New Details About The Outer Worlds 2 — the First $80 RPG

Right after the main Xbox Games Showcase event, Microsoft held a separate presentation for The Outer Worlds 2, where the developers shared more details about the game. In the following days, additional information surfaced through various interviews with Obsidian staff. In this article, we’ve gathered all the key facts.

Completing the first game typically took around 15 hours, or up to 30 hours if you tackled all side content. Before its release, gamers expected an adventure on the scale of Fallout: New Vegas, so many were understandably disappointed with its length.

The advantage of a sequel is that Obsidian could build upon the foundation of the original project and expand it. And if the developers are to be believed, they focused not just on quantity but also on quality. The studio put serious effort into fixing past mistakes, deepening the setting, and crafting a wealth of new stories that fit within The Outer Worlds universe.

According to the creators, ideas for a direct sequel started forming even before the first game launched. In an interview with Eurogamer, TOW2 creative director Brandon Adler said:

The developers claim that Microsoft’s resources allowed them to create the game at the scale they always envisioned. We already knew from early previews this spring that The Outer Worlds 2 would be much larger than its predecessor. But during the recent presentation, an even more intriguing line was dropped: this is “the biggest game Obsidian has ever made.” No exact numbers were given, but it suggests The Outer Worlds 2 will surpass even Fallout: New Vegas in size.

Legendary designer Leonard Boyarsky, creative director of TOW2, explained that the smaller scale of the previous game was partly due to its theme. The first game focused heavily on satirizing capitalism and corporate culture, as well as sci-fi frontier aesthetics, which ended up creatively limiting the team. In an interview with Polygon, Boyarsky openly addressed this issue:

In this respect, The Outer Worlds 2 promises to offer much more variety. It will still poke fun at corporations but will also tackle themes of militarism, state authoritarianism, and even religion. Thanks to this, as Boyarsky explained, the factions in the game feel more distinct from one another:

Three main factions are vying for control of the Arcadia system, where the sequel takes place. The largest is The Protectorate — a militarized faction that prefers to keep its colonies in strict obedience. The Order of the Ascendant — a science-religious organization striving to improve human life by solving the so-called Universal Equation, which supposedly allows one to see the future — broke away from The Protectorate.

The Protectorate and The Order despise each other and are actively at war. Joining the conflict is Auntie’s Choice, a corporation formed by the merger of two companies from the first game.

We also now know about the potential companions who can join the player. Each has unique motivations and personality traits, and all of them share an unpredictable nature — any companion can become a serious problem for the player if the relationship is mishandled. Here’s the list of companions:

The new character progression system is inspired by Fallout: New Vegas — now all skills, like F:NV’s perks, fundamentally affect your gameplay style rather than just slightly boosting damage stats. The flaw mechanic from the first TOW also returns. Players can choose powerful abilities that come with both positive and negative effects. For example, with the Bad Knees flaw, your character can move quickly while crouched, but their knees will loudly crack every time they stand up — alerting enemies.

If you’d like a deeper dive into how The Outer Worlds 2’s new progression works, check out our previous article where we covered this topic in detail.

No matter what build players choose, the developers promise there will always be multiple ways to solve the same problem. For example, you could break down a locked door using brute strength, repair it if you have high engineering skills, or blow it up if you’re good with explosives.

The degree of freedom in the sequel was showcased through a quest where the player must cross a chasm. You could persuade members of The Protectorate to lower the bridge by completing a task for them — or by turning in one of your companions.

Alternatively, you could just kill everyone and lower the bridge yourself, sneak into the control room and do it covertly, or skip the bridge entirely by finding alternate paths — like navigating a nearby toxic area or using double-jump boots to cross the river.

Speaking of double-jumping — the player’s mobility in The Outer Worlds 2 has been significantly improved to make exploration and combat more dynamic. Your character runs fast, jumps high, and dodges blows with lightning speed. Another welcome addition: you can now switch to a third-person camera, just like in The Elder Scrolls or Fallout: New Vegas.

And in another nod to Fallout: New Vegas, you can listen to radio stations in The Outer Worlds 2. Each faction has its own radio frequency with a unique selection of songs and hosts who comment on the player’s recent actions.

Perhaps the only bitter pill in all the pre-release information — the announcement that The Outer Worlds 2 will cost $80. Microsoft warned a few months ago that prices for its games would be going up, but many gamers were still caught off guard by the steep price. Of course, it’s worth noting that the game will launch day one on Game Pass, but if you’re planning to play on PS5, that’s not an option.

If The Outer Worlds 2 truly lives up to what the developers are promising — a massive RPG with impressive player freedom — then maybe it will justify its new price tag. But if the game, like its predecessor, ends up falling short of expectations, then the criticism will surely be louder than usual.

The Outer Worlds 2 launches on October 29 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. Which platform are you planning to play on? Are you planning to play it at all? Share your thoughts in the comments.