The Outer Worlds 2 opens with a beautiful scene from one of the in-game serials (think: movie shorts), and the visuals don’t ever let up. After making a character of one’s choosing, players are let loose in a stunning world that’s as bright and ever bigger than what was presented in the first game. Everything about the The Outer Worlds 2’s look and feel mimics the first game, right down to its aesthetics. It was great to be welcomed back into its peculiar sci-fi atmosphere right off the bat.

But is The Outer Worlds 2 more than just a pretty face?

I suppose that’s a question for a final review, and I’ll admit that I’m just a tad skeptical about that after sinking in about ten hours of playtime. Considering that one never gets a second chance to make a first impression, this is a little concerning; however, I’m not about to call foul on The Outer Worlds 2 just yet.

My first* venture in The Outer Worlds 2 has Earth Directorate agent Lila Torres at the helm. She’s a law-abiding, gun-slinging force who’s ready to take on her first mission: to investigate strange rifts that have started popping up on a colony in the Arcadia system. This first scenario throws players into an extensive tutorial mission that isn’t branded as such and provides a good overview of the game’s various control and combat schemes. Through it, players meet a capable team of other agents and uncover that one of their own as gone rogue. Battles occur swiftly, strategically, and give players options as to how they want to proceed – all ablaze, with quiet stealth, from afar using explosives, or some combination in between.

After completing the initial mission, the story jumps ahead in time. Players find themselves in a galaxy that’s being torn apart by a war between the mega-corporation Auntie’s Choice (a merger of the mini-mega-corps of Auntie Cleo’s and Spacer’s Choice from the first game) and the authoritarian, Sovereign-run, Protectorate (not to be confused with the general security force of the Earth Directorate, as I initially kept thinking. Maybe someone at Obsidian should have picked up a thesaurus, eh?) Both seem like bad news, but presumably, it’ll be up to the player to decide that for themselves. My agent, Lila, was apparently none the worse for wear after being out of commission for several years and waking up to find two early companions still along for the ride. While traipsing around Paradise Island, a well-colonized spot on a moon called Eden, Lila picked up one more person for the team. She also garnered a few companion quests, proving that there’s likely no shortage of things to do in The Outer Worlds 2.

As I mentioned at the start, the game is very, very pretty. Character renderings are on par and a bit more lively than those in the first game, but the environments…wow. They are impressive with interesting layouts and plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. Environments in the first game were similar, but in the second game, they feel larger and more alive. Enemies also seem more plentiful, from standard outlaws to wildlife, Paradise Island, at least, is not a boring place. Traversal is straightforward, and the game offers a good array of accessibility options. Turn on lots for more direction or fewer for more immersion. Big kudos to the devs for also including an option to enlarge text. Having to manage with teeny text in the first game was one of my biggest gripes about it. Now, in The Outer Worlds 2, I can finally read computer entries and properly see what skills and perks I can level up – woohoo!

This segues nicely into the not-so “woohoo” portion of my ramblings, because the first bone I have to pick with The Outer Worlds 2 is the persistence of skill checks. Truth be told, Lila was not my first character.* In fact, I started out with a witty, dense, roustabout named Lorin. She seemed like a good time until I quickly learned that my choice of her perks was terrible and very unhelpful as far as progression went. After I put Lorin through the tutorial mission in which she missed out on a few key skill checks, I sent her to the recycle bin and came out on the other side with lawbringer Lila who had some engineering and further smarts under her belt. Hindsight being 20/20, I don’t think it spoils too much by saying that newcomers almost have to invest in some combination of engineering, lockpicking, and speech to fully engage with the game’s various systems, though the game would never say so. (Because guessing is so much more fun that roleplaying, isn’t it? No.) The game’s skill and perk systems are more streamlined than they were in the first game, but they are still not great, especially the skills. Not having the right skill at the right time really puts a dent in engagement. Now, I get that the game isn’t designed for one character to be an all-stop shop like in a Fallout game, but the way Obsidian has set about with skills and hiding content behind them is unsavory, to say the least. I’ve already found myself locked out of a couple scenarios because of my decision to put skill points into combat-based options over character-based ones.

Then again, perhaps the joke’s on me, because speaking of combat, the other “this stinks” issue is aiming. I don’t recall this being a major issue in the first game, but it is wildly bad in the second game. I hadn’t thought to set up Lila as a melee character, but I’m thinking that may have to be the route I go if I can’t learn to tolerate aiming as it is or figure out how to properly adjust the settings. For the moment, targeting enemies with guns feels broken, as the sights jump around the screen when multiple enemies appear. I’ve ended up mostly shooting from the hip in the general direction of enemies because of this. It works fine…sometimes. The more enemies that show up the worse the combat gets, and while I like my companions, I’m not sure how much help the really are in combat. One companion does have a useful aggro ability, but its cooldown is too long, and the character is too squishy to be a proper tank, at least for the moment. The other two companions have healing capabilities, but they don’t go very far, especially when the enemies become really tough. This is all to say that I like to be able to fend for myself in games, and The Outer Worlds 2’s wonky gunplay is making that rather difficult.

Again, it’s early. I’ve only just dinged level 5 and clearly have a ways to go. Though, I am already feeling like I should get off Paradise Island soon, lest I get stuck in a dreaded “Hinterlands” scenario. As with Lila’s current standing the game’s factions, my outlook on The Outer Worlds 2 is currently neutral. I’m equally enjoying as much as I’m disliking, and hopefully the scales will tip in favor of the game as things progress. Outside of the very clear Auntie’s Choice vs. Protectorate conflict and the rogue Directorate agent, the whole investigate-strange-rifts problem has become a little lost. Hopefully Lila will find her way to saving the galaxy, and all. Hopefully.

All images, including lede, were captured by author during Xbox Series S gameplay of The Outer Worlds 2 (© Obsidian Entertainment).