The Outer Worlds 2 review round-up

Obsidian's third and biggest game of 2025, The Outer Worlds 2, is almost here, and positive reviews have put it ahead of Fallout: New Vegas.

This year has been a big one for gaming in general, but no developer has worked as hard as Obsidian. After opening the year with Avowed, the team then followed it up with an amazing sequel to Grounded, and it's looking to end that winning streak with the long-awaited The Outer Worlds 2.

We're just days away from The Outer World 2's launch but, before we get there, reviews for the game have just started to trickle in. So far, it looks like The Outer Worlds 2 is a big step up from the first game, as it currently holds a score of 85 on Metacritic (beating New Vegas' 84 score) and 79 on OpenCritic.

The Outer Worlds has 2 reviews, and

It's about the new Vegas that just passed

Watching the Outer Worlds 2 player eclipse.

Let's start with TheGamer's review first, written by Deputy News Lead and our very own RPG freak, Rhiannon Bevan. Rhi gave The Outer Worlds 2 a strong 4/5, praising the RPG mechanics and companions, while being slightly disappointed by the overall setting and “good” gameplay.

Travis Northup of IGN gave The Outer Worlds 2 a similar score to TheGamer with an 8/10 review that praised the sharp writing, RPG mechanics, and refined combat, while noting that the first act was a bit slow. Alex Donaldson of Eurogamer also awarded The Outer Worlds 2 a 4/5, noting that it improved on the original in almost every way, showing a bit of a trend.

Meanwhile, Heather Wald of GamesRadar+ gave The Outer Worlds 2 a 4.5/5 and called it a “masterful space-age RPG”, which Chris Carter of Screen Rant matched with a 9/10 score, praising the writing, gunplay, and endless amount of options.

For context, Avowed debuted with a strong 80 on OpenCritic, while Grounded 2's early access release had a respectable 78. Obsidian's best-reviewed game in recent years, Pentiment, currently sits at 86.

However, not everyone was positive about The Outer Worlds 2. Diego Arguello reviewed the game for VGC and gave it a 3/5, praising the gunplay and companionship but noting that it “misses potential” compared to Obsidian's other games. Dexorto's Jessica Philby also went with 3/5, calling The Outer Worlds 2 a “disappointing sequel”.