Help. I’ve been sucked into this game and can’t put it down.
For those who are wondering, The Outer Worlds 2 is a recently released video game. Specifically, it’s a science-fiction action RPG (role-playing game), which means it’s a long, story-driven game that requires you to explore a massive world (or worlds in this case), complete all sorts of quests, help companion characters that join you, increase the level of your character and your gear, and navigate all sorts of choices to advance your goals.
The cool thing about these kinds of games, or the good ones anyway, is the way that they layer great story writing, voice acting, and artistic direction with fun combat, puzzles, and exploration to make something epic. You really get a sense that you are both hearing a story unfold, like a great book, and taking an active role in shaping it: choosing to say/not say certain things, picking who to talk to and have in your party, building your character’s traits uniquely, and finding ways to beat tough enemies.
The Outer Worlds 2 does all of these things so, so well. It’s got an exceptional story. It’s funny. The world looks amazing. The combat is good. The main and side quests are varied and interesting. The game also doesn’t seem to suffer from the common pitfalls of RPGs: annoying inventory management, confusing skill trees, poor AI/combat, and lack of easy fast travel. In short, the few aspects of The Outer Worlds that aren’t exceptional are easily overshadowed by so much that is.
Here’s the premise of the story from Wikipedia:
The Outer Worlds 2 is set in an alternate future set in the year 2362 that diverged from our timeline in 1901 when U.S. President William McKinley was not assassinated. As a result, Theodore Roosevelt never succeeded him as President, and the great business trusts of the era were not broken up. This led to the emergence of a hyper-capitalist, class-centric society dominated by the power of megacorporations. The advent of faster-than-light travel allows megacorporations to establish colonies on distant planets, which they terraform with varying results.
Where The Outer Worlds was set in the colony of Halcyon, The Outer Worlds 2 takes place in the colony of Arcadia. The player takes on the role of a commander working for the Earth Directorate, an administrative body tasked with coordinating between Earth and its intergalactic colonies. The player is sent to Arcadia to investigate rifts in the fabric of space and time that have cut the colonies off from Earth entirely. There, they discover a brewing conflict between three factions:
- The Protectorate, a totalitarian government which governs much of the colony and holds a monopoly over superluminal travel
- Auntie’s Choice, a megacorporation formed by the merger of pharmaceutical company Auntie Cleo’s and consumer goods manufacturer Spacer’s Choice, which seeks to overthrow the Protectorate in order to monopolize the colony and hypersonic travel for themselves.
- The Order of the Ascendant, a religious order who believe the universe is governed by mathematical equations and intend to use the resources of Arcadia to bring a new age of enlightenment for humanity.
And so it goes from there. Also, in case you are wondering, I never played the first game (the original Outer Worlds), and it doesn’t matter, as this is a separate story entirely for the most part.
I haven’t gotten into this type of game for a long time, maybe since Witcher 3 or something like BOTW/TOTK. I’m realizing now how I’ve missed the genre. These games require a lot of time, which is typically a problem for me and modern games, but since it’s single player and not service-based (no daily or weekly quests, thank god!), I can pick it up anytime and play whenever I have an opening. And I have been picking it up a lot.
Comments welcome!