The Outer Worlds 2was announced at E3 2021 in the series' satirical style, with Obsidian parodying early game announcement trailers and keeping specific details about the next game close to its chest. There has, however, been one major detail about the upcoming game that has been confirmed.
The Outer Worlds 2will not take place in the Halcyon star system, the setting of the first game. While very little has been revealed about where the next game will actually be set, this detail points to one significant advantage thatThe Outer Worldshas over theFalloutfranchise that may give Obsidian’s newer series the long-term edge over Bethesda’s long-running franchise.
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The Restrictions Of Fallout’s Settings
AlthoughFallout’s Great Warreshaped its version of America, the series still relies on finding real-world locations to act as the foundation for each game’s setting. As Bethesda Design Director Emil Pagliarulo said of the series in the documentaryThe History of Bethesda Game Studios, “the first thing for us is to figure out ‘where the hell is this game set?'”
Fallout’s fictionalized America is one of the series greatest strengths, allowing players to explore locations they may find familiar and opening up the door for unique roleplaying opportunities not found in series with entirely fictional settingslikeThe Elder Scrolls. Not only doesFallout’s reliance on real-world locations have its drawbacks, however, but those drawbacks risk becoming increasingly pronounced as the series gets older.
TheFalloutfranchise has to keep finding exciting new locations with their own brand of Americana that fits with the series’ major themes. So far the games have been set in California,Washington DC, Nevada, Boston, West Virginia, and surrounding areas, which still leaves the developers plenty of options for future games.
There are other problems that come with a reliance on real-world settings, however. RPG sequels often face the challenge of reflecting the player’s impact on the world in previous games in the series. There’s no mention inFallout 4, for example, whether Mr. House, Caesar’s Legion, the NCR, orthe Courierthemself took control of New Vegas after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.
Although entrieslikeFallout 76have avoided this problem by being set long before most of the otherFalloutgames, the more locations Bethesda lets the player have a major impact on, the harder it becomes to sustain the illusion that players have any impact onFallout’s world at all. This may seem counterintuitive, but as moreFalloutgames release the fates of major locations in the US become increasingly difficult to address without establishing the canonical choices the player characters made in previous games. Making some choices canon would be a hard sell in a series that touts freedom and player choice as one of its greatest assets.
This problem isn’t just limited toFallout. Many fans of Bethesda will be wondering how the studio will address the outcome ofSkyrim’s Civil War inThe Elder Scrolls 6without establishing a canonical choice or being suspiciously evasive about a major province’s leadership. WhileThe Elder Scrollscan eventually choose to leave Tamriel if needs be,Fallouthas no such luxury. The series is so tied up in ’50s and ’60s American aesthetics that it couldn’t leave the US without sacrificing a major part of its style.
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The Freedom Of The Outer Worlds' Settings
Very little is known aboutThe Outer Worlds 2, but the series' setting is practically immune to the problem faced byFallout, and is already confirmed to be taking advantage of that fact.The Outer Worlds 2’s official Twitteraccount described the upcoming game as having a “new star system. New crew. SameOuter Worlds.”
The Outer Worlds 2is completely free ofFallout’s setting restrictions, but is still able to take advantage of the same degree of stylistic consistency through its own brand of alternate history.Falloutcouldn’t leave America behind without sacrificing its style, butThe Outer Worlds 2can take players anywhere in the universe. More accurately, Obsidian has the freedom to completely invent the settings of each game -Halcyonisn’t even a real star system.
The expansion of humanity across the stars inThe Outer Worldsalso allows a sequel to have stakes as high as the original without ever having to address the decisions made by the player in the first game. By taking place in a new star system,The Outer Worlds 2can leave the fate of Halcyon at theend ofThe Outer Worlds 1totally open-ended without seeming evasive. Each new story can take place in its own cluster of isolated planets that draw on the series' aesthetics and lore but are totally independent in terms of story and stakes.
WhileFalloutplayers can never have too much of an impact on the game’s setting without it causing problems for Bethesda down the line,The Outer Worldscan let its players have a huge impact on each game’s setting. If players side withthe Board inThe Outer Worlds1 it’s suggested that the entire colony collapses thanks to careless exploitation of its resources. Making room for this possible player choice only prevents future games from taking place in Halcyon, which was unlikely to be the plan anyway in a universe with so much potential for new settings. In contrast, it would be extremely difficult for aFalloutgame to raise the stakes to the extent that the player could destroy the entire setting without having to establish that option as non-canon when the next game rolls around.
Every new game inThe Outer Worldsseries is an opportunity for the developers to build a new setting from the ground-up, fitting it to the exact story they want to tell while keeping it self-contained enough that the player’s choices can have a massive influence on the setting’s fate. Without many more specificdetails aboutThe Outer Worlds 2, fans have no idea if Obsidian will fully take advantage of the edge its series has overFallout. However, withFalloutsuffering from the slow saturation of its setting with each new game,The Outer Worldscould be a great position to eventually become the successor series many fans hoped it would be when the first game released.
The Outer Worlds 2is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
