The Outer Worlds 2 is taking big swings. Developer Obsidian Entertainment is pouring its decades of experience in the RPG genre into an undoubtedly ambitious undertaking, less a sequel and more of a statement of intent to what this developer is really capable of. Where the 2019 original lacked depth and flair, Obsidian is working to deliver an adventure that’s staggeringly reactive to whatever role-play fantasy you want to pursue across the lawless frontier of Arcadia.
This renewed focus shines through in a lot of different ways, but it’s perhaps best evidenced in the ways in which stealth has been made a viable playstyle. Game director Brandon Adler tells me that “Fallout: New Vegas and the Deus Ex games were a big inspiration”, which is clear in the synergy The Outer Worlds 2 presents between this wildly expansive approach to character building and more complex, interlocking environments.
Play Your Way
Let’s start with the world you’ll be exploring, because I think this is one of the most significant improvements that I noticed after my time playing The Outer Worlds 2. Setting out into a mysterious research facility, the variety of pathways towards my objective does summon fond memories of Eidos Montreal’s Deus Ex games. There’s locked doors and ventilation shafts, hackable electronics, and secret routes waiting to be found if you’re willing to tease the camera above the centre point of the screen.
“We’ve tried to make sure that we have good stealth paths through most of the environments,” says Adler, who explains that Obsidian has introduced throwable distraction devices and takedowns to “make it easier for players to understand” that stealth is truly viable.
“Even as we’re closing production of the game down, we have a strike team that is going through every major place of interest, room-by-room, to see if we can stealth properly through each location. And if we can’t, well, what are the adjustments? Can we change a patrol here to linger longer, not facing you? Can we place some distraction devices? We’re doing a lot of that type of stuff right now, because we want to offer this type of experience for the players who want it.”
“One of the biggest pieces of feedback we received for The Outer Worlds was around the moment-to-moment gameplay”
More complex environments and the addition of takedowns alone does not make for a compelling stealth game. Thankfully, Obsidian is matching its ambitions in this space to some really complex character building opportunities. Traits (both positive and negative) give you the ability to really lay the foundation for your fantasy.
Skills like ‘Lockpicking’ (lowering the difficulty of locked doors and increasing your invasion chance) or ‘Sneak’ (increasing stealth attack damage while decreasing the NPC awareness detection rate) allow for further specialisation. And combinations across the perk tree not only unlock new abilities but change how the entire world reacts and responds to your character.
Given the scope of these intertwining systems, it’s difficult for me to even convey just how many options you’ll have here to play your way. Say you want to build a stealth assassin, then the combination of the ‘Nimble’ Trait, skill point investment into ‘Sneak’, and the Assassin ‘Perk’ mean you’ll eventually end of moving faster when crouched than you would while standing, with your movement speed increasing dramatically every time you chain kills from stealth.
You can no doubt imagine how a combination like this would make you move like a force of nature through environments. Furthering the fun, perhaps you imbue this character build with a Flaw like ‘Bad Knees’ which dramatically improves your base movement speed, but creates a cracking sound every time you stand from a crouch – alerting enemies in the vicinity to your location. There’s an exceptional amount of depth, and that applies beyond the stealth playstyle focus I’m taking here.
“One of the biggest pieces of feedback we received for The Outer Worlds was around the moment-to-moment gameplay,” says executive producer Justin Britch. “We’re on a journey to make this nirvana RPG experience. We want everything to feel reactive; from the moment-to-moment gameplay, the dialogue choices you make, to the way you solve problems in the game,” he says, adding, “we can’t wait to see what players come up with in The Outer Worlds 2.”
The Outer Worlds 2 will release on October 29, 2025 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. It’ll also be available through Game Pass on day one.
