The Outer Worlds 2 Review

 

The Outer Worlds 2 – or: “What If Fallout Got a Facelift but Still Forgot Its Soul”

Ah, The Outer Worlds 2, the sequel nobody exactly asked for but everyone quietly hoped might fix the first one’s terminal case of mediocrity. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. Obsidian has returned with another round of “space capitalism bad” satire—because nothing says cutting-edge social commentary like beating a dead corporate horse for another 40 hours while pretending it’s profound.

Let’s start with the story. You once again play a witty space adventurer caught between soulless megacorps, rebellious misfits, and moral choices that don’t matter because every ending still feels like the writers were too tired to pick a side. The game tries to sound smart—oh, it tries—with dialogue dripping in pseudo-philosophical sarcasm, as if written by someone who just discovered Reddit debates about ethics in capitalism. By hour ten, you’ll be desperately wishing for a “skip quippy banter” button.

The companions? Yep, they’re back—each one a quirky stereotype with just enough tragic backstory to make you pretend to care. You’ve got your obligatory idealist, your edgy mercenary, your socially awkward scientist, and that one character who exists purely to remind you that “corporations bad” every five minutes. Imagine Mass Effect’s Normandy crew, but everyone’s read one too many tweets about worker solidarity.

And let’s talk gameplay. It’s still Fallout in space, except smoother, shinier, and somehow even less impactful. Gunplay feels like it was designed by someone who’s seen guns, but never actually held one. The “Time Dilation” ability makes combat easier, but it’s mostly a reminder that even the developers knew you’d get bored shooting bullet-sponges with personality-free plasma rifles.

The RPG elements? Still flatter than the planets you explore. You’ll make choices—lots of them!—that ultimately funnel into the same three endings wearing different-colored space coats. You can be a corporate sellout, a chaotic rebel, or a vaguely moral freelancer. Whichever you pick, the galaxy still ends up feeling like an abandoned shopping mall.

Now, the visuals are nice—credit where due. The planets are gorgeous in that “Unreal Engine 5 demo” way, and the lighting makes you forget for a second that there’s nothing meaningful to do in these places. It’s like visiting a luxury resort built entirely out of cardboard sets.

And the tone? Oh, it’s self-aware. Painfully self-aware. Every quest winks at you like, “Hey, we know we’re a video game!”—as if breaking the fourth wall excuses writing that barely clears the first. At one point, the narrator literally mocks sequel tropes, which would’ve been clever if the game didn’t immediately proceed to embody every single one of them.

In the end, The Outer Worlds 2 is the ultimate Obsidian experience: intelligent enough to make you think it has depth, but shallow enough that you’ll forget everything about it within a week. It’s a game that desperately wants to be profound but settles for “mildly amusing.” It’s like being lectured about corporate greed by someone wearing a limited-edition Obsidian hoodie.

Final verdict:
⭐ 6/10 — Pretty, witty, and about as deep as a puddle on Terra 2.

Would I recommend it? Sure—if you enjoy sarcastic monologues, mildly fun shooting, and watching Obsidian pretend it’s still the rebellious underdog while owned by Microsoft. Otherwise, maybe just replay New Vegas and pretend it’s set in space.