Square Enix released new screenshots and an early launch trailer for Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake ahead of its release next week, highlights the two games' adventures. Dragon Quest I sees players controlling a hero who is led by a voice in a dream to Tantegel Castel, where the king advises them to investigate the legend of the hero Erdrick. Dragon Quest II follows the prince of Midenhall as he seeks out other companions who share the bloodline of Erdrick to discover what is behind a disturbance in Moonbrooke.

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake will release on October 30, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. Dragon Quest I-III make up the Dragon Quest series’ Erdrick trilogy, with Dragon Quest III (which received the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake in 2024) taking place before the events of the first two games. The first Dragon Quest was initially released for the NES/Famicom in Japan in 1986 and in North America in 1989, while Dragon Quest II was first released for NES/Famicom in 1987 and in North America in 1990.

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Publisher NACON and developer Midgar Studio released a new trailer for their upcoming title Edge of Memories. The new video highlights the game's story, which takes place on the world of Heryon, the same world as the developer's previous title, Edge of Eternity.

Heryon has been afflicted by the Corrosion, a blight which transforms its living beings into monstrosities. Edge of Memories takes place on the continent of Avaris, on the other side of the world to the events in Edge of Eternity, which is home to nomadic peoples now on the verge of extinction. The game follows Eline, a wandering Soul Whisperer who travels across the land while aiding suffering but who finds herself gaining a strange power from the Corrosion. This power allows her to transform into the Black Beast, unleashing powerful abilities on her enemies.

Eline is joined by unlikely mentor Ysoris and shaman-prince Kanta as they set out to try and save the dying world and find the truth behind the Corrosion. In their adventure, they encounter various foes, including Ziegler, a mysterious figure who also wields power tied to the Corrosion; the Apex, a divine emissary who claims to see the future and past; and the Sanctorium, a religious order that dominates Avaris and who conducts cruel experiments using the Corrosion.

Unlike Edge of Eternity’s turn-based battles, Edge of Memories features a real-time action combat system that focuses on stringing together combos. Players are also able to customise their companion characters’ abilities as well as transform into a Berserker capable of delivering powerful blows. The game will include contributions from various names including character designer Raita Kazama (Xenoblade Chronicles X), writer Sawako Natori (NieR), singer Emi Evans (NieR / NieR: Automata), as well as composers Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger / Xenoblade Chronicles) and Mariam Abounnasr (Xenoblade Chronicles 3 / Oninaki). Edge of Memories will release in 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

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Tactical Adventures released a new trailer for its upcoming title Solasta II. The minute-long video shows more of the settings on the continent of Neokos. The trailer also comes with the news that the game's release on Steam Early Access is now planned for early 2026.

Solasta II is a follow-up to 2021's Solasta: Crown of the Magister and makes use of the Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.2 ruleset. It is set decades after the events of the first game and sees the high-fantasy realm of Neokos on the edge ruin thanks to the all-powerful being Shadwyn, voiced by Amelia Tyler (Baldur’s Gate III, Hades II). Players create and control a band of adventurers aiming to stop her tide of corruption while dealing with various factions vying for power. It will include co-op for up to four players.

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Bethesda made a number of announcements today for multiple titles in the Fallout series. Firstly, the studio revealed that it will be releasing a Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition to mark ten years since the game's launch. The Anniversary Edition will include six official add-ons as well as over 150 pieces of Creation Club content. It will be available on November 10, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. In addition, the Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition will be coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026.

As part of the announcement, Bethesda announced that the Creation Club system in Fallout 4, which allowed players to pay for vetted content and mods, will be replaced by the similar Creations and Verified Creator Program. The Creations system will be added with the release of the Anniversary Edition. An Anniversary Upgrade will be available for those who already own the game, as will two upgrade options for players on Game Pass and PlayStation Plus to access the game's DLC and/or Creation content.

In other Fallout news, Bethesda announced a special Fallout: New Vegas 15th Anniversary Bundle. The $154.99 edition is available to pre-order from Bethesda's online store in the United States and internationally. It will include:

• Fallout: New Vegas: Ultimate Edition PC Code
• Victor statue (8" PVC)
• Doc Mitchell’s Evaluation Cards (8x8 cardstock set)
• Vault Boy enamel pin (1.5")
• Mojave Express patch (3.5" × 1.9")
• NCR Recon patch (3.25" × 3.5")
• Collector’s Big Box

Bethesda also announced the newest content expansion for online title Fallout 76. The Burning Springs map expansion introduces a new arid region in Ohio, which will see players encounter the Rust King and desert Deathclaws, as well as join up with others in two new public events. The game will be getting a new bounty hunting system, with Prime Video’s Fallout television series's ‘The Ghoul’ acting as the face of the system, performed by his series actor Walton Goggins. Finally, Fallout 76 will also receive native PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions in early 2026, while the existing PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will be receiving optimisations.

