Sci-fi casts a wide net. There's a lot of ways to approach the genre, and storytellers have been proving that for ages. For instance, although Star Wars and Star Trek may seem like ageless rivals, they paint two very different pictures of the distant future: Star Trek explores elements of utopia, while Star Wars depicts a galaxy constantly and repeatedly plunged into war and strife. In a similar way, Starfield offers a very different picture of outer space from, say, The Outer Worlds 2. Both games tell stories about humanity settling the deep reaches of space, but they do so in their own ways.
It's a little ironic that Starfield and The Outer Worlds 2 both got some of the spotlight at Microsoft's E3 2021 conference. Since both games are being developed by Microsoft subsidiary studios, it would seem that Microsoft is generating competition for itself. That could harm game sales on both fronts. On the contrary, Starfield and The Outer Worlds 2 have what it takes to peacefully coexist. They may both be games about space travel, but the similarities only barely stretch beyond that. These games offer totally different visions of outer space, which means they should compare and contrast nicely on Xbox.
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Starfield gameplay is still a mystery in a lot of ways. However, Bethesda is slowly becoming more open about the game and its themes. The Starfield trailer revealed at E3 2021 gave fans a good sense of the game's tone and themes. Starfield seems built on a sense of awe for outer space's mysteries that feels very relatable at humanity's current stage of space exploration, in spite of Starfield's obvious advances in technology. That tone plays into the 'NASA punk' aesthetic that Bethesda wants the game to focus on. Starfield is a sci-fi game through and through, but it's still pretty grounded at heart.
In spite of all the unanswered questions about Starfield, that gives fans a lot of implied information. Starfield seems poised to be very realistic for a sci-fi game, leaning heavily on real NASA technology for its design choices and focusing on the human element of space travel. Planets may not be as outlandish as Star Wars planets are. In fact, there's a good chance that Starfield doesn't even feature aliens. Instead, it's specifically and exclusively about the human experience and the planet Earth's relationship to the rest of the universe.
Fans of thoughtful, philosophical sci-fi will probably be drawn to Starfield as opposed to The Outer Worlds 2. It's not clear yet just how meditative Starfield can get, but there's clearly something very contemplative baked into the game's concept alongside the more exciting elements. At the very least, Starfield sounds much more rooted in reality than The Outer Worlds is, which will appeal to fans of near-future sci-fi as opposed to the distant future that The Outer Worlds depicts. Starfield is a game about humanity's potential and the things that space travel could make possible if the technology is given time to advance.
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Frankly, The Outer Worlds 2 is a little more mysterious than Starfield at this point. Starfield has been public knowledge for a couple of years, but The Outer Worlds 2 got announced in the same conference where Starfield got a proper trailer and a release date. Since The Outer Worlds 2 isn't a direct sequel to Obsidian Entertainment's first installation in the series, fans don't entirely know what to expect. Still, a lot of the game's design philosophy is clear. The heavily sarcastic and quippy announcement trailer for the game made it clear that it's leaning on the same cutting wit that the first game was built on.
Obsidian Entertainment has already confirmed that The Outer Worlds 2 won't take place in Halcyon or star the same crew that the Stranger assembles over the course of the game. However, odds are looking good that the new crew will still encounter the Board or a similar group of megacorporations. The trailer contained the Moon Man mascot of Spacer's Choice, which should encourage fans eager to fight villainous businesses reigning terror over another space colony. Based on this direction, it's clear that the entire Outer Worlds brand intends to focus on the impact of self-interested corporations on space travel as well as everyday human life.
There's also good odds that plenty of new alien creatures and outlandish weapons will appear in The Outer Worlds 2. If it's another action RPG adventure in the same vein as the first game, then it'll be a lot flashier and ridiculous than Starfield. Xbox users who prefer The Outer Worlds' explosive, comic brand of sci-fi will be glad to have The Outer Worlds 2 as an alternative to Starfield. There's no doubt that The Outer Worlds is very tonally different from Starfield, which is a huge selling point even if the two games release around the same time.
Starfield and The Outer Worlds 2 aren't rivals. On the contrary, they make good companions. The wistful Starfield with its highly realistic spacecraft and technology couldn't be more different from The Outer Worlds 2's eccentricity and inclination toward chaos. These games introduce some valuable diversity to the Xbox game library. Even The Outer Worlds 2 releases within range of Starfield's release in November 2022, they're such different games that they'll appeal to very different audience. Odds are low that they'll have much impact on each others' sales, even if they come out at the same time.
Flexibility is a great trait in any genre. In fact, another group of games developed by Microsoft's studios suggests that. Fable and Avowed might both be fantasy RPGs, but Fable looks whimsical whereas Avowed has a much darker tone in mind. Just like Starfield and The Outer Worlds 2, these games will do well on the merit of their different tones, which result in totally different plots and settings. In the near future, Xbox fans will reap the benefits of all these different takes on famous genres. Starfield will probably be one of the Xbox Series X's heavy-hitting games in 2022, but if it's also out next year, The Outer Worlds 2 can be a big hit too.
Starfield releases November 11, 2022 for PC and Xbox Series X/S. The Outer Worlds 2 is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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