[Note: All footage is from a work-in-progress alpha build.]
Welcome to our newest IGN First – a month of unique protection in April, and it is all about The Outer Worlds 2. That is the very first have a look at its gameplay in actual time, and it takes us by a quest the place you infiltrate the N-Ray Facility to point out off a number of of the sport’s new options and mechanics, in addition to the way it’s rethinking stage design. And one of many greatest issues that stood out to me is how a lot deeper it’s going to be as an RPG with developer Obsidian trying again at its previous and even drawing inspiration from immersive sims like Deus Ex and Dishonored.
Whereas that DNA has all the time been part of first-person RPGs, The Outer Worlds 2 has extra subtle programs in comparison with the primary sport like a real stealth system and higher instruments to make the playstyle viable, together with efficient melee weapons and expertise to make silent takedowns potential. Take, for instance, the well being bar above enemy heads – there’s a purple-colored readout that shows how harm a stealth assault will do, serving to you choose whether or not or not you will get a one-hit kill or if it’s even value pouncing in your goal. Enemies can even detect useless our bodies and alert guards, however you’ll be able to rapidly clear up when you’ve got a talent to disintegrate our bodies on the spot.
Later within the quest, you decide up the N-Ray Scanner, which helps you to see sure objects and NPCs/enemies by partitions. Whereas that is essential for locating vital components of extra concerned environmental puzzles, it’s additionally an vital device for a stealth and fight. There are enemies all through the N-Ray Facility who cloak themselves; invisible to the bare eye, however not in a position to escape the lens of the N-Ray Scanner. If you happen to’re not dilligent about utilizing it, cloaked enemies can simply run up on you. That is only one instance of how the addition of devices add a brand new wrinkle to gameplay.
There are a number of interlocking programs that issue into the way you’re in a position to play, leaning extra into the RPG parts that make up particular character builds. So, stealth and people immersive sim sensibilities aren’t the one method gameplay is increasing in The Outer Worlds 2. Enhancing gunplay was a serious focus for Obsidian, citing Future as a touchstone for what good gunplay ought to really feel like. Not that this sport goes to show into an all-out shooter, but it surely performs nearer to how a first-person sport with firearms ought to play.
You see an instance of this within the strategy to the N-Ray Facility motion once we go in weapons blazing. Motion has been tweaked to enhance gunplay as nicely, letting you be extra nimble and do issues like sprint-slide whereas aiming down sights like an motion hero – and with the return of Tactical Time Dilation (TTD), the bullet-time fantasy is once more an efficient a part of your fight rotation. We had been in a position to see throwables, which is not at all revolutionary for a sport like this, however with their inclusion this time round, you might have one other device that you may weave into your arsenal – and even do one thing sick like tossing a grenade, activating TTD, and capturing the grenade midair to have it blow up on unsuspecting enemies.
There isn’t a lot to share on the story entrance as of but, not to mention the context across the quest within the N-Ray Facility, however we do see how conversations have been tweaked barely within the sequel. Within the gameplay video above, there is a second we confront an NPC named Exemplar Foxworth who’s survived the cultist takeover of the place. She’s bleeding out and you may assist patch her up primarily based in your Medical stat, or reply relying in your Weapons or Melee stats. Though we could not dig into companions in additional element, this half additionally highlights the brand new companion named Aza, a former cultist who’s a bit frantic however joins you to seemingly assist undo what they’ve carried out.
Many of those parts had been a part of the unique Outer Worlds in some kind, however the place that sport was extra about laying a brand new basis for Obsidian, The Outer Worlds 2 appears to be like to be a totally realized model of what it was attempting to construct with the primary one. Along with checking it out early, I had conversations with the oldsters at Obsidian to get perception on a ton of its new options and the imaginative and prescient that drove this sequel. It appears eager on wielding the RPG roots of the studio’s previous whereas contemplating what a contemporary first-person RPG will be within the vein of a Fallout – and to be clear, they usually referred to Fallout: New Vegas as a touchstone when making The Outer Worlds 2, so my hopes are actually excessive.
That is only a style of what is to return in The Outer Worlds 2 and what we’re protecting on this month’s IGN First. I will be breaking down character builds, the brand new flaws system, all of the wild and wacky weapons, and the way a lot greater this sequel is thru interviews with key individuals like authentic Fallout developer and inventive director Leonard Boyarsky, sport director Brandon Adler, and design director Matt Singh. Hold checking again at IGN all April lengthy for extra!
Michael Higham is the tech evaluations editor at IGN, however is likely one of the RPG sickos on employees who nonetheless talks about Fallout: New Vegas regularly. Yow will discover him at @brazyazn.bsky.social.