🔗 Share this article

Upon my initial experience with the original Outer Worlds game, I was quickly hooked by its sarcastic, Fallout-like brand of humor. This title boasted engaging exchanges, personal journals, and propaganda materials that portrayed a company-run society that was at once dark and entertaining. My primary concern approaching the sequel was that this version – through no fault from itself – wouldn't be as comedic like the original.

Sure, situations weren't flawless. Yet society definitely felt slightly less fractured in those days. The Outer Worlds showed a bleak future that didn't hit overly familiar, and still managed to be simultaneously heartwarming and comical. I began the sequel pretty sure that this release wouldn't manage to pull this off once more, but I'm pleased to report that I was mistaken. The Outer Worlds 2 is just as chuckle-inducing as the release that preceded it, and also introduces original ideas rather than merely repeating the same content similar to a overused corporate jingle.

Evolving Characters

Most of the non-player characters gamers met in the original game had been defeated by the activities of business corporations such as the in-game corporation, and were acutely conscious of the extent to which their lives sucked. This installment moves events in a distinct route, including personalities who are programmed (periodically symbolically, regularly truly). A lot of these personalities aren't even aware of how extremely screwed up their circumstances are, or that there may exist options to a lifetime passed under the domination of a massive corporation or restricted by the doctrines of an intense faith.

This follow-up explores types of company influence that are more subtle than simply keeping the masses poor. Many NPCs have been indoctrinated into the type of excessively zealous "grindset mindset" rhetoric you'll find on social media accounts that vow to show the secret of achievement should you purchase an expensive course, or invest in a questionable digital currency plan. Even the game's business promotion has progressed.

Contemporary Issues

There continue to be numerous unmotivational posters throughout facilities warning about deducting staff compensation who even consider having a break, but furthermore exist mentions of multi-level marketing tactics, such as a new hire handbook that confidently announces, "Unknown people are merely patrons you have yet to encounter!" As an individual who developed within a multi-level marketing family, I promptly exploded in amusement when encountering this allusion, because it's a phrase I have frequently encountered stated precisely by people at the base of these systems.

Thankfully, this follow-up is as comedic and sarcastic as the original title.

The Outer Worlds 2 furthermore explores the predicament various individuals experience when it comes to employment, politics, and including buying decisions: Being forced to select the reduced of multiple bad options. While attempting to choose whether to back a dangerous corporate entity or a dangerous religious group in the game, I discovered I was supporting the devil I know: An established business organization that is awful (but only uses promotion to brainwash its subjects), instead of the cult, which also sucks, but uses a terrible method named "mental refreshment" to maintain its followers obedient.

Questionable Employers

Even the people you represent might not be dependable. As an space operative, you're tasked with attempting to restore order to this settlement after an aggressive business acquisition, and you rapidly learn that the two the invaders and the defenders follow differing (yet equally horrific) doctrines. However, a rapid examination of the messages on your ship's terminal show that this organization isn't exactly the universe's most principled authority either, as evidenced by an answer to a distress call that notifies the contact it will take "three to five business years" for a response to their communication. (That time frame is approximately the time it takes for me to contact a human customer service agent via telephone currently.)

Relatable Moments

Numerous instances in The Outer Worlds 2 are painfully relatable, but it's a cleansing sort of relatability, and this title manages to balance its grim future world with humor that's genuinely funny yet not seeming incongruous. A primary concept is the near-instant onset of deterioration that seems to take place in the wake of large company takeovers. Employees on both sides of The Outer Worlds 2's significant consolidation experience their living standards decrease therefore, while the executives at the top of the hierarchy are, expectedly, collecting money quickly.

Hey, at least I understand where I stand.

Comparable to the first game, The Outer Worlds 2 is intrinsically comedic, but it also doesn't hesitate to become dramatic. At one point, while traveling around the release's primary explorable world, I came upon a corpse with an audio log close by. This recording revealed that this NPC (associated with the programming faith group) had been killed in an event while attempting to locate and eliminate her romantic partner. This partner had apparently defected from their organization, and the perished individual was enraged by her lover's {traitorous