🔗 Share this article

Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. It's an old adage, but it's also the truest way to describe my thoughts after devoting five dozen hours with The Outer Worlds 2. Developer Obsidian included additional everything to the follow-up to its 2019's futuristic adventure — additional wit, foes, firearms, traits, and settings, every important component in games like this. And it works remarkably well — initially. But the burden of all those daring plans makes the game wobble as the game progresses.

A Powerful Opening Act

The Outer Worlds 2 establishes a solid first impression. You are part of the Terran Directorate, a altruistic organization focused on controlling corrupt governments and corporations. After some major drama, you end up in the Arcadia system, a settlement splintered by hostilities between Auntie's Option (the result of a merger between the original game's two big corporations), the Protectorate (communalism extended to its most dire end), and the Ascendant Order (similar to the Catholic faith, but with mathematics instead of Jesus). There are also a series of fissures creating openings in the fabric of reality, but currently, you urgently require access a relay station for pressing contact needs. The problem is that it's in the heart of a combat area, and you need to find a way to get there.

Similar to the first game, Outer Worlds 2 is a FPS adventure with an main narrative and numerous side quests spread out across multiple locations or zones (large spaces with a plenty to explore, but not sandbox).

The opening region and the journey of getting to that communication station are remarkable. You've got some funny interactions, of course, like one that features a rancher who has given excessive sugary cereal to their favorite crab. Most lead you to something useful, though — an surprising alternative route or some fresh information that might open a different path ahead.

Unforgettable Sequences and Missed Possibilities

In one unforgettable event, you can come across a Protectorate deserter near the viaduct who's about to be killed. No quest is associated with it, and the only way to locate it is by searching and paying attention to the environmental chatter. If you're swift and sufficiently cautious not to let him get defeated, you can rescue him (and then protect his deserter lover from getting killed by beasts in their refuge later), but more pertinent to the current objective is a power line hidden in the grass nearby. If you trace it, you'll find a secret entry to the transmission center. There's an alternate entry to the station's sewers hidden away in a grotto that you might or might not observe based on when you pursue a specific companion quest. You can find an easily missable character who's essential to preserving a life much later. (And there's a plush toy who indirectly convinces a team of fighters to join your cause, if you're considerate enough to rescue it from a minefield.) This opening chapter is packed and exciting, and it seems like it's brimming with rich storytelling potential that benefits you for your inquisitiveness.

Diminishing Expectations

Outer Worlds 2 doesn't fulfill those initial expectations again. The next primary region is arranged similar to a level in the first Outer Worlds or Avowed — a expansive territory sprinkled with key sites and secondary tasks. They're all story-appropriate to the struggle between Auntie's Option and the Ascendant Brotherhood, but they're also vignettes isolated from the main story narratively and geographically. Don't expect any contextual hints directing you to fresh decisions like in the initial area.

In spite of pushing you toward some difficult choices, what you do in this zone's side quests is inconsequential. Like, it truly has no effect, to the degree that whether you allow violations or direct a collection of displaced people to their death culminates in nothing but a casual remark or two of dialogue. A game doesn't need to let every quest affect the story in some major, impactful way, but if you're making me choose a faction and pretending like my selection is important, I don't think it's unfair to anticipate something further when it's finished. When the game's already shown that it can be better, any reduction feels like a concession. You get more of everything like the developers pledged, but at the expense of complexity.

Daring Concepts and Lacking Tension

The game's middle section endeavors an alike method to the central framework from the opening location, but with clearly diminished style. The idea is a courageous one: an related objective that covers multiple worlds and motivates you to seek aid from assorted alliances if you want a smoother path toward your objective. In addition to the recurring structure being a somewhat tedious, it's also just missing the tension that this kind of scenario should have. It's a "deal with the demon" moment. There should be hard concessions. Your connection with each alliance should be important beyond gaining their favor by doing new tasks for them. All of this is lacking, because you can simply rush through on your own and achieve the goal anyway. The game even goes out of its way to give you means of achieving this, pointing out alternative paths as optional objectives and having allies tell you where to go.

It's a byproduct of a wider concern in Outer Worlds 2: the apprehension of allowing you to regret with your choices. It often exaggerates in its attempts to make sure not only that there's an alternate route in frequent instances, but that you are aware of it. Locked rooms practically always have multiple entry methods indicated, or nothing valuable inside if they don't. If you {can't