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When Xbox PR reached out to offer a digital preview of The Outer Worlds 2, I was thrilled. They had previously provided an extensive demo for Avowed just before its launch, which significantly boosted my excitement for the game. This demo allowed me to freely explore Avowed’s first region of Dawnshore and get a taste of what the full game would be like. It also included companions, a key aspect of Obsidian’s role-playing games.
Unfortunately, The Outer Worlds 2’s demo is much more limited. It starts at the beginning of the game but doesn’t progress beyond the tutorial mission. I learned that it was the same demo available at Gamescom 2025, which made sense given the one-hour slot limit. However, for a digital preview, this is a significant disappointment.
The demo lacks companions and any explorable zones like Dawnshore from Avowed. This straightforward mission doesn’t showcase the expansive worlds or new gadgets that the developer has touted in recent media. While there were different paths to take during the mission—such as using Eloquence to convince an NPC to disable security—I hoped for a glimpse of what’s new and improved, but this build didn’t deliver much.
It does offer third-person view options, which were absent from the first game. The two choices are close or far third-person cameras, but they seem more accessible than a true alternative. First-person is generally better, as animations look worse in third-person.
The shooting mechanics have been refined based on feedback from Halo Studios and analysis of Bungie’s Destiny. While improved, shooting still isn’t as polished as top-notch shooters. Melee combat remains less in-depth compared to Avowed, and the lack of a dodge button is noticeable.
Combat relies heavily on the ‘Tactical Time Dilation’ device, which returns from the original game. This allows players to slow down time against multiple foes at higher difficulty levels. The sequel adds destructible cover but not featured in this demo build.
The Outer Worlds 2 uses Unreal Engine 5 instead of Unreal Engine 4. While there’s noticeable visual improvement with ray-traced lighting, shadows, and reflections, it might be less significant than expected on HDR displays.
On PC, the graphics settings offer plenty of options including frame rate limiter, upscaling options (TAA, TSR, AMD FSR 3, Intel XeSS, NVIDIA DLSS), Field of View slider, and Chromatic Aberration toggle. On my RTX 5090 and Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the demo ran smoothly without stuttering. The real test will be on larger open-ended areas.
The game supports DualSense controller’s haptic feedback but only regular rumble was available in the demo.
Despite these limitations, I remain confident that Obsidian will deliver a meaty and enjoyable role-playing game with The Outer Worlds 2. The demo just didn’t provide enough to discover its new features and improvements.
The full game is set for release on October 29, 2025, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X. Look forward to our review ahead of the launch.