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Idea Factory International announced that it will be releasing Compile Heart and HYDE's Ariana and the Elder Codex in the west in 2026. The side-scrolling action RPG, previously reported as Magical Librarian Ariana: The Books of the Seven Heroes for its Japanese release earlier this year, will be available physically and digitally on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.

Ariana and the Elder Codex follows young librarian Ariana, who is tasked with repairing the Seven Hero Codices, which have been altered, causing magic to vanish from the world. Her powers allow her to enter the books themselves in order to mend them and restore their magic. In addition, she also seeks to solve the mysteries of the Library where they are kept, as well as her parents’ disappearance.

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Publisher WEMADE MAX and developer MADNGINE have announced open-world action RPG Project TAL. The game is billed as reimaging Korea’s traditional Tal masks, as well as their mythology and folklore, and is planned to release on PC and consoles in 2027.

Project TAL will feature a companion system that is said to respond to the player's combat style and environment. Each companion character will have distinct personalities, abilities, and combat roles, and can take actions including deploying a magical barrier to deflect attacks or catching a falling ally. The game's combat will allow players to leap onto enemy monsters and target enemy weak spots.

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Owlcat Games announced the release dates for its recently-revealed Nintendo Switch 2 release of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader and Alpha release of Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader will arrive on Nintendo Switch 2 on December 11, 2025, priced at $49.99. Meanwhile, the Alpha for Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy will be available on PC on December 16, 2025, available to those who have purchased either the $79.99 Developers Digital Pack or $289 Physical Collector's Edition.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader sees players leading a ship of personnel as they explore the dangerous Koronus Expanse. As a Rogue Trader, players are given great leeway in their dealing on behalf of the Imperium, making decisions that have rippling effects throughout the universe. It has received two expansions, Void Shadows and Lex Imperialis, with two expansions planned for 2026.

Set in the same universe as Rogue Trader, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy sees players control an acolyte of the Inquisition in the backdrop of the catastrophic event known as the Noctis Aeterna. They embark on various investigations accompanied by their warband, which includes both loyal Imperials and xenos. The game is in development for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a release window not yet announced.

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Warhorse Studios and Deep Silver announced that the final planned story DLC for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II will release on November 11, 2025. Mysteria Ecclesiae sees protagonist Henry investigating the spread of a deadly disease in the halls of the Sedletz Monastery. It will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S for $13.99, or included as part of the game's Expansion Pass.

A sequel to 2018’s Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II picks up directly after the events of the first game, continuing the story of blacksmith’s son Henry in early 15th-century Bohemia. It includes two new open-world maps, double the size of the previous game, and takes players to historic locations such as Trosky Castle and the mining town of Kuttenberg. The game is currently available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Those looking to read more about Kingdom Come: Deliverance II can check out Pascal Tekaia’s review of its PlayStation 5 version.

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Welcome to RPGamer's new release round-up. In this column, we look to provide our readers with details on the major RPGs released this week. Please note we do not currently include Early Access releases where the game is still in development. Pricing is shown in US dollars before application of any discounts, local pricing may vary.

Avernum 4: Greed and Glory

A ground-up remake of the fourth title in Spiderweb Software's Avernum cRPG series that was originally released in 2005, Avernum 4: Greed and Glory is set in the eponymous lawless frontier of Avernum, which is marked by hundreds of miles of winding caverns. The game casts players as a reluctant hero when monstrous forces spread across the underworld and put the fate of Avernum at risk. The remake will include additional dungeons and over twenty new questlines, with quests giving players choices that impact Avernum’s future as well as potential allies and foes. Combat is turn-based, with players able to fully customise their party.

Dreamed Away

Pixel-art action adventure RPG Dreamed Away is set in 1990s France, in a small village in Brittany. The game follows Théo, a young boy who becomes lost in a dark world while searching for his sister Louise. Major themes include sibling bonds, fear of death, and questioning reality. It features a skill-based combat system made up of various mini-games.

