Obsidian was on one in 2025, releasing two of the biggest games of the year. While one is science fiction and the other is medieval fantasy, they both have a ton of similarities. Both are first and third-person RPGs with a ton of choices to make that can alter the path of the story as well as the fate of different companions you meet throughout the journey.
They both provided a long-missing type of RPG that we hadn’t seen in a while. Providing some great combat, incredible visuals, and overall, getting back to that more focused RPG rather than the open-world slogs we’ve been going through in recent years. Both games have their merits, but we’re going to figure out which game is the best between Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2.
8 Story
The Outer Worlds 2
While Avowed has a decent enough story, in my opinion, it played things way too safely. It just felt sterile and low stakes, and I failed to connect with the characters in the way the story really needed me to. The voice in the head pull had been done before and in better ways, and everything that happened was pretty much by the book. Now, The Outer Worlds 2 doesn’t rewrite the blueprint in terms of RPG storytelling, but it certainly was a more compelling ride.
The revenge plot is done well enough, but it’s the missions that you go on that feel so much more engaging here. You go on a wild goose chase trying to find who betrayed you and just what the purpose of their assumed suicide mission at the start of the game was. It goes to some seriously intriguing places, with great reveals, deep lore, and most importantly, very well-written characters to tell the story. Your choices throughout have a serious impact on the lives of many and can easily lead to your own companions betraying you if you’re not careful.
Overall, The Outer Worlds 2 just kept me more engaged in everything going on, and that gives it the win here.
7 Companions
The Outer Worlds 2
The companions make the game when it comes to Obsidian. They don’t hide this aspect either, as they make it clear that this is a massive part of the package. It’s a bit of a spoiler to discuss specifics with companions, so let’s go over them as a whole. In Avowed, your companions are the most generic I’ve seen in an RPG. It’s harsh, but sadly it’s true. Marius is a discount Varric from Dragon Age, and Kai is just Garrus from Mass Effect, but much, much worse. It only gets worse from there, as generic personality after generic personality joins you on your journey, and these characters just feel shot out of the RPG generator. They’re not horrible, but they’re not memorable in any way, shape, or form.
The Outer Worlds 2, on the other hand, goes pretty out there for its companions. There are grafted soldiers, robots, assassins, and, most importantly, these characters are all from different factions and walks of life for the most part. That factor is key, because Avowed claims to have characters that have different ideals, but it’s barely ever shown, and you really have to try your hardest to piss those companions off.
In The Outer Worlds 2, right away, you have the chance to seriously offend a few characters, and one of them will outright leave you for the rest of the game if you choose to do the wrong thing. That reactivity and intrigue throughout the game is great and present with all the companions, who have wildly varying personalities and motives, and it allows you to role-play in a way that Avowed just didn’t.
6 Visuals
Avowed
While The Outer Worlds 2 came out after Avowed, for some reason, it just doesn’t hit the same level of beauty that Avowed has to offer. Something about the lighting in Avowed just blew me away. The Outer Worlds 2 has some amazing visuals too, but Avowed just gets so creative with its environments and detail. At times, it looks like one of the best games graphically out there. Animations are a little on the lesser side, but the spell effects, explosions, and other special effects look absolutely amazing.
The Outer Worlds 2 may be a little more grounded in reality, so the visuals don’t get that outrageous. Still, it feels like more of the budget went into Avowed, which makes sense as it was a far more hyped game than The Outer Worlds 2. The various settlements look great, but where things really wow is in the final area, The Garden, which is so surreal and has so many amazing-looking environments that it’s a shame you only spend a brief amount of time there.
5 Combat
Avowed
While The Outer Worlds 2’s combat is competent, it does absolutely nothing new. We’ve seen slow-motion shooting, we’ve seen incredibly janky melee combat, and while the guns are cool, it doesn’t feel particularly new, and the gameplay wouldn’t be out of place had it been released in a game in 2014, let’s say. Avowed does a lot more with its combat. There are tons of builds to try out, and the variety of weapons is great, from daggers to swords, wands, and guns. Each one has a unique gameplay style. Magic is finally something that not only is powerful, but looks cool to use. It’s so fast-paced, and the spells are great and only grow in their power and spectacle as you level up.
