Marcus Morgan, Obsidian's VP of Operations, got here by IGN Live to focus on The Outer Worlds 2 in the lead up to its much-anticipated October 29 release date, together with its Flaws system, a new ice planet that has grow to be one of his favorites, a goo pistol, and more.
Morgan started by sharing that the sequel is digging deeper into the RPG facets, remarking, “Obsidian is rooted in RPGs. We wanted to evolve with Outer Worlds.” He's not even snug calling The Outer Worlds 2 half RPG, half FPS. Instead, he burdened he would "only ever call it an RPG."
However, the staff heard a lot of suggestions that followers needed gunplay and fight to evolve, so there will likely be lots of new weapons to look ahead to, together with some which can be science-based. Morgan additionally described “a melee weapon that, if you hit it to the beat, it amplifies the damage.” These new additions are meant to add to the expertise whereas retaining the RPG core.
“One of my favourite weapons is the goo pistol," Morgan added while joking he doesn't condone littering in real life. "You take this biomass canister and you dump the goo into the gun and you chuck the canister away."
Morgan also wants to let those who have never played the first Outer Worlds to know that they won't get lost in this sequel, noting, “We’re moving to a brand new colony, Arcadia. with a brand new set of characters.” He described the Earth Directorate, the organization you are part of, as “sort of the space rangers of the universe. You’re there to protect against the tyrannies of capitalism, authoritarianism and various aspects of extreme religions with certain group."
Morgan was additionally notably excited by Outer Worlds 2’s Flaws system, saying it was a means to take the ordinary thought of leveling up and placing a humorous spin on it. For instance, one of these flaws is “The Sungazer Flaw – in case you stare at the solar for too long you may regain well being however the world is blurred out.” Another is for individuals who by no means run out of ammo as you'll do more harm. If you do let it run down, nevertheless, you'll be penalized with a debuff for a bit." He described the Flaws as “A fun way to integrate progression with levity.”
As for the Psychopath Perk, Morgan remarked, “One great thing in Outer Worlds 1 is you could kill every single person, and we brought it back in Outer Worlds 2. And you'll get a perk if you do that. Also, you can finish a quest even if you kill the quest giver.” On the different hand, “You can be a pacifist if you choose. You can talk your way through the entire game [without killing anyone]. You’ve got the entire spectrum.”
When it got here to bugs, Morgan famous “We’re already in our bug fixing mode. This is probably the earliest we’ve been in that mode.”
Among the new planets in The Outer Worlds 2, Morgan revealed, “One of my favorites is a planet called Cloister. It’s a giant ice planet you go to because there’s a super computer trying to solve a big calculation.” He elaborated by saying the pc is related to one of the game’s teams of non secular fanatics who imagine they will predict the future utilizing math. In this case, the tremendous pc and the immense vitality (and ensuing warmth) it takes to energy it are on Cloister to maintain it cool, and Morgan mentioned “I loved the nuance of why we created the ice world.”
Lastly, Morgan talked about the first game’s Dumb mode and how they’re leaning into these types of choices again for Outer Worlds 2. They’ve additionally built-in their dialogue system into the title display screen, and Morgan defined that as you load up the game “You might hear prompts like ‘Hey, you seem to be dying a lot. Should you lower your difficulty?’”
The Outer Worlds 2 will be released on October 29, 2025, and it’ll formally be Microsoft's first $80 game.
For more, take a look at our hands-on preview of The Outer Worlds 2 and the incredible Moon Man Statue and artbook from Dark Horse for the game.