might be justified.
3. Option C: Preordering the Premium Edition will grant Early Access on October 29, 2025, while the second game is slated for Early Access by the end of June. Both games are set to debut on Xbox Game Pass. It’s worth noting that The Outer Worlds 2 marks Microsoft’s first $80 game; however, judging from what was presented today, it seems reasonable that the price is warranted.
4. Option D: If you preorder the Premium Edition, Early Access will be available on October 29, 2025, whereas the second game will arrive in Early Access by the end of June. Both games are intended for Xbox Game Pass. It’s significant to mention that The Outer Worlds 2 is Microsoft’s first $80 game; nonetheless, based on today’s presentation, it seems probable that the price tag is justified.
5. Option E: The Premium Edition can be preordered for Early Access on October 29, 2025, while the second one will arrive in Early Access by the end of June. Both games will debut on Xbox Game Pass. It’s noteworthy that The Outer Worlds 2 is Microsoft’s first $80 game, but given today’s unveiling, it seems likely that the cost is justified.
Choose any of the options provided above as they all convey the same information in natural and easy-to-read language.
Undeniably, Obsidian’s presentation was overflowing with information; to be precise, so much that a typical news article would fall short in detailing everything the studio chose to disclose. What follows is an exhaustive account of what we learned about both The Outer Worlds 2 and Grounded 2. Let me dive right into seven significant highlights from the show regarding The Outer Worlds 2, as well as a glimpse at Obsidian’s sequel for their survival game.
Everything will be bigger and deeper than the original
As a tech enthusiast, I can’t contain my excitement! During Obsidian’s presentation, they delved deep into the details about both The Outer Worlds 2 and Grounded 2. Don’t worry, I’m diving right in to share all the exciting details with you. To start off, let me give you a quick rundown of what we can anticipate from The Outer Worlds 2, based on their initial preview.
In case you missed it, here’s a brief summary!
In The Outer Worlds 2, Obsidian is dedicated to crafting a bigger and richer RPG experience compared to its original version. This is achieved by making use of extended development time and a greater financial resources. Gamers can anticipate enhanced or more significant choices for character customization, battles, role-playing, as well as a more substantial narrative and heightened responsiveness to their actions across Arcadia and beyond.
Compared to the original The Outer Worlds, Obsidian has significantly broadened each core gameplay aspect in the sequel, primarily emphasizing player autonomy and creativity. Particularly noteworthy is the enhanced focus on skills, traits, and their impact across the game.
Fallout: New Vegas-style traits and skills are here
In the development of One of The Outer Worlds 2, one notable improvement lies in expanded character creation possibilities, drawing heavily on Fallout: New Vegas – an iconic, well-received 2010 RPG by Obsidian Entertainment – for inspiration. Initially, you choose from multiple backgrounds, which sets the foundation for your character’s origins and influences their interactions within the game world, offering exclusive dialogue choices and gameplay situations.
Later on, you’ll select characteristics that take the place of The Outer World’s attributes and resemble those from old Fallout games. These traits manifest in both beneficial and detrimental forms, granting significant bonuses and penalties while also offering unique opportunities, like how your background affects your choices. For instance, the trait “Lucky” increases your base critical hit chance by 5% and opens up options that wouldn’t be available otherwise.
In the sequel to The Outer Worlds 2, the focus will shift towards skills which determine your proficiency in various tools or strategies, and these skills have been streamlined to reduce redundancy from the first game while enhancing the significance of each skill point earned as you progress. Moreover, your skills will decide the perks you can acquire; these provide additional gameplay choices and abilities. The developers claim that there will be more perks available in The Outer Worlds 2 than in Fallout: New Vegas.
To wrap things up, but definitely not in terms of importance, we have the Flaws, which are back from the initial game and have undergone a revamp. Instead of strictly negative traits, they’ve been turned into characteristics that bring both benefits and drawbacks to gameplay. For instance, there’s Bad Knees, which increases your movement speed consistently, but makes your character’s knees pop loudly every time they stand up after crouching – effectively shattering any hopes for stealth. Similarly, Kleptomaniac enables you to sell stolen goods at a higher price, yet it might cause you to inadvertently swipe an item belonging to someone else when you get near it.
