The Outer Worlds 2 game director Brandon Adler says players want "deeper RPGs," and that's exactly what Obsidian is trying to nail with the follow-up.
Speaking to Danny Peña (thanks, Wccftech), Adler is asked what some of the biggest lessons are that Obsidian is applying to The Outer Worlds 2 from the first game. The short answer is depth, allowing players to really dig into the finer aspects of things.
"Players want deeper RPGs," he says, before explaining that developers can end up smoothing down the "rough edges" and streamlining things a "little bit" too much.
"That's fine for some games, but also players just really want to be able to get in there," he says. "They want to just be able to get the crunchy number stuff, but also just make all the different types of builds they can. They want all of the RPG options that a lot of times we've been kind of slowly removing or streamlining and slimming down.
"So I think, again, that the big lesson from the first game to the second is let's give the players those options. Let's give them that stuff to interact with, and I think that they'll be appreciative of that."
While Adler isn't quite looking to The Outer Worlds for notes on making in-depth RPGs, some "old Obsidian games and the style of game we used to do a lot" have seemingly provided some welcome inspiration.
"How can we bring that back to the forefront, modernize a little bit, but really get back to those sensibilities of a really strong RPG that really focuses on player agency and player choice, and the consequences of those things, and just making sure that all of our content really leans into that like that," he says. "That’s been the thing that’s been a lot of fun for me."
