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Digital Trends
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
The Outer Worlds 2 already feels lightyears ahead of its predecessor
I'll let you in on a dirty little secret that I've kept quiet for years: I'm not all that big on The Outer Worlds. Despite the fact that Obsidian's Fallout-esque sci-fi RPG was a critical darling in 2019, I struggled to get into a groove with it despite liking so many of its individual parts. The social satire was there, and I loved the companions, but so much of its gameplay left me feeling cold. Maybe it was just the bland combat that put me off, or that the movement felt stiff, but I never saw it through to the end and figured I'd likely skip its eventual sequel. Now after actually playing a slice of The Outer Worlds 2 following last week's Xbox Games Showcase, I'm singing a very different tune. Obsidian has seemingly been listening in on my internal monologue, because the major problems I had first game have seemingly been addressed here. The demo I played teased a huge leap forward for an RPG with great bones, reinventing the basic feel while still delivering what Obsidian does best. Recommended Videos Two paths My demo threw me into a mission a good way through the base game. My objective was simple: steal a weapon that can manipulate rifts from a heavily guarded area. Obsidian set me up with three different save files, all starting at the same point but with three very different stat builds. I could either load in as a combat, speech, or stealth-focused character. With only 40 minutes or so to play, I decided to see if I could squeeze two runs into one session. I decided to start with the combat build and go in guns blazing to see if my main complaints from the first game had been addressed. After a failed attempt to sneak through the building, I looked to the arsenal of weapons equipped on my character. Within seconds of pulling the trigger on a machine gun, I could instantly tell that Obsidian had totally revamped its entire approach to combat. Guns have significantly more weight and power now, and each feels entirely different from one another. Shooting feels more inspired by the Halo school of thought this time, with unmistakable guns that you can identify by feel. Some of those guns are delightfully over the top, too. In my combat save file, I had access to some sort of goop gun that would soak enemies in a weakening gunk. My second playthrough would give me access to a totally different set of weapons, including an elemental shotgun that packed a tremendous punch. Some of those specialized weapons take me back to Avowed, another Obsidian RPG that excels at giving players tools with satisfying perks. The new weapons combine with tools like throwable grenades and decoys to create much deeper action. A guns blazing character build is way more viable as a result. I got the rift gun and extracted with it in nearly 15 minutes, making mincemeat out of an entire complex full of guards. Just in that first attempt, I notice that The Outer Worlds 2 feels much less stiff than its predecessor all around. It's not just the more distinct guns, but even just the basic movement. My character feels much more agile, as they are able to slide, double jump, and parkour around the building with ease. That change creates a lot of flexibility for those who want to play the sequel more like an action game and less like an RPG. I wanted to test just how far that spectrum goes, so I loaded up the speech build for my second attempt. Rather than sneaking through guarded rooms right away, I peeled off into a space I hadn't explored the first time. There, I found a researcher who I deceived into thinking I was some kind of employee performing a security test on her. After gaining her trust, she tells me both where to find the rift gun and also a keycard. In return for the information, she asks me to help her clear her name, as she's been blamed for a lab accident that wasn't her fault. I agree and sneak my way back towards the room with the rift modifier. Using it on rifts opens up some new paths that I can platform up, and that will open up new places to explore in the world outside the facility, according to Obsidian. With my prize in hand, I continue to take things slow. I explore some rooms I'd passed by before, sneaking into vents and eventually finding the keycard. True to my word, I get back to the researcher using a path I had completely missed the first time. She takes me into a side room and asks me to use the tool on a rift, revealing a sort of hologram of the accident she was accused of causing. I go into detective mode, looking for clues that can clear her name. It's like I'm playing a completely different mission from my first attempt. It's twice as long and shows me that there's way more to the mission space than I initially thought. And I still didn't see it all either. As I'm exploring, I discover some jammed doors that I would have been able to pry open with the right stats. I get the sense that there are even more ways to get through it all, almost making me feel like I'm in an immersive sim. That's only the tiniest slice of what The Outer Worlds 2 offers. I didn't step foot outside, barely met my new robotic companions, and didn't get to build my own character out. The long-term character building is what really entices me. After the demo, developers from Obsidian told me about the sequel's reactive new perk system