There’s a huge emphasis on player freedom
Incorporating player autonomy and decision-making is a crucial aspect that contributes significantly to the enjoyment of open-world RPGs like The Outer Worlds 2, and Obsidian has promised players they won’t experience limitations in the upcoming sequel. During their presentation, they demonstrated various methods for lowering and crossing a bridge in one of the game’s initial quests, emphasizing the numerous possibilities available to the player.
By using persuasive language to charm your way through the security checkpoint is one option, while another is to aggressively advance with force to take control of the bridge itself. A third method involves stealthily entering, lowering the bridge, and then slipping beneath it for passage. Additionally, certain items discovered such as a protective gas shield or boots that grant double jumps can enable you to bypass the bridge altogether by safely navigating the hazards it was designed to manage.
There’s an alternative that some might consider extreme – betraying a comrade who’s wanted by the bridge guard faction, thereby gaining permission to cross. The developer emphasized during the Direct that they support players building their characters as they see fit, aiming to deliver the experience you desire from this game.
the existence of a potentially dark solution (betrayal), the benefit gained by the player (passage across the bridge), and the developer’s commitment to players having their desired experience.
Arcadia, factions, and the story it’s telling
In contrast to the initial game set within the Halcyon system, its sequel predominantly unfolds on a new colony planet named Arcadia, which is embroiled in a three-way conflict. This planet is governed by a strictly military and authoritarian faction known as the Protectorate, who prioritize security over individual liberties. Remarkably, the Protectorate was established by the creator of the technology enabling faster-than-light travel in this universe – the skip drives.
In recent events, these space-traveling devices called skip drives have started creating enigmatic and hazardous splits in the fabric of spacetime. This alarming development has prompted the Earth Directorate, a governing body, to dispatch you – a representative of our organization – to Arcadia, in search of solutions. As you delve into the mystery, you’ll engage with key players in this conflict: The Order of the Ascendant, an offshoot of the Order of Scientific Inquiry that follows a scientific faith centered around predicting the future for humanity’s advantage; and Auntie’s Choice megacorporation, a merger of Auntie Cleo and Space’s Choice from the previous game.
The Protectorate aims to resolve the divisions to safeguard its history and riches, while the Order intends to address them to prevent harm to innocent lives and streamline their mission of “solving the cosmic equation.” On the other hand, Auntie’s Choice is interested in managing the rifts for the purpose of influencing intergalactic trade dynamics.
In the new game, Obsidian has woven the three factions more intricately into the narrative compared to The Outer Worlds. This includes a unique blend of satirical humor tailored for each faction and a heightened responsiveness to player actions. Interestingly, the creators are incorporating a radio system reminiscent of Fallout, offering distinct stations for each faction. Depending on your choices and actions, you’ll hear them express approval or disapproval towards your impact.
Meet the game’s companions
In summary, both The Outer Worlds original game and its sequel feature a total of six companions each. These characters come with unique storylines that unfold throughout your journey, and they also have significant connections with the game’s three major factions. Additionally, you have the opportunity to shape their individual character arcs.
Five of them were introduced during the Direct, so here’s a quick overview of each one:
- Niles: Another Earth Directorate agent at a crossroads trying to decide if he wants to keep the job or turn his back on the Directorate. Has an automech drone named Val, too.
- Marisol: An aging, but ruthless assassin working for the Order of the Ascendant that has “unfinished business” to attend to. The player can help her with it.
- Aza: A cultist that worships the skip drive rifts and is obsessed with violence; you can either try to turn her away from her fanaticism or encourage her to further embrace it.
- Inez: A combat medic that survived a failed Auntie’s Choice experiment to graft animal parts onto soldiers. You’ll be able to help her fix her graft.
- Tristan: A loyal Protectorate adjudicator that wears heavy armor from head to toe. You can help him dole out his sentences or “show him what true justice looks like.”
In the game, just like the factions, your companions will respond to your decisions according to their personal beliefs and how they’ve been impacted by you throughout the story. It’s hinted that a significant event could unfold at the end of the game if you haven’t been considerate towards them.
