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Upon my initial playthrough of the first Outer Worlds, I was quickly hooked by its satirical, Fallout-inspired type of wit. The game boasted lively conversations, individual logs, and promotional posters that depicted a company-run society that was simultaneously bleak and amusing. My biggest worry heading into the follow-up was that this installment – through no fault on its part – could fail to be as funny as its predecessor.

Certainly, things weren't perfect. But the world undoubtedly appeared somewhat less damaged at that time. This game depicted a grim society that didn't strike overly familiar, and still managed to be simultaneously emotional and uproarious. I started the follow-up rather certain that this installment wouldn't manage to accomplish this a second time, but I'm delighted to announce that I was wrong. The Outer Worlds 2 is just as smile-generating as the release that came before it, and also introduces new themes as opposed to merely repeating the same content comparable to an worn-out business tune.

Developing Personalities

Most of the game characters gamers met in the first title had been defeated by the deeds of business corporations like Spacer's Choice, and were acutely conscious of the degree that their existence was miserable. This installment moves events in an alternative path, featuring characters who are brainwashed (sometimes figuratively, often literally). Many of these NPCs aren't conscious of how extremely screwed up their conditions are, or that there could be alternatives to a lifetime passed under the domination of a huge company or restricted by the creeds of a demanding cult.

The sequel explores types of company influence that are more insidious than simply keeping the people destitute. Various personalities have been brainwashed into the kind of excessively zealous "grindset mindset" language you can discover on online profiles that vow to show the key to success should you purchase an expensive course, or put money into a questionable digital currency plan. Additionally, the title's business promotion has developed.

Contemporary Issues

There remain plenty of discouraging displays in various locations indicating reductions in staff compensation who so much as consider taking a day off, but there are also mentions of multi-level marketing tactics, featuring an employee manual that boldly states, "Unknown people are merely patrons you have yet to encounter!" As an individual who grew up in a direct sales environment, I immediately burst out in amusement when encountering this mention, because it's a phrase I have regularly listened to repeated exactly by people at the base of those structures.

Fortunately, this follow-up is equally humorous and irreverent as the first game.

This installment furthermore explores the dilemma numerous people encounter when it comes to work, politics, and including buying decisions: Needing to pick the smaller of two or three evils. While attempting to determine if to back a harmful business or a concerning cult in the game, I realized I became supporting the known negative: An established business organization that sucks (though just utilizes advertising to brainwash its subjects), instead of the cult, which is similarly terrible, but utilizes a horrible approach named "cognitive reset" to control its members obedient.

Questionable Employers

Furthermore, the characters you serve might not be dependable. As an Earth Directorate agent, you're tasked with working to return stability to this settlement subsequent to a forceful company buyout, and you'll soon discover that each of the invaders and the defenders adhere to differing (but similarly terrible) beliefs. However, a rapid review of the messages on your spacecraft's system reveal that this agency isn't precisely the galaxy's most moral organization too, as demonstrated by a response to an emergency signal that tells the sender it will take "three to five business years" for a reply to their communication. (This period is roughly the duration it takes for numerous individuals to reach a human customer service agent via telephone these days.)

Recognizable Scenarios

Many moments in this installment are extremely familiar, but it's a cathartic kind of recognition, and this title manages to balance its grim future world with wit that's genuinely funny yet not seeming incongruous. A primary concept is the quick commencement of decline that appears to occur after significant business mergers. Staff members from all factions of this sequel's big merger experience their living standards decline therefore, while the CEOs in control of the hierarchy are, naturally, accumulating the cash quickly.

Hey, at least I understand my situation.

Similar to the original title, The Outer Worlds 2 is inherently funny, but it also isn't afraid to turn solemn. At one point, while traveling around the game's first accessible planet, I came upon a body with an audio log close by. This recording revealed that this NPC (who was aligned with the programming faith group) had perished in an incident during efforts to hunt down and dispatch her romantic partner. This romantic partner had reportedly deserted from their faction, and the now-dead NPC was enraged by her significant other's {traitorous