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The Outer Worlds 2 is a true example of what creative studios can do when they get proper backing. The original was a great little RPG that wore its budget limitations proudly. It was small in scope but big on humour, companions, and meaningful choices. Its success gave Obsidian the firepower to pitch Microsoft a proper sequel, one that improves on nearly every front.
It's what every sequel should aim for: familiar concepts refined, with special attention to areas where the original fell short. The Outer Worlds 2 showcases everything Obsidian does best. It doubles down on great storytelling, character work, and player choice confidently than ever before. But more importantly, it brings much-needed improvements to gunplay, skills and perks, weapons, and open-world size, that truly make it a hell of an RPG.
Story
Let's start with what Obsidian does best: spinning a proper yarn. The Outer Worlds 2's narrative is so layered and engaging, but it may take a while before you start to develop such strong feelings for it.
It kicks off a bit convoluted, throws too much at you - all these factions, characters, motivations and locations - made my head spin. The game is quite self-aware of that - companions and NPCs will often mention how mysterious and confusing everything is early on.
You play as a nameless Commander sent on what should be a routine espionage mission. Things go south, someone (we don't want to say who because spoilers) betrays you, blows up the entire base, and leaves you for dead (or the betrayer thought so). A decade later, you wake from hibernation thanks to Niles (a surviving squadmate) and Valerie (a loyal robot companion) to hunt down the traitorous bastard across Arcadia.
That's just the setup. The real magic happens when you dive deeper into the world's competing factions and their absurdist satire. Auntie's Choice takes the piss out of modern consumer culture with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, while The Order of the Ascendant runs a quasi-communist regime that's equal parts terrifying and darkly comic. As an agent of the Earth Directorate, you'll play these factions against each other, forge alliances, burn bridges, and generally make a mess of interstellar politics, leaving plenty of explosions and gunfights behind you - at least I know I did.
Beyond the main storyline, The Outer Worlds 2 is packed with smaller quests, each with its own self-contained story. The world is so rich and densely layered that nearly every corner hides an untold story waiting to be uncovered. One particular encounter I remember is when I stumbled across a delirious bloke spouting nonsense, then hours later, I pieced together his tragic backstory through scattered documents. And this is far from an isolated example. The game is filled with these subtle, human moments that breathe life into Arcadia, making the world feel truly alive, believable, and worth exploring.
Then there are the remarkable companions, their stories and quests, which stand out as some of the game’s strongest elements. Like in Avowed, Obsidian's previous RPG, you can bring two companions along on your missions, each with their own distinct personality and rich backstory. This time, however, the game introduces special quests tied directly to their personal growth and upgrades. These missions not only deepen your bond with them but also reveal layers of emotional storytelling that make each companion feel essential. The writing and depth behind these characters is superb, adding a strong emotional core to the adventure.
Naturally, The Outer Worlds 2 also places a strong emphasis on player choice, a hallmark of Obsidian’s design philosophy that feels more refined than ever. The decisions you make throughout the game can truly alter the course of the story, often in dramatic and unexpected ways.
You can choose to be diplomatic, resolving conflicts peacefully, or embrace a darker path and act with ruthless intent; the freedom is entirely yours. This level of storytelling flexibility is impressive, but it also shows why one playthrough simply isn’t enough to fully grasp everything the game has to offer. Play it differently, and you’ll likely experience an entirely new version of the story.
The downside? This narrative depth requires an ungodly amount of reading. Documents, dialogue trees, terminal entries - if you're not prepared for a text-heavy RPG, The Outer Worlds 2's story will be clear as mud. Obsidian's writing is excellent, but there's simply too much of it. The pacing crawls during these sequences, and no amount of quality prose can fix that issue, unless reading is something you enjoy on a daily basis.
Still, even with its verbose tendencies, The Outer Worlds 2's story alone justifies the purchase. I haven't played a lot of the first game, so I can't compare them, but this sequel stands confidently on its own merits.
Gameplay
At its core, The Outer Worlds 2 is an RPG shooter that sticks closely to the formula Obsidian is known for, barely straying off its beaten path. Practically every RPG mechanic you could expect is here. From a robust levelling system, which plays a crucial role in the game, to a variety of weapons with different rarity tiers, diverse armour sets, companion upgrades, and much more. The game offers a familiar RPG experience that fans of the studio will immediately recognise.
But here's where The Outer Worlds 2 genuinely surprised me - the shooting feels incredible. Not "good enough for an RPG" thing, it's incredible - actually incredible, full stop.
The weapon variety spans from classic revolvers and assault rifles to energy weapons, plasma guns, and fire-spewing abominations. Each weapon has palpable weight, realistic sound design, and satisfying feedback that rivals even the popular shooters on the market. For an RPG, this level of gunplay polish is borderline shocking. Turns out that talking to people who know what they're doing is actually a smart thing to do.
Levelling plays a crucial role in The Outer Worlds 2. Right at the start, during character creation, you choose two specialisations and one negative trait. As you gain experience through the classic XP system, each level grants you three skill points to invest in any of the twelve available skills. These include familiar RPG staples like stealth, lockpicking, melee, firearms, hacking, engineering, and more. Importantly, higher skill levels can directly influence dialogue options and outcomes, giving your character real impact on the story. A well-known Obsidian concept, but still truly fantastic.
