The Outer Worlds 2 is Obsidian Entertainment’s sequel to its well-received sci-fi comedy adventure from 2019. And after its E3 2021 debut, it functionally retreated into deep space while Obsidian toiled away on its other in-development titles, like Avowed, but the studio followed up again in 2024.
Ending the year on an even bigger note than more Avowed teases, Obsidian shared its first in-game look at The Outer Worlds 2 at The Game Awards. It's a lot of what you'd expect from a sequel, with evil corporate lackeys to chew through, some zany action, and otherworldly space biomes. Lots of that last one, and they're awfully pretty.
Here's what little we know, and everything we can speculate, about The Outer Worlds 2.
Is there a The Outer Worlds 2 release date?
We don't have a release date for The Outer Worlds 2 yet, but we know Obsidian plans to release the sequel sometime in 2025.
During 2024's The Game Awards, the studio shared its first gameplay trailer with a 2025 release window. That makes 2024 a busy one for Obsidian, as Avowed—its other big RPG—launches on February 18, 2025.
The Outer Worlds 2 Trailers
Here is The Outer Worlds 2 gameplay trailer from The Game Awards 2024
With a tone just as cheeky as ever, The Outer Worlds 2 debuted its first gameplay trailer at the TGAs, promising the sequel includes "everything that should have been in the first game." You'll punch some guys in the head, wield weapons designed to defy common sense, and it'll all look better. Or at least that's what I assume "more graphics" means.
The gameplay bits here are pretty quick flashes, but it's a neat demonstration of the sequel's arsenal along with the generational makeover. From a glance, the combat certainly looks a bit snappier, and it seems Obsidian is working on fancy new takedown kills and stealth mechanics.
Here is The Outer Worlds 2 E3 2021 trailer
You can watch the Outer Worlds 2 E3 2021 trailer above. It’s a tongue-in-cheek cinematic reveal that shows off a bunch of videogame trailer tropes while an “old, wise-sounding voice” makes sarcastic comments about the footage. We open on a “quiet, peaceful setting,” whereupon the silence is quickly broken by a giant monster stomping on a small animal. “Will this creature be in the game?” The voice asks. “No, say goodbye to it forever.”
The video carries on in this knockabout vein, culminating with a wide shot of a desert planet overlooked by the game’s hero. Only, we don’t see what the hero looks like because “the developers haven’t finished the design. Or finished the story. Or finished any gameplay that’s actually ready to show. In fact, the only thing they have finished is the title.”
It's amusing and clever, but in terms of information it's about as useful as a set of barbells on the International Space Station.
The Outer Worlds 2 story and setting
Where is The Outer Worlds 2 set?
Shockingly, we don’t know exactly where The Outer Worlds 2 is set, but we do know that it’ll be moving away from the Halcyon system that formed the main setting for the first game. In a tweet revealing the new trailer, the official Outer Worlds Twitter account mentions a “New star system.”
The Game Awards' trailer teased that again in December 2024, showing off The Outer Worlds' colorful follow-up setting. Obsidian noted it's "a new colony, with an even newer crew," but who knows if we'll get to revisit any old haunts from the original.
Looking at the cinematic trailer, some locations that we see include a lush forest world and a vast, cracked desert interspersed with mountain-sized blue crystals emerging from the ground. Of course, it’s impossible to know whether these are representative of locations that will appear in the game, or if it’s another one of the trailer’s jokes.
What is The Outer Worlds 2’s story?
Absolutely no idea. The only clue revealed in the cinematic trailer is the appearance of Moon Man at the title reveal. Moon Man is the mascot of Spacer’s Choice, an Outer Worlds corporation that specialises in producing cheap consumer products. Spacer’s Choice is owned by Universal Defence Logistics, which is itself a part of the Halcyon Holdings Corporation.
Hence, it’s likely that Halcyon Holdings will appear in The Outer Worlds 2 in some form.
In the more recent gameplay trailer, Obsidian doesn't get into the specifics in the more recent gameplay trailer, either, with the studio only promising an adventure "in a new colony with an even newer crew." Wherever it takes place, the new environments are awfully pretty, filled with desert-like biomes under bright red skyboxes, grungy metal halls, and funky flourishes of fauna that look equally as dangerous as they are pretty.
[Spoilers for the Outer Worlds follow, for more speculation].
Given how The Outer Worlds ends with the protagonist being offered full leadership over the Halcyon colony, it’ll be interesting to see how Obsidian builds on this; whether they’ll try to tie in the story of Halcyon and the Stranger, or whether the sequel will be largely separate, with only small references to the first game.
More broadly, taking into account the general tone of the trailer, we can safely assume that The Outer Worlds 2 will be thematically similar to the first game, boasting a mixture of zany humour and corporate satire.
Which characters will feature in The Outer Worlds 2?
According to the above announcement tweet, as well as a new solar system, The Outer Worlds 2 will feature a “new crew.” This makes sense given the multiple ways the first game could end, and all the different potential fates of your party. While there’s no evidence to support this, it’s also likely that you’ll play as a brand new protagonist, since Obsidian’s games are all about building and developing your character from scratch.
Personally, I'm hoping that the sequel goes all-out on the new party. The first game's companions were all slightly different flavours of human, so for the sequel I want to see some weirder concepts. A totally out-there alien like Mass Effect's Hanar. An ED-209 style killer robot with attachment issues. A talking quasar. A friendly gas. Give me strange, Obsidian!
The Outer Worlds 2 gameplay details
How will The Outer Worlds 2 play?
Judging from the gameplay trailer, a lot like the first but crispier. The first gameplay trailer shows off a lot of the same action, but with some clear upgrades given the technical jump. It's quite smooth, faster than before, and brings along the same bizarre arsenal you'd expect from the first.
There's also more stealth, hopefully building on the typical Bethesda-style crouching and ambushing. The Fallout-style open world seems to make a return, too, and Obsidian teased this one took "three times longer to make" though it's "two times bigger." That's about all we know, though, so there could be some super secret Kart racer bits hidden within the sequel and we wouldn't be able to confirm or deny it.
One thing I'd like to see is Obsidian smarten up the combat. The Outer Worlds' combat basically read straight from Fallout 4's hymn sheet, and Fallout 4 was a middling shooter to begin with. I don't expect it to be Doom Eternal, but making fights a bit more challenging and dynamic, with AI that's slight
Is The Outer Worlds 2 coming to Game Pass?
Oh my goodness, a fact! Yes. The Outer Worlds 2 will be coming to Game Pass on day one, so anyone with a Game Pass subscription will be able to play it the moment it launches.
Will you be able to kill your companion's love interest on their first date together?
If you can't, then what's the point?
