The Outer Worlds 2 review: "The Fallout New Vegas creators have crafted a masterful space age RPG that's willing to play game master to my silliest decisions"

Within the first hour of The Outer Worlds 2, a gut feeling takes hold that tells me this is going to be exactly the kind of RPG experience I'm always looking for. I'm talking about a role-playing adventure that not only allows me to shape my character from the get-go by putting a myriad of choices at my fingertips, but one that also – more crucially – reacts to each and every decision I make.

The feeling initially takes root in the character creator suite as I deliberate over a wealth of options to bring my very own Earth Directorate agent to life – who's tasked with keeping corporations and the powers that be in check. Putting together their look, assigning their background, choosing their characteristic traits, I deliberate over the two skills I want to invest in to start out with (should I prioritize silver-tonguing my way through space by choosing Speech… or maybe I can go all in on being a rootin', tootin' gunslinger by assigning a point to Guns from the get-go?).

It truly feels like filling out an RPG character sheet. And developer Obsidian is more than willing to immediately step into the role of game master – as within moments of beginning my The Outer Worlds 2 journey my chosen background at once feeds into the opening, with my traits and skills opening up approaches and responses throughout my questline.

Then, during my very first conversation with Niles – a starry-eyed new recruit assigned to assist me on my initial mission to look into some mysterious rifts – my RPG-loving heart begins to swell when I select my first dialogue response. "This will be remembered" appears on screen, signifying my soon-to-be companion is taking my words on board. It's not until later that the impact of my advice rears its head, but the simple fact that it does tells me that my presence in this world has an effect, and it's just the kind of feedback I sorely crave. Some 60 hours later, I'm happy to report that my gut feeling proved to be completely accurate. Bigger in scope in every regard, with the level of depth needed to back it up, The Outer Worlds 2 affords you the freedom to shape every step of your adventure in the Arcadia colony in what is easily one of the most memorable RPGs Obsidian has created since Fallout: New Vegas.

Flawed hero

Obsidian's mantra of "play your way" is baked into every molecule of The Outer Worlds 2's DNA. All of its systems allow you to tailor your experience, from the skills, perks, and flaws you can choose, to the responses you pick, and the weapons you wield – right down to the gadgets you discover and opt to use. The studio gives you absolute freedom to decide who you want to be and how you want to approach every scenario.

My chosen Gambler background and Witty trait, for example, offer up unique dialogue options that can sometimes swing things in my favor, and I love how it adds to the sense of role-play; imbuing my character with sensibilities and values. My two starting skills – Lockpick and Speech – on the other hand, allow me to access areas otherwise closed off, or influence others with my gift of the gab.

On the flip side, I can also see how my decision not to invest in other skills or backgrounds has blocked off certain advantages or opportunities, like using Hack to dig into a terminal, or being unable to read a chalkboard filled with mysterious equations that someone with the Professor background could easily make sense of. The amount of freedom and choice is impressive, but more importantly, the paths open and closed to me clearly signal that the way I've chosen to shape my character – even very early on – actually matters, tangibly affecting the way I'm able to engage with the story and progress through quests.

You can invest in any skills as you level up, which then determine which perks you can unlock for each – bonus abilities that stem from each discipline. The many perks can be great boons to your chosen playstyle and your desired way of role-playing, opening up further ways to interact with the world in and out of combat. Invest in the Engineering skill, for example, and you can get a perk that lets you hack and mess with auto-mechanicals (The Outer Worlds 2's name for armored mechs), or put points into Speech for a perk that lowers the price of vendors.

Each skill and perk is clearly visible in the menu, too – meaning it's a breeze to plan out my goals to match the playstyle I want to stick to… or to be swayed by a juicy looking bonus and change my tactic. Empowering me to make decisions to shape my approach helps me role-play, and as someone counts the likes of Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Baldur's Gate 3 among my best RPGs, I feel right at home with The Outer Worlds 2.

Flaws, on the other hand, offer extra buffs which are always countered with negative effects. Offered to you like RPG bait on a hook by reacting to your role-playing habits, choosing to cultivate and accept these flaws can work to your advantage and it's entirely up to you to decide if you want to take on any at all. While some highlight humorous (and highly relatable) hindrances, others can drastically alter the way you experience and play the game, offering up new avenues to tailor your experience and bring an added level of challenge should you want it.

Opting for stealth is always my preferred approach when it's offered, and since The Outer Worlds 2 has a dedicated Stealth skill and perks to enhance it, I jumped at the chance to give my character a sneaky build. Not only does the RPG improve its enemy detection system to make my stealthy approach far more satisfying to execute, but Flaws crop up based on my stealthy habits that can improve my cloak and dagger prowess, or make life more difficult.

