Just like Auntie's Choice!
Back in 2019, Obsidian Entertainment did the unthinkable and gave us The Outer Worlds, a brand-new, narrative-driven RPG among the stars – a realisation of the “Fallout in space” dreams that have circled on message boards for over a decade. Set in a galaxy driven by capitalism and greed, you took an the role of a stranger in a colony beset by corporatist ideals that had become second nature to its people.
Full of dark jokes and satirical takes on the game’s capitalist dystopia, the original Outer Worlds was a fledgling taste of what an all-new Obsidian RPG could be; celebrating the type of gameplay fans loved in titles like Obsidian’s own Fallout New Vegas. Fast forward to 2025, and it’s finally time to embark on this universe’s sophomore outing. The Outer Worlds 2 finds us taking on a new main character in a DIFFERENT galaxy far, far away – our new “Commander” of the Earth Directorate finds themselves in the Arcadia colony, dispatched on a covert mission that takes an unexpected turn.
After a brief respite in an escape pod, your character is awoken to a changed colony that has been besieged by deadly rifts in space and time, ranging in scale from those that occupy a room to ones big enough to take out a space station. All contact with Earth has been cut off due to the interference of the rifts, and the colony’s mega-corporations are taking full advantage; Auntie Cleo’s, one of the major companies present in the original Outer Worlds, has bought out and merged with the Spacer’s Choice brand, creating the all-new Auntie’s Choice. After arriving in Arcadia, Auntie’s soon sets to “liberating” the citizens of the colony from the existing factions, by introducing them to the joys of mandatory super-capitalism.
The Outer Worlds 2 offers an interesting selection of factions for you to meet, ally with, or antagonise as you move through the game. The Protectorate is an incredibly strict and ruthless dictatorship which used to control the entire colony, and is responsible for the invention of “skip drives”, a form of travel that has now been discovered to cause the rifts.
Meanwhile, the Order of the Ascendant is a breakaway subset of the Protectorate which believe that all things can be predicted and controlled via precise math, and the Glorious Dawn is made up of cultists who worship the newly-appearing rifts. It’s an interesting mix of ideals in Arcadia; because each group’s goals are all so radically different, every planet in the colony is an ongoing territory dispute.
The player also gets a more personal insight into each group through recruitable party members, who come from all different walks of life in Arcadia. Each has their own likes and dislikes that align with their factions, and acting for or against their ideals will decide how close you will become – or if they’ll even stay within your party. While it’s certainly possible to play peacemaker and keep everyone happy, you could just as easily commit hard to your ideology and make do with the party members who’ll stick around, creating a very different world-state depending on your choices.
The Outer Worlds 2 doubles down on this player choice in how it lets you use your skills, traits, and perks, which have all expanded greatly from their implementation in the original Outer Worlds. Every piece of dialogue is full of unique choices, accessible if you have what’s required – be it a check for having a certain number of points in a skill, using traits unique to your character, or using specific perk bonuses you’ve chosen when levelling up.
In a great addition for serial collectors of text logs in RPGs, extra dialogue options are also opened up by finding certain information in the world, or key items discovered in your travels. The use of perks especially is interesting, as these will often be combat-focused in the bonuses they provide… but if the perk is thematically right for a conversation, it can have an effect there too. One example is the “Brand Loyalty” perk, which offers a discount for repeatedly shopping at the same place; using it in one conversation, I was able to recall old Auntie Cleo’s advertising jingles as well.
This creative use of your level up bonuses is smart, as it encourages you to try new abilities outside of your intended or planned play style. I’m always a big proponent of sneaky, talky, hacker characters in these types of RPGs, and naturally shy away from combat perks as a result. In The Outer Worlds 2, however, it’s exciting to keep a skill point or two in reserve to use when you find a particular skill check you want to pass. While you can give yourself a leg up in a few skills during character creation, there’s plenty of room to grow in new directions with the generous speed of level-ups and new skill points to allocate.
I decided to go all-in for my playthrough and chose the “Roustabout” background for my character – a bumbling space idiot who’s fallen backwards into being an Earth Directorate agent. Each background adds unique dialogue options throughout the game, and the Roustabout’s mostly consist of your character being confused, but happy to be involved. Paired with traits like Lucky (sometimes, things just work out!) and Brilliant (amazing deductions out of nowhere), I became some sort of Mr Bean/Sherlock Holmes hybrid, wandering the colony and accidentally fixing everyone’s problems. For me, it felt like the perfect character to play against the backdrop of Arcadia’s corporate hellscape – but there are plenty of different paths to take at every step, depending on your preferences.
The sequel also sees the return of flaws: disadvantages you can willingly take in exchange for extra bonuses. Off the bat, I took a “Sickly” flaw that dropped my poison resistance to claim more bonuses at character creation, a trade-off that also added new, sicklier dialogue options throughout the game’s worlds. As you play, you’re periodically offered targeted flaws based on your playstyle – and it’s honestly surprising how many different behaviours are being tracked. One flaw presented to me recognised how much time I spent crouched and sneaking, while another called me out for speed-reading and skipping ahead in conversations. I won’t spoil what exactly any of these flaws do exactly, but rest assured: Obsidian Entertainment are watching.
You’re much better rewarded for investing in The Outer Worlds 2’s combat, as well. While the original Outer Worlds had promise with its “Tactical Time Dilation” slow-mo in fights, I did find that eventually my enjoyment of it plateaued along with my DPS; there came a point where despite being max level, every basic enemy was still just a bullet sponge. Thankfully, Outer Worlds 2 has revitalised the combat in a way that keeps things hectic without becoming a slog to get through.
Fights feel faster-paced, with plenty of unique perks that can change your combat experience – not to mention the return of a scientifically-unethical amount of space guns of all shapes and sizes. Most impactful in my experience however, was the addition of a third-person camera option – while the default first-person view makes for an immersive experience, I much preferred the wider view of Arcadia’s various landscapes.
All in all, I found The Outer Worlds 2 to be exactly what I want from a series’ second outing; it builds on the foundation set by the original, improves what needs improving and doubles down on what made the game great in the first place. It does exactly what an immersive RPG should, making the skills you build and the choices you make matter. There’s no sense of FOMO if you miss out on a skill check, because there’s always multiple ways to address a challenge. You’ll never feel like you have the “wrong” build, because Arcadia is ready and willing to meet you where you are – whether that’s an ex-convict gunslinger, a cartoonish Earth Directorate agent, or an idiot savant who can’t stop accidentally saving the universe.
The Outer Worlds 2 is more of everything I liked before in The Outer Worlds, but dialled up to 110% – just like a new and improved offering from Auntie’s Choice! It’s available from 29 October on Windows PC via Steam and Battle.net, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PS5, and also be available via Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play Anywhere. If you want to play slightly earlier, you can pay extra for the privilege.
The Outer Worlds 2 was reviewed using a promotional code on PS5, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.
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The Outer Worlds 229 October 2025PC PS5 Xbox Series S & X
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