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In 2019, legendary role-playing game (RPG) developer Obsidian Entertainment launched The Outer Worlds almost a year after the company had been acquired by Microsoft.
Published by Private Division due to preexisting contracts, The Outer Worlds was a hit, delivering something of a cross between Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, and Fallout. It was a fun, space western romp that leaned heavily into satirizing megacorporations while still handing out handfuls of heartwarming stories.
Fast-forward to 2025, and a sequel is launching in a banner year for Obsidian Entertainment, coming just months after the studio already delivered a fantasy RPG for Xbox Game Studios with Avowed, as well as an early access follow-up to its surprise survival hit, Grounded.
After 40 hours, I’m happy to say that The Outer Worlds 2 is more of the same where it counts, with a couple of key improvements that elevate the whole experience. A few bugs aside, it’s a game worth making time for.
I grew up playing role-playing games, and some of the earliest titles I can remember include Obsidian Entertainment’s catalogue. From scrounging Peragus and Korriban in Knights of the Old Republic 2 to hunting down secrets across the Living Lands, I’m thrilled to still be playing new Obsidian titles all these years later.
This review was made possible thanks to a review code provided by Xbox Game Studios. The company did not see the contents of this review before publishing.
What is The Outer Worlds 2?
The Outer Worlds 2 is a single-player role-playing game (RPG) developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios.
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Category |
The Outer Worlds 2 |
|---|---|
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Release date |
Oct. 29, 2025 (October 24 for Premium Edition) |
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Developer |
Obsidian Entertainment |
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Publisher |
Xbox Game Studios |
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Genre |
Role-playing game |
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Players |
Single-player |
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Install size |
110GB |
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Playtime |
25+ hours |
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Platforms |
Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, PlayStation |
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Xbox Game Pass |
Yes |
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Reviewed on |
Xbox Series X |
The game opens with players in the role of an Earth Directorate agent, someone whose job it is to ensure the law is still being followed and justice is carried out in the farthest colonies where dictatorships and megacorporations attempt to seize control. The agent is dispatched to Arcadia Colony, where things go horribly wrong.
As it is an RPG, players have to make hard choices, building relationships with squadmates and larger factions alike, crafting alliances or creating enemies. When the latter occurs, there is a wide range of weapons available to dispense justice, with flame shotguns, lightning chainguns, rocket launchers, plasma blades, frost rifles, and far more.
Players also have to select different skills, focusing on different abilities like Engineering or Leadership, that, in turn, unlock unique perks.
The Outer Worlds 2 can be played in first-person like its predecessor, but there’s also a new third-person option, akin to games like Avowed or Bethesda Game Studios‘ Starfield.
The Outer Worlds 2 is available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (via Battle.net, Steam, and Xbox on PC), and PlayStation 5. Like all Xbox first-party games, it’s also available at launch in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
The Outer Worlds 2: Story and characters
The Outer Worlds 2 focuses on a few different factions, with Auntie’s Choice (the result of a merger between Spacer’s Choice and Auntie Cleo’s) waging war on Arcadia colony, a system of planets ruled by the iron-fisted dictatorship known as The Protectorate. Also entangled is The Order of the Ascendant, a scientifically-minded group that seeks to solve all chaos through mathematical understanding of…well, everything.
All the while, a strange problem threatens to destroy all of Arcadia, no matter who wins the war.
Because of this dynamic, the focus on tongue-in-cheek unrestrained capitalism takes a slight back seat in the main story in exchange for a darker tone, though it’s still a present force affecting the lives of everyday citizens and soldiers.
I was genuinely invested in everyone’s life path and trying to help them be the best they could be.
Some of the best moments in the game come from exploring side stories, as well as interacting with your crewmates. Niles is an engineer and a fellow agent, and so you’re given the opportunity to help shape his path and worldview the more you take him with you on assignments, though he (and your other crewmates) will push back and act against you if you aren’t careful.
It’s a delicate balance that could’ve easily felt annoying, but the result is that I was genuinely invested in everyone’s life path and trying to help them be the best they could be. Even Aza, who appears to be a murderous psychopath, has some hidden depths worth exploring.
