Obsidian Entertainment announced The Outer Worlds 2 back in June at Xbox's E3 showcase. While the announcement was met with a lot of excitement, as the studio already has numerous confirmed projects in the works, Obsidian shared little information about what fans should expect from the sequel. The Outer Worlds 2 received a cheeky trailer while afterward the developers revealed that the game would feature all-new squad members and a new solar system for players to explore and learn.
The announcement of a new world for players to explore is not all that surprising, as many RPG series give players new worlds with every entry to help keep things fresh. However, Halcyon, the solar system in the first The Outer Worlds, was a very large part of what gave the game its character and helped make it feel so unique and charming. So, the announcement of a new solar system did raise some concerns in The Outer Worlds fans, who feared that leaving Halcyon behind would be too bittersweet and that it could leave the new solar system paling in comparison.
Halcyon in The Outer Worlds
Halcyon is a solar system in The Outer Worlds that consists of two planets, multiple moons, and a variety of asteroids. The solar system held many beautiful locales and diverse fauna and flora for players to discover as they progressed through The Outer Worlds' story and numerous side quests. Throughout the game, players visit two planets, Terra-2 and Monarch, as well as the various moons and asteroids of Halcyon. Terra-2 is a terraformed planet that has an atmosphere conducive to human settlement while Monarch is much more dangerous and boasts several predatorial creatures. The dichotomy between the two, as well as the other varied areas, helped make The Outer Worlds one of the best video games set in space,
The worlds that players visit throughout The Outer Worlds are brought to life thanks to the various creatures and factions that players come across throughout the game. The enemies that players come across fit into three classes of enemies: human, alien, and auto-mechanical. The human enemies are mostly comprised of marauders and outlaws, but the other two categories are where the enemies of The Outer Worlds really brought the worlds to life. Each of the planets and moons that players visit throughout The Outer Worlds helps the locations feel more alive and gives each their own distinct personality. With how memorable the enemies that players face throughout the game are, The Outer Worlds 2 could have a hard time topping it.
What Made Halcyon So Special
One of the aspects that made Halcyon feel so special was the characters that players came across along the way. Not only does The Outer Worlds boast fantastically written crew members, but the NPCs outside of the player's crew are nearly just as memorable. Each location within the game has its own social situations for players to navigate and are populated with witty characters that offer banter, critiques, and world information when the player talks to them. The game enjoys a lot of freedom in its characters, with each having a unique personality while contributing to the game's thematic critique of capitalism.
It's this critique of capitalism that also helps contribute to Halcyon's successes. Halcyon is dominated by multiple corporations that have largely taken over the role of government across the solar system. Corporations can control nearly every aspect of their employee's lives while also operating security services that are the size and lethality of governmental militaries. There are many corporations that players interact with throughout The Outer Worlds, whether it be through using their equipment, exploring their facilities, or undergoing quests for them. These corporations helped bring Halcyon to life and did so in a way that makes The Outer Worlds feel like a unique approach to the genre.
How The Outer Worlds 2's Setting Could Improve on Halcyon
The Outer Worlds 2, however, is going to have to decide how much of those same aspects to include in its newer solar system. Leaving Halcyon will be unfortunate as there are countless avenues and aspects of the solar system that would still be fascinating to explore. But moving to an entirely new solar system is also incredibly exciting as it opens up the possibilities of what the developers could give players to explore and think about. To tie the two games together the new solar system will likely want to keep some of the corporations that players already know from The Outer Worlds. This would allow the game to show those corporations from a new perspective, or even during an entirely new time in The Outer Worlds' universe.
To help the new solar system feel like an improvement on Halcyon, as well as an entirely new setting for players to explore, the developers may also want to expand its scope and make it hold even more variety than Halcyon. Having a planet in The Outer Worlds 2 that feels like a reskin of an already familiar location would be a bad idea as players would just compare it to the first game rather than taking the experience and setting in for what it is on its own. Thankfully, these improvements could very well be assisted by The Outer Worlds 2 using Unreal Engine, which will allow the developers to capitalize on brand new features and technology to make the new solar system feel even more alive and detailed.
It will be very interesting to see more of The Outer Worlds 2's new solar system heading up to the game's release. The Outer Worlds 2 is reportedly already in a playable state, which is very impressive for the size and sheer amount of work that a game in the genre takes to produce. There is a lot of weight on the shoulders of the new game's solar system, but Obsidian Entertainment should be able to bear the weight, and can hopefully capture that same spark that made the first game special twice. Hopefully, fans of the series will get a better look at the game soon, as the excitement surrounding The Outer Worlds 2 is high after the success of the first game.
The Outer Worlds 2 is currently in development.