The Outer Worlds 2 launches later this month on October 29 (or October 24, if you pre-order the more expensive Premium Edition) and you might be wondering if you should attempt to complete a playthrough of the first game before jumping into this sequel. While it certainly won’t hurt to refamiliarize yourself with the universe of The Outer Worlds, don’t expect any of the first game’s various endings to play a role in Obsidian’s second crack at this series.
We spoke to The Outer Worlds 2 creative director Leonard Boyarsky about the first game’s endings and whether the effects of it will appear in our playthrough of the second game, and he gave us a definitive “No”.
“No, not specifically, because it is a completely different colony,” Boyarsky says, noting the first game takes place in the colony of Halcyon while The Outer Worlds 2 takes place in a new colony called Arcadia. “[Arcadia’s] been cut off. There are references to things that happened in the first game; I don’t want to mislead people though, and [have] them think there are a lot of details, but there’s the story of the universe that’s going on, and we’re continuing that story.
“So there are elements of what happened in the first game that you could find references to. I think players who played the first game and liked the first game will enjoy finding those little things that players who didn’t play the first game won’t.”
On the subject of Halcyon and Arcadia, The Outer Worlds 2 director Brandon Adler says Boyarsky and Tim Cain, who together created the Outer Worlds IP, were very clear that the idea of this series is that each game takes place in a new colony. “So we knew we wanted this to be a new colony because we have other stories we want to tell,” Adler says. He adds that if The Outer Worlds 2 took place in Halycon, Obsidian would have to find a way to either canonize an ending to the first game or address all the possible endings and world states players ended, and that’s something the team wanted to avoid.
Game Informer’s cover story for The Outer Worlds 2 is available to read right now if you’re a subscriber (and this issue is shipping to mailboxes as we speak). For more, check out this list of 8 fun facts about The Outer Worlds 2’s first biome, Paradise Island, and then check out this exclusive gameplay segment showcasing Paradise Island. After that, read about how there are pets (that you can pet) in The Outer Worlds 2, and then check out this story about how third-person gameplay made its way into The Outer Worlds 2.
Are you glad The Outer Worlds 2 takes place in a different colony? Let us know in the comments below!
