The Outer Worlds 2 Direct — developers talk about the release date, gameplay, and two upcoming DLCs

Obsidian held a separate 30-minute presentation of The Outer Worlds 2 Direct — the developers showed gameplay, talked about innovations, and confirmed two upcoming DLCs.

The action takes place in a new colony — Arcadia. The player becomes an agent of the Earth Authority — a space marshal trying to stop capitalist tyranny, authoritarianism, and religious extremes. The developers have prepared a number of factions, such as the Protectorate and the Order of the Ascended. The former is a dictatorship where «people give up their freedom in exchange for the comfort of», and the latter is scientific fanatics from the past who believe they can predict the future with mathematics. They build supercomputers on icy planets so that they don’t overheat. For example, a key plot twist takes place on Monastery, one of these planets with supercomputers.

Sliding, jumping, and parkour on Arcadia were added to the game mechanics. For convenience, it will be possible to switch between first- and third-person views. Radio — will also return with music and hosts that respond to your actions in the game. A little earlier, the developers showed 11 minutes of The Outer Worlds 2 gameplay with a new partner and scanner.

The system of skills and perks — just like in Fallout: New Vegas

When creating a character, you need to choose Backstory, Traits, and Flaws. Obsidian promises a huge selection of perks — even more than in Fallout: New Vegas. For example, the developers have shown the «Assassin» perk, which gives a bonus to movement after a stealth kill. In total, The Outer Worlds 2 will have more than 100 perks and new mechanics.

Flaws — one of the features of the series — returns in an even more absurd form. The player can become a «Kleptomaniac» who accidentally steals things, or a «Sunshine» with self-medication in the sun, but sacrifices normal vision. There is also a variant with «Bad Knees», which crack with every movement and give you away to enemies (sound familiar?). Or Disadvantage «Overpreparedness»: a larger magazine, but a penalty if you don’t have enough ammo in stock.

The system also allows you to turn your character into a complete psychopath — kill everyone and even complete quests to kill customers. But if you want, you can play the game as a pacifist. The choice is up to the user.

RPG instead of FPS (shooter)

Obsidian is betting on the role-playing part. The studio’s vice president Marcus Morgan says that the game will be a full-fledged RPG, not a half-fledged first-person shooter. At the same time, the team took into account the wishes of fans regarding battles and upgraded the shooter part: more weapons, including «scientifically proven» and experimental ones.

Among them will be a pistol that shoots biomass slime and a melodic sword that hits harder if you hit it in time with the music. One of the rifles projects annoying ads to distract enemies. In some ways, it’s closer to Borderlands, but with a slant on RPGs and satire.

Release date, pre-order and a new era of pricing policy

The Outer Worlds 2 has received an official release date of October 29, 2025. It will be available on Xbox Play Anywhere, Game Pass (PC and consoles), and will be released simultaneously on Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam, Battle.net, Xbox Store), and PS5.