Developer Nine Dots Studio has revealed more details about its upcoming co-op adventure game Outward 2. During the recent New Game+ Showcase, studio CEO, founder and the creative director on the title Guillaume Boucher-Vidal spoke about the focus on immersion, and the idea of how players might prefer that over being powerful.
The core game design decision behind this is the fact that players’ characters in Outward 2 will be regular humans, rather than being important parts of some major prophecies about the fate of the world. “That was the big change in our approach,” said Boucher-Vidal. “We made all of our design decisions to be in alignment with this vision. You are just a regular person, and you just want to think like a human would, but in a fantasy world.”
“It’s when you’re aloof, when you’re just like ‘pfft, that’s not so dangerous, I’ve done it before,’ and that’s when life just claps back at you, right? In real life, it’s like that. It should be like that in the design as well.”
Things start out with the in-depth character creation offered in Outward 2, which is a major step up from 2019’s Outward. Boucher-Vidal acknowledged the fact that the first game in the series had “very ugly protagonists,” and that it didn’t offer many options aside from a handful of faces and haircuts. Outward 2, on the other hand, will offer players more options, including things like character backgrounds and traits.
When starting out, players will also have the choice of three different starting locations, each of which will have its own unique quest that sets up the motivation to go on an adventure. One city, for example, frames the player’s decision to set off on an adventure as being the result of desperation from being homeless, while another city will have players having just bought a house, and getting embroiled in strange situations from that. The third city will have the player looking to improve their lot in life after having spent time sweating away in mines.
Tying further into the sense of immersion Nine Dots Studio wants to provide for players, Outward 2 will have a complete year-long calendar system that will also serve as the foundation for a dynamic weather system. Much like in the real world, the seasons in Outward 2 will change depending on the month. Seasons will also affect the world around players rather than simply being visual effects.
Improvements made the combat include allowing players to equip more varying kinds of equipment, including the option to dual wield just about any weapons or shields they might find.
Outward 2 is coming to PC in Summer 2026. The studio has also confirmed that there will be playtests, which can be registered for through Steam.
