In today’s new The Outer Worlds 2 video published as part of April’s IGN First, Obsidian Entertainment revealed that the RPG sequel will feature ‘way more expansive worlds’ than the original (which is great news, as that was one of my pet peeves with The Outer Worlds). In classic Obsidian fashion, they will also be filled with fun stories and cool gear or collectibles to find.
Art Director Daniel Alpert explained:
We’re definitely going more expansive than the first game. In the first game, we were very confined to smaller hubs and overland areas. Now that we’re utilizing Unreal Engine 5, we can have way more expansive worlds. From point A to point B, there is a much larger territory that we can cover, and in between those areas, we have lots of little POIs (points of interest) that we can explore.
Game Director Brandon Adler added:
One of the very first things that we were targeting when we started The Outer Worlds 2 was to make these big, large, expansive areas. It’s what players told us that they wanted the most. Working with Daniel and the other directors, we sat down and came up with a plan to how we were going to go do that. We made sure that we had big open sightlines and that we spent a lot of time and effort on making really cool-looking points of interest at a distance to really draw people and also maybe bring them off the beaten path a little bit. When they’re heading over there, we made sure that as you’re rounding corners or you’re doing things like that, you see little points of interest. Another element that was also really important as we’re kind of doing all of this stuff is making sure that it was very interesting when you get there, so we made sure that we blanketed all of our areas with just cool, fun stuff to go do, nice loot to go find, and cool stories to go unfold.
Yesterday, IGN also posted an interview that dived into the changes and improvements made to the underlying RPG formula of The Outer Worlds 2. The developers are trying to avoid a situation where by the end of the game, the main character is essentially good at everything. They’re also removing respec to make sure that choices truly matter.
Lead systems designer Kyle Koenig said:
We would often see characters good at everything, which by the end of the game, minimized your personal experience with your character. We wanted to focus on making each individual level-up and investment really important. There’s less confusion on when I should invest in one Skill or the other. If I want to be a player that’s all about guns and using medical devices, I know which Skills I really need to care about. By having them separated and not in groupings, it lets characters be more specialized. By removing respec, we really incentivize it to be your experience. It is a part of your experience that no one else had, and I think that’s really special about RPGs and something that respec tends to lessen.
The Outer Worlds 2 will also feature a full-fledged stealth system, as revealed last week. More info should be coming throughout April, though the big showcase is scheduled to air after the Xbox Games Showcase on June 8. The game will launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
