The Outer Worlds 2: Things It Can Improve On From The First…

Summary

The Outer Worlds 2 must address issues like short storylines, repetitive combat, and forgettable companions to improve player experience.
Improving combat options, expanding environments, and deepening faction interactions can enhance player engagement in The Outer Worlds 2.
The sequel should provide a more nuanced exploration of capitalism, refine its humor, and focus on quality writing for a better overall experience.

The announcement of The Outer Worlds 2 was pretty exciting, although fans are still a bit tepid about the perceived quality of this game. The first game had high expectations attached to it because of Obsidian's work on Fallout: New Vegas, only for it to fall short of the mark in the eyes of many.

Hopefully, this won't be a problem that plagues the sequel, especially if Obsidian makes an effort to address the issues that the first game had. The Outer Worlds was a fun sci-fi RPG, but it had some flaws that can be rectified in the developer's second attempt with this sci-fi universe.

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8 The Length Of The Main Story

One Of The Biggest Complaints From The First Game

Many fans who picked up The Outer Worlds at launch were genuinely surprised to see how short the game was. While this did encourage replayability to an extent, it came at the cost of players feeling underwhelmed by the package. With any luck, The Outer Worlds 2 won't replicate this problem, and will instead provide a meaty package for players to sink their teeth into from the get-go. More locations, quests, and bosses for players to face can do a great job of lengthening the RPG and leaving a lasting impression on players.

7 More Combat Options

Battles Could Become Repetitive After A Point

The Outer Worlds' combat was functional at best, with Tactical Time Dilation serving as a way to make up for the lack of V.A.T.S. In this title. Players could acquire varied weaponry during their travels, but combat remained fairly static and repetitive by the end game.

Hopefully, The Outer Worlds 2 will give more options for players to mess around with in combat. Given how engaging battles were in Avowed, fans can hope that this same level of combat is brought over to this sci-fi sequel.

6 Better Companions

Party Members With Better Personalities Are Always A Plus

While The Outer Worlds had fun companions like Parvati and SAM, most of the protagonist's comrades were forgettable and didn't bring anything new to the table. Avowed is another Obsidian game that didn't have the best companions around, which is why some fans are worried about The Outer Worlds 2 in this department.

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Gamers have their fingers crossed that the sequel will let them engage with a series of lovely companions whom players will want to bring won their adventures. The character banter will be far more entertaining if players care about what their companions have to say.

5 More Engaging Storylines

The Writing In The First Game Could Be Forgettable

The Outer Worlds deserves praise for emphasizing role-playing, with the player's build playing an active role in how they tackle the many challenges standing in their way. However, some of these decisions fell flat, since the writing itself was nothing to write home about. Many players felt this was a cardinal sin, especially those who love Obsidian's best games for their quality writing. If The Outer Worlds 2 manages to knock it out of the park in his department, then players will arrive in droves to check out what will be a return to form.

4 Larger Environments

The Locations In The Sequel Can Be More Expansive

There's no need for an RPG to be open-world, despite what most fans may say. However, this doesn't mean that The Outer Worlds 2 shouldn't feel a need to increase the size of its areas compared to the first game.

Some locations in the first game felt a bit too small and took away from the grand sense of adventure that the title was promoting. If The Outer Worlds 2 makes its zones as massive and varied as possible, then it's bound to be a positive for the game's critical and commercial reception.

3 Fleshed-Out Factions

Players Don't Want To Interact With Flanderized Groups

Maintaining reputations with different factions felt great in The Outer Worlds, but this system could also feel a bit superficial. It was possible to maintain good relations with almost every faction as long as players completed every quest, which felt like a cheap way to attain a group's approval.

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The sequel should have more inter-faction conflicts. Some player actions should be dealbreakers for certain factions. The Board is the only faction that the player can go completely against with their decisions in The Outer Worlds. More of these decisions should be integrated in the sequel for a host of different factions.

2 A Deeper Exploration Of Capitalism's Evils

The First Game's Surface-Level Analysis Of Corporations Didn't Sit Right

One of the biggest complaints surrounding The Outer Worlds was its surface-level criticism of the horrors of capitalism. Everyone knows just how horrid corporations can be, and displaying the same in the most cartoonish and in-your-face manner possible didn't land with many players.

Fans are worried that this has been baked into the worldbuilding and will be hard to pull back from, but The Outer Worlds 2 shouldn't shy away from retconning some aspects of its predecessor. This can allow for a deeper and more thought-provoking exploration of capitalism and its evils without making a player's eyes roll.

1 Nuanced Humor

Doesn't Need To Be So In-Your-Face

There's no denying that one of the biggest strengths of The Outer Worlds was its humor, but this also became a drawback in some scenes. Some companions tried a bit too hard in this department, and the low-brow comedy of this game could get a bit grating after a point. If the writing needs to improve in the sequel, then so does the quality of the jokes. These hilarious moments should make fans tear up with laughter instead of just breathing out their nose before moving on.

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