The Outer Worlds 2: Gameplay and features
While The Outer Worlds was a great game, filled with fun characters and interesting dialogue, it had one fairly major problem: the combat simply wasn’t fun. Past a few hours, it felt entirely the same. That’s a problem Obsidian Entertainment has massively corrected for The Outer Worlds 2.
Guns simply feel good, with every aspect like aiming and even reloading refined to be smoother, while landing headshots or ripping into foes with a machine gun has meaningful feedback. Over the 40 hours I played, blasting foes to smithereens with every armament I could get my hands on never got old.
That ties well into another aspect of the game that’s improved over the first entry: The Flaw system. Every so often, you’ll be offered a Flaw that provides a benefit in exchange for another penalty.
Early on, I was offered a Flaw that would’ve given me 3 skill points every level-up (a 50% increase that adds up meaningfully over time) in exchange for being required to distribute my skill points evenly through every available option. I didn’t end up picking it, but having to sit and debate it with myself for a few minutes felt awesome, as a meaningful decision that struck at the heart of the actual game mechanics.
I also deeply appreciate how crunchy the skill system is. Simply put, if you don’t invest in something, you may not have the best option for getting through a problem, tough luck!
Toward the end of the game, my character (with high Speech) was able to persuade antagonists to stand down and work together…but my lack of Science meant I couldn’t solve many problems I encountered throughout missions.
It’s a good approach that commits to its own design, and one that has me extremely curious to replay The Outer Worlds 2 with vastly different character builds.
The Outer Worlds 2: Visuals and audio
The Outer Worlds 2 looks good overall. While it’s not the most visually demanding game around, the art direction goes a long way in aiding its presentation, bringing truly gorgeous alien worlds filled with crystal forests and ponds brimming with bioluminescence.
The game has Visual and Performance options on Xbox Series X. I opted to play in Performance mode, where it ran at 60 FPS in exchange for lowering the resolution. The framerate was fairly solid in moment-to-moment gameplay, though I did notice a few drops in pitched battles where explosions were constantly going off.
The soundtrack seemed oddly subdued throughout much of the game.
It’s also worth noting that due to most planets being a bit larger and having more to explore than the first Outer Worlds, there are far fewer loading screens. You’ll still encounter them aplenty if you’re fast-traveling everywhere, but it’s not as grating to explore and wander as before.
The audio design is likewise solid, though I do have to note the soundtrack seemed oddly subdued throughout much of the game. There are some good tracks, but they seem few and far between.
The Outer Worlds 2: Accessibility and approachability
The Outer Worlds 2 features a large number of different accessibility options. You can customize the user interface to your liking, including removing most of it or setting it to fade, increasing the size of text, and adjusting the colors (and background colors) of subtitles to make them more readable.
If you’re worried about trying out this game without having played the first one, don’t. Because The Outer Worlds 2 is set in an entirely new colony with a new cast of characters, you’re not missing out on much by just hopping in here. You might miss a couple of jokes by not being as familiar with the corporations, but that’s it.
My final thoughts
✅You should buy this if …
- You’ve enjoyed other Obsidian games like Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds and Avowed.
- You enjoy role-playing games that focus on player choices and skills.
- You’re a fan of first-person and third-person shooting combat systems.
❌You should not buy this if …
- You’re not a fan of role-playing games with extensive dialogue and reading.
- You don’t like science-fiction that heavily focus on human factions and space western settings.
The Outer Worlds 2 is what most players of the first game would hope and expect it to be: A slightly bigger game that keeps most of what made the formula work in the first place, improving on the handful of areas where players raised complaints.
I suspect and hope there’ll be some fun conversations surrounding what Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 do differently in the months to come, and there are things I prefer about each game. Ultimately, I’m happy to have played both in the same year.
If you’re a returning fan, diving into The Outer Worlds 2 is a no-brainer. If you were put off by the combat, then I’d still encourage you to give it a try, as the team has vastly improved the moment-to-moment gameplay without sacrificing anything else along the way.
With two story expansions promised to be on the way, I’m hoping to set foot on new strange worlds threatened by hyper-capitalism before long.
The Outer Worlds 2 launches on October 29 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5.
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