Fantasy Maiden Wars: Dream of the Stray Dreamer

Touhou doujin strategy RPG Fantasy Maiden Wars: Dream of the Stray Dreamer is set in the world of Gensokyo, where humans, yokai, and gods coexist. The game sees players using a party from over 70 available characters in grid-based battles as they deal with a series of supernatural incidents. Players choose between Reimu Hakurei or Marisa Kirisame as the main protagonist, which impacts parts of the story. The game includes multiple difficulty levels, a tutorial system, and a detailed series encyclopedia.

Godbreakers

Hack-and-slash roguelike Godbreakers is set in a world where humankind has been annihilated by an artificial intelligence called the Monad. Players control vessels of humanity brought back by celestial beings to destroy the rogue AI. They fight Monad’s forces through six biomes, alone or with up to three other players. The game’s real-time combat features a Godbreak mechanic, which allows players to absorb enemies’ powers and use them against other foes.

Maid of Salvation

Maid of Salvation is a fast-paced action RPG. The game follows Shizuka, a maid of purgatory, who fights to bring salvation to lost souls. She is entrusted with a special mission that sees her take a portal into a purgatory overrun by fiends.

Malys

A new title from Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical developer Summerfall Studios, roguelite deckbuilder Malys puts players in the role of Noah, former priest turned exorcist and demon hunter. They venture through a city teeming with demons, hunting for a powerful and cunning demon named Malys. Players use their deck to expose demons in the city as well as to find combos and strategies that help them survive the city’s horrors. The game had been in Early Access since June 2025.

Pale Coins

Soulslike action RPG Pale Coins is set in the fantasy world of Grenmark and tasks players with finding the Champion’s Coin. It is billed as an old-school RPG that pits players against challenging bosses. The game features open-world exploration, and is filled with dungeons to conquer and quests to fulfill. Players can customise their characters with melee, ranged, and magic weapons, with loot allowing players to perform new movement abilities, summon minions, and more.

Persona 3 Reload

Persona 3 Reload is a full remake of PlayStation 2 title Persona 3. The game sees players controlling a new transfer student at Gekkoukan High School. They become involved in a series of incidents surrounding the temporary anomaly called the Dark Hour, using summoned beings known as Personas to fight against beings called Shadows. Those looking to read more about Persona 3 Reload can check out Luis Mauricio’s review of its PlayStation 5 release.

Successor

Roguelite tactical RPG Successor features tabletop-inspired gameplay, with players taking on the role of a lord commanding a party of heroes through an adventure in a medieval fantasy world. The game, which is available in both VR and non-VR, features real-time combat, with players able to pause as they wish to give orders and unleash special abilities. It includes six story campaigns, plus an Adventure Mode that lets players create custom runs against different factions.

The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles

The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles is a pixel-art dungeon‑crawling RPG. Players descend into an ever-shifting labyrinth, attempting to conquer its 50 levels while solving puzzles and engaging in turn-based combat featuring real-time elements.

The Lonesome Guild

Action RPG The Lonesome Guild puts players in the role of Ghost, a spirit in a world that is being consumed by loneliness. Ghost gathers a party of six misfits, attempting to stop the creeping mists that are spreading and corrupting the world. Players are able to switch seamlessly between characters in combat and exploration. Meanwhile, the game also includes puzzle-solving elements as well as allowing players to forge bonds between the characters that lead to both powerful combos and heartwarming events. Those looking to read more can check out Sam Wachter's review of the game's PlayStation 5 version.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

First-person action RPG Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a follow-up to 2004 PC title Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Bloodlines 2 returns players to the world of the Masquerade, an agreement between all the vampire clans that requires vampires do not reveal themselves to the world. Players control a customisable, fully-voiced protagonist named Phyre, an Elder Kindred who has been asleep for 100 years before waking up in modern-day Seattle. Players also control Malkavian detective Fabien while Phyre rests between nights, witnessing Fabien's past in 1920s Seattle and using his abilities to uncover the mysteries behind his murder.