The impact in particular is significant in Avowed, with big swings knocking enemies across the arena and tons of abilities that can support each type of playstyle. The best part is that you can mix and match, so a warrior can have access to powerful spells or a skilled archer can also swing a mean greatsword. It makes combat consistently a ton of fun to engage in and becomes the main reason why you show up to the game time and time again.
4 Enemy Variety
The Outer Worlds 2
Avowed may have the better combat, but the enemy variety is sadly some of the worst I’ve ever seen in an RPG. I’m not being hyperbolic here, sadly, because in the first area, the first enemy you fight are Xaurips, and when you get to the final area to explore in the game, the first enemy you fight are Xaurips. It would be something if the Xaurips were even fun to fight, or interesting looking, but they’re just your basic lizard men. It doesn’t get much better from there, with some skeletons, zombie-type enemies, and plant people. It just felt creatively bankrupt from an enemy design perspective, and it was a shame, because the combat was so fun.
The Outer Worlds 2 doesn’t really run into this issue. While a lot of the enemies are human, the variety is great, and depending on who you side with or against, you will fight different enemies, depending on that, and they generally have different gear and tactics. There are also alien species that act completely differently, too, giving the sense that you really are in space and in a foreign world at that. The bosses are also more interesting here, with some crazy fights that require careful use of curatives and your companions’ abilities to survive.
3 Exploration
The Outer Worlds 2
Avowed actually has some great exploration in it, with hidden caves, secret routes, and all sorts of treasure boxes to uncover. The problem is that the loot is pathetic. 90 percent of the time, you’ll be finding crafting materials, and it makes all of the exploration feel completely not worth it after a while. The Outer Worlds 2 fixes this issue by actually giving you rewards for your efforts.
You can gain access to a jetpack early on, and it makes exploring the zones you’ll be in an absolute joy. You can find new enemies off the beaten path, but more importantly, you will find all kinds of cool armor, weapons, and overall great and useful tools to help you along throughout the game.
The maps also feel a bit bigger than what you get in Avowed, maybe not in land space, but in places to explore. Going off on your own here is a scarier experience, as you really don’t know what is lurking beyond the bounds of where the main story is taking you. Usually, you’re healthily rewarded for going to uncharted areas, and that’s the biggest thing when it comes to exploration in any game.
2 RPG Elements
The Outer Worlds 2
Both Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 claim to be RPGs, but The Outer Worlds 2 actually backs it up. Avowed had a poor selection of dialogue choices that felt wildly out of place, considering the world was already established by the Pillars games, and there are barely any skill checks throughout the game. Your build doesn’t matter at all in terms of how things play out, and one of the biggest decisions in the story is completely ignored by the game’s writers. It’s baffling how shallow the RPG mechanics were in Avowed, and it was clear it was catered to more casual players.
The Outer Worlds 2, on the other hand, gives you a ton of ways to handle every situation. Here, you can’t be a jack of all trades, or you’ll be screwed. You need to dedicate yourself to being either a master of speech, security, lockpicking, and so on. It makes it feel like you’re actually living your role. If you pick a character whose background was a rebel, you’ll get specific dialogue options. The same goes if you dedicate yourself to speech or have other backgrounds of note.
It’s one of the first RPGs in a while to actually live up to that moniker, and everything from combat to speech or otherwise is affected by the character you’ve built. It feels damn good to play The Outer Worlds 2 because of it.
1 The Winner
The Outer Worlds 2
The Outer Worlds 2 blows away Avowed in almost every facet. From the story to the exploration to being a pure RPG, The Outer Worlds 2 delivered on all the promises that Avowed made. Despite being a much lower peg on the totem pole of video game hype machines, The Outer Worlds 2 feels significantly better written and is just a more enjoyable game to play. While Avowed does have better combat, it feels like The Outer Worlds 2 outdoes it in almost every other way.
If you’re looking for just one big RPG to get lost in between Obsidian’s two big releases, it’s hands down The Outer Worlds 2. Hopefully, it sets the groundwork for something even more impressive in the future.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
