The Outer Worlds 2 is coming this year, October 29, and it’s adding a whole host of weird and wonderful perks so that you can roleplay as a serial killer or someone with bad knees.
Bad knees is an in-game flaw that actually made me laugh out loud when it was described during the Outer Wilds 2 direct at Summer Game Fest. It allows you to move faster, but the drawback is when you go from crouching to standing, “your knees are gonna make a loud popping noise that makes it so that, well, everyone around you is gonna hear you.”
If, like me, you’re on the wrong side of 30, you likely know at least one person whose knees do this – chances are, that person is you. It’s actually a great roleplay quirk for a stealth character.
All that crouch walking must play havoc with your joints – Red Dead Redemption 2 actor Roger Clark did say the hardest part of filming for the game was all the squatting: “three days later my thighs were absolutely killing me.”
One very cool and slightly cruel perk is serial killer. If you choose it, there’s a chance every human you kill will drop a heart, which you can collect to get a permanent boost to your health. If you kill a human who “wasn’t hostile” to you, there’s a 100% chance of the drop.
I’m not sure if this means stealth kills guarantee hearts or you have to kill innocent NPCs, but either way, it’s an interesting reward for being a murderer, and another great boon for stealth players; if you do get caught, that extra health will stop you getting put down too quickly.
The strangest and most unique flaw revealed so far is sungazer. Quite literally what it sounds like, your character just loves to stare at the sun, and that has permanently damaged their vision.
The game will look hazy, and ranged weapon spread will be increased by 100%, making you very inaccurate. It “makes the game pretty unplayable if you happen to choose that,” says one developer.
While you wait for The Outer Worlds 2 to come out, check out all the upcoming Xbox games.