Outer Worlds 2 Doesn't Quite Reach the Summit
Bigger isn't always better. That's a tired saying, but it's also the most accurate way to sum up my feelings after investing five dozen hours with The Outer Worlds 2. Developer Obsidian added more of all aspects to the follow-up to its 2019's science fiction role-playing game — additional wit, enemies, firearms, attributes, and locations, every important component in such adventures. And it functions superbly — at first. But the weight of all those ambitious ideas makes the game wobble as the time passes.
An Impressive Initial Impact
The Outer Worlds 2 makes a strong first impression. You are a member of the Planetary Directorate, a do-gooder institution committed to curbing corrupt governments and businesses. After some capital-D Drama, you find yourself in the Arcadia system, a colony splintered by war between Auntie's Option (the result of a combination between the original game's two big corporations), the Guardians (collectivism extended to its most dire end), and the Ascendant Order (reminiscent of the Church, but with calculations instead of Jesus). There are also a number of rifts tearing holes in the universe, but currently, you really need access a communication hub for urgent communications needs. The issue is that it's in the middle of a combat area, and you need to find a way to arrive.
Like its predecessor, Outer Worlds 2 is a first-person role-playing game with an main narrative and numerous secondary tasks scattered across various worlds or regions (expansive maps with a much to discover, but not fully open).
The opening region and the journey of getting to that communication station are impressive. You've got some goofy encounters, of course, like one that involves a farmer who has given excessive sweet grains to their preferred crab. Most direct you toward something useful, though — an unexpected new path or some additional intelligence that might provide an alternate route onward.
Unforgettable Moments and Missed Possibilities
In one unforgettable event, you can find a Guardian defector near the bridge who's about to be killed. No mission is linked to it, and the sole method to locate it is by searching and paying attention to the background conversation. If you're swift and careful enough not to let him get killed, you can rescue him (and then protect his deserter lover from getting killed by beasts in their lair later), but more connected with the immediate mission is a energy cable concealed in the foliage close by. If you trace it, you'll locate a secret entry to the communication hub. There's another entrance to the station's underground tunnels stashed in a cave that you might or might not observe depending on when you pursue a specific companion quest. You can locate an easily missable individual who's key to preserving a life 20 hours later. (And there's a soft toy who indirectly convinces a squad of soldiers to join your cause, if you're considerate enough to protect it from a minefield.) This initial segment is packed and exciting, and it seems like it's full of substantial plot opportunities that rewards you for your exploration.
Waning Anticipations
Outer Worlds 2 fails to meet those opening anticipations again. The next primary region is structured comparable to a level in the initial title or Avowed — a large region scattered with notable locations and side quests. They're all thematically relevant to the clash between Auntie's Option and the Ascendant Brotherhood, but they're also vignettes separated from the main story plot-wise and location-wise. Don't look for any contextual hints leading you to fresh decisions like in the opening region.
Regardless of forcing you to make some hard calls, what you do in this region's secondary tasks has no impact. Like, it genuinely is irrelevant, to the degree that whether you allow violations or lead a group of refugees to their death leads to merely a throwaway line or two of dialogue. A game isn't required to let every quest impact the story in some major, impactful way, but if you're compelling me to select a side and acting as if my choice is important, I don't believe it's unfair to anticipate something additional when it's over. When the game's already shown that it is capable of more, any diminishment appears to be a trade-off. You get additional content like the developers pledged, but at the expense of substance.
Bold Ideas and Lacking Tension
The game's middle section attempts a comparable approach to the central framework from the opening location, but with clearly diminished flair. The concept is a courageous one: an interconnected mission that covers two planets and urges you to solicit support from various groups if you want a smoother path toward your objective. Aside from the recurring structure being a somewhat tedious, it's also absent the suspense that this type of situation should have. It's a "bargain with evil" moment. There should be tough compromise. Your connection with any group should matter beyond gaining their favor by doing new tasks for them. All this is lacking, because you can just blitz through on your own and achieve the goal anyway. The game even makes an effort to hand you means of doing this, highlighting alternate routes as optional objectives and having partners advise you where to go.
It's a byproduct of a broader issue in Outer Worlds 2: the anxiety of permitting you to feel dissatisfied with your choices. It regularly exaggerates in its efforts to make sure not only that there's an alternate route in frequent instances, but that you realize its presence. Closed chambers practically always have various access ways marked, or nothing valuable inside if they do not. If you {can't
