Developer Obsidian Entertainment has seemingly been paying attention to the complaints about some of the writing in The Outer Worlds. At the time, the game was criticised for making use of an overly comedic tone despite having an overall bleak setting. In an interview with PCGamer, The Outer Worlds 2 game director Brandon Adler has acknowledged that the original game “could sometimes be one note,” with regards to its writing and approach to comedy.
Adler spoke about wanting to bring in more variety in writing with The Outer Worlds 2. “I want to give players something new from that, so they don’t feel like ‘Oh, we’re just running through the same types of jokes, the same type of content, the same type of ideas and themes over and over again,'” he said.
He mentioned that players will notice less silliness in The Outer Worlds 2, and that, generally speaking, there will be a darker tone to thinks when compared to the original game. This largely came about from Leonard Boyarsky – previously a co-creative director on The Outer Wilds alongside Fallout creator Tim Cain – taking over as the sole creative director for the sequel.
“You’ll notice that there’s a little bit of a less silly, darker tone that comes out. That’s mainly because of Leonard,” Adler said. “That’s his kind of vibe, and so he has more of a push on that stuff. And so I think even the overall story feels a little bit like a darker take on what’s going on there.”
However, for players that might be afraid of The Outer Worlds 2 over-correcting into becoming too dark and serious, Adler said that there will still be humour to be found quite easily in the upcoming title.
“We still wanted to make sure that we had a lot of the same feeling as the first and so when players are interacting with the different factions, they also get to see that absurd humor that comes through,” Adler explained. “Hopefully it’s a little bit less silly and a lot more absurd.”
The Outer Worlds 2 recently got a new trailer that gave us a look at the game’s story. The trailer also confirmed that the RPG will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 29.
The trailer featured the player character taking on the role of an agent of the Earth Directorate. On a mission to investigate some threats to the universe at Arcadia, the player will also have to face off against major corporations that are more interested in seeking a profit than helping humanity, such as Auntie’s Choice.
Obsidian and Microsoft have also confirmed that The Outer Worlds 2 will be the first game under the Xbox Game Studios banner to be priced at $79.99. Details about this, along with the $99.99 Premium Edition, can be checked out in our coverage.
In the meantime, also check out details about the three major factions of The Outer Worlds 2 – The Protectorate, The Order of the Ascendant, and Auntie’s Choice. And for some more context about the original The Outer Worlds, check out our review from when the game came out in 2019.
