Space, the final frontier. While many dream about going into space and beyond, others worry about the consequences of doing so. Will we ruin our planet in pursuit of exploring others? In countless games, the story goes that humanity destroyed itself or was destroyed afterwards due to its desire to explore space. Games such as Halo, No Man’s Sky, Starfield, Dead Space, and Mass Effect are just a few examples of humanity being punished for their desire to explore the great beyond. In 2019, Obsidian Entertainment released its sci-fi follow-up to Fallout New Vegas, The Outer Worlds. 

In 2019, The Outer Worlds was nominated for Game of the Year amongst other accolades. Many deemed it a great success and felt that it lived up to their expectations set by Fallout New Vegas and South Park: The Stick of Truth. In 2021, it was announced that there would be a sequel to The Outer Worlds. Would The Outer Worlds 2 be as successful as the original, or would it fail to meet expectations? Find out in our The Outer Worlds 2 review. 

Outerworlds 2
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X
Release Date: October 29th, 2025
Players 1
Price: $69.99 

From the start of the game, you are tasked with making difficult choices. The choices you make during character creation will impact the story from the onset. During character creation, the player is tasked with choosing their Background (Ex-Convict, Gambler, Lawbringer, Professor, Renegade, & Roustabout), Positive & Negative Traits (Brawny, Brilliant, Heroic, Innovative, Lucky, Nimble, Resilient, Suave, & Witty)(Abrasive, Dumb, & Sickly), and Skills (Engineering, Explosives, Guns, Hack, Leadership, Lockpick, Melee, Medical, Observation, Science, Sneak, and Speech). Depending on the Traits you take, you can get bonuses or get locked out of certain skills completely. 

The Skills, Background, and Traits you take can all impact the game’s overall story. Each character aspect can unlock a different response to a part of the story’s narrative. If a skill isn’t high enough, it can lock you out of certain options. Due to a trait we took early on, we were forced to level up each of our skills evenly, blocking us out of different choices and leading to some negative narrative side effects. As you play through the story, you will be offered different traits with positive and negative aspects; you will have to decide if these traits will benefit you or hold you back. 

The game features a ton of character choices beyond the characters’ background and quirks. When designing a character, the player is able to adjust their character’s facial structures, hair, prosthetics, makeup, piercings, and tattoos. The player is not able to adjust the body size or dimensions, which limits the immersive experience. 

Once in-game, the player can modify their character by changing their gear to make them feel more unique. The gear in the game cannot be visually modified, but the player can modify their equipment to make it stronger or reinforced. Ammo in the game feels scarce, so traits and gear mods can be a matter of life and death, whether you are playing on Story or Very Hard difficulty. 

On story difficulty, the combat is almost comically easy compared to normal or higher difficulty. The skill checks in the game still remain the same, even on higher difficulties. If you do not actively spend skill points, you can save before a pivotal moment, see what skill is used, and then apply your skill points to the needed trait. 

As a whole, The Outer Worlds 2‘s story is not bad, but it feels like it lacks some of the inspiration that the original Outer Worlds had. The character’s dialogue feels like it varies between long-winded and rambly, or that the NPC is uncertain of what they want to say or believe, and needs reassurance by asking many questions. In fact, there were times when we mentally checked out of the story because the characters were just going on and on. 

Rather than focusing on the long-winded story, we just wanted to enjoy the combat, so that’s what we did. Just like the original Outer Worlds, you can choose to kill or attack anyone outside of your party. If you shoot party members, they will tell you to look out or check your accuracy. Killing quest givers can cause the quest to end or open alternative paths. Be careful who you side with because it can lock you out of certain paths, so make certain to talk to different quest givers. 

While the gameplay and narrative may be the most important factors, The Outer Worlds 2 features a ton of settings to make sure that anyone can enjoy the game. Players can adjust the level of motion blur, foliage, crowd density, shadows, and more. The game features 12 subtitled languages, but voice acting is only in English. The game features Bark, Cinematic, and Audio Log Subtitles. 

In the controls menu, the player can adjust the aim down sight, sprint, and crouch button toggles. The player can choose between a lefty and a righty grip and switch between four different button layouts; the four different controller layouts are standard, modern, legacy, and classic. If playing using a Keyboard and a Mouse, you can remap the buttons completely. 

In the gameplay settings, players can adjust the difficulty between story, normal, hard, and very hard. The player can adjust what camera angle they want to play in. The three main camera modes are First Person, Third Person Near, and Third Person Far; the game features the ability to change which shoulder to look over when playing in third person. In addition to camera angles, the player can adjust the reticle, status bars, subtitle size, and HUD notifications.

The Outer Worlds 2’s audio is a mixed bag of worms. While most of the voice acting is convincing and feels like it has real emotion to it, there are occasional moments where it feels like someone is reading off a script rather than embodying the character. This situation is not very common and would typically only occur when interacting with NPCs in the wild or during the rare sidequest. Now, there is one quest where it feels like the person is trying to have little emotion, but it keeps creeping in, which can be equally disturbing. 

The game’s soundtrack design also has its moments when it doesn’t feel right. The music and background noise when exploring the different worlds can sound more like white noise rather than creating an ominous tone. In impactful story moments, the music draws you into the setting and can make your heart race. It is a double-sided coin with its good and bad moments. 

While The Outer Worlds 2 may improve the overall gameplay experience of the franchise, the story itself feels like it has taken a step backward. If you are a fan of in-depth character narratives, then you can find yourself getting lost in the newest game. The game features a ton of quests to explore that can help you get lost in the world, improve your gear, and make friends along the way. The game’s lack of full character customization feels like it misses the mark slightly when compared to other games in the genre.

Out of all the games released in 2025, The Outerworlds 2 falls into our top 25 games of the year list, but it’s not quite Game-of-the-Year worthy. The game itself is a great narrative experience, but when you compare it to other RPGs released this year, it feels lacking, especially compared to games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Hades 2, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Digimon Story: Time Stranger, and others. 

If you are looking for a new RPG similar to Fallout, or if you loved the original The Outer Worlds, then you’ll enjoy or maybe even love the sequel. If you are just looking for a long game to play with a lot of replayability, then you will still most likely enjoy playing The Outer Worlds 2, but you might feel like something is missing. You do not need to play the original game to enjoy this one, but playing through it does give you a deeper appreciation of the game’s backstory and lore, which you do not get from playing just the second game. 

The Outer Worlds 2 was reviewed on PC using a code provided by Xbox. Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. The Outer Worlds 2 is now available for the PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.