There will be at least one major difference between The Outer Worlds 2 and its predecessor: it features a third-person view. Heavily demanded since the first game, Obsidian made the decision to include the option entirely because of consistent fan feedback.
A lingering criticism of The Outer Worlds was the lack of choice between first-person and third-person. As Obsidian was behind Fallout: New Vegas, another expansive sci-fi RPG that included a toggle for the two perspectives, it was disappointing when no such inclusion came in the team’s newest original project.
After six years, we're finally getting the sequel, and while third-person POV is available, it wasn’t part of the agenda to begin with. "We actually didn't start doing it until, really, maybe about two years ago or so," Brandon Adler, The Outer Worlds 2 game director, told Game Informer.
Implementing these things isn't simple, and priorities had to fall in line with budget and scheduling concerns. But as development wore on, it became clear not only could they fit this in, they absolutely should as a way of acknowledging the community.
"You're like, 'It's too expensive for us to do some of these things; maybe on the next one,'" Adler adds. "But again, about halfway through, we were like, 'I think people are really going to want this,' so we did an evaluation of how difficult it was going to be to implement it."
Obsidian drafted in another studio, Disruptive, to focus solely on taking every aspect of the role-playing blockbuster and making it workable in third-person. The results will, hopefully, be to everyone’s liking come October 29.
Big Preview: The Outer Worlds 2 – Exclusive access and hands-on with the quirky sci-fi RPG
