The Outer Worlds 2 Review - More Than a Sequel

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Let me start by saying that, despite my love for many games Obsidian Entertainment has created, The Outer Worlds was one of the few that made me feel conflicted. The story, high-quality dialogues, and RPG elements were there, but the gameplay didn’t hook me until Murder on Eridanos launched. Still, I was extremely excited to see we’d get a sequel to this game. After playing The Outer Worlds 2, I can confidently say that it is not just a follow-up game with much better gameplay, deeper role-playing systems, and meaningful dialogue choices. It is the quintessential sci-fi RPG of the year.

An Agent’s Work Never Ends

It is always a bit scary to jump into a sequel because the whole “Am I going to understand it if I didn’t play the first game?” fear strikes us. But don’t worry because The Outer Worlds 2 eases you into this fleshed-out galaxy with a brand-new story, yet some callbacks to those who played the first entry.

For this adventure, you’ll don the spacefaring suit of an Earth Directorate agent tasked with a dangerous mission at a space station. After a few things go awry, you’re thrown into Arcadia with the sole purpose of stopping a calamity that could spell doom to the whole galaxy.

You’ll be hopping from one planet to another, recruiting all sorts of companions that go from the goodie-two-shoes to the “I can fix her” character, in one of the most memorable, shocking, and hilarious plots I’ve experienced in recent memory, which shows the high-quality of storytelling and world-building skills Obsidian Entertainment has.

Since this is a sequel, I couldn’t help but compare the plot to that of the first entry, and this one definitely surpasses that of its predecessor. Don’t get me wrong, the story-driven aspects of The Outer Worlds were great, but sometimes I felt as if the side stories and the DLCs shone more than the main quest. Here, everything shares the same level of quality with a lot of intrigue, player-driven moments, and superb side quests that immerse you in one of the most unique galaxies we’ve seen in an RPG.

Overall, if you liked what Obsidian crafted for The Outer Worlds in terms of storytelling, you’ll end up falling in love here. The Outer Worlds 2 elevates every aspect of its story with better characters, excellent world-building, and a lot of player agency that lets you shape the galaxy and your whole adventure depending on what you pick, which leads me to my next point.

When Choices Matter

One of my biggest gripes with modern games that throw in the RPG tag into their descriptions just because they have dialogue options is the fact that none of them offer impactful choices. You get a bunch of choices to reply to one NPC, and in the end, all of them are the same. It makes me mad because it feels like a cheap attempt to make a game into something it’s not. Fortunately, that’s not the case with The Outer Worlds 2 because every single choice you make, whether it is dialogue picks or skill allocation, will vastly change how your whole adventure unfolds.

I will give you two examples without spoiling the story. The first happens during the tutorial. You exit your ship to begin your mission, and this area, which should be a breeze because it is a way to teach you the ropes of the game, already offers you about a dozen choices when it comes to how to reach the end.

For this part, I opted for my trusty stealth build. While I was able to pass unnoticed with a bit of backstabbing here and there, I realized that there was the option to go guns-blazing or another path that let me hack mechs to fight for me, and then another path that let me be more diplomatic and not fight some enemies.

This gameplay design continues with every main and side mission you encounter, with the former having even more branching paths, which leads me to my second example. In one key part of the game’s first act, I had to make a choice that would impact something for the rest of my playthrough. The game provided me with at least five solutions to the issue. One of them required me to have a trait called “Lucky.” I didn’t have it, so I picked one that I’m sure wasn’t the best, but that’s the fun of an RPG: living with the consequences of your actions because you’re role-playing as this Earth Directorate agent who can affect the galaxy in several ways.

Furthermore, these choices aren’t exclusive to just dialogue options, as your skills will also play a critical role when going through several quests. While some options just change the outcome a little bit, such as those that make your character look a bit aggressive, dismissive, or all lawful good, there are several that require a specific skill check and will also affect how a mission develops.

For instance, in the first area, I could’ve been able to solve many issues if I had leveled up my Leadership skills more, as many members of a specific faction seemed to like a person with strong leadership skills, or that’s what my head canon tells me. In some strange cases, the “Dumb” negative trait would’ve saved my spacefaring butt, and I actually regretted not picking that option. But guess what? I chose a trait called “Sickly,” and even that trait let me find a new option during a quest, such as skipping a line when entering a settlement because I told everyone that I was feeling sick.

This is just me scratching the surface, however, because the depth when it comes to choices is incredible, and you’ll be surprised to see that even the shortest mission will offer you a couple of options to solve it. Naturally, this adds to the replayability aspect of The Outer Worlds 2, which is, so far, one of the most replayable titles Obsidian Entertainment has created.

Earth Directorate’s Finest

Story and dialogue choices aside, this freedom also translates to its gameplay, protagonist, and companions.

We all remember The Outer Worlds fondly, but I always thought some aspects of the first entry didn’t shine as much, especially its hands-on gameplay. For the sequel, the gunplay has vastly improved, feeling way more responsive and highly varied.

There are a lot of weapons to pick from, from the normal ones that deal raw damage to ones that go for plasma, corrosion, or shock damage. The sequel also offers ample mod options for your weapons and armor, turning a marksman rifle’s bullets into explosive ones, or adding silencers to sniper rifles and pistols to help you be that space assassin you always wanted to be.

Perks and skills play a huge role when it comes to crafting your build. Each time you level up, you’ll get two skill points to spend in any of the skills, ranging from Stealth to Melee and to Science or Lockpicking. The higher your skill, the more perks you will unlock belonging to that particular skill, and some new perks will also become available once you equip a few.

