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Upon my initial encounter with the original Outer Worlds, I was immediately drawn by its satirical, Fallout-esque brand of humor. This title boasted lively conversations, personal journals, and advertising displays that depicted a business-controlled nightmare that was simultaneously grim and amusing. My primary concern approaching the follow-up was that this installment – without blame of its own – wouldn't be as funny like the original.

Admittedly, things weren't perfect. Yet society definitely felt slightly less fractured at that time. This game presented a dystopia that didn't hit too close to home, and still managed to be at once emotional and comical. I commenced The Outer Worlds 2 feeling quite confident that the sequel couldn't succeed to pull this off a second time, but I'm pleased to announce that I was mistaken. The Outer Worlds 2 is as smile-generating as the game that preceded it, and also introduces original ideas instead of simply reusing identical material comparable to an overused corporate jingle.

Changing NPCs

Most of the game characters players encountered in the original game had been defeated by the deeds of company organizations like Spacer's Choice, and were acutely conscious of the extent to which their lives sucked. This sequel moves events in a different direction, including personalities who are programmed (periodically symbolically, often literally). Many of these personalities aren't conscious of how extremely disordered their circumstances are, or that there may exist options to a life lived beneath the control of a massive corporation or restricted by the doctrines of an intense faith.

The sequel examines forms of business domination that are more subtle than simply keeping the population impoverished. Many NPCs have been programmed with the sort of extremely eager "grindset mindset" rhetoric you'll find on digital platforms that promise to reveal the key to success if you pay a costly program, or invest in a sketchy crypto scheme. Even the game's company advertising has developed.

Contemporary Issues

There are still many discouraging displays throughout facilities indicating reductions in staff compensation who even contemplate taking a day off, but furthermore exist references to multi-level marketing tactics, such as a staff guide that proudly declares, "Unfamiliar individuals are simply patrons you haven't met yet!" As an individual who was raised in a network marketing family, I instantly erupted in amusement when encountering this reference, because it's a refrain I have frequently encountered stated precisely by individuals in lower positions of such schemes.

Luckily, this follow-up is just as funny and satirical as the initial release.

The Outer Worlds 2 also examines the predicament many of us experience concerning occupation, politics, and even consumer choices: Being forced to pick the lesser of several poor choices. When trying to choose whether to back a risky company or a concerning cult throughout the experience, I realized I became siding with the familiar evil: An established corporate entity that is awful (but only uses promotion to program its members), rather than the cult, which is equally bad, but utilizes an awful technique called "mental refreshment" to keep its adherents in line.

Questionable Employers

Even the people you serve could fail to be dependable. Playing as an galactic official, your mission involves attempting to restore stability to this settlement after a hostile corporate takeover, and you will quickly find that the two the aggressors and the defenders follow distinct (but similarly terrible) doctrines. However, a rapid review of the communications on your spacecraft's system show that this agency is hardly the galaxy's most moral authority too, as shown by a reply to a help request that informs the caller it will take "several organizational cycles" for a response to their communication. (That time frame is approximately the time it takes for numerous individuals to reach a human customer service agent via telephone currently.)

Familiar Situations

Many moments in this installment are painfully relatable, but it's a cathartic sort of relatability, and this release manages to balance its depressing dystopian setting with wit that's authentically amusing yet not seeming incongruous. One major theme is the near-instant onset of enshittification that happens to unfold after large company takeovers. Staff members from all factions of this sequel's major acquisition find their existence decrease consequently, while the executives in charge of the structure are, of course, collecting money rapidly.

Well, at minimum I know my situation.

Comparable to the original title, this sequel is inherently funny, but it also doesn't hesitate to turn solemn. At a certain time, while exploring around the title's initial explorable world, I discovered a body with a recording nearby. This message showed that this individual (connected to the programming faith group) had perished in an incident while trying to track down and eliminate her significant other. This partner had apparently defected from their faction, and the deceased character was incensed at her partner's {traitorous