Thanks to my constant crouching stance, I'm offered the option to have Bad Knees, which increases my crouching speed, but makes my movements far louder and more easily detectable whenever I get down low (something I don't take on). My careful approach in combat to take enemies unawares also inspires the Easily Startled Flaw (one I do accept), which lowers my footstep volume and the NPC awareness detection rate, but if I'm caught by an investigating enemy, my damage resistance and evasion is ignored for eight seconds. Nobody's perfect, after all, and I appreciate that you can give your character added dimension in this way

Likewise, the huge arsenal of weapons you can discover and get your hands on allows you to decide how you want to go up against enemies. Want to feed into the sci-fi fantasy of this corporate dystopian futuristic universe with whacky science weapons? You can do that. Fancy stabbing your foes in the back as you sneak up behind them? Opt for a handy dagger, or a very cool plasma-infused blade.

But it wouldn't be space age sci-fi without some similarly futuristic weapons, and across melee and gunplay Obsidian has improved in small steps and giant leaps to improve on the far less satisfying combat of the first game. With modifications that can be added to almost every weapon to give them some added oomph, there's also a selection of discoverable gadgets – from one that turns corpses into goop to hide the evidence of your kill from nearby enemies (a personal favorite of mine), to a Tactical Time Dilation device that acts a bit like Red Dead Redemption's Dead Eye – every one I've come across has proven to be useful in some way – there's so much room to get playful and experiment to suit your playstyle. With so many possibilities, I'm already thinking about further replays.

World wonderer

While the weapons and character systems present plenty of fodder to try out new approaches and different builds, The Outer Worlds 2 is absolutely packed full of narrative choices – both big and small. From major decisions that can alter the course of the main questline (complete with some drastic consequences), to smaller ones in side quests, your presence and actions have a direct impact on shaping the story and even your companions.

Exploration can play a factor in these choices as well. Poke around in a world's key locations and you may uncover secrets that you can put to use later. Tantalizing question marks in a conversation often point to something you've overlooked. My mind is always ablaze with possibilities whenever I spy that telltale sign; maybe I missed a terminal, or a conversation with a particular NPC, or an object that could have opened up new paths. The fact that even the discoveries I've made and the dialogue options can reflect how I've chosen to play or make progress in the world speaks to the kind of choice and consequence that I want from an RPG. This is my own personal adventure, and all the more memorable for it.

My discoveries actually having weight also makes every world I get to explore feel curated, with each location I come across having some kind of purpose behind it. Maybe I find a new weapon, or chance upon a new task or side quest. Whatever it may be, whenever I take the time to explore off the beaten path in the open zones of a planet, it never feels like I'm wasting my time, because I'm always rewarded for the effort in some way. Even the collectibles afford useful additional perks, which makes time put into finding them worthwhile.

The only slight downside is that navigation isn't always easy, with markers that aren't always intuitive. On a few occasions, I'd spy a structure on my map I'd not yet been to, and after setting down a custom marker, I'd set off in the seemingly right direction, only to find I was either on the wrong side of my desired destination, or that my path to it was blocked by the terrain. It would then be up to me to loop my way around and figure out a path that would actually let me reach it.

And while Obsidian has once again grown in ambition to deliver much larger worlds this time around, it never feels like you're just traipsing through empty space — everything is there for a reason, with thought put behind everything you can see and explore.

That's true not just of the worlds you can explore, but every part of The Outer Worlds 2. Everything feels purposeful, with a level of attention to detail that makes it all too easy to get swept up in my Earth Directorate agent's out of this world story in this sci-fi universe. This is only elevated all the more thanks to the excellent writing that brings the worlds, characters, and questlines to life. Infused with humor that had me laughing out loud on more occasions than I can count, there are so many moments I won't soon forget.

Companions have similarly been brought to life with the same level of care, acting as gateways into the factions of the world, they each have their own distinctive personalities and stories to tell. Also feeding into the combat with skillsets you can upgrade which can helpfully complement your own fighting style – such as Aza's stealthy abilities, or Niles' engineering know-how — you can have two of them in your party at any one time, and the banter they can share while you're out and about is a constant highlight. By the end of the adventure, all I wanted was more time with each and every one of them; which says it all.

The Outer Worlds 2 is peak Obsidian in every possible way, and as a lifelong RPG fan, it has exactly the kind of feedback and breadth of choice I constantly crave. Don't stress the sequel number, either – you can easily enjoy this as a newcomer, and this is so improved I'd recommend that you do. The Outer Worlds 2 is a stunning sci-fi adventure that feels like the RPG studio can finally deliver on decades of ambition – this shoots for the stars, and lands you, the player, firmly among them.