The Outer Worlds 2 Preview - An Explosive Start

With the original The Outer Worlds being one of my best friend's favorite games and as an RPG lover myself, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on the sequel through the preview. It was exactly what I thought I would experience, with whacky dialogue options, time-distorting technology, and brain damage. Here's what we learned in The Outer Worlds 2 preview. 

A Taste of the World | The Outer Worlds 2 Preview

The preview lasted about an hour and covered character creation and the first mission line. Overall, the story takes you to a colony not patrolled by the Earth Directorate, but under authoritarian control. There's still the silly humor present in the title, but taking out dictatorships remains the goal. You're able to play your way, NPCs recall previous dialogue choices, and actions you take directly impact how the mission plays out. I find this type of gameplay absolutely exhilarating.  

Character creation is simple and straightforward. It also has a few inclusivity areas, mainly the ability to create characters with prosthetic limbs. This was great, the limbs are gorgeous, and I loved seeing disabled bodies represented in a popular title. Character Creation is the first important decision-making area of the game.

The focus here is on your skills and traits, which dictate how you interact with your crew and the colony of Arcadia. I played through the preview twice, picking different traits, choosing to get a negative trait, and selecting different skills to see how this impacts the game. My second time around was much smoother than the first with the inclusion of Lockpicking, a skill I find necessary to fully explore Arcadia. 

The mission available was what seems to be the first in the game, complete with tutorials and beginner combat tips. There are multiple choices you can make that determine whether you duke it out with enemies or go a stealthier route. The first time, I went with the combat-heavy choice, which resulted in me dying multiple times as I forgot to heal myself repeatedly. The second I became one with the shadows, a far better fit for my playstyle in this instance. Stealth kills are extremely satisfying, especially in a room full of enemies that previously gave me a hard time. 

Overall, combat is straightforward, you have your main weapon, either ranged or melee, and support items like distraction devices or grenades. You can heal during combat, but it takes a moment and you can die while trying to get your health up. When it comes to stealth, there are multiple bars showing how exposed to enemies you are, really allowing you to take risks while avoiding detection. If you're creative enough, you can turn Arcadia's own defense turrets on the guards or have the mechs turn on their owners. 

Arcadia itself is full of nooks and crannies that hide collectibles, like Pitchball Cards. Secret item stashes are littered throughout, making the Observant option highly prized if you want to find everything. Otherwise, exploring the colony comes with the regular items for healing, ammo, additional weapons, and support items. Since the preview is centered around a single well-designed location in Arcadia, it's hard to say when the different areas of the colony will feel like and how well their theme is executed. 

Without spoiling the ending of the first mission, it's safe to say it's a cliffhanger that exits with a bang, literally. There are multiple explosions during the brief time I experienced Arcadia, but they really left an impression. I absolutely need to know what happens after the preview content ended. 

The overall experience was smooth, with no bugs encountered and no odd glitches, enemies in the sky, or clipping through walls. The story is well thought out with background information feeding into the main quests seamlessly. Depending on your choices, dialogue with the NPCs changes, giving you a unique experience based on your actions, skills, and traits. The Outer Worlds 2 preview really lived up to my expectations in all ways except the length of the available content. 

Left Us Wanting More

While I was able to play through character creation and the first mission line multiple times, I was left wanting more content. The preview was relatively short. Some gameplay items were left out, like having a Pet or working with a Companion. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though. I will 100% be playing when The Outer Worlds 2 releases at the end of October. I need to know what happens in Arcadia, why a massive explosion was required, and how I can save the world. 

The Outer Worlds 2 was previewed on PC with a code provided by Xbox over the course of 2 hours. All screenshots were taken during the course of the preview.