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The Secret of Etere

Loneliness is a silent killer. It is said globally that one in six people is lonely, and this number has been on the rise since the pandemic. People are going out and seeing others far less, and many feel that they don’t have a proper support network to rely on. "Third spaces" are shrinking, and people feel like they don't have places to cultivate community beyond online spaces. In our rapidly changing world, we can have items instantly delivered to our homes, but we all struggle to make friends and maintain connections. Loneliness is an emotion that, coupled with anger and anxiety, can be an incredibly powerful force, and it threatens all our well-being. Tiny Bull Studio's The Lonesome Guild is a game that wears its themes on its sleeve, and while the gameplay is a mixed bag overall, the message of the game couldn't be more crystal clear: find others, combat loneliness, and make your own community.

The world of Etere is shrouded in a red mist known as "loneliness." This mist is spreading far and wide, causing citizens to become infected by anxiety, fear, and hopelessness. Players take on the role of Ghost, a spirit with no memory of who they once were. Ghost encounters a young bumblebun named Davinci, and a grumpy yet stoic foxtrae named Mr. Fox. As the game expands, players meet four other companions, each with their own personal struggles, but who ultimately have the same goal: to expel the loneliness from the world and find ways to revitalize their communities. The themes of combating loneliness and finding community are really the heart of the overall story, which feel particularly important given the current state of the world. Moreover, these themes are presented in such an earnest and sincere way to melt even the grumpiest of hearts. Every character that Ghost encounters has their own personal struggle, something holding them back from greatness. Yet, each of them wants to find a way to change the world so that the communities they come from can thrive once more. The Lonesome Guild has such a wholesome approach to its storytelling, and with such likable characters, it is definitely a highlight.

However, the narrative isn't perfect by any means, especially given how predictable and cliché so much of it is. One of the game's main plot twists is too obvious and evokes more of a twirling mustache type of villain than something these characters should actually be afraid of. There are also so many moments where the game is overly predictable, yet the characters are still surprised, and it just feels infuriating. Part of the issue could be that the game doesn't know who its core audience is, as it tries to straddle the line but often ends up being too childlike. There is also the issue of the final boss being hyped as one of the most important moments in the game, but it's also one of the most anti-climactic fights. What should be such a big occasion, providing a healthy challenge for the player, is pared down into a power of friendship moment that could have been better served as a full story event rather than a battle.

[caption id="attachment_164720" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Fireside chats are comforting.[/caption]

The Lonesome Guild sports action-based combat that could use more refinement. Players can select one of the three characters in their party to control, each with their own physical and magical skills that can be used to fight enemies. One at a time, characters can fuse themselves with Ghost and emblaze themselves, boosting their power level for a short period of time. Sadly, the combat is mediocre at best, as much of it feels routine for the genre, and the abilities characters gain aren't overly inspired. The game also suffers from a terrible dodge mechanic, wherein the player still gets hit even when the visuals indicate otherwise. Enemies will even telegraph their more powerful attacks, but players will easily find themselves in the line of fire more often than not. Players also have an instant win button in the form of Ghost. As characters attack the enemies, Ghost's gauge will fill, and once it's ready, this spirit can do a lot of damage. It's so easy to save this ability for the tail end of a boss fight, hit the button, and call it a day. It's too powerful and really diminishes the challenge of the game overall.

One of the core elements of The Lonesome Guild is building relationships with the cast of characters. During fireside chats, the cast will have conversations, wherein Ghost will have to make a choice that will then affect their relationship with the other characters. As Ghost builds their relationships with each of the cast, more abilities in their skill tree become available. Characters gain skill points in a few different ways, such as combat, fireside chats, and completing sidequests. That means the player is never hurting for skill points, which unlock new abilities and power-ups. There are forty-four side quests for the player to complete, though the majority of them are fetch quests and battles. Shining among them, however, are the character bond quests, where characters will ask Ghost for assistance to solve a lingering problem. All the characters get a great and personalized storyline that more than makes up for the boring fetch quests that are otherwise present.

As players explore the world of Etere, they are tasked with completing a plethora of puzzles throughout the journey. These puzzles are very uninspired to downright frustrating. There are tons of poorly worded riddles that can be very difficult to understand, lacking the clarity needed to determine the order of elements, such as switches, that need to be pushed. A lot of the puzzles are mostly switch-based, so there isn't a lot of variety in the designs either. It feels like the game needed a second pass at ensuring clarity and understanding for its riddles, because as they stand, it's easier to find success through brute force. Puzzles are fine when they are varied, and given that puzzles are a core gameplay element, the lack of variety in The Lonesome Guild significantly hurts it.

