Outward 2 Preview

Nine Dots Games has a clear direction with what it wants to achieve and to build upon with Outward 2, which definitely helps it stand out from the rest of the games in the survival RPG subgenre.

Nine Dots Studio found good success with its open-world survival RPG Outward. The developer is looking to expand upon that success with its follow-up Outward 2. Ahead of the arrival of the game’s closed beta this week and Early Access launch in July, RPGamer was able to learn some more about the game and how it looks to build upon its predecessor.

Outward 2 takes place fifty years after the events of the first game, leading to some significant changes to the world, including the Immaculates now living in harmony with the other people of the world of Aurai. Both Outward and Outward 2 are built around players controlling a normal adventurer rather than a hero who has been specially selected, destined, or thrust into a powerful role, making exploration and awareness of danger major themes in the game. This is reflected in active choices like the lack of fast travel to encourage players to immerse themselves in the world and fully experience traversal and exploration through its world as players need to consult their maps — upon which players can place their own markers — to navigate to points of interest themselves.

Outward 2 very much looks to build on the deliberate design decisions of the first game to immerse players in the world.

Keeping on that theme, Nine Dots Studio has looked towards criticism of the executions of ideas rather than the ideas themselves for Outward 2, acknowledging some of its weaknesses and identifying some key areas of improvement: character creation, storytelling, and combat. The first game only allowed a few cosmetic choices for the character, Outward 2 gives players immediate gameplay and build-based choices for their character, including choosing from three starting scenarios, each taking place in a different region, as well as eleven different character backgrounds and a selection of traits. Meanwhile, the game’s story is intended to have a greater continuity across it and bring more life to the world, while the combat is being built to alleviate some of the clunkiness that arose from the first game’s budget constraints.

The game contains four distinct regions, all of which are brand new to the series and each with its own set of questlines. There is no level scaling, so players are encouraged to move across regions as they go about their adventures, returning to each region later to take on its higher difficulty challenges as they themselves get stronger. In addition to the starting scenarios helping to encourage replayability, the game will also limit players to only joining one of the main factions in the game, giving each player character their own story arc rather than allowing odd cases in certain other games where players readily end up becoming head of every guild at once.

Perhaps the most important item in Outward 2 is the backpack, with which players carry all of the items they don’t have equipped or can fit within their very limited pockets. Players will want to upgrade their backpack at least once early on in order to be able to carry more as they go about their adventures. However, the backpack is also a hindrance in combat as players won’t be able to properly dodge and roll with it on. Players almost need to drop it to be able to survive combat, meaning that any necessary immediate-use items should be placed in their pockets and also making sure to pick it up afterwards. Pointing to its importance, the backpack is one of the only things that the game will indicate the direction of in the game.

Combat is notably smoother, but retains the first game’s methodical nature.

There are a lot of ways players will need to interact with the world to complete quests. One example is a quest where players need to retrieve a special flower from on top of an outlook. After navigating themselves to the correct spot, it isn’t simply a matter of picking up the flower, as it has a special property that causes it to inflame when dry, so players will need to do something like douse themselves with water to be able to safely pick it up. The game also comes with the returning survival elements, with players needing to keep track of hunger, hydration, and the like.

The game’s combat system looks notably a lot smoother than the first game. The game’s animations are built around gameplay first and will allow players to be more agile rather than have to wait for animations to finish. Players are readily able to dual wield, and attacks are more contextual based on the character’s state, such as whether they are crouching or coming out of a dodge roll. It is intended to retain the methodical and preparatory nature of the original combat, so players can’t just rely on their reactions as they will soon run out of stamina if they don’t act strategically. Spellcasting still follows the ritualistic nature of that of the first game, requiring players to place down sigils or use a sequence of runes before activating spells.

One notable addition to Outward 2 over the first game is its seasonal cycle, with the game starting in spring by transitioning through summer, fall, and winter across a set number of days, complete with appropriate dynamic weather changes and other elements and dangers for players to deal with. Another addition, which ties into the importance of the backpack, is the addition of pack animals that can be used to carry extra items and resources that won’t fit into the player’s backpack as well as take resources back to town. There are multiple animals, each with their own statistics such as carrying weight and health. Players will need to be protective of their pack animal; it can die permanently and is not reared for combat, so players will need to ensure it is away from danger as they travel with it. However, it alleviates some of the issues in the first game, such as ensuring players can bring equipment needed for multiple regions with them rather than forcing them to traipse back to town to get the appropriate gear.

While the game is also fully playable solo, Outward 2 will naturally keep the co-op of the first game, including two-player split-screen.

In order to balance out annoyances due to limited bag space, Outward 2 offers players the opportunity to use pack animals. Rather than working with permadeath or game overs, Outward 2 makes use of defeat scenarios. Whenever a player is knocked out, they will be presented with one of an array of subsequent outcomes, which vary in their detriment to the player and may in some cases even be positive. This encourages players to accept their defeat and carry on without losing current progress and potentially giving them an additional challenges to overcome that may make for entertaining stories with the player’s friends. Some examples include waking up without their bag and needing to retrieve it or being rescued by a kind stranger. Players may pick up wounds that they will need to deal with, such as a sprained wrist that prevents them from using a two-handed greatsword for the time being and which can be alleviated by crafting a splint.

In addition to equipment, players will have multiple ways to improve their characters. One of these is skill trees, with upgrades obtained by finding and purchasing training from the various masters in the world. However, players will only be able to unlock the full skill tree for three of these masters by obtaining the knowledge to unlock a breakthrough in that skill tree. Outward 2 also includes an achievement-style upgrade tree, with players able to unlock nodes in a separate tree by completing the requirements, which is designed to emulate the process of gaining combat experience and practice without being overly repetitive.

Nine Dots Games has a clear direction with what it wants to achieve and to build upon with Outward 2, which definitely helps it stand out from the rest of the games in the survival RPG subgenre, and the game looks to be well placed to carry on the success of the first game. Players will get a first opportunity to try it for themselves when Outward 2′s closed beta begins on May 26, 2026, running until June 8, 2026. It will shortly be followed by the launch of its Early Access version through Steam, GOG.com, and the Epic Games Store.