Obsidian's Sequel Doesn't Quite Reach the Heights
Bigger doesn't necessarily mean improved. It's a cliché, however it's the best way to describe my impressions after devoting five dozen hours with The Outer Worlds 2. The development team expanded on everything to the sequel to its 2019's sci-fi RPG — additional wit, enemies, arms, traits, and settings, everything that matters in games like this. And it works remarkably well — initially. But the load of all those ambitious ideas makes the game wobble as the hours wear on.
A Strong Initial Impact
The Outer Worlds 2 makes a strong first impression. You are a member of the Earth Directorate, a well-intentioned institution dedicated to curbing corrupt governments and corporations. After some major drama, you find yourself in the Arcadia system, a colony divided by hostilities between Auntie's Selection (the product of a merger between the original game's two major companies), the Defenders (communalism taken to its worst logical conclusion), and the Ascendant Brotherhood (reminiscent of the Church, but with calculations rather than Jesus). There are also a number of tears causing breaches in the fabric of reality, but at this moment, you urgently require access a communication hub for critical messaging purposes. The challenge is that it's in the heart of a warzone, 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 many secondary tasks spread out across various worlds or zones (large spaces with a lot to uncover, but not fully open).
The opening region and the journey of reaching that relay hub are remarkable. You've got some funny interactions, of course, like one that includes a farmer who has given excessive sugary treats to their preferred crab. Most lead you to something beneficial, though — an unexpected new path or some new bit of intel that might open a different path forward.
Memorable Moments and Missed Opportunities
In one unforgettable event, you can find a Guardian defector near the bridge who's about to be killed. No quest is linked to it, and the only way to discover it is by exploring and listening to the environmental chatter. If you're fast and careful enough not to let him get killed, you can rescue him (and then protect his deserter lover from getting slain by monsters in their refuge later), but more connected with the current objective is a power line concealed in the undergrowth nearby. If you trace it, you'll locate a hidden entrance to the relay station. There's another entrance to the station's drainage system stashed in a grotto that you could or could not observe depending on when you follow a certain partner task. You can locate an simple to miss character who's crucial to rescuing a person down the line. (And there's a plush toy who subtly persuades a squad of soldiers to fight with you, if you're nice enough to protect it from a danger zone.) This beginning section is dense and engaging, and it appears as if it's overflowing with deep narrative possibilities that benefits you for your inquisitiveness.
Fading Expectations
Outer Worlds 2 doesn't fulfill those opening anticipations again. The next primary region is organized comparable to a level in the initial title or Avowed — a big area scattered with points of interest and optional missions. They're all story-appropriate to the clash between Auntie's Option and the Ascendant Order, but they're also vignettes separated from the primary plot plot-wise and geographically. Don't look for any world-based indicators leading you to new choices like in the first zone.
Despite compelling you to choose some tough decisions, what you do in this zone's side quests has no impact. Like, it truly has no effect, to the extent that whether you permit atrocities or lead a group of refugees to their demise leads to nothing but a casual remark or two of conversation. A game doesn't need to let each mission impact the plot in some major, impactful way, but if you're forcing me to decide a faction and giving the impression that my selection is important, I don't feel it's irrational to hope for something further when it's concluded. When the game's previously demonstrated that it is capable of more, any reduction seems like a concession. You get more of everything like Obsidian promised, but at the cost of complexity.
Daring Ideas and Absent Stakes
The game's second act attempts a comparable approach to the central framework from the first planet, but with distinctly reduced style. The concept is a daring one: an interconnected mission that covers two planets and motivates you to seek aid from various groups if you want a more straightforward journey toward your objective. Beyond the recurring structure being a little tiresome, it's also lacking the drama that this sort of circumstance should have. It's a "pact with the devil" moment. There should be hard concessions. Your relationship with any group should count beyond making them like you by performing extra duties for them. All of this is lacking, because you can merely power through on your own and complete the mission anyway. The game even makes an effort to give you means of accomplishing this, indicating alternate routes as optional objectives and having partners inform you where to go.
It's a side effect of a larger problem in Outer Worlds 2: the anxiety of permitting you to feel dissatisfied with your decisions. It frequently exaggerates in its attempts to make sure not only that there's an alternate route in frequent instances, but that you know it exists. Secured areas almost always have multiple entry methods signposted, or no significant items internally if they fail to. If you {can't