[caption id="attachment_164725" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Wheeeeeeeeeee.[/caption]

The Lonesome Guild does not outstay its welcome, clocking in shy of twenty hours for a complete playthrough, with players being able to go back to the last save to complete other content. During the review playthrough on PlayStation, the game crashed multiple times, and the AI constantly got stuck in parts of the environment. Party AI during combat is serviceable, though the amount of damage they output during battles feels minimal compared to whichever character the player is controlling.

The world of Etere is visually appealing, especially during story beats where still-frame artwork is present, doing a great job of giving the game a storybook aesthetic during important moments, or as Ghost encounters new memories of the characters and their past lives. In-game graphics are decent, very colourful, and the environments have a wonderful variety in terms of design and colour use. Every location is distinctive and interesting to explore. Sadly, there is only a handful of enemy designs, which is a shame considering how vibrant Etere is. The music is decent, and it does a great job of highlighting the game's more emotionally heightened moments, and the battle theme is serviceable, though it could do a better job of hyping the player up for battle. It's a good soundtrack, though not a lot of music truly stands out.

I found myself truly struggling with how I felt overall while playing The Lonesome Guild. On one hand, it's a game with adorable characters who build their own bonds to push back a very real threat in the form of loneliness. It wears its heart on its sleeve, and while a lot of what happens in the story is fairly cliché, there's also a warmth and kindness that cannot be understated and is truly the focal point of the game. On the other hand, the combat is uninspired, the dodge mechanic is fussy, the puzzles are often so poorly explained, and the rewards offered to the player have no real value in the grand scheme of things. The Lonesome Guild is a game that will find its audience through its visual appeal, but those wanting much deeper gameplay and story may be disappointed.

Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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Keen Games announced that its latest Early Access update for co-op survival RPG Enshrouded will release on November 10, 2025. The "Wake of the Water" update features a combat overhaul -- including a UI rework and full rebalancing of numerous elements -- as well the addition of voxel-based water, which includes swimming, fishing, irrigation, and terraforming. It also added two-handed greatsword weapons, new fish and land-based creatures, and new consumable and decorative items.

Enshrouded sees players awaken in the open world of Embervale as the “Flameborn”, the last hope of an ancient civilisation whose people have been driven to madness and controlled by the Shroud. The game features single-player as well as co-op for up to sixteen players, including dedicated server options. It is planned to fully release for PC and unspecified consoles in spring 2026.

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Great Power; No Responsibility

As a standalone sequel to The Outer Worlds, The Outer Worlds 2 promises a new, bigger solar system with more planets, more divergent gameplay, more weapons, and deeper RPG systems. To boot, it also features an entirely new cast of characters, looking to widen its scope to boldly go even further into the reaches of space. The Outer Worlds 2 succeeds in offering players a wide variety of choices both in its character progression and combat, and makes some bold attempts at deviating story branches, especially early on. However, it sadly falls flat in almost every conceivable dimension, with an otherwise mediocre experience frequently and consistently hindered by bugs, glitches, and immersion-destroying sequence breaks, resulting in a game that does not feel sufficiently prepared for launch.

Taking place in the Arcadia star system, The Outer Worlds 2 sees a player-created character navigating a factional conflict over the solar system’s planets, resources, and trade routes. As an agent of the Earth Directorate – an organization created to mediate between Earth and its interstellar colonies – players are tasked with investigating the appearance of dangerous and destructive spatial rifts, which have cut off communication with Earth. In Arcadia, the totalitarian Protectorate government maintains a monopoly over the production of superluminal travel technology, which prompts the hyper-capitalist megacorporation Auntie’s Choice to invade, setting off a massive war.

[caption id="attachment_178301" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The scale of destruction caused by Auntie’s Choice’s resource extraction is massive.[/caption]

Much of the early game, especially on the first planet, focuses on the conflict between the Protectorate and Auntie’s Choice, and it is not a particularly interesting conflict. Both factions are cheap, surface-level pastiches of totalitarianism and corporatism, respectively. The critique and satire are banal at best, especially when pitted against each other, which leaves a boring, terrible first impression. The Outer Worlds 2 has a strange mishmash of humorous overtones while having a darker tonal core; sing-song radio broadcasts celebrating workplace dismemberment accidents juxtapose relentless, gruesome summary executions and brainwashing torture. Not only does the humor fall flat on its own, but the tonal clash with the game’s darker narrative focus is egregious enough to stretch the suspension of disbelief well beyond the breaking point.

