Obsidian's Sequel Struggles to Attain the Stars
More expansive isn't always better. That's a tired saying, yet it's also the truest way to sum up my thoughts after spending many hours with The Outer Worlds 2. Developer Obsidian added more of everything to the next installment to its 2019 futuristic adventure ā increased comedy, adversaries, firearms, attributes, and places, all the essentials in titles of this genre. And it functions superbly ā initially. But the burden of all those daring plans makes the game wobble as the hours wear on.
An Impressive First Impression
The Outer Worlds 2 creates a powerful first impression. You belong to the Earth Directorate, a altruistic agency dedicated to restraining unscrupulous regimes and corporations. After some capital-D Drama, you end up in the Arcadia sector, a settlement fractured by hostilities between Auntie's Selection (the result of a merger between the original game's two major companies), the Guardians (communalism extended to its worst logical conclusion), and the Ascendant Brotherhood (reminiscent of the Church, but with mathematics instead of Jesus). There are also a series of fissures causing breaches in the universe, but right now, you urgently require get to a communication hub for pressing contact purposes. The issue is that it's in the middle of a battlefield, and you need to figure out how to arrive.
Following the original, Outer Worlds 2 is a FPS adventure with an main narrative and dozens of side quests distributed across multiple locations or areas (big areas with a much to discover, but not open-world).
The opening region and the process of reaching that relay hub are impressive. You've got some goofy encounters, of course, like one that involves a agriculturalist who has fed too much sugary treats to their beloved crustacean. Most direct you toward something helpful, though ā an unforeseen passage or some new bit of intel that might unlock another way onward.
Unforgettable Sequences and Missed Chances
In one unforgettable event, you can come across a Defender runaway near the overpass who's about to be executed. No task is tied to it, and the exclusive means to locate it is by exploring and paying attention to the ambient dialogue. If you're quick and sufficiently cautious not to let him get slain, you can save him (and then save his defector partner from getting slain by creatures in their lair later), but more relevant to the current objective is a power line obscured in the undergrowth in the vicinity. If you trace it, you'll discover a concealed access point to the communication hub. There's a different access point to the station's drainage system tucked away in a grotto that you might or might not detect contingent on when you pursue a specific companion quest. You can locate an readily overlooked character who's essential to saving someone's life 20 hours later. (And there's a stuffed animal who implicitly sways a team of fighters to support you, if you're considerate enough to save it from a explosive area.) This opening chapter is packed and engaging, and it feels like it's brimming with substantial plot opportunities that rewards you for your curiosity.
Diminishing Expectations
Outer Worlds 2 fails to meet those initial expectations again. The next primary region is structured like a location in the original game or Avowed ā a expansive territory dotted with key sites and secondary tasks. They're all thematically relevant to the conflict between Auntie's Selection and the Ascendant Brotherhood, but they're also mini-narratives separated from the main story narratively and location-wise. Don't expect any environmental clues directing you to alternative options like in the initial area.
Regardless of compelling you to choose some difficult choices, what you do in this zone's side quests has no impact. Like, it genuinely is irrelevant, to the degree that whether you enable war crimes or lead a group of refugees to their demise results in merely a casual remark or two of dialogue. A game doesn't have to let each mission influence the narrative in some big, dramatic fashion, but if you're making me choose a group and pretending like my decision counts, I don't think it's unfair to hope for something further when it's over. When the game's previously demonstrated that it can be better, any diminishment appears to be a trade-off. You get additional content like Obsidian promised, but at the price of substance.
Ambitious Plans and Absent Drama
The game's intermediate phase tries something similar to the main setup from the initial world, but with clearly diminished flair. The idea is a courageous one: an related objective that spans two planets and encourages you to request help from various groups if you want a easier route toward your aim. Aside from the repeat setup being a slightly monotonous, it's also absent the drama that this type of situation should have. It's a "pact with the devil" moment. There should be hard concessions. Your connection with either faction should count beyond earning their approval by doing new tasks for them. All of this is absent, because you can merely power through on your own and achieve the goal anyway. The game even makes an effort to give you methods of doing this, pointing out different ways as additional aims and having partners tell you where to go.
It's a side effect of a broader issue in Outer Worlds 2: the anxiety of letting you be unhappy with your decisions. It regularly overcompensates in its attempts to ensure not only that there's an alternative path in most cases, but that you realize its presence. Secured areas almost always have several entry techniques marked, or nothing worthwhile internally if they do not. If you {can't
