🔗 Share this article

Upon my initial encounter with the initial Outer Worlds game, I was immediately drawn by its sarcastic, Fallout-inspired style of comedy. This release boasted engaging exchanges, individual logs, and propaganda materials that depicted a business-controlled nightmare that was simultaneously dark and humorous. My biggest worry approaching the follow-up was that this installment – without blame on its part – wouldn't be as humorous compared to the first.

Certainly, conditions weren't ideal. But the world undoubtedly appeared slightly less fractured back then. The Outer Worlds presented a dystopia that didn't hit extremely relatable, and still managed to be at once touching and comical. I commenced the follow-up feeling quite confident that this release wouldn't be able to achieve this a second time, but I'm delighted to announce that I was incorrect. This sequel is as smile-generating as the release that came earlier, and also introduces fresh concepts instead of simply reusing identical material like an worn-out business tune.

Changing NPCs

A large portion of the non-player characters players encountered in the initial release had been beaten down by the activities of corporate entities like the fictional company, and were painfully aware of the degree that their lives sucked. The Outer Worlds 2 progresses matters in a distinct route, including personalities who are programmed (occasionally metaphorically, often literally). A lot of these characters don't even realize of how profoundly messed up their circumstances are, or that there may exist alternatives to an existence spent beneath the control of a massive corporation or restricted by the beliefs of an intense faith.

The sequel explores types of business domination that are more insidious than only making the people destitute. Many NPCs have been programmed with the sort of excessively zealous "work ethic" rhetoric you might encounter on online profiles that vow to show the path to accomplishment should you purchase a costly program, or participate in a dubious blockchain project. Even the game's business promotion has developed.

Modern Themes

There are still plenty of unmotivational posters on the walls indicating reductions in staff compensation who so much as consider taking a day off, but furthermore exist references to multi-level marketing tactics, such as an employee manual that confidently announces, "Unknown people are merely customers YOU have yet to encounter!" As an individual who grew up in a network marketing environment, I promptly exploded in amusement when encountering this allusion, because it's a refrain I have regularly listened to repeated exactly by individuals in lower positions of such schemes.

Fortunately, this sequel is as comedic and sarcastic as the first game.

This sequel also examines the predicament many of us experience regarding work, political matters, and even consumer choices: Being forced to select the reduced of two or three evils. While attempting to determine if to back a risky company or a concerning cult throughout the experience, I realized I became supporting the devil I know: A recognized business organization that sucks (but only uses advertising to program its members), instead of the religious group, which is similarly terrible, but employs an awful technique named "cognitive reset" to control its members in line.

Unreliable Masters

Additionally, the individuals you serve could fail to be trustworthy. In the role of an Earth Directorate agent, your mission involves working to return order to this settlement following a forceful company buyout, and you rapidly learn that the two the invaders and the residents follow distinct (yet equally horrific) ideologies. Yet a speedy review of the transmissions on your spacecraft's system reveal that the Earth Directorate is hardly the galaxy's most moral employer either, as evidenced by a response to an emergency signal that informs the caller it will take "several organizational cycles" for an answer to their communication. (This period is roughly the duration it takes for numerous individuals to reach a human support representative over the phone currently.)

Relatable Moments

Numerous instances in this installment are highly recognizable, but it's a therapeutic type of familiarity, and the game achieves equilibrium between its bleak societal vision with humor that's genuinely funny without feeling incongruous. An important idea is the near-instant onset of decline that seems to take place in the wake of significant business mergers. Employees on both sides of this sequel's big merger find their existence worsen therefore, while the CEOs in control of the structure are, expectedly, collecting money hand over fist.

Well, at minimum I know my position.

Similar to the first game, this follow-up is inherently funny, but furthermore isn't afraid to become dramatic. During a moment, while exploring around the game's first discoverable location, I came upon a body with a recording nearby. The audio log revealed that this individual (who was aligned with the programming faith group) had been killed in an event while attempting to locate and eliminate her romantic partner. This romantic partner had seemingly abandoned from their organization, and the perished individual was incensed at her partner's {traitorous