For the last few weeks, I’ve been playing Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds 2. I really like it! And after wrapping the game up over the weekend, I realized that I just played the closest thing to Fallout 5 that I’ll get until Bethesda finally ships the wasteland RPG in, like, a decade from now.
The Outer Worlds 2, out now on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, is the much bigger and better follow-up to Obsidian’s original Outer Worlds from 2016. While both games are open-world space RPGs, the sequel expands on every part of the original game, featuring more planets, weapons, enemies, skills, factions, and features. And like the original, Outer Worlds 2 is clearly inspired by Bethesda’s Fallout games and Obsidian’s own Fallout: New Vegas. The original got close to emulating the experience of playing (and screwing around in) a Fallout RPG, but due to a limited budget and scope, didn’t quite nail it. The Outer Worlds 2 does, and it’s wonderful.
Everything I love about Bethesda’s Fallout games is here. Hand-crafted areas to explore, filled with stretches of empty land, bustling communities, and odd characters and situations to stumble into. The Outer Worlds 2 also features an in-depth RPG system with a massive list of perks and skills to level up, letting you build a smooth-talking scam artist, a beefy melee warrior, or a super-smart sniper able to hack any robot. Or you could create a murderous, evil idiot who is super lucky. And the best part is, like in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, the world reacts to your choices and offers up ways to use those skills and perks to your advantage.
I mean, The Outer Worlds 2 even includes the ability to turn on an in-game radio and listen to in-world music, DJs, ads, and more as you hike about the various planets, completing quests and discovering new locations. This is a key part of the Fallout formula for me and something I was happy to see included in The Outer Worlds 2. Blowing up random enemies with a laser gun is just more fun when retro music is blaring in the background.
And unlike Bethesda’s Fallout games, The Outer Worlds 2 doesn’t feel like it’s falling apart as you continue to play. It also features much better writing, more interesting companions, better combat, and far fewer bugs. In my many, many hours with The Outer Worlds 2, I only had to reload a save due to a bug once, and only encountered one other really annoying game-breaking glitch. Beyond that, The Outer Worlds 2 is a more stable and better-looking spin on the Bethesda RPG formula.
If you’re someone who has been craving a new Fallout and doesn’t want to replay Fallout 3 or New Vegas for the 20th time, I’d highly recommend Outer Worlds 2. It’s probably the closest thing to a Fallout 5 we’ll be getting from an Xbox-owned studio any time soon, because The Elder Scrolls 6 is still likely years away, and the next Fallout will only arrive once Bethesda is done with that. Thankfully, Outer Worlds 2 is pretty dang rad and is highly replayable. A good way to kill a few years while you wait for Fallout 5.
