[Note: All footage is from a work-in-progress alpha build.]
Having lastly seen The Outer Worlds 2 for myself, it’s clear that leaning into deeper RPG parts was one of many priorities for developer Obsidian. Where the primary recreation was extra approachable with streamlined programs and development for constructing out your character, the sequel is about avoiding homogeneity, and even egging you on to play in unorthodox trend. But it’s not fully about being complicated for the sake of it. The Outer Worlds 2 needs gamers to get artistic, turn out to be extra specialised with the issues they spec into, and perhaps embrace the oddball decisions they could should make.
“We’re in search of methods to incentivize the participant to experiment with totally different builds, both conventional or non-traditional,” design director Matt Singh informed me in a dialog about how the group has revamped its RPG mechanics. When chatting with the broader strategy, he mentioned “We actually needed to lean into synergies, how participant Skills, Traits, and Perks can all infuse into fascinating builds that play off of different programs.” You might see a few of these concepts at work in our unique 11 minutes of The Outer Worlds 2 gameplay, the place the brand new gunplay, stealth, devices, and dialogue have been showcased. But for this a part of our IGN First for unique protection on The Outer Worlds 2, we’re specializing in the nitty gritty of how all these programs have been reworked and what you possibly can anticipate from them.
Rethinking the Skill System
“We would usually see characters good at all the things, which by the tip of the sport, minimized your private expertise together with your character,” lead programs designer Kyle Koenig informed me when reflecting on the primary recreation and contemplating modifications for the sequel. Part of how Obsidian is doing that’s by shifting away from the Skill classes that grouped your stats collectively within the unique and going with particular person Skills which have extra drastic variations between them. “We needed to give attention to making every particular person level-up and funding actually essential. There’s much less confusion on once I ought to spend money on one Skill or the opposite. If I wish to be a participant that is all about weapons and utilizing medical units, I do know which Skills I actually need to care about. By having them separated and never in groupings, it lets characters be extra specialised.”
Singh added, “There’s greater than only a conventional stealth-focused construct, combat-focused construct, or speech-focused construct. There’s lots of mixing of ideas, taking part in with different programs and incorporating these into a fairly broad, however distinctive vary of various participant profiles.” He alluded to having sure investments in Skills manifest in different methods equivalent to Observation, which may spotlight issues within the atmosphere that you just wouldn’t be capable of establish in any other case like secret doorways or objects to work together with that may result in alternate paths ahead.
On the floor, that will appear anticipated for an RPG – if something, The Outer Worlds was the outlier with the best way it grouped Skills collectively. However, within the sequel, it’s about utilizing the revised Skill system to create higher distinctions and open extra potentialities in character builds, particularly because it pertains to the revamped Perks system.
The Perks of Getting Experimental
Obsidian appears centered on specificity and providing distinctive avenues for play. “We’ve considerably elevated the variety of Perks with over 90 of them – every of these requiring numerous Skills to unlock. As you spend money on Skills, it modifications how one can spend money on Perks and leads you down many various paths,” Koenig defined. He gave an instance with a Perk known as Run and Gun for many who desire utilizing shotguns, SMGs, and rifles which lets you fireplace whereas sprinting or sliding, and mixed with Tactical Time Dilation (TTD), bullet-time motion can very a lot be a part of your repertoire in The Outer Worlds 2. He additionally teased Space Ranger, which is a Perk that offers you sure interactions in dialogue whereas granting you injury boosts primarily based in your Speech stat. “The approach we checked out them when designing them was to have a look at what are all of the totally different modes of gameplay the participant has, and what are all of the actions they’ll take and the way can we modify them,” he acknowledged.
“We have lots of Perks which are catered in the direction of non-traditional play types,” Singh talked about, giving an instance of carving out a construct for gamers who primarily kill each NPC in sight. You can go down that route and lean into it with Perks equivalent to Psychopath after which Serial Killer that’ll grant bonuses, like everlasting well being boosts, for enjoying this fashion. “Especially in an Obsidian recreation the place we permit you to kill anyone – the sport’s going to reply, it should roll with it, and you are going to nonetheless be capable of full the sport. It’s really a extremely enjoyable option to play in a second or third playthrough simply to see how far you possibly can take it.”
