With The Outer Worlds 2 being just hours away from being released to everyone, narrative designer Joe Fielder has revealed why Obsidian Entertainment designed a large, complex RPG where players could make choices that result in them missing out on characters and stories. In an interview with PCGamer, Fielder expressed that a branching story where not all content could be experienced in a single playthrough is a main design feature of The Outer Worlds 2.
At the core of the RPG is the fact that its characters and story will react to players, according to Fielder, who noted that giving players the ability to roleplay their characters, right down to the choices they made, was one of the main directives behind the game’s design.
“That’s been one of the directives from our three directors from the start, to have a game that really is reactive to how the player wants to play,” Fielder explained. “When I work on the narrative for The Outer Worlds 2, it’s not my story. I’m writing to give you, the player, options of how to roleplay as the character you rolled up at the beginning.”
Fielder went on to speak about how players also have plenty of choices even when it comes to building out their characters thanks to the perks they can pick, as well as the optional Flaws that they can accrue. “Sometimes that means you have a funny line,” he said, “sometimes that means you get access to an area you wouldn’t, or ally with somebody that you wouldn’t, or you get a mission that you wouldn’t have seen otherwise.”
He noted that this was an important part of designing The Outer Worlds 2 for creative director Leonard Boyarsky. He wanted the title to have things like characters and areas that could only be encountered by players who were playing with a certain play style or built their characters in certain ways.
“Leonard Boyarsky, our creative director, is very big on having areas that you wouldn’t necessarily see unless you played a certain way or made certain choices,” said Fielder. And that decision really pays off. The best parts of my own playthrough have stemmed from finding secret areas or using my perks to do things that other players might not see. It’s why I focused on building up my observation skill. They’re little treats.”
Discussing how some of the newer developers at Obsidian Entertainment reacted to the idea of seeing content that could be missed by players, Fielder brought up that he was really happy that it could happen in The Outer Worlds 2, since it would also help with replayability.
“We had a new team member the other day who had just played the game and was like, ‘Oh, I’m really worried that the player could miss this option, and miss out on this major, fantastic character and thousands of lines of dialogue if they make this choice’,” Fielder said. “I’m really happy if they do that, because they can make a different choice the next time they play. We’re really making a game that you can play multiple times and have a very different experience.”
The Outer Worlds 2 is out on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S later today. For more details about the RPG, check out our review.
