I can't believe I'm saying this, but there's a good chance that The Outer Worlds 2 is going to be the best shooter of 2025.. And in a year where Xbox has already delivered Doom: The Dark Ages, and has Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 on the near horizon, I really didn't expect to be walking away from my time exploring the lawless frontier of Arcadia obsessing over the feel of a shotgun.
That surprise you're picking up on isn't because I think developer Obsidian Entertainment isn't capable of greatness – the studio is, after all, undoubtedly responsible for some of the best RPGs of the last 20 years. Role-playing games, not shooters – there are sharp degrees of expertise required to succeed in either landscape. But the studio has clearly set itself exceptionally lofty targets here, with big ambitions fuelling what could be its most definitive title to date.