In addition to skills, levelling also rewards you with perks at regular intervals. The game offers a wide variety of perks, many of which are genuinely useful and add depth to character progression. However, there’s a particularly bold (read: potentially infuriating) mechanic that I found a bit divisive: the game occasionally analyses your playstyle and suggests a perk that comes with a built-in negative trait. Accept or decline - your choice. But once accepted, it's permanent, and that can be significant.
Here's where I spectacularly cocked things up. I accepted a perk that prevents individual skill leveling, instead forcing all skills to progress equally. Sounds fine in theory, until I encountered a locked door requiring lockpicking level eight while my skill sat permanently capped at three because my other skills hadn't caught up.
Is this a flaw? Not really - it’s entirely on me for not reading carefully, but I personally don’t like the idea of a permanent mistake that can’t be corrected. It adds risk, yes, but it can also feel unnecessarily punishing.
Given that The Outer Worlds 2 is an open-world game, exploration is naturally a key feature, and here, it truly shines. The world is packed with interesting locations to discover. While much of the map may look empty at first, points of interest are clearly indicated, so you’re rarely left wandering aimlessly. What you’re looking for is usually marked with an object on the map, making exploration rewarding without ever feeling frustrating.
As you venture through Arcadia, you’ll encounter numerous locations, each with its own story and significance. Most of what you find serves as loot for crafting, which is a vital part of the gameplay loop. In designated spots, you can use benches to craft ammunition, create various items, and even develop special mods that enhance your weapons and armour. With so many activities and systems to engage with, The Outer Worlds 2 offers a wealth of content that ensures you’ll never feel bored.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically speaking, The Outer Worlds 2 is a major improvement over the original, but it's still far from looking like a true next-gen game. That doesn't mean that it's not pretty to look at; it's just that some of its features feel a bit dated.
The standout elements are the character models and their designs, along with the beautifully detailed interiors, both of which are well-designed.
Not a single character feels like a copy of another; even the random NPCs walking around have distinct styles and levels of detail that are really impressive. When you interact with them, their emotions, frustration, joy, and worry are conveyed down to the smallest facial nuances, a feat worthy of high praise.
The interiors are equally impressive, particularly in areas that load separately from the open world. Locations like the Alexandra Monastery left me genuinely awestruck with their gorgeous sci-fi aesthetics blended with 1920s design elements, reminiscent of Bioshock. Expect intricate architectural flourishes, period-appropriate furnishings, and lighting that creates genuine atmosphere.
On the other hand, the open-world environments are, to put it bluntly, rather disappointing, lacking the polish and richness you might expect from a game of this scale. The planets where the action unfolds are barren and visually repetitive. For instance, in one area dominated by red trees, every tree looks exactly the same, offering no visual variety.
You'll exit a beautifully crafted monastery, step into the open world, and wonder if you've somehow launched a different game. The contrast between the detailed interiors and the empty, copy-pasted exteriors is stark and one of the big gripes I had with The Outer Worlds 2.
The sound design was music to my ears. First, the voice acting is outstanding; each character’s design is perfectly matched with a voice that brings them to life. The gunplay, as mentioned above, is enhanced by incredibly satisfying sound feedback, making every shot feel impactful. The soundtrack is phenomenal, too, with each area featuring a unique radio station that plays music reminiscent of the 1920s era that complements the game's retrofuturistic aesthetic perfectly.
Performance
In terms of performance, the build I've played had some performance issues on PC, especially when I cranked up the settings to max with ray-tracing, but a day-one patch smoothed things out considerably. That said, this game is demanding - don't expect miracles on lower-end hardware.
The performance on Xbox Series X was mostly smooth without any noticeable hiccups. I played in 60 FPS Performance mode, and the visuals were crisp despite lower resolution, while the game consistently reached the frame-rate target.
Conclusion
The Outer Worlds 2 is a deeply engaging RPG shooter that excels in storytelling, character development, and immersive world-building. Its narrative depth, branching choices, and amazing companion system make it a game that can fully captivate anyone willing to invest the time. It improves on the original with better gunplay, larger scope, prettier visuals and meaningful player decisions, offering a rewarding experience that stands on its own merits.
It has some flaws like the dull open-world environments, an abundance of text that can hamper the pacing and punishing permanent perk choices but these are minor drawbacks that do little to overshadow the game’s many strengths.
I think this one is worth your money, and it's a no-brainer if you're a Game Pass subscriber.
The Good
Deep and engaging story with branching paths- Richly developed companions with unique quests
- Fantastic gunplay with satisfying weapon feedback
- Strong RPG mechanics, including skills and perks
- Outstanding character models and detailed interiors
- Excellent voice acting and immersive soundtrack
The Bad
Open-world environments can feel a bit repetitive and generally don't look as good as indoor locations- Heavy reliance on long texts and dialogue can slow pacing
- Some skill/perk systems can be punishing or irreversible
