With Grounded 2 Seemingly Keeping Obsidian's Hot Streak…

Obsidian has had a series of launches this year that's nigh unheard of in video games. February saw the release of Avowed, a spin-off to the popular Pillars of Eternity series, which received a warm reception by critics and players. Obsidian's second release of the year, Grounded 2, was released in early access on July 29 and has been praised for building on everything that made its predecessor great.

Two good launches in one year are rare enough in an industry where developers rarely release one title every three years, but their biggest launch is still on the way. October 24 is the worldwide release day for The Outer Worlds 2. Like Grounded 2, The Outer Worlds 2 has been promised to give players more of what made The Outer Worlds great, including bigger maps, more weapons, and leaning more into its tone of satire.

The Outer Worlds 2 May Have Signaled the End of a Short Era

Obsidian just made a major change to The Outer Worlds 2 that could heavily influence other developers and their future projects.

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By LB Beistad

The Outer Worlds 2 is Embracing What Makes it Unique

The Outer Worlds 2 Has Every Reason to Succeed

All in all, it looks as if Obsidian embraced going all out for The Outer Worlds 2, and this targeted approach will go a long way in defining the game's style and atmosphere. Its trailers show bright and colorful visuals, massive worlds, and the kind of corporate oversight that players can expect from The Outer Worlds games, set against the backdrop of an ominous threat.

Open-world RPGs set in space can be a difficult niche to get right, but The Outer Worlds was received well by many players and has an active community. The Outer Worlds 2 made waves during its presentation at Xbox Showcase, partially thanks to its trailer and gameplay, but also because it was priced at $80. Pricing AAA video games at $80 is a controversial new practice, and while The Outer Worlds 2 is expected to be a good game, some players were reluctant to shell out top money for it.

Luckily, Xbox walked back the $80 price point for The Outer Worlds 2.

The improvements in The Outer Worlds' features and systems are a good sign for The Outer Worlds 2. If it launches well, Obsidian will have had three solid launches in one year, which is virtually unheard of in the industry, especially for a developer as small as Obsidian.

Obsidian Has a Growing Reputation

As noted in The Outer Worlds 2's 2024 Game Awards trailer, Obsidian started out as a developer that either supported bigger studios or created sequels for games that other studios made. The most prominent of these are Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 - The Sith Lords, Fallout: New Vegas, and Neverwinter Nights 2. Obsidian moved on from creating sequels to creating its own IP, Pillars of Eternity, which was followed by The Outer Worlds and Grounded.

2025 has seen the launch of sequels or successors to all three of these games, a positive sign of their quality and the longevity of Obsidian as a game developer. In a year where many studios have laid off a chunk of their workers, it's heartening to see Obsidian doing well.

Players are the biggest winners here, as they get three quality games from Obsidian. While Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 are first-person open-world RPGs, they strike very different tones thanks to their settings. Grounded 2 is a survival action-adventure game, giving players a range of options.

Obsidian may not be the biggest developer in the industry, but it's important that it releases a variety of games and makes them well. Other studios like Bethesda only release a title every five years or so, but Obsidian works on multiple projects at a time, and understands what its players want.

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