How The Outer Worlds 2 Can Include its Own Version of Avowed’s Spells

The Outer Worlds 2 is Obsidian Entertainment’s next highly awaited FPS RPG. The studio’s most recent and similarly anticipated title, Avowed, was released this February, and the developer is set to treat fans to a double bill, as The Outer Worlds 2 is slated to arrive later this year. Avowed is based on the fantasy setting of Eora introduced in the preceding CRPGs, Pillars of Eternity, whereas The Outer Worlds 2 will see players once again navigate a darkly humorous retro future overrun by corporate greed and farcical dealings.

Avowed received a solid reception, and its approach to design resulted in a satisfying mix of combat, story, and exploration. This was especially true of the way it handled spells and related magical abilities, with a diverse range that all felt useful and impactful. And The Outer Worlds 2 has some great opportunities to replicate these.

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The Outer Worlds 2 Could Make Great Use of Spells and Abilities Similar to Avowed’s

Avowed’s Spells Are One of its Standout Elements

Tons of fantasy RPGs include a range of spells and magical effects, and Avowed‘s take on this standard worked to great success. Avowed‘s spell system is fluid, effective, and (perhaps most importantly) fun. Further, since fans aren’t locked into any traditionally specific classes like fighter or rogue, any build can make use of them, and there are a variety of ones that double as ways to manipulate the environment outside of combat to aid in puzzle solving or finding hidden high-quality items.

Items like wands and Avowed’s grimoires also allow players to experiment with the wide selection of spells to mix and match and find their preferred combinations. They can then upgrade those that they find most effective, and easily swap them out on the fly to react to any given situation. Obsidian’s implementation of spells and related weapons in Avowed grants them both utility and visceralness that combine to create one of the best uses of such a system and mechanics in recent memory.

How The Outer Worlds Can Incorporate Abilities Like Avowed’s Spells

Given the nature of The Outer Worlds‘ futuristic sci-fi setting and its satirical flair, it has a couple of ways it could “steal” some of the spells featured in Avowed. Firstly, The Outer Worlds 2 could see the return of the wacky experimental science weapons like those from the first title and iterate upon them. These could essentially “shoot spells” that impart effects like those seen previously, along with other ones such as:

• Elemental effects, e.g. ice/fire/acid/electricity
• Gravity/time manipulation
• Shrinking enemies
• Mind control
• Polymorphing
• Summoning support

The Outer Worlds 2 could also lean into elements of the world like cybernetic enhancements, or dedicated skill trees and traits that allow players to take on strange mutations that could function more like BioShock‘s plasmids.

Another way might be to have versions attached to specific or rarer gear. These might then be less powerful than their counterparts, or have some other drawbacks to equipping, but still allow players to access various spell-like abilities and effects. Whatever else Obsidian has in store for fans, though, it has given itself some excellent ways in Avowed‘s spell system to build upon it and include some cool and fun possible options of a similar type in The Outer Worlds 2.

The Outer Worlds 2

Released

2025

Publisher(s)

Xbox Game Studios

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

Franchise

The Outer Worlds

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