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During my first experience with the first Outer Worlds game, I was instantly captivated by its sarcastic, Fallout-inspired type of wit. This title featured dynamic dialogues, character diaries, and advertising displays that portrayed a company-run society that was simultaneously bleak and amusing. My primary concern heading into The Outer Worlds 2 was that this version – without blame of its own – could fail to be as funny like the original.

Sure, things weren't perfect. However, life undoubtedly appeared slightly less fractured in those days. This game showed a bleak future that didn't strike overly familiar, and nonetheless succeeded to be both emotional and comical. I commenced The Outer Worlds 2 pretty sure that the sequel wouldn't manage to accomplish this once more, but I'm delighted to state that I was wrong. This follow-up is as chuckle-inducing as the release that came earlier, and also introduces fresh concepts rather than merely repeating identical material similar to a tired company slogan.

Developing Personalities

The majority of the non-player characters gamers met in the initial release had been defeated by the actions of business corporations like Spacer's Choice, and were acutely conscious of how much their situation was terrible. This sequel progresses matters in a different direction, featuring characters who are indoctrinated (periodically symbolically, regularly truly). Numerous characters aren't conscious of how extremely messed up their situations are, or that there could be choices to an existence spent under the boot of a huge company or restricted by the doctrines of a high-demand religion.

This second installment investigates methods of business domination that are more insidious than simply keeping the people destitute. Many NPCs have been brainwashed into the type of overly enthusiastic "grindset mindset" rhetoric you'll find on online profiles that vow to show the key to success should you purchase for an overpriced workshop, or invest in a dubious blockchain project. Even the game's company advertising has developed.

Contemporary Issues

There remain plenty of demotivating signs in various locations indicating reductions in pay from workers who even think about having a break, but there are also mentions of pyramid scheme methods, such as a new hire handbook that proudly declares, "Unknown people are merely customers YOU still need to meet!" As an individual who was raised in a multi-level marketing family, I promptly exploded with laughter upon viewing this reference, because it's a saying I have frequently encountered spoken verbatim by people at the base of those structures.

Luckily, this sequel is just as funny and sarcastic as the original title.

This installment additionally investigates the dilemma various individuals experience concerning employment, politics, and even personal purchases: Being forced to pick the smaller of multiple bad options. While attempting to determine if to support a dangerous corporate entity or a problematic faith organization in the game, I discovered I was aligning with the devil I know: A familiar corporate entity that is awful (yet merely employs promotion to program its members), as opposed to the cult, which also sucks, but employs an awful technique named "psychological renewal" to keep its adherents in line.

Doubtful Authorities

Furthermore, the characters you serve may not be dependable. Playing as an space operative, your mission involves attempting to restore control to this settlement following a hostile corporate takeover, and you will quickly find that the two the attackers and the residents subscribe to distinct (but similarly terrible) ideologies. Yet a speedy review of the transmissions on your ship's terminal show that the Earth Directorate isn't exactly the universe's most principled organization as well, as evidenced by a response to a help request that notifies the contact it will take "three to five organizational cycles" for a reply to their message. (This period is approximately the time it takes for many people to reach a human help desk employee via telephone these days.)

Relatable Moments

Many moments in this sequel are extremely familiar, but it's a cleansing kind of recognition, and this release manages to balance its depressing dystopian setting with wit that's truly humorous yet not seeming inappropriate. One major theme is the rapid beginning of decline that seems to take place in the wake of significant business mergers. Employees on both sides of this installment's big merger find their existence decrease consequently, while the CEOs in charge of the hierarchy are, naturally, raking in money quickly.

Well, at minimum I understand where I stand.

Similar to the original title, The Outer Worlds 2 is inherently funny, but additionally isn't afraid to get serious. At one point, while traveling around the game's first explorable world, I stumbled across a body with a message nearby. This message disclosed that this individual (associated with the indoctrinating cult) had perished in an incident during efforts to locate and dispatch her significant other. This partner had apparently defected from their group, and the now-dead NPC was enraged by her partner's {traitorous