that bends around a player's habits. For instance, they explained that a player who habitually reloads their gun before its clip is empty may give their character an Overprepared trait. That will give players a larger magazine on all weapons but will also curse them with a debuff anytime they empty their clip. Companions will be similarly reactive to player habits, as Obsidian says that making decisions that a character disagrees with may cause them to leave the party. All of this has my ears perked. The first game always felt too machine-like to me. I could see all of the video game nuts and bolts holding it together which created too many mechanical limitations. The world feels wide open this time, ready for me to guide the simulation rather than follow its rigid path. All of that has me eager to start from scratch and see exactly how The Outer Worlds 2 will flex to fit my choices. Whether I fancy myself a gunslinger or a smooth talker, I reckon I'll get what I want from the series this time around. The Outer Worlds 2 launches on October 29 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Digital Trends
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Invincible Vs is like Mortal Kombat mixed with Killer Instinct
When I heard rumblings that a game based on Invincible was in the works, I had a fairly clear vision of what they would look like. I figure it would be some kind of superhero action-adventure game set somewhere in the comic book universe. I was absolutely not expecting a tag team brawler, but that's what we're getting with Invincible Vs. I'm very much okay with that after playing a few rounds for myself following the Xbox Games Showcase this past weekend. Invincible Vs aims to be a very approachable fighting game that can be as casual or hardcore as you want. Recommended Videos The idea here is simple: It's your basic 2D fighting game where players choose teams of three heroes that they can tag between on the fly. If Marvel vs. Capcom comes to mind when I say that, that's partially accurate, but there's a lot more to it than that. In fact, everything I'm about to describe will probably make a lot more sense to you when I tell you that the new studio developing it is largely made up of the devs who made Killer Instinct. The core combat has me juggling attacks and special on my four face buttons. I can perform grabs and counters by pressing different buttons together, keeping all the basics centralized to one place. I could pick up the basics of fighting very quickly, as the team built its combo system to be fairly approachable. For instance, if I just hammer my light attack, I'll perform an instant special of sorts. You don't have to memorize long combo strings to pull off something that looks cool. The complexity builds from there. On the right side of my controller, I can dash with the bumper. If I hop into the air and hold the right trigger, I can perform an even longer dash that more or less lets me fly for a moment. That movement system adds some superheroic action to the mix, as there's huge potential for sky high aerial combos and dodging here. The left side of the controller is all about weapons in partners. Holding the left trigger will tag a friend in, but pressing the bumper will send someone in for a mid-combo attack, not dissimilar to the way Mortal Kombat 1 and its Kameos work. Switching characters is important, because a fighter will essentially crash out if their combo meter gets too high. Tagging in a friend resets it, allowing them to create much longer chains. That might leave you worried that Invincible Vs is the kind of fighting game where you can get stuck in a never-ending juggle, but that's not the case. That's where the studio's Killer Instinct experience really shows. Blocking and countering are very important, as a big attack can be canceled out with the right timing. There's still some skill involved there, though, as players can get tricky with their attack timings, even hitting intentional fake outs that can cause an opponent to block too early and leave them vulnerable. There's a delicate balance between offense and defense here that leads to a lot of momentum shifts in fast-paced fights. And those brawls are brutal as hell too. Keeping in the spirit of the comic, Invincible Vs approaches Mortal Kombat levels of hyper violence. When a player hits a character that's at low health with a special attack that would kill them, it essentially turns into a fatality. I watched characters like Bulletproof get straight up beheaded by the likes of Atom Eve. Even the level I was playing on didn't make it out unscathed, as it deteriorated more and more with each round. This isn't a fighting game about friendly sparing between competitive friends; it's about people who really want to kill one another. After playing a few rounds and getting the hang of its tricks, I'm eager to get back in and see how much deeper it goes. It still feels a little more on the casual side to me, and I wonder how high its competitive ceiling will be in the long run, but I get the sense that there's more to the project. For instance, it seems like it will feature some form of story mode that features an original narrative set in the comic universe. If it can deliver that on top of strong brawling that calls both Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct to mind, Skybound Games may just have a blood-soaked hit on its hands. Invincible Vs launches in 2026 for Xbox Series X/S and PC.
