As Obsidian Entertainment gets closer to the October 29 release date on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S of its RPG The Outer Worlds 2, the company has been putting quite a bit of emphasis in how player choice will matter, and how the title’s role-playing goes deeper than just setting up character builds. In an interview with Xbox Expansion Pass (via GamesRadar), game directors Brandon Adler and Matt Singh spoke about how this would also affect the in-game companions.
In the interview, Adler and Singh have confirmed that, depending on players’ choices, they might even end up alienating their companions. This could have dire consequences for players since, aside from the companion deciding to just leave the party, there is also a chance that they could find the player’s character incompatible with their own goals and motivations, which in turn could lead to a fight, maybe even to the death.
“One of the things that was really important is we wanted these characters to feel like they’re their own people,” said Singh. “They have their own goals, their own motivations, and if the player’s aligning with them, that’s great. They’re going to be there for you. They’ll fight alongside you. But if you go against their interests, they’re going to have something to say about it. That might break out into a conflict, that might mean they leave you or you have to fight them to the death. But if you do build that relationship with them, they’ll be there for you in the end.”
While this might be worrying for some players, Adler has explained that companions’ betrayal won’t just come out of nowhere. Rather, the characters will warn the protagonist if they’re going to turn on them. An example he provided was a companion saying “you’re going to take me along on this thing,” and the player’s prior and subsequent actions towards this character then changing how this relationship plays out.
“There’s some pretty serious points in the story where things can happen and go south where they may say something even as simple as, ‘You’re going to take me along on this thing,’ and depending on how you’ve treated them or how you continue to treat them, that could have big implications,” Adler explained. “There’s things you can do to the companions that other companions really don’t like. And they’ll let you know beforehand, like, ‘Hey, if you do this, this is a point of no return with me,’ kind of thing.”
Adler noted that the companions in The Outer Worlds 2 were created in this way to make them feel “more realistic with how they dealt with the player and just reacted to the things that were going on around them.” He continued: “And that was something that we didn’t really have in the first game all the time, but we really wanted to make sure the players felt that in the second one.”
For more details about The Outer Worlds 2 ahead of its release next week, check out our thoughts on why it could be the biggest sci-fi RPG of this year. If you’re interested in picking the game up, here are things that every player should know before they jump in.