That said, The Outer Worlds 2 does better with elements relating to other factions and players’ dialogue choices resulting in narrative divergence. The Order, a technocratic-religious society focused on mathematics, is markedly more interesting, as is the Golden Dawn cult, whose members are obsessed with the rifts and have a fanatic, violent death drive towards them. Aza, one of the recruitable party members who has an insane, psychopathic bloodlust, stands out as more compelling and believable in a game where too many of the ostensibly more rational characters simply act as overly dogmatic mouthpieces for their respective factions. Beyond characters and factions, some genuinely cool choices impact the plot in major ways early on, although the relentless presence of glitches and bugs in the review build massively undercuts this positive.

[caption id="attachment_178302" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Aza laments the departure of a character she never had the chance to meet.[/caption]

In the most egregious instance of technical issues, one of the first available party members, Inez, has her initial recruitment quest bugged, and it can become impossible to complete. During this quest, it is possible to select a dialogue choice that leads her to leave, yet, despite this being a choice, every party member afterwards for the rest of the game remarked on her dismissal from the crew, even though they hadn't met her at all. Entire companion questlines, Aza's in particular, can become wholly incompletable, and it is even possible to become hardlocked in a room halfway through the game. The Outer Worlds 2 is riddled with bugs, glitches, and sequence breaks too numerous to list that absolutely destroy its interactive elements and brutally hamper the story’s few redeeming qualities.

Fortunately, The Outer Worlds 2 is more enjoyable in combat than outside of it. The action combat revolves around using either guns or melee weapons to attack enemies in the field. Players are given twelve different stats they can level, which impact performance in combat and allow the development of perks. Movement and gunplay are smooth and satisfying, and melee weapons are generally fine to use, if somewhat simple. Early on, the incorporation of RPG elements and elemental differentiation between weapon types – plasma for fire, corrosive for armor depletion, shock for electric – feels deftly incorporated, and there are neat and interesting ways to attack enemy body parts and weak spots that encourage players to be deliberate in their approach.

[caption id="attachment_178303" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Perks offer an interesting development path and an incentive for growing your character.[/caption]

Unfortunately, the incorporation of the equipment and extension of stats into combat and gameplay becomes quite unbalanced later in the game; some stats are quite useless compared to others, and the mod system for armor feels superfluous and bloated. Stats like Observation or Explosives either see very little use or are too expensive to warrant focusing on, whereas focuses on stats like Sneak and Speech grant a one-size-fits-all approach to most of the challenges in the game. By the end of the game, even some of the most powerful automechanical enemies can be killed in a single sneak attack due to some ridiculous percentage-based increases conferred by leveling. Other stats like Lockpick eventually feel underwhelming, too, as many doors and rooms, more often than not, have repetitive or redundant rewards, especially when exploring outside of the main story.

Visually, The Outer Worlds 2 is largely fine, with a few flashes of brilliance here and there in its world and architectural design. There is a lot of considerable attention to detail in the environments, and the first two planets are interesting, colorful, and presented well. In particular, the planet Dorado is quite gorgeous, especially at night, and its vibrant, glowing crystals amidst the grand, golden, and ruined architecture on the planet stand out as a particular highlight. Sadly, the other planets aren’t quite as interesting, and the visual fidelity of facial capture and expressions just isn’t good, which detracts from a game that focuses so heavily on dialogue.

[caption id="attachment_178304" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Dorado at night is a visual high point.[/caption]

On the sound front, the overall soundtrack does the job it needs to do, but is mostly unremarkable. Aside from the location-based ambient tracks, there are some neat overtures on the main menu and other areas, and the in-game radios for the various factions provide some compositionally interesting music and insight into their cultures. Even if the humor and lyrical content of the songs largely fall flat, the instrumentation demonstrates a strong effort. Voice acting in the game varies in quality, but performances are mostly good, although glitches and bugs once again rear their ugly head here, too, as the dialogue regularly cuts out or becomes entirely silent, which significantly hampers immersion through the entire experience.

Despite all of its environmental detail, scope, and promise of a wider, more exciting space-faring adventure, The Outer Worlds 2 is a disappointment. While it offers divergence and choice, its paper-thin satire, tonal mishmash, and balancing oddities see the experience crumble under the weight. In addition, the review build's far too many immersion-destroying bugs, blocked questlines, and other sequence breaks ensure that the game's issues outweigh its redeeming qualities.

Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher.

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