🔗 Share this article

During my first experience with the original Outer Worlds game, I was immediately drawn by its sarcastic, Fallout-esque brand of humor. The game featured engaging exchanges, personal journals, and advertising displays that depicted a corporate dystopia that was simultaneously grim and entertaining. My primary concern starting The Outer Worlds 2 was that this version – through no fault of its own – could fail to be as comedic compared to the first.

Certainly, things weren't perfect. Yet society undoubtedly appeared a bit less broken in those days. This game depicted a grim society that didn't feel too close to home, and still managed to be simultaneously heartwarming and uproarious. I began The Outer Worlds 2 rather certain that this installment couldn't succeed to achieve this a second time, but I'm happy to report that I was incorrect. This follow-up is as smile-generating as the release that preceded it, and furthermore presents original ideas rather than merely repeating identical material similar to a overused corporate jingle.

Changing NPCs

A large portion of the game characters users found in the original game had been worn out by the activities of business corporations such as the fictional company, and were painfully aware of how much their existence was miserable. This installment takes things in a distinct route, presenting individuals who are programmed (sometimes figuratively, frequently actually). Many of these personalities aren't even aware of how extremely messed up their conditions are, or that there may exist options to a lifetime passed under the domination of a large business or bound by the beliefs of a high-demand religion.

This follow-up explores types of company influence that are more deceptive than merely maintaining the masses poor. Numerous characters have been indoctrinated into the sort of overly enthusiastic "grindset mindset" discourse you might encounter on social media accounts that vow to show the secret of achievement if you pay for an overpriced workshop, or invest in a dubious blockchain project. Even the game's business promotion has evolved.

Current Topics

There are still plenty of demotivating signs on the walls threatening to dock pay from workers who so much as think about taking a day off, but there are also references to multi-level marketing methods, such as an employee manual that proudly declares, "Unfamiliar individuals are simply clients you haven't met yet!" Being a person who grew up in a network marketing environment, I immediately burst out with laughter when encountering this mention, because it's a refrain I have often heard stated precisely by people at the base of those structures.

Fortunately, this follow-up is just as funny and sarcastic as the initial release.

The Outer Worlds 2 furthermore explores the predicament many of us find ourselves in regarding employment, political matters, and even personal purchases: Needing to choose the smaller of multiple bad options. When trying to decide whether to assist a harmful business or a concerning cult in the game, I found myself siding with the known negative: A recognized business organization that is awful (yet merely employs propaganda to indoctrinate its followers), rather than the faith organization, which is equally bad, but uses a terrible method named "cognitive reset" to keep its adherents compliant.

Unreliable Masters

Even the people you serve could fail to be trustworthy. In the role of an galactic official, you're tasked with attempting to restore stability to this outpost following a hostile corporate takeover, and you rapidly learn that both the aggressors and the defenders subscribe to distinct (though equally awful) doctrines. But a quick review of the messages on your ship's terminal show that this agency isn't exactly the galaxy's most moral authority either, as evidenced by a response to a help request that tells the sender it will take "three to five organizational cycles" for a response to their communication. (That time frame is roughly the duration it takes for many people to contact a non-robot help desk employee through calling currently.)

Relatable Moments

Numerous instances in this installment are extremely familiar, but it's a cathartic sort of relatability, and this release manages to balance its depressing dystopian setting with comedy that's authentically amusing without feeling inappropriate. One major theme is the near-instant onset of deterioration that seems to take place after any major corporate acquisition. Staff members from all factions of this sequel's big merger see their quality of life decline consequently, while the CEOs in charge of the food chain are, naturally, raking in money hand over fist.

Okay, at the very least I understand my position.

Comparable to the first game, The Outer Worlds 2 is naturally humorous, but furthermore doesn't hesitate to become dramatic. At one point, while wandering around the release's primary explorable world, I came upon a corpse with a message close by. This message showed that this character (associated with the indoctrinating cult) had died in an accident during efforts to hunt down and eliminate her significant other. This loved one had reportedly deserted from their faction, and the now-dead NPC was incensed at her partner's {traitorous