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The Outer Worlds 2: News, Story Recap, and What to Expect

Last Updated: November 20, 2025

The Outer Worlds 2 logo and game environment.

Get ready to clock back in for another corporate-sponsored adventure. Obsidian Entertainment officially revealed The Outer Worlds 2, the highly anticipated sequel to its hit sci-fi RPG, during a surprise direct announcement. While an exact release date remains unconfirmed, the announcement has sent waves of excitement through the community, with fans eager to dive into a new solar system full of satirical humor and morally ambiguous choices.

With the sequel in development, there's no better time to get reacquainted with the Halcyon colony and the chaotic events of the first game. Whether you sided with a rogue scientist or a corporate board, your choices shaped the future of an entire system. Before we blast off into the sequel, let's take a comprehensive look back at the story of The Outer Worlds.

A Halcyon Refresher: The Story So Far

The Outer Worlds drops you into the Halcyon system, a distant star colony owned and operated entirely by a council of hyper-capitalist corporations known as The Board. Decades ago, two massive colony ships, the Hope and the Groundbreaker, set off from Earth to settle this new frontier. While the Groundbreaker arrived and established the colony, the Hope mysteriously vanished, its thousands of frozen colonists lost in transit.

This is where you, the player, come in. You are "The Stranger," one of the frozen colonists aboard the long-lost Hope. You are abruptly awakened from cryo-sleep not by The Board, but by a rogue scientist on the run named Dr. Phineas Welles. Welles, a brilliant but wanted criminal, reveals a grim truth: the Halcyon colony is collapsing. Widespread famine, ecological disaster, and corporate mismanagement have put humanity's new home on the brink.

Phineas believes the only way to save Halcyon is to revive the rest of the colonists on the Hope—Earth's greatest scientists, engineers, and thinkers—to inject new life and intelligence into the failing system. The Board, however, sees the Hope and its inhabitants as a threat to their absolute control. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to help Phineas gather the resources needed for a full-scale revival while evading The Board's top enforcer, the Adjutant.

Your Journey Across the System

Your quest takes you across several planets and space stations, each groaning under the weight of corporate bureaucracy. Your choices on these worlds directly impact the lives of their citizens and the overarching narrative.

  • Terra 2: Home to the Spacer's Choice-run town of Edgewater, you're immediately forced to make a difficult decision: divert power to the struggling town or to a group of deserters who left for a more self-sufficient life. This early choice sets the tone for the game's many gray-area dilemmas.
  • The Groundbreaker: Halcyon's central hub, this independent space station is a melting pot of factions, merchants, and quest-givers, showing a glimpse of life outside of The Board's direct control.
  • Monarch: A dangerous, untamed planet where multiple factions vie for control. Here, you must navigate a tense political standoff between the corporate-backed Monarch Stellar Industries (MSI) and the rebellious Iconoclasts, proving that even freedom from The Board comes with its own set of problems.

Along the way, you recruit a memorable crew of companions, including the sweet but naive engineer Parvati Holcomb, the cynical Vicar Maximillian DeSoto, and the swashbuckling adventurer Felix Millstone. Each companion has their own personal questline, adding depth and heart to your anti-corporate crusade.

How The Outer Worlds Ended

The climax of the game hinges on one final, monumental choice: will you side with Phineas Welles and free the Hope's colonists, or will you betray him to The Board for a handsome reward and a corner office?

  • The "Good" Ending (Siding with Phineas): If you remain loyal to the scientist, you help him successfully skip the Hope to his secret laboratory. There, you fight off The Board's forces and revive the best and brightest colonists from Earth. With their expertise, the Halcyon colony begins to solve its food crisis and break free from corporate tyranny. Halcyon enters a new golden age of independence and innovation, with The Stranger hailed as a hero.
  • The "Bad" Ending (Siding with The Board): If you turn Phineas in, you help The Board capture the scientist and take control of the Hope. The Board's solution to the colony's problems is the "Lifetime Employment Program"—a plan to place the entire population into permanent cryo-sleep, rotating a small workforce to conserve resources. The Hope's colonists are deemed redundant and are jettisoned into the sun. The Board secures its power, but the colony is doomed to a slow, frozen, and bureaucratic death.

These endings set a drastically different stage for the future of the Halcyon system, leaving many to wonder how the sequel will proceed from such a divergent point.

What This Could Mean for The Outer Worlds 2

Obsidian Entertainment faces a significant decision regarding the sequel's starting point. The possibilities include canonizing one of the endings from the first game or setting The Outer Worlds 2 in an entirely new star system, leaving Halcyon's fate ambiguous. The latter seems more plausible, as it would provide a fresh start for all players, regardless of their previous choices.

The teaser trailer showcased at the Xbox Games Showcase in 2021 provided a glimpse into the sequel's tone, featuring the same dark humor and corporate satire that made the original so popular. While details remain scarce, it's been confirmed that The Outer Worlds 2 is being developed for Xbox Series X|S and PC. Obsidian has stated that the game is in early development, suggesting a potentially lengthy wait before its release. The game is expected to be available on Game Pass upon release.

The sequel promises to build on the foundations of the original: a first-person sci-fi RPG packed with player choice, dark humor, and sharp satire.

The Outer Worlds 2 FAQ

  • What is the release date for The Outer Worlds 2? An official release date has not yet been announced.
  • Who is developing The Outer Worlds 2? The game is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind the original game, Fallout: New Vegas, and Pentiment.
  • What platforms will The Outer Worlds 2 be on? It has been confirmed for release on Xbox Series X|S and PC. It will be available on Game Pass at launch.
  • Do I need to play The Outer Worlds 1 before playing the sequel? While not officially confirmed, it is highly recommended. Playing the first game will familiarize you with the unique universe, corporate-dystopian tone, and RPG mechanics that will likely form the core of the sequel.