The Outer Worlds 2 Review

The first Outer Worlds was clever but slight. The sequel is the fuller, funnier, better built version of that idea. Obsidian sends you into a new colony system as an agent caught between corporations, factions and a reality that is quietly coming apart, and it hands you far more rope than before: builds that genuinely change how you play, quests with real branches, and a satire of corporate life that finally has teeth again. The shooting, the weak spot of the original, is now good enough to carry the parts between conversations.

It is not trying to be the biggest RPG of the year, and it does not need to be. The systems are the point, the stealth, speech and combat routes through a problem all feel supported, and the game respects a player who wants to break it in half with a strange character. The visuals are solid rather than spectacular, which is the honest cost of the scope elsewhere.

This is one of Obsidian's most complete games, a role playing sequel that keeps the voice and fixes the fundamentals. If the first left you wanting, this is the one to return for. On Game Pass at launch it was among the year's easiest recommendations for anyone who likes choice with a spine.