Are you ready for an Obsidian first-person RPG? Guess what, we’re getting two next year.
At The Game Awards 2024, The Outer Worlds 2 finally resurfaced after so long being dormant. That previous trailer back in 2021 was basically nothing but (funny) jokes and serves as a clear indicator that following Microsoft’s acquisition of Obsidian, The Outer Worlds IP is theirs, no Take-Two and Private Division (which Take-Two recently sold off to a still yet-to-be-revealed third party).
The trailer kicks off with another self-aware joke. Instead of loudly proclaiming the studio was behind the much-loved Fallout New Vegas like that trailer and positioning itself as a spiritual successor of sorts (which A: didn’t work as a spiritual successor and B: would be weird to one-up and cannibalising Bethesda, which in some silly twist of fate and corporate mergers, are also of Microsoft these days).
Instead, the trailer jokes about Obsidian being the team behind good sequels of influential RPGs like Star Wars Knights Of The Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2, and… Fallout 3 Part II (New Vegas). Surely, The Outer Worlds 2 will live up to that expectation, of being another good sequel by Obsidian, at least.
Hopefully so. The new trailer shows more of the retro-future capitalist frontier with more stuff. The combat looks to have a bit more meat on the bones with new moves and weapons.
But really, one would hope The Outer Worlds 2 can still pull off its commentary on capitalist corporations now that developer is part of it. It’s still unclear if that one one-on-one scene at the end of the trailer is supposed to mimic the Fallout-style conversation screen where the NPC you’re talking to takes up the center of the screen, or it is something in-game. If it is in-game, the mustached gentleman sure looks lively here with that performance capture. Is this what they meant by “more graphics”?
With Avowed, Obsidian’s other first-person RPG, pushed to 2025, we now land in an awkward position where they would be two Obsidian first-person RPGs. Forget cannibalising Bethesda, is Xbox letting Obsidian cannibalising themselves? It would not be a surprise if The Outer Worlds 2 is pushed into the next (next) year.
What’s surprising is that the trailer commits to a PS5 release. Xbox is walking back on exclusives, previously exclusive titles like Hi-Fi Rush, Sea Of Thieves and Obsidian’s own Grounded are all on PlayStation. Though with Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, the PS5 release is a few months away while no news about Avowed on PlayStation yet. But The Outer Worlds 2 will on PS5, just like its predecessor was a multi-platform release.
The Outer Worlds 2, for now, is set to release in 2025 on PS5, PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) and Xbox Series X|S. It will also launch on Game Pass.