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Upon my initial experience with the first Outer Worlds game, I was quickly hooked by its sarcastic, Fallout-esque brand of humor. This release included dynamic dialogues, individual logs, and advertising displays that portrayed a business-controlled nightmare that was simultaneously dark and humorous. My primary concern approaching The Outer Worlds 2 was that this version – not due to on its part – might not be as humorous as its predecessor.

Admittedly, things weren't perfect. Yet society certainly seemed slightly less fractured back then. The Outer Worlds depicted a grim society that didn't strike overly familiar, and yet accomplished to be at once heartwarming and uproarious. I began the follow-up pretty sure that the sequel wouldn't manage to achieve this a second time, but I'm delighted to report that I was incorrect. This follow-up is equally chuckle-inducing as the game that came before it, and additionally brings fresh concepts rather than merely repeating identical material comparable to an tired company slogan.

Changing NPCs

A large portion of the NPCs players encountered in the first title had been beaten down by the activities of corporate entities like the fictional company, and were acutely conscious of how much their lives sucked. The Outer Worlds 2 takes things in a different direction, including personalities who are indoctrinated (periodically symbolically, frequently actually). Many of these personalities aren't conscious of how profoundly screwed up their conditions are, or that there could be alternatives to an existence spent under the boot of a huge company or limited by the creeds of a demanding cult.

This second installment examines forms of business domination that are more insidious than only making the masses poor. Numerous characters have been programmed with the type of extremely eager "hustle mentality" rhetoric you'll find on digital platforms that promise to reveal the key to success if you pay a costly program, or put money into a sketchy crypto scheme. Additionally, the title's corporate propaganda has developed.

Contemporary Issues

There continue to be plenty of unmotivational posters throughout facilities warning about deducting staff compensation who even contemplate having a break, but additionally there are references to network marketing methods, featuring a new hire handbook that proudly declares, "Strangers are just patrons you still need to meet!" As someone who grew up in a direct sales environment, I instantly erupted laughing when encountering this reference, because it's a phrase I have often heard repeated exactly by people at the base of those structures.

Thankfully, this sequel is equally humorous and satirical as the original title.

This installment furthermore explores the predicament various individuals find ourselves in concerning employment, politics, and including buying decisions: Being forced to select the smaller of two or three evils. While attempting to decide whether to back a risky company or a concerning cult in the game, I discovered I was siding with the known negative: A familiar corporate entity that sucks (though just utilizes advertising to indoctrinate its followers), instead of the faith organization, which is similarly terrible, but utilizes an awful technique termed "cognitive reset" to keep its adherents obedient.

Questionable Employers

Furthermore, the characters you serve might not be dependable. Playing as an Earth Directorate agent, your mission involves attempting to restore order to the Arcadia colony following an aggressive business acquisition, and you rapidly learn that the two the aggressors and the defenders follow differing (though equally awful) doctrines. But a quick inspection of the messages on your ship's terminal reveal that the Earth Directorate is hardly the universe's most principled organization too, as shown by an answer to a help request that notifies the contact it will take "3-5 organizational cycles" for an answer to their communication. (This duration is about how long it takes for many people to reach a real help desk employee via telephone these days.)

Familiar Situations

Various situations in this sequel are highly recognizable, but it's a cleansing type of familiarity, and this title succeeds in balancing its depressing dystopian setting with comedy that's genuinely funny without feeling incongruous. A primary concept is the near-instant onset of deterioration that happens to unfold in the wake of large company takeovers. Workers from each party of this sequel's significant consolidation find their existence decline therefore, while the CEOs in control of the food chain are, naturally, raking in profits hand over fist.

Hey, at least I recognize my position.

Just like the original title, this sequel is naturally humorous, but additionally doesn't shy away to get serious. At one point, while exploring around the title's initial explorable world, I stumbled across a body with a recording nearby. The audio log showed that this individual (associated with the brainwashing religious faction) had perished in an incident while attempting to track down and dispatch her significant other. This loved one had reportedly deserted from their group, and the perished individual was incensed at her significant other's {traitorous