June 2025: Thanks to the Xbox and dedicated The Outer Worlds 2 showcases at Summer Game Fest, we finally have a release date, and lots of gameplay and story details to unpack. We've updated the entire page below to reflect everything new we learned about The Outer Wilds 2 in these showcases and interviews with Obsidian.
The Outer Worlds 2 is Obsidian Entertainment’s sequel to its well-received sci-fi comedy adventure from 2019. After its E3 2021 debut it retreated into deep space to grow in secret, but there's finally lots of details to unpack (including a release date!) thanks to Summer Game Fest 2025.
Xbox's showcase at SGF started with an appetizer of a release date paired with a new trailer for The Outer Worlds 2, but even more details were dished out during the game's dedicated showcase that started right after the big Xbox stream ended.
Here's what we know for sure, and everything we can speculate, about The Outer Worlds 2.
The Outer Worlds 2 release date
The Outer Worlds 2 releases on October 29, 2025 for Windows, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. This was revealed during Xbox's big showcase at Summer Game Fest 2025, where we learned even more about the sequel soon after as part of its own dedicated showcase.
The Outer Worlds 2 trailers
The latest Outer Worlds 2 trailer is from Summer Game Fest 2025
A lovely shiny new trailer packed with gameplay accompanied The Outer Worlds 2 release date reveal at Xbox''s showcase during Summer Game Fest 2025.
In it, a bunch of new weapons are shown off, as well as some story and setting hints for what awaits us in the sequel. Spoilers—capitalism is still alive (but maybe not well) in the Arcadia star system, but so are dodgy governments and weird scientists, of course.
Here is The Outer Worlds 2 gameplay trailer from The Game Awards 2024
With a tone just as cheeky as ever, The Outer Worlds 2 debuted its first gameplay trailer at the TGAs, promising the sequel includes "everything that should have been in the first game." You'll punch some guys in the head, wield weapons designed to defy common sense, and it'll all look better. Or at least that's what I assume "more graphics" means.
The gameplay bits here are pretty quick flashes, but it's a neat demonstration of the sequel's arsenal along with the generational makeover.
The Outer Worlds 2 story and setting
Where is The Outer Worlds 2 set?
The Outer Worlds 2 is set in the Arcadia system, a lawless new frontier where "the corporations somehow got even worse." As per details provided on Xbox Wire Arcadia is a colony cut off from Earth that is cracking under pressure and being "torn apart by space-time rifts, shifting alliances, and three power-hungry factions locked in a war for control." It's "louder, riskier, and more unpredictable than anything the Halcyon system ever threw at you."
Oh dear, sounds like we'll be needing those new weapons to tackle what's in store across Arcadia.
What is The Outer Worlds 2’s story?
You’ve been sent to Arcadia as an Earth Directorate agent, given free reign to help, hinder, or exploit anybody you like in service of uncovering the source of rifts that have cut the colonies off from Earth entirely, all while a factional war is in full force.
While the sequel has clearly still kept some of the humor of the first game, The Outer Worlds 2 game director says its writing has a "less silly, darker tone."
What are the factions in The Outer Worlds 2?
There are three factions that you can align yourself with in The Outer Worlds 2, each with fundamentally opposing visions of what humanity should be. Here's a short summary of these factions:
- The Protectorate - A military regime powered by endless resources that believes people are happiest when they don’t have to think for themselves. They believe "Order is peace. Obedience is comfort." Sure, Jan.
- Auntie's Choice - The loud, smiling merger of Auntie Cleo’s and Spacer’s Choice. They apparently promise "freedom, fulfillment, and a future where your only real choice is which Auntie’s product you’ll need next."
- The Order of the Ascendant - Rogue scientists turned faith-based futurists, determined to perfect humanity by solving the Universal Equation. They worship patterns, predict the future through math, and perform rituals in labs with "terrifying precision all in service of a better tomorrow."
A totalitarian dictatorship, a megacorporation, and a group of mad scientists. Yep, they all sound appropriately unhinged for The Outer Worlds. If you can't decide who to align with from their "values" alone, you might want to pick based on their unique faction areas, followers, or even audio design.
