The Outer Worlds 2

The Outer Worlds 2 is an upcoming 2025 action role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a standalone sequel to The Outer Worlds (2019), set in the Arcadia star system that has been colonized entirely by megacorporations. Players will assume control of the protagonist, an Earth Directorate Agent, who is tasked with uncovering the source of emerging rifts that threaten to destroy the colony amidst a factional war.

The Outer Worlds 2
Developer(s)	Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Xbox Game Studios
Director(s)	Brandon Adler
Engine	Unreal Engine 5
Platform(s)	PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S
Release	October 29, 2025
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

As with its predecessor, The Outer Worlds 2 is played from the first-person perspective and involves alternating between various combat, stealth and dialogue systems when encountering hostile non-playable characters in the overworld. The game also retains its predecessor's dialogue tree system which influences the branching story paths depending on how the player interacts with their party and other supporting characters throughout the narrative.

The Outer Worlds 2 began development shortly following the release of the first game in 2019, and had entered full development two years later. Tim Cain, who co-directed the first game before leaving Obsidian in 2020, remained involved as a creative consultant during production.

The Outer Worlds 2 is scheduled to release for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 29, 2025.

Gameplay

The Outer Worlds 2 is an action role-playing game that is played in first-person perspective. Players can use melee weapons and firearms to defeat enemies. The game features an expanded selection of weapons, better visuals, and an increased focus on action compared to the first game, according to Obsidian Entertainment.^[1] It will be set in a new solar system with a new cast of characters.^[2]

Premise

The Outer Worlds 2 is set in an alternate future that diverged from our timeline in 1901 when U.S. President William McKinley is not assassinated. As a result, Theodore Roosevelt never succeeded him, and the great business trusts of the era were never broken up. This lead to a hyper-corporate, class-centric society dominated by the power of megacorporations. In the distant future these megacorporations started to colonize space and terraform alien planets with varying results.^[3]

Where The Outer Worlds was set in the colony of Halcyon, The Outer Worlds 2 takes place in the wealthy and isolated colony of Arcadia. The player takes on the role of an agent working for the Earth Directorate, an administrative body tasked with coordinating between Earth and its colonies. The player is sent to Arcadia to investigate rifts in the fabric of space and time that have cut the colonies off from Earth entirely.^[a] There they discover a conflict between the Protectorate, a totalitarian government which holds a monopoly over faster-than-light travel, and Auntie's Choice, a megacorporation formed by the merger of pharmaceutical company Auntie Cleo's and consumer goods manufacturer Spacer's Choice. Auntie's Choice has invaded Arcadia with the goal of seizing the Protectorate's monopoly over superluminal travel technology, with its master plan to use this technology to control the rifts and, by extension, the trade routes between the colonies.

Development

During development of the first game, Obsidian Entertainment was acquired by Microsoft and integrated as a first-party developer for Xbox Game Studios in November 2018.^[4] While the arrangement did not affect the game's original distribution plans,^[5] Microsoft acquired all publishing duties for "future iterations" of The Outer Worlds from Private Division by May 2021.^[6][7] A sequel to the game had entered development in September 2019, two months before The Outer Worlds launched.^[8][9]

In January 2024, The Outer Worlds director Tim Cain, who left Obsidian in 2020 and considered himself retired from the games industry, revealed that he remained attached to The Outer Worlds 2 as a creative consultant during its production.^[10] Cain praised the game's team as they had "figured out" a solution to a specific problem the developer had continued to struggle with across all his previous titles, referencing production notes he recalled from creating the original Fallout in 1997, and he frequently assisted staff in identifying "pitfalls" in the game's overall quality.^[11][12] In August 2024, Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart provided an update on the game, saying it "is looking incredible" despite conflicts with the game's planned production timeline.^[13][14]

Release

The Outer Worlds 2 was announced at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase during Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2021, where it was slated for release on Windows and Xbox Series X/S as a console-exclusive.^[15] At the time of announcement, the game had just entered full production, and the game's accompanying trailer broke the fourth wall by addressing the fact the studio did not have any gameplay or materials ready to be shown by then.^[16] A full trailer unveiling gameplay and story details was presented at The Game Awards (TGA) in December 2024, which additionally confirmed a 2025 launch window, making it the second Obsidian-developed title to release that year following Avowed that February.^[17] The game was also now slated to have a simultaneous multiplatform release, with a PlayStation 5 version planned to launch alongside the Xbox and PC releases.^[18] The game was the subject of a special Direct presentation that aired immediately following the Xbox Games Showcase on June 8, 2025.^[19]

It will be made available to subscribers of select Xbox Game Pass plans on release day, including Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.^[20]

The Outer Worlds 2 is scheduled to release for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 29th, 2025.^[21][22][23] It was originally going to be the first title from Xbox Game Studios to launch at $79.99 USD, following Microsoft's commitment to the price point for new major releases going forward.^[24][25] However, on July 23, 2025, the official Outer Worlds Twitter/X account announced that the game will now cost $69.99 USD, instead of the original price of $79.99 USD.^[26]

Notes

1. As depicted in The Outer Worlds (2019).