Greater ain’t all the time higher. It is a cliché, nevertheless it’s additionally one of the best ways to sum up my ideas after spending 50 hours with The Outer Worlds 2. Developer Obsidian added extra of all the things to the sequel to its 2019 sci-fi RPG — extra humor, enemies, weapons, traits, and places, all the things that issues in video games like this. And it really works remarkably properly — for a short while. However the weight of all these bold concepts makes the sport wobble because the hours put on on.
The Outer Worlds 2 makes a robust first impression. You belong to the Earth Directorate, a do-gooder group devoted to restraining corrupt governments and companies. After some capital-D Drama, you find yourself within the Arcadia system, a colony splintered by struggle between Auntie’s Selection (the results of a merger between the primary recreation’s two huge companies), the Protectorate (collectivism taken to its worst logical conclusion), and the Order of the Ascendant (just like the Catholic church, however with math as a substitute of Jesus). There are additionally a bunch of rifts tearing holes in area and time, however proper now, you really want to achieve a relay station for pressing communications functions. The issue is that it is in the course of a warzone, and it’s essential determine how one can get there.
Like its predecessor, Outer Worlds 2 is a first-person RPG with an overarching story and dozens of aspect quests unfold out throughout totally different planets or zones (huge areas with so much to uncover, however not open-world). The primary zone and the method of reaching that comms station are spectacular. You have acquired some goofy encounters, in fact, like one which entails a farmer who has fed an excessive amount of sugary cereal to their favourite crab. Most lead you to one thing helpful, although — an sudden new path or some new little bit of intel which may open a unique path ahead.
In a single memorable sequence, you’ll be able to encounter a Protectorate deserter close to the bridge who’s about to be executed. No quest is tied to it, and the one option to discover it’s by exploring and listening to the ambient dialogue. If you happen to’re quick and cautious sufficient to not let him get killed, it can save you him(after which save his deserter lover from getting killed by monsters of their hideout later), however extra pertinent to the duty at hand is an influence line hidden within the grass close by. If you happen to observe it, you may discover a hidden entrance to the relay station. There’s one other entrance to the station’s sewers tucked away in a cave that you could be or might not discover relying on once you pursue a selected companion quest. Yow will discover an simply missable character who’s key to saving somebody’s life 20 hours later. (And there is a stuffed animal who not directly convinces a squad of troopers to combat with you, in case you’re good sufficient to put it aside from a minefield.) This opening chapter is dense and thrilling, and it feels prefer it’s brimming with wealthy storytelling potential that rewards you in your curiosity.
Outer Worlds 2 by no means lives as much as these preliminary expectations once more. The second principal space is structured much like a map within the first Outer Worlds or Avowed — a big area dotted with factors of curiosity and aspect quests. They’re all thematically related to the battle between Auntie’s Selection and the Order of the Ascendant, however they’re additionally vignettes remoted from the principle story narratively and geographically. Do not count on any environmental clues main you to new selections like within the first zone.
Regardless of forcing you to make some robust choices, what you do on this zone’s aspect quests would not matter. Like, it actually would not matter, to the purpose the place whether or not you allow struggle crimes or lead a gaggle of refugees to their demise leads to nothing however a throwaway line or two of dialogue. A recreation would not must let each quest affect the story in some huge, dramatic vogue, however in case you’re making me select a aspect and pretending like my resolution issues, I do not suppose it is unreasonable to count on one thing extra when it is over. When the sport’s already proven that it may be higher, something much less looks like a compromise. You get extra of all the things like Obsidian promised, however at the price of depth.
The sport’s second act tries one thing much like the principle setup from the primary planet, however with noticeably much less panache. The idea is a daring one: an interconnected mission that spans two planets and encourages you to hunt help from totally different factions in order for you a smoother path towards your goal. Apart from the repeat setup being a bit of tiresome, it is also simply lacking the strain that this type of state of affairs ought to have. It is a “pact with the satan” second. There must be robust compromise. Your relationship with both faction ought to matter past making them such as you extra by doing new duties for them. All of that is absent, as a result of you’ll be able to simply blitz via by yourself and clear the target anyway. The sport even goes out of its option to hand you technique of doing this, mentioning alternate routes as non-obligatory goals and having allies inform you the place to go.
It is a aspect impact of a broader concern in Outer Worlds 2: the worry of letting you be sad together with your selections. It continuously goes too far out of its approach to ensure not solely that there is an alternate route generally, however that you recognize it exists. Locked rooms nearly all the time have a number of entry strategies signposted, or nothing worthwhile inside if they do not. If you cannot hack or engineer your approach via a puzzle, it is okay. There’s doubtless a keycard you should use to bypass the problem or some important data on a close-by terminal that will get you what you need. Heck, even one mid-game dilemma that penalizes you for selecting the moral choice instantly offers you the instruments to eliminate that penalty, no matter your expertise and traits. Having choices is all properly and good, however there must be some sense of consequence that makes my selections really feel worthwhile. In any other case, why even let me have them?
