Obsidian Entertainment has built a distinct mood with The Outer Worlds series. It’s one that positions corporations, executive manipulation, and rampant consumerism as a plague that haunts humanity well into our future in space — but in a darkly comedic fashion. This vibe continues into The Outer Worlds 2, where those nasty old mega-corporations are at it again. However, even if you’re over the joke, The Outer Worlds 2 does much more than just keep telling it. It offers a rewarding and varied space adventure that sits nicely on an upgraded foundation of solid gunplay, enjoyable characters, and unique opportunities between playstyles.
Adventures of an Earth Directorate Anybody
The Outer Worlds 2 picks up in another corner of Obsidian’s sci-fi future universe known as Arcadia, inhabited by the Protectorate faction that makes most of the Skip Drives powering hyperspace travel across galaxies. Players take on the role of an Earth Directorate agent, representing the best interests and justice of our home planet where applicable.
Earth doesn’t want the Protectorate to have a monopoly on Skip Drives, so it sends a small team to try to steal the research behind these drives. As you might guess, things go wrong. One of your agents goes rogue and opens a black hole–like rift that swallows the station you’re trying to heist, flings you into space in an escape pod, and sets Arcadia on a timed path to destruction as the rift threatens to expand and consume the whole system.
The real quest of The Outer Worlds 2 starts 10 years later when your body is recovered and you’re sent on a new mission to track down and kill the agent who went rogue. Along the way, you learn that the corporations from the first game, Spacer’s Choice and Auntie Cleo’s, have merged; the latter absorbed the former and rebranded as Auntie’s Choice. This growth gives Auntie the resources to barge into Arcadia and start a war with the Protectorate for its Skip Drive technology.
Amid your hunt for the wayward agent threatening to destroy the entire system, you must navigate the Protectorate-corporate war as well as other factions active on the periphery.
A Story with Depth and Shades of Grey
I like The Outer Worlds 2’s story. The first game’s overarching vibe leaned heavily into capitalist and corporate satire, with several companies acting as much of the backdrop and moral compass, despite all of them having significant flaws. With Auntie’s Choice and the Protectorate, it feels a bit different.
Both factions are bad and delightfully undervalue individual rights, but where Auntie’s Choice focuses on consumerism, the Protectorate is a downright fascist oligarchy. Both are easy to hate, but the many notable individuals within them come across as people who were never given another option. It’s almost easy to forget they’re brainwashed weirdos simply trying to get a head pat, move up their respective chains, and stay alive.
The presence of extraneous factions operating alongside them also gives players actual causes to root for when navigating the stories and quests of the game. The major factions even have their own radio stations, each with different music and responses to your actions throughout the game.
Quite a Ride Ahead of Us
Few things showcase the mood of opposing sides better than the companions you meet. This time, there are six companions, each representing most of the major factions you’ll work with or against. You might think having an Auntie’s Choice soldier like Inez or a Protectorate Arbiter like Tristan on your team would be annoying, but each character has enough depth to make pairing them worthwhile — if even just to see how they react to your decisions and each other.
I loved squadding up with those two, for instance, because they would be enemies anywhere else, and making them work together leads to some interesting moments inside and outside of active quests. Even so, all companions are well worth exploring.
Expansive Worlds to Explore
These characters and their factions also take you to a very diverse collection of places. The Outer Worlds 2 improves on its predecessor by giving players much more space to explore and far more to discover within it.
The game features a variety of planets, stations, and other hotspots you’ll visit as the story progresses, with several worlds offering expansive maps. You start on Paradise Island as an introduction to it all, but even after you’ve unraveled everything there, the game throws another new and even bigger map your way to explore as you continue.
These locations are gorgeous and filled to the brim with secrets and side quests. Overall, this feels like a more enticing series of maps than the first game.
However, I will say that The Outer Worlds 2 leans on a few elements a little too much. If you were bored of the corporate satire in the first game, it doesn’t really lighten up here. Moreover, many planets utilize the same foes repeatedly. While there are a decent number of threats overall, on any given planet you generally encounter one or two creature types repeatedly with only slight variations in style. Encountering a Mantisaur for the first time is novel; encountering dozens of them by the 15th encounter is less so.
In Space, Nobody Will Hear Me Stab You
The RPG systems from the original Outer Worlds return intact and improved in the sequel. The game’s choices and mechanics are fascinating, providing real depth.
At the start, you choose two specialties such as Guns, Lockpicking, Melee, Speech, or Hacking, but you can also invest points into minor skills to round out your character. I chose Observation, Lockpicking, Guns, and Sneaking, picked a Lucky trait that randomly unlocked silly skill checks, and opted for an Ex-Convict background that occasionally provided alternate dialogue options.
This combination made my character a blast to play across combat, stealth, and social situations, but it also closed me off from many other choices I was teased with regularly. For example, failing a Medical check or lacking Brawny skill to pry open a broken door meant those opportunities would be left unexplored. Unlike many RPGs, you can’t rely on your companions’ talents to cover these gaps, so some checks were simply bypassed until future playthroughs.
The game also does a commendable job of remembering your decisions. Better than most games of its kind, many decisions trigger layered reactions throughout the playthrough. It wasn’t unusual for characters to reference choices I had made much earlier when relevant, revealing how my actions shaped the narrative. It’s impressive how many things, big and small, matter down the line.
Core gameplay facets remain fun. I enjoyed the gunplay and weapon customization. Discovering new weapons and modding them to my liking was a regular and satisfying experience. Unique weapons, like the Death Sentence rifle—which places a countdown on enemies after a weak point shot and triggers massive follow-up damage—add exciting variety.
The Tactical Time Dilation system also returns, allowing you to slow time and pick out precise shots. New gadgets let you deploy temporary shields, see enemies and electronics through walls, and even melt corpses if you prefer your victims to disappear without a trace. As a professional sneak, melting foes into unrecognizable green goo was especially satisfying.
That said, the game’s improvements come with some quirky issues typical of open-world RPGs. Stealth mechanics can be unpredictable, often with scripted events that alert all nearby enemies regardless of your hiding spot. Additionally, once alerted, it feels like every enemy in a wide radius knows about you, which can be frustrating.
Enemy AI can behave oddly too, darting nonsensically between cover or glitching on bad pathfinding. Companions, especially in close combat, sometimes run into repeated deaths due to AI issues. These “meat bag” companions can feel more like disposable damage sponges than capable allies.
Finally, I encountered several small bugs, like a companion whose dialogue marker bugged out and never disappeared. While minor, these issues crop up frequently enough to remind players that The Outer Worlds 2 is far from perfect.
Come Fly With Me
Despite some quirks and a few weaknesses, The Outer Worlds 2 offers another solid sci-fi RPG experience from Obsidian Entertainment. It likely won’t sway those tired of its corporate comedy, but fans of the first will find much to enjoy here.
The factional tug-of-war is fun to explore, and companions you bring along enrich the adventure. More than that, this is an exciting, sprawling adventure you can’t possibly exhaust in a single playthrough. Whether you make your first run count or return for another walk down a different path, The Outer Worlds 2 provides plenty of rewarding experiences for your trouble.
This review is based on a PlayStation 5 digital copy supplied by the publisher. The Outer Worlds 2 launches on October 29, 2025, on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146533/the-outer-worlds-2-review-score
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