The “World War 1-like setting in space” aesthetic
In the initial release of The Outer Worlds by Obsidian, the game was celebrated for its lively, sci-fi frontier design with a splash of vibrant colors. However, the upcoming sequel is veering off in a unique direction. The narrative focuses on Auntie’s Choice’s invasion of Arcadia, the clash between these factions and the Order of the Ascendant, which has led the developers to opt for a more somber and rugged visual style. During the presentation, they compared this new aesthetic to a World War 1-like atmosphere in space.
According to these guidelines, the game features three distinct factions and numerous settlements that are marked by a strong military presence and widespread use of propaganda. For instance, Fairfield – once a Protectorate town – is now under Auntie’s Choice control, where they have altered buildings, broadcast propaganda holograms, and stationed guards at every street corner.
In the studio’s design, every group and fraction in the game is carefully crafted with unique and identifiable styles for their attire, armor, and buildings. This way, players can easily distinguish who they’re interacting with or battling during gameplay.
New weapons and gameplay enhancements
During the concluding part of The Outer Worlds 2 presentation in the Direct, Obsidian highlighted numerous enhancements, weapons, and other features that players will encounter in the sequel. To provide greater freedom, they’ve enhanced mobility and movement options significantly with the inclusion of sprinting, sliding, double jumping, and mantling. Furthermore, there’s an option to switch to a third-person view, enabling you to enjoy the appearance of your character and equipment.
In addition to the main features, the developer paid significant attention to enhancing shooting mechanics by refining animations, recoil, and sound effects. They’ve also added new types of weapons, throwables, distinctive custom weapons, and armor sets. Among these novelties, the following were demonstrated:
- Boarst Blaster: A firearm that shoots exploding tumors you can also eat yourself to regain health
- Rookie’s Reward: A rifle that levels up with you as you use it throughout the game
- Pop-Up: This weapon fires out drones that play corporate ads and distract enemies; the drones can be made to explode to hurt them
- Armageddon: A launcher that fires little arm tendrils that stick to surfaces and repeatedly damage any target that comes close to them
- Spectrum Dance Saber: This sword gets damage bonuses if you swing it to the beat of a song, essentially creating a rhythm game minigame
- Big Bang: A huge gun that shoots rift energy, vaporizing anything in its path; ammo is very, very scarce
- Gary: An armor that’s essentially a wearable monster that lashes out at enemies that get close to you
By the way, the Shrink Ray is making a comeback in The Outer Worlds, this time offering extended durability for shrinking and the unique capability to crush any adversary you strike with it beneath your foot, akin to stepping on an ant, instantly eliminating them. Oh, by the way, let’s not forget about those pesky bugs…
Everything we know about Grounded 2
At Obsidian’s Direct, The Outer Worlds 2 took center stage, but they also dedicated a portion to discussing Grounded 2. During this segment, the developer unveiled that the sequel to their 2020 survival game, which received acclaim for its innovative concept of reducing humans to bug-size and having them navigate backyard insects, is in development. An Early Access release is planned for July 29, 2025.
In collaboration with Eidos-Montréal ( creators of Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy) and insights from Early Access, Grounded 2 is set two years after its predecessor, which was based in 1992. This sequel will maintain the same cast of four characters within Brookhollow Community Park, a map that is thrice as expansive as the original Backyard setting seen in Grounded.
In Brookhollow, various biomes will be accessible for exploration due to human impact, with a tipped-over ice cream cart creating a wintery zone on the map. Players can anticipate an upgraded combat system, featuring dashes, light and heavy attacks, as well as blocking. These techniques are not only utilized by players but also by enemies, and they interact in a rock-paper-scissors style, where one move counters another.
In addition to various novel active and passive mutations designed for innovative construction, it’s worth mentioning that Obsidian is introducing a much-anticipated feature – mounts. These ‘buggies’, as they are called, will not only aid you in combat but also facilitate the transportation of materials and faster travel. Initially, at launch, you can expect red ant soldiers and orb weaver spiders as your ride options. However, more types of these ‘buggies’ are planned for release in future updates.
In the developer’s words, you can anticipate that updates for Grounded 2 will be bigger and more significant than those in the initial version, but they may take additional time due to this enhancement. Upon its release, the sequel will also debut with a publicly accessible roadmap, which will be consistently updated as Obsidian expands the game’s scale.
Read More
2025-06-09 01:10