Mockingly ,for a choice-driven narrative recreation, fight is the place you find yourself having essentially the most freedom. Outer Worlds 2 has extra weapons in comparison with the primary recreation and, regardless of nonetheless having restricted enemy varieties, offers you extra motive to experiment with totally different preventing kinds. Battles continuously characteristic a mixture of monsters, people, and robots, so that you want a plan earlier than diving in recklessly. I turned a strolling arsenal of silenced sniper rifles, pistols firing exploding rounds, frost weapons, poison revolvers, and a rocket launcher I did not even keep in mind selecting up. Quite a lot of the weapons are simply freaking cool, too, together with my favourite – a two-handed hammer you could load shotgun shells into, which is simply as chaotic and enjoyable to make use of because it sounds. Violence could be the first focus, however stealth can be viable and wonderfully rewarding, although you do must make it the main focus of your construct in a approach that melee and gun choices do not require.
Earlier than scripting this overview, I went again to an earlier save file and pursued one of many non-obligatory alliances within the second act to see how distinct the expertise was, and the method of reaching your purpose is far totally different. It makes you work together with individuals and locations in a different way, makes use of traits and expertise in deeper methods, and it is the place you may discover a number of the juicier bits of storytelling. Which makes it all of the more unusual that these non-obligatory paths are offered as if to say, “Hey, there’s extra recreation right here. Please test it out throughout one other playthrough.”
And I’ll do subsequent playthroughs. For all my complaints about inconsistency, Outer Worlds 2 is very good when it is good. The primary story is constantly glorious, even when it is a bit acquainted. The evils of corporatism are nonetheless very a lot a spotlight, however Outer Worlds 2 adopts a perspective that is concurrently broader and extra intimate. Sure, capitalism is unhealthy, and there is a lotta (well-written) jokes about it once more, however this time, Obsidian is extra involved with the way it impacts the best way a person sees themselves and their function on the planet. That is true for the opposite, non-corporate factions as properly, and Outer Worlds 2 steadily builds an image of how human greed and selfishness delivery all of the evils of society, it doesn’t matter what that society is or how its individuals suppose.
It is dealt with remarkably properly at each level, and Obsidian sidesteps loads of the problems that plagued the primary recreation and different narrative-driven RPGs. The purpose is making you consider parallels between the overexaggerated state of affairs within the recreation and in actual life, and for the reason that focus is broader than simply “firm unhealthy” this time, the humor stays witty and incisive, in contrast to the primary recreation the place it wore skinny by the tip. The massive plot twists are a bit predictable, particularly if in case you have any information of political historical past, however the common thrust of the story means betrayals and revelations are much less necessary than what they imply in your companions. In one of the best moments, a climactic occasion within the story even coincides with an enormous shift in a companion’s private narrative — a noteworthy achievement in a style the place you normally get a robust story or robust character writing, however not each.
Among the finest issues Outer Worlds 2 does entails ditching the acquainted setup the place you may have a handful of “milestone second” conversations with a companion, these pivotal chats the place your selections decide how issues develop for the remainder of the sport. As a substitute, its relationships construct over time based mostly on a sample of interactions, with room for enormous screw-ups and moments of redemption as you get to know one another. You continue to have huge moments, in fact, like whether or not to blatantly disrespect a pal’s beliefs or go away them for useless. However the extra mundane interactions — commenting on one’s nature drawings or unintentionally calling one other a silly bastard once you thought he wasn’t listening — are simply as necessary over time. It makes these relationships really feel extra fluid and pure, and it is immensely satisfying when you find yourself in a dramatic state of affairs the place the build-up of your actions is the rationale you’ll be able to attain a constructive (or horrible) final result.
And but Outer Worlds 2‘s reactivity is simply as spotty with companions as it’s with aspect quests. The stress of balancing competing convictions, which the sport makes an enormous level of speaking about as you begin onboarding extra allies, is generally window dressing. Except you routinely homicide members of a faction that considered one of your companions belongs to, they do not a lot care what you do or who you do it with. At one level, I used to be even strolling round with the cranium of 1 faction’s founder in my pocket, and the companion from that faction — who noticed me loot her tomb and steal her son’s garments from a museum exhibit — was completely high quality with it. There is not any rigidity amongst companions, both. They’d kill one another on sight beneath regular circumstances, however as soon as they be a part of up, they simply sometimes make passive-aggressive feedback concerning the different particular person’s background.
The Outer Worlds 2 is outlined by its whiplash, alternating between deeply rewarding storytelling and outcomes that really feel rushed and stilted. I largely loved the time I spent (largely) making Arcadia a greater place; it’s simply disappointing to see such robust potential within the opening hours that does not present up once more. There is a center floor between the primary recreation’s brevity and the sequel’s overly bold nature, and I hope Obsidian will get the possibility to search out it in a 3rd recreation.
The Outer Worlds 2 is offered for PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X, and Home windows PC on Oct. 24 for individuals who buy the premium version and Oct. 29 for everybody else. This recreation was reviewed on Home windows PC utilizing a prerelease obtain code supplied by the Microsoft. Yow will discover further details about gamexplore’s ethics coverage right here.