I didn’t find a way to respec any of my skills and perks, but for once, I liked it, as it made me more immersed and attached to my characters and the decisions I was making for them. I did realize my build wasn’t the greatest, as some skill checks went from 2 to 8 in the blink of an eye, but the game always offers you different choices to open that pesky safe or access that one hidden room, so even the worst build will help you during your playthrough.

Speaking of permanent choices, flaws are back, and they are more interesting than ever. If you are unaware of what these things are, flaws will appear periodically in the game and will give you a positive boost to something, but with a permanent effect. One example is the squeaky knees flaw, which shows up if you’ve been sneaking around for a long time. You’ll be better at stealth with this flaw, with the downside of enemies hearing your squeaky knees if you get close to them.

In my infinite wisdom, I decided to pick a flaw called “Flawed.” This flaw provided me with extra perk points every five levels, and also worked retroactively, but the downside was that me having to accept every flaw moving forward. And you know what? I have zero regrets. I ended up being a kleptomaniac, which made me most wanted in more than one settlement. An overprepared shooter who had to constantly reload magazines or suffer a damage debuff, and a bad leader who was not able to revive companions anymore during combat, but if there was one left standing, they’d get a damage boost and full HP.

Flaws are just another example of how customizable, unpredictable, and unique your playthrough can become. And of course, that also applies to combat as well. In my case, I went full stealth with silenced weapons and a few companions that gave me damage boosts. Without realizing it, I was clearing scrapper camps as if it were the easiest thing to do. However, fights against alien enemies and bosses were challenging because my build wasn’t tailored for them.

Nevertheless, it isn’t a complaint. It is one way of showing you how much player agency the game provides, allowing you to experience this sequel in whatever way you want. Also, as a side note, I recommend playing the game in the hardest difficulty because it encourages you to plan your build correctly and use every mod, weapon type, status effect, and gadget to your benefit.

Another thing that makes combat feel so much more involved is the use of gadgets, which are abilities that are on a timer that provide you with different effects in and outside of combat. You’ll start with the time dilatation gadget, which slows everything down, allowing you to land headshots easily or take out an enemy quickly before they react. However, there are a few that let you dissolve bodies so enemies can’t find them, and even one that allows you to see invisible enemies but also solve hidden puzzles in certain areas.

Apart from these features, you’ll also have your trustworthy and sometimes hectic companions. Each one has its own personality, and they will even challenge your decisions to the point that one could make them leave your party for good. I also appreciated how your allies are so reactive among themselves, with a couple of them making remarks at the new crew member. This is the first time in an RPG where I actually rotate between all of them because they are so fleshed out and become even more memorable as you progress through their questlines.

In combat, each companion has an ability that fills up passively during a fight. VAL can heal you, Niles is your tank, Inez changes from tank to healer depending on a choice you make, and so on. On top of that, there are mods you can unlock for them that affect their skills, such as Niles swapping between two different types of damage. Even if I had a couple of favorite crew members, all of them felt great to bring along for the ride, as each one brought different gameplay options and a lot of personality that spiced my playthrough up.

The Beauty and Dangers of Arcadia

The art style of The Outer Worlds was already immaculate, and it returns here with that same iconic and colorful palette, and with several additions that solve one of the most significant issues the predecessor had.

Despite the many gameplay options of the first game, I always thought the enemy variety was lacking, and it never provided a challenge to make some builds shine. The Outer Worlds 2 adds a lot more enemies and even throws in some new gimmicks to make many enemies harder to beat, such as heavily armored foes, aliens that spit fire at you, mechs that tank almost all types of damage, and so on.

In terms of visuals, Arcadia looks much better, with terrific level design. From massive interior levels with hidden paths to vast open areas that take you to a den of alien monsters ready to rip you apart, everything looks beautiful and feels great to explore. However, there’s one minor technical issue.

I was able to play The Outer Worlds 2 thanks to the Play Anywhere feature. I tried it on my Xbox Series S, and while it ran great, I wanted to try my new 5070 and see how it ran on PC. As expected, it performed much better on the latter, experiencing no crashes, major bugs, or strange glitches. However, without frame gen, the frame rate would oscillate between 40 and 70, and then 60, and then 30 in some areas, even with the latest drivers. With frame gen, however, I was able to cap it at 100 FPS, which is my monitor’s refresh rate, and never had a single frame drop. This doesn’t make the game unplayable, but it is something you should keep in mind if you don’t have the latest frame-gen tech.

A Stellar Sci-Fi RPG

The Outer Worlds 2 is, hands down, the best RPG under Obsidian Entertainment’s belt. While this studio has created some of the most memorable role-playing experiences out there, this sequel eclipses them in every possible way. From its characters to its narratives, to its deep RPG mechanics that make every single playthrough feel unique, everything feels like the studio putting its years of experience to create another quintessential RPG.

If you played the first entry and loved it, this sequel will blow you away with all its changes, QoL features, smoother gameplay, and improved mechanics. But suppose this is your first time jumping into this universe. In that case, you’ll have a blast, especially with it offering an easy-to-grasp narrative full of impactful choices, shocking moments, memorable characters, and some of the deepest and most meaningful role-playing mechanics in recent memory.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

The Outer Worlds 2 (Xbox/PC Reviewed)

9.5 Superb!

The Outer Worlds 2 is a superb sci-fi RPG full of meaningful choices, perks, and skills that will drastically change how you experience the world. Fallout New Vegas has finally been eclipsed.