The Outer Worlds 2 is more of a great thing, with Obsidian doubling down on an RPG setup that worked wonders — now with better combat

In 2019, Obsidian Entertainment, a well-known RPG developer, released The Outer Worlds shortly after being acquired by Microsoft. Published by Private Division due to prior agreements, the game was a success, blending elements of shows like Firefly and Cowboy Bebop with the Fallout series. It was a lighthearted, space western adventure that cleverly poked fun at large corporations while still offering genuinely touching moments.

Now, in 2025, a sequel is arriving in a busy year for Obsidian. It follows the release of Avowed, a fantasy RPG for Xbox Game Studios, and an updated version of their popular survival game, Grounded.

After playing for 40 hours, I can confidently say The Outer Worlds 2 delivers what fans loved about the original, with some important improvements that make it even better. Despite a few minor bugs, it’s a game well worth playing.

What is The Outer Worlds 2?

The Outer Worlds 2 is a role-playing game designed for a single player experience. It’s created by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios.

The game starts with you playing as an agent of the Earth Directorate, tasked with upholding law and order in distant colonies threatened by dictators and powerful corporations. You’re sent to Arcadia Colony, but a mission there quickly goes awry.

As a role-playing game, you’ll face difficult decisions that shape your relationships with your team and the various groups in the colony. You can forge alliances or create enemies, and when conflict arises, you’ll have a huge arsenal at your disposal, including flame shotguns, lightning guns, rocket launchers, and more.

You’ll also develop your agent’s skills – like Engineering or Leadership – to unlock special abilities and perks, allowing you to customize your playstyle.

Similar to the first game, The Outer Worlds 2 lets you play from a first-person perspective. However, a new third-person view has been added, offering a gameplay experience similar to Avowed or Starfield.

The game will be released on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (through Battle.net, Steam, and Xbox on PC), and PlayStation 5. It will also be immediately available to play for subscribers of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, as with all first-party Xbox titles.

The Outer Worlds 2: Story and characters

The Outer Worlds 2 centers around a conflict between several groups. Auntie’s Choice, formed from the combination of Spacer’s Choice and Auntie Cleo’s, is at war with the Arcadia colony, which is governed by the strict and powerful Protectorate. A third player is The Order of the Ascendant, a group dedicated to using science and mathematics to understand and control everything around them.

Adding to the tension, a mysterious threat looms over Arcadia, endangering the entire system regardless of who wins the war.

While the game still features its signature satirical take on capitalism, the main story leans towards a more serious and darker tone. However, the influence of unrestrained capitalism remains a key part of the world, impacting the lives of both ordinary people and soldiers.

The game truly shines when you delve into optional storylines and build relationships with your crew. You’ll get to influence the beliefs and development of characters like Niles, an engineer and fellow agent, especially as you complete missions together. However, they’ll react realistically and even oppose you if you make the wrong choices. This system could have been frustrating, but instead it made me genuinely care about each character’s journey and want to help them grow. Even seemingly dangerous characters, like Aza, have surprising layers to discover.

The Outer Worlds 2: Gameplay and features

The original Outer Worlds was a fantastic game with memorable characters and conversations, but its combat became repetitive quickly. Obsidian Entertainment has significantly improved this in The Outer Worlds 2.

The guns now *feel* great – aiming and reloading are much smoother, and hitting enemies feels satisfying. After playing for over 40 hours, using all the different weapons remained enjoyable.

Another improvement is the Flaw system. This allows you to accept drawbacks in exchange for benefits, creating interesting choices.

For example, I was offered a Flaw that would have given me extra skill points each level, but only if I spread them evenly across all skills. While I didn’t choose it, the decision itself was compelling, as it directly impacted how I played the game and felt like a truly meaningful choice.

I really like how much your choices matter in the game’s skill system. If you don’t develop a skill, you’ll struggle with challenges that require it – there aren’t any easy outs! For example, near the end of the game, my character’s high Speech skill let me talk enemies down and find peaceful solutions, but because I hadn’t invested in Science, I couldn’t solve many of the puzzles I came across. This consistent design is really effective, and it makes me excited to play The Outer Worlds 2 again, trying out completely different character builds.

The Outer Worlds 2: Visuals and audio

The Outer Worlds 2 is shaping up to be a visually appealing game. While it doesn’t push graphics to the absolute limit, its art style is strong, creating beautiful and unique alien environments, like forests of crystals and glowing ponds.

On the Xbox Series X, the game offers options to prioritize visual quality or performance. I chose Performance mode, which aimed for a smooth 60 frames per second, even if it meant a slightly lower resolution. For the most part, the game maintained that framerate, though there were occasional dips during intense combat with lots of explosions.

One of the improvements is that the planets in this game are bigger and offer more to discover, which means you’ll see fewer loading screens. You’ll still encounter them if you fast travel a lot, but exploring feels much smoother than in the original game.

The sound design is generally strong, although the music felt a little quiet at times. While there are some good songs, they don’t appear very often.

The Outer Worlds 2: Accessibility and approachability

The Outer Worlds 2 offers a wide range of accessibility features. Players can personalize the game’s interface by minimizing it, making it fade away, or increasing text size. Subtitle colors and backgrounds can also be adjusted for better readability.

Don’t hesitate to jump into The Outer Worlds 2 even if you haven’t played the first game! It takes place in a brand new location with all new characters, so you won’t be lost. You might not get a few references to the companies from the first game, but that’s a minor thing.

My final thoughts

✅You should buy this if …

• You’ve enjoyed other Obsidian games like Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds and Avowed.
• You enjoy role-playing games that focus on player choices and skills.
• You’re a fan of first-person and third-person shooting combat systems.

❌You should not buy this if …

• You’re not a fan of role-playing games with extensive dialogue and reading.
• You don’t like science-fiction that heavily focus on human factions and space western settings.

The Outer Worlds 2 delivers on what fans of the original loved – it’s a more expansive experience that builds on the successful formula while addressing previous criticisms. It’s likely players will be debating how it compares to Avowed in the coming months, and both games offer unique strengths. I enjoyed playing them both this year.

If you enjoyed the first Outer Worlds, you’ll definitely want to play this one. Even if you didn’t like the combat before, it’s been significantly improved without losing what made the game special.

With two story expansions planned, I’m excited to explore even more strange worlds facing the dangers of unchecked capitalism.

*The Outer Worlds 2 is available on October 29 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5.*

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2025-10-23 16:11