One of the more cheeky and playful World Premiere trailers in The Game Awards is Obsidian Entertainment’s Outer Worlds 2. Outer Worlds 2 is a follow-up to the sci-fi RPG, which comes in a classic Obsidian structure that even allows you to become a full murder hobo. Obsidian’s Outer Worlds 2 is thus a far cry from other RPGs and certainly different from how Bethesda does things, just like how they rubbed it in their trailer.
The trailer for Outer Worlds 2 starts with a list of Obsidian’s accolades, of course, to show their caliber and pedigree as veteran game developers. But when it came time to introduce Fallout: New Vegas, the trailer cheekily presented it as Fallout 3 (part two, New Vegas). The move was even funnier when you consider that Todd Howard, CEO of Bethesda and Director of Fallout 3 was watching the trailer in the front row.
I’m going to go with how that’s neither a coincidence nor an innocent joke, even though there’s a chance the caffeine overdose is just giving me mild hallucinations and assumptions. However, there has been an ongoing fan feud between Bethesda and Obsidian ever since the two studios introduced their own takes on the Fallout franchise.
Fans Considered Fallout: New Vegas as More Faithful to the Franchise
It all comes down to how Fallout: New Vegas is considered a better RPG than Fallout 3 or even the much-newer Fallout 4. The choices you made for several factions mattered in the main story and generally. Additionally, you get more freedom in Fallout: New Vegas in how you want to approach the game. The game’s morality system deals in shades of grey.
Meanwhile, Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 are painted strictly in black and white with more rigid main stories. Sometimes the main quest often clashes with certain playstyles.
Beyond Fallout, there’s also Starfield, which frequently gets compared to the first and original Outer Worlds (2019) because of the similar sci-fi setting and quest structure. However, Starfield was critically panned for its outdated mechanics and shallow and janky gameplay. Even the stealth in Starfield doesn’t work as intended most of the time.
So Outer Worlds 2 displaying the trailer with its more fluid combat sequences– even including working stealth mechanics gives Starfield a run for its money. The alien environments are also more imaginative and thus more fun to explore in stark contrast to how Bethesda presented the alien planets of Starfield.
Granted, Starfield is more intent on sticking to its more grounded and “realistic” NASA-punk theme, but that might have been to its detriment. Video games are still supposed to be fun and engaging, and Outer Worlds 2 seems to know that better, based on the trailer.
Thankfully, it won’t be long before we see what Outer Worlds 2 brings to the table. The sequel will be released in 2025.