As for extra conventional playstyles, Koenig gave some perception on character builds that reap the benefits of the basic points of fight by exploiting the totally different injury varieties. “Even if you wish to combine and match them, you could be a character that is all about plasma and burning issues alive whereas getting therapeutic from it – or utilizing shock injury to scramble automechs and have them struggle for you quickly whereas paralyzing creatures and people – or utilizing corrosive injury to remove all their armor and make it so all of your assaults in opposition to them are vital hits that deal insane quantities of harm.”
Singh careworn that there are different avenues to get experimental, referencing alternatives to decide into detrimental results that’ll buff one other facet of your character. He talked about mechanics that may reward you for placing your self in hurt’s approach, positing the query, “How do I assemble a construct the place I’m really incentivized to get in there and take injury in order that I can then do different issues successfully? I actually like these sorts of artistic builds that permit you to play with that concept and convert one thing that is likely to be damaging right into a constructive facet of your construct.” That design philosophy was a part of the unique, however now that’s a driving pressure for The Outer Worlds 2, particularly because it pertains to Traits and Flaws.
The Positive and Negative Traits
“One of the issues in The Outer Worlds that was a key off of Fallout was you could possibly have damaging attributes that may be actively detrimental to your character, however you get a number of additional factors to spend someplace else,” Koenig talked about. A approach that manifested within the unique was via the Flaws system, which gave you the choice to take a everlasting impact primarily based in your in-game habits in alternate for an additional Perk level. But from what I’ve seen so far, this concept is increasing two-fold in The Outer Worlds 2.
The system of Positive Traits and Negative Traits is integral to that give-and-take the place you possibly can select a damaging one to have the ability to choose an extra constructive. For instance, you possibly can take Brilliant that grants you additional Skill factors in character creation, or Brawny that permits you to knock targets down by sprinting into them. And in order for you extra positives, you’d have to pick a damaging equivalent to Dumb that locks you out of ever investing factors into 5 Skills, or Sickly that completely lowers your base well being and tolerance for toxicity. Those are just some of the choices I used to be in a position to see in these early levels.
Although I’ll go into rather more depth with the revamped Flaws in one other article, I can say that The Outer Worlds 2 is getting rather more artistic in goofy and intelligent methods (and typically each). I discovered myself turning down most, if not all, Flaws within the unique recreation since I didn’t have a lot use for additional Perk factors and the compromise usually wasn’t value it. In this sequel, the sport itself remains to be monitoring your habits and habits, however Flaws are actually constructed with particular circumstances which are each constructive and damaging – it’s as if there’s one other layer of the Traits system, however popping up unexpectedly primarily based on the way you’re taking part in. You’ll nonetheless should decide into them, however they are going to be a everlasting a part of your character.
Guiding Players and Ditching Respec
There appear to be much more shifting components in The Outer Worlds 2, and one other focus from Obsidian was to make these points digestible and clear, whether or not it’s from in-game explanations or UI parts. “Right from the get-go, from character creation, we actually needed to place within the forefront what are the variations of those abilities and what they do,” Koenig informed me. It’s not simply within the assist textual content, but in addition in brief movies within the menus that present examples of the gameplay affect. The factor that stood out to me was having the ability to mark Perks as favorites earlier than unlocking them to be able to assist arrange and plan out a sure development path or construct. Mapping them out appears intuitive as nicely for the reason that necessities are proven off the bat and icons within the menu assist signify a Perk’s basic playstyle and Skill it applies to.
It’s obvious that Obsidian needs gamers to fastidiously take into account these decisions, nonetheless, particularly since there is no such thing as a respec previous the introductory sequence – that means, when you’ve invested in a Skill, Perk, or Trait, your character has to stay with that alternative all through your playthrough. Koenig mentioned, “By eradicating respec, we actually incentivize it to be your expertise. It is part of your expertise that nobody else had, and I believe that is actually particular about RPGs and one thing that respec tends to minimize.”
As for Singh, he informed me “Philosophy-wise, we actually really feel your whole decisions ought to matter. They must be significant modifications to your gameplay expertise. And he concluded, “This is simply a kind of methods the place we’re asking you to select, follow it, and see how that performs out in fascinating and enjoyable methods.”
We’re protecting a lot extra of The Outer Worlds 2 on this month’s IGN First. Stay tuned for a breakdown of the brand new Flaws system, all of the wild and wacky weapons, and the way expansive its open areas and ranges are going to be with our interviews from key builders at Obsidian.
Michael Higham is the tech opinions editor at IGN, however is among the RPG sickos on workers who nonetheless talks about Fallout: New Vegas frequently. You can discover him at @brazyazn.bsky.social.
