STELLAR

THE OUTER WORLDS 2 outshines its predecessor

- By Ted Litchfield

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 grayed-out—gated by skills, background traits, quest choices, and even an out-of-the-way optional conversation I’d had ten hours previously.

Since I specialized 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