You’ll see the war between these factions occur in real-time as towns change hands, radio stations shift tone, and the world responds to your choices. You even get to hear about your own antics on the radio as your decisions are retold with "spin, bias, and cheery jingles tailored to each faction’s agenda." A hero to some factions, yet a villain to others. Sounds ripe for multiple playthroughs.
Which characters will feature in The Outer Worlds 2?
You’ll play as a brand new protagonist in The Outer Worlds 2, with six shiny new companions to recruit:
- Niles - Another Earth Directorate recruit torn between duty and defection.
- Inez - A former experiment from Auntie’s Choice with a grafted combat edge and a moral core.
- Aza - A chaos-loving Rift worshiper with a taste for violence "and room to grow."
- Marisol - A stoic killer from the Order of the Ascendant with calculations to settle.
- Tristen - A walking tank and judge from the Protectorate, looking to dispense justice, or redefine it.
- Valerie - A floating, chirping unit with unexpected upgrades and untapped potential.
Each companion has personal stakes in the colony’s future (and their own opinions on what you’re doing). According to information on Xbox Wire:
"One might beg you to spare a faction leader. Another might ask you to murder an entire town. Sacrificing a companion could help you survive a key moment, but lock you out of their questline—and you’ll hear about it. On the radio. From the faction you just betrayed."
If you've not been taking care of your companions throughout the game, you'll apparently know all about it when you reach the end. Definitely a recipe to experiment with across multiple playthroughs!
The Outer Worlds 2 gameplay details
How will The Outer Worlds 2 play?
As seen in the recent showcase, you can talk, shoot, or sneak your way through The Outer Worlds 2, but there's definitely a bigger focus on combat this time around. A lot of the same type of action is shown off, with the option to switch between first and third-person perspectives now, but with some clear upgrades, given the technical jump. It's quite smooth, faster than before, and brings along the same bizarre arsenal you'd expect from the first, with some new additions. Such as throwables, and new science weapons.
"Deeper RPG systems" have also been promised, building on the wide array of dialogue choices and character builds available from the first game, expanding and interconnecting them for combat and story purposes. Sure, picking the 'Dumb' trait is fun, but it can unexpectedly help you solve some environmental puzzles too. Like whacking something to get it to work, or completing a circuit with... a can of Boarstwurst meat? Sure, why not.
It all seems to add up to a familiar tone and playstyle of The Outer Worlds, but with expansions and improvements across the board.
How do skills, perks, and flaws work in The Outer Worlds 2?
There are fewer skills than in the first game, but they've been changed to "make them more impactful." Because they've been tweaked quite a bit, apparently having just one extra skill point can be enough to open up more options in the world, because of how large each skill point jump can be. So in essence, that's less time allocating points, and more time benefiting from skills. Yes please!
The perk system is very similar to Fallout: New Vegas, but The Outer Worlds 2 "went even grander" with more perks than New Vegas, and benefits to all types of gameplay when you unlock them.
From giving you the ability to pickpocket, to knocking down enemies when you melee attack them, to dropping hearts for a permanent boost to your health with the Serial Killer perk there's plenty of options to make a truly unique build in The Outer Wilds 2 to scare all your family and friends with.
And for even more fun, the flaws system has been expanded to include some weird and wonderful options. There's 'Bad Knees' which lets you move faster, but anytime you stand up your knees make a loud pop, alerting enemies; 'Kleptomaniac' means you sell items for more cash than normal, but you'll sometimes automatically steal items when looking at them in the open world; and you can even continue on the serial killer vibes by picking the 'Psychopath' perk to gain permanent bonuses to health by murdering friends.
Aw, what a wholesome perk system.
Is The Outer Worlds 2 coming to Game ?
Yes, the Outer Worlds 2 will be coming to Game on day one, so anyone with a Game subscription will be able to play it the moment it launches.
Will you be able to kill your companion's love interest on their first date together?
If you can't, then what's the point?
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