STELLAR THE OUTER WORLDS 2 outshines its predecessor

The Outer Worlds 2 was a slow burn at first, and it was the midgame, act two climax that won me over. It includes a pair of classic Obsidian conversation boss fights, and I had a big, dumb smile on my face as I contemplated dialogue options – some available to me, some greyed-out – gated by skills, background traits, quest choices and even an out-of-the-way optional conversation I’d had ten hours previously.

- By Ted Litchfield

Since I specialised in speech and had gone for nonviolent resolutions whenever possible, I was able to pull off a satisfying ‘everybody lives!’ conclusion to these missions. Comparing notes with PCG guides writer Sean Martin, who adopted a more trigger-happy playstyle, he was locked into a less happy path where somebody had to die, with the choice potentially locking him out of at least one ending and turning a companion hostile. This nexus of consequences and options stemming from my prior choices and the type of character I made is pure RPG to me, and exactly what I look for in an Obsidian game.

I liked but didn’t love the first Outer Worlds – it felt like a compromise role playing game for genre newcomers, one which was fun enough and went down smooth, but didn’t leave a huge impression. The Outer Worlds 2 is a more ambitious, complex, and surprising game, while still being easy to grasp as far as big RPGs go.

It doesn’t have the standard-setting sense of scale, simulation, or reactivity that’s wowed me in recent RPGs like Baldur’s Gate III, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, or Disco Elysium, but The Outer Worlds 2 is a great action-RPG whose skill system, writing, quests and level design seriously impressed me as a longtime role playing game head who likes his games crusty, impenetrable and unfair. So this is great for me.

FAR FLUNG

The Outer Worlds 2 takes place in a new space colony, Arcadia, completely separate from the first game’s Halcyon. The oppressive, collectivist, and highly advanced Protectorate of Arcadia has been invaded by the consolidated megacorp, Auntie’s Choice, formed from a merger of two of the first game’s cheekily evil companies.

One thing I’d never accuse