A lot of choice... with less varied outcomes.
Obsidian’s back, and as always is mixing it up with its RPGs with a sequel to The Outer Worlds called, appropriately enough, The Outer Worlds 2. As part of Gamescom 2025, Stevivor was given hands-on time with its opening mission.
In fact, we were straight up given access to its entire opening, which included a look at Outer World 2‘s character creator alongside its opening cinematic, a hilarious piece of Earth Directorate propaganda featuring the incredibly heroic Commander Zane and Buddy.
Inspired by the incredibly serious and definitely not farcical adventures of the Flash Gordon-like pair, your newly designed hero can put some of the positive (or negative) traits you’ve assigned to them on your own ship before your first assignment proper. While I’d like to think I’m stealthy, I avoided proper sneaking traits and opted for those that would allow me to engineer, hack, and lockpick my way through life.
For my hands-on, I also opted to give my character the background of a former professor, boosting my intelligence as a result. I tried to balance things out with the sicky negative trait, which meant I had less base health and a smaller toxicity crash threshold for people keeping score.
Heading down to a mega-corp-corrupted and/or tyrannically-controlled planet, choice immediately presented itself. Would I use my language skills to bluff my way through a conversation with a low-level guard who could only hear me and wasn’t able to validate my credentials, sneak to an unguarded entrance, or just run in with guns blasting? Well, I did all, and the results largely ended up the same: I got to enter the facility that housed further goals.
The same was true for inside the base. Able to sneak or shoot, I opted for the latter this time, putting Outer Worlds‘ time dilation power into effect, slowing down time and allowing for precision shots. Landing a final headshot also slowed down time, but in those instances for dramatic effect rather than an advantage in combat.
Splitting off from my two companions, I proceeded through the enemy base, getting to my first big decision: did I disable the base’s radio, or instead rig it to play Earth Directorate propaganda? I went for the latter — because I could — to hear a quest-giver tell me that action lead to some horrific consequences about five minutes later.
Having absolutely zero shame, I went back to a previous save and opted for the safer option, just disabling the radio, instead. Five minutes later, sadly, I found the same results presenting themselves.
No matter, I thought as I continued on, some options are just spice along the way and not everything will be able to offer up a different narrative path. And that’s when I bumped into Cadet 4th Class Corbin.
I’d chatted with ol’ Corbin at the start of the mission, having him half believe my lie about being a part of the team. Face-to-face, he obviously realised I wasn’t who I said I was, but I had scoured the level before our interaction and was armed with intel and speech checks. My goal was to win him over.
Needless to say, my first attempt didn’t work — he was too brainwashed. I reloaded a save and looked for other combinations of speech checks that could change the course of our conversation, but to no avail. After taking out a series of enemies that Corbin summoned, I realised there was a locked door behind Corbin that I could access if I had a lockpick.
Not having a lockpick, I reverted back to an even earlier save in order to save one. I tried unlocking the door before our conversation, and Corbin instantly aggroed. I tried after the conversation and had the same experience. I even tried doing it after the big fight he spawned, but same deal.
While there’s something to be said for having so many ways to get from A to B, I was relatively disappointed that this small chunk of gameplay was so predetermined. Nevertheless, The Outer Worlds 2‘s small preview experience proved that Obsidian is sure to present a polished RPG next month.
Shooting was solid, stealth was solid, and myriad combinations of perks mean no two playthroughs will be the same — hopefully, that extends into narrative paths as players progress.
Expect The Outer Worlds 2 from 29 October on Windows PC via Steam and Battle.net, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PS5. It’ll also be available via Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere.
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The Outer Worlds 229 October 2025PC PS5 Xbox Series S & X
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