The Outer Worlds 2 Review (PC): Better Than Before but Lacking the Spark

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good RPG game. Especially those that you might call a western RPG, such as the games built by studios like Obsidian. I have enjoyed almost every game that Obsidian has made in the last two decades. Which is why I was very excited to see what their latest sci fi role playing game The Outer Worlds 2 had in store for me. How would it build on the original and evolve this well-trodden formula? What wonderful characters and story would I discover? Well, there lies the problem. So, let’s get into it in this The Outerhaven’s review of The Outer Worlds 2.

Game Name: The Outer Worlds 2
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (reviewed)
Publisher(s): Xbox Games Studios
Developer(s): Obsidian Entertainment
Release Date: 29th October 2025

Before we get any further into this review, I want to begin with the full disclosure that I not enjoy the story in The Outer Worlds 2. This does not mean I hate the game by any stretch and if you choose to stick with me for the rest of this review, all will become very clear.

The Story Falls Flat With Boring Companions

Just like any good RPG you begin by creating your character, setting up their background, allocating initial skill points, and spending hours tweaking their looks. Then your story begins, sort of.

In The Outer Worlds 2 you find yourself playing as an Earth Directorate agent (think of them like peacekeepers) who after a major event in the first couple of hours, which I will not spoil here, finds themself on a quest of revenge after gone missing for over a decade.

Upon waking up the first thing you do is reunite with two old crew mates who apparently did search for you previously. Clearly, they did not do a great job as you were not that far from the site of the inciting incident, and you had been there ten years. After some initial conversations you and your two companions travel to a nearby planet in the hopes of tracking someone down. It is here that your story really begins as you come into contact with Auntie’s Choice and The Protectorate, two of The Outer Worlds 2’s four factions. Let’s just say they do not like each other and there is a bit of a war going on.

This core narrative is not something anyone is unfamiliar with, which could be a negative, but I love a good revenge tale. So, I was happy with the initial setup of the story and world. However, this feeling of excitement soon died out like a candle being sprayed with a fire hose.

For me, the heart and soul of any RPG are the story it tells and the characters you meet along the way. Just this year alone I can think of characters like Gustave and Maelle from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or characters like Kai and Yatzli from Obsidian’s own Avowed that grabbed me and stuck with me from the moment I met them till this very day. Characters and moments that stay long in your memory even months or years after playing the game.

Unfortunately, on this front The Outer Worlds 2 absolutely catastrophically failed to capture and hold my attention. The story unravels at a snail’s pace beyond the opening few hours, only becoming more predictable and less interesting the more I played. Companions while initially interesting quickly grow into one note annoyances more than anything else, leaving them unwanted and unmemorable.

This becomes even more frustrating because I actually think the writing throughout The Outer Worlds 2 is some of Obsidian’s best work. The side quests and world building away from the main narrative are infinitely more interesting and feel more dynamic to boot. When it comes to characters, listening to random NPCs talk or even sing about their work and other things was always fun. I could easily spend hours just following NPCs around and I would have more fun than any of the companion conversations.

I love the satire beaming throughout The Outer Worlds universe and when they lean into it was when I had the most fun here with The Outer Worlds 2. The problem is that the one note companions would lean too heavily in certain directions, leaving them with a lack of balance to remain interesting. The more I played The Outer Worlds 2 this combined with the increasingly uninteresting core narrative left me not really caring about continuing the story itself.

Familiar Systems Make A Return

Of course, this would have been fine if the systems in The Outer Worlds 2 were great and in truth they mostly are. The skills you choose to upgrade and perks you can unlock as you level up all have a massive impact on your gameplay experience from moment to moment. For example, if you spec into engineering and you might be able to fix a lift or open doors allowing you to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Perhaps you want to spec into firearms to make the most of The Outer Worlds 2’s massively improved, smoother and more responsive gunplay. Then you might want to upgrade your hacking skill to allow you to access new information on computers you can then use in conversations when needed.

Just keep in mind that you cannot respec at any time like you could in the original Outer Worlds. Your choices really matter here in The Outer Worlds 2 and I for one approve of that tweak to the system. It adds weight to your choices while also allowing for vastly different playthroughs, adding lots of replayability.

The issue I have with the systems and gameplay in The Outer Worlds 2 is it just all feels old, sure gunplay is more responsive and smooth but at its core it is the same gunplay we have seen not only in the first Outer Worlds but even resembles the combat of Fallout: New Vegas. That is why we still have things like Tactical Time Dilation, the Outer Worlds version of VATS from the Fallout series.

When the core systems of your game are based on tweaks and improvements to systems that are decades old at this point, then those systems better be amazing and The Outer Worlds 2’s systems are good, a definite improvement over the original but they just feel a bit unimaginative.

A Bright Spark Creating A Twinkle In The Eye

When it comes to presentation, I cannot really fault The Outer Worlds 2, it offers lush vibrant landscapes, colorful unique looking characters, and more. All of which help give the franchise its own identity even when the systems themselves fail to do so.

Similarly, the audio is a real bright spark here. I mentioned earlier NPCs singing songs which are all original to the game. Just like the radio stations you can tune into throughout The Outer Worlds 2 each with their own bespoke music created just for the game.

Then you have the start menu each time you boot up the game, I will not spoil it here, but I will say it is one of the more imaginative start screens I can remember in gaming.

Performance Is A Mixed Bag But Improving

Playing The Outer Worlds 2 on PC has provided a mixed bag experience on the technical front. Firstly, I am playing at 4K on the optimized settings suggested by Digital Foundry which you can find at the 16:25 mark in the video below:

The reason I am using these settings is because I was not really satisfied that The Outer Worlds 2 was optimized well enough to get the best out of my PC. I was not able to achieve a stable 60 frames per second at 4K native and was only hitting 70fps by changing to DLSS Quality mode even with all ray tracing off at the game’s highest available settings. However, switching to these optimized settings while using DLSS Quality gets me consistently between 100 to 120fps which is more than enough for this type of single player game.

I did encounter some bugs such as being stuck occasionally but nothing a quick reload wouldn’t fix. It’s also worth mentioning that these bugs have become less and less frequent with each patch released by the developers.

Final Thoughts

Look, I cannot sit here and say The Outer Worlds 2 is a bad game, because that would be a huge exaggeration. There is a good time to be had here, with an interesting world to explore, engaging side content, funny NPCs, and more.

It’s core narrative just fell so flat, and the companions felt so uninspired that I am not sure The Outer Worlds 2 is anything more than good, and in 2025, a fantastic year for RPGs of all shapes and sizes. I am not sure being good at something we have seen many times before is good enough anymore.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of The Outer Worlds 2 was provided to us for review purposes by Xbox. For more information on how we review video games and other media or technology, please review our Review Guideline and Scoring Policy for more info.

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