Obsidian's Sequel Doesn't Quite Reach the Summit
Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. That's a tired saying, but it's also the truest way to describe my impressions after investing five dozen hours with The Outer Worlds 2. The creators expanded on each element to the sequel to its 2019 futuristic adventure — additional wit, enemies, weapons, traits, and places, every important component in games like this. And it operates excellently — at first. But the weight of all those ambitious ideas leads to instability as the game progresses.
A Powerful First Impression
The Outer Worlds 2 establishes a solid opening statement. You belong to the Planetary Directorate, a well-intentioned institution dedicated to controlling unscrupulous regimes and corporations. After some major drama, you end up in the Arcadia sector, a settlement divided by war between Auntie's Selection (the product of a combination between the first game's two large firms), the Guardians (communalism pushed to its worst logical conclusion), and the Order of the Ascendant (reminiscent of the Church, but with math instead of Jesus). There are also a series of rifts tearing holes in the universe, but currently, you absolutely must reach a communication hub for pressing contact reasons. The issue is that it's in the middle of a battlefield, and you need to determine how to reach it.
Similar to the first game, Outer Worlds 2 is a FPS adventure with an central plot and numerous optional missions scattered across various worlds or regions (big areas with a much to discover, but not sandbox).
The first zone and the journey of getting to that communication station are spectacular. You've got some humorous meetings, of course, like one that involves a rancher who has fed too much sugary cereal to their preferred crab. Most guide you to something useful, though — an unforeseen passage or some new bit of intel that might unlock another way forward.
Notable Events and Overlooked Opportunities
In one notable incident, you can encounter a Guardian defector near the viaduct who's about to be eliminated. No task is tied to it, and the only way to discover it is by exploring and hearing the environmental chatter. If you're swift and sufficiently cautious not to let him get slain, you can rescue him (and then protect his runaway sweetheart from getting killed by beasts in their hideout later), but more connected with the task at hand is a power line concealed in the undergrowth nearby. If you track it, you'll locate a secret entry to the relay station. There's a different access point to the station's underground tunnels hidden away in a grotto that you could or could not observe based on when you follow a particular ally mission. You can locate an easily missable character who's key to preserving a life much later. (And there's a stuffed animal who subtly persuades a team of fighters to join your cause, if you're kind enough to save it from a explosive area.) This beginning section is dense and engaging, and it feels like it's brimming with rich storytelling potential that benefits you for your inquisitiveness.
Diminishing Expectations
Outer Worlds 2 fails to meet those initial expectations again. The second main area is arranged like a map in the initial title or Avowed — a expansive territory scattered with points of interest and secondary tasks. They're all narratively connected to the struggle between Auntie's Selection and the Ascendant Order, but they're also vignettes separated from the main story plot-wise and spatially. Don't look for any environmental clues leading you to alternative options like in the initial area.
In spite of compelling you to choose some difficult choices, what you do in this region's secondary tasks doesn't matter. Like, it genuinely is irrelevant, to the degree that whether you enable war crimes or guide a band of survivors to their demise results in nothing but a passing comment or two of dialogue. A game doesn't have to let all tasks affect the plot in some major, impactful way, but if you're compelling me to select a side and giving the impression that my selection matters, I don't think it's unreasonable to hope for something more when it's concluded. When the game's previously demonstrated that it has greater potential, any reduction feels like a concession. You get expanded elements like the developers pledged, but at the expense of complexity.
Bold Plans and Lacking Drama
The game's intermediate phase endeavors an alike method to the primary structure from the initial world, but with noticeably less flair. The idea is a courageous one: an interconnected mission that covers several locations and motivates you to seek aid from assorted alliances if you want a easier route toward your objective. In addition to the recurring structure being a little tiresome, it's also just missing the suspense that this type of situation should have. It's a "bargain with evil" moment. There should be tough compromise. Your association with either faction should be important beyond earning their approval by doing new tasks for them. Everything is absent, because you can simply rush through on your own and complete the mission anyway. The game even takes pains to hand you means of accomplishing this, highlighting alternate routes as secondary goals and having partners inform you where to go.
It's a consequence of a larger problem in Outer Worlds 2: the apprehension of allowing you to regret with your selections. It frequently goes too far in its attempts to ensure not only that there's an alternate route in many situations, but that you realize its presence. Closed chambers nearly always have various access ways indicated, or no significant items within if they don't. If you {can't