The Outer Worlds 2 just dropped the most unhinged weapon showcase at the Xbox Games Showcase 2025, and it’s clear Obsidian has learned something crucial that most AAA developers refuse to acknowledge. Sometimes the best way to keep players engaged isn’t through artificial limitations or carefully balanced encounters.
Instead, it’s by giving them weapons so ridiculously overpowered that they can completely demolish everything in their path. The sequel’s arsenal looks like someone asked “what if we made Control but with corporate satire?” and the answer is absolutely glorious.
The Outer Worlds 2 throws balance out the airlock
Most AAA developers live in constant fear of giving players too much power. They worry that overpowered weapons will trivialize content, reduce engagement, or break their carefully crafted difficulty curves. Obsidian apparently looked at this conventional wisdom and decided to throw it directly into a black hole.
The weapon variety showcased during the extended Direct following the main presentation reveals a design philosophy that prioritizes player fantasy over traditional balance concerns.
This isn’t about creating fair encounters or maintaining challenge curves. It’s about letting players live out their most ridiculous power fantasies.
The developer’s approach becomes clear when examining their design philosophy, as outlined by Gameplay Director Matt Singh and Game Director Brandon Adler during the showcase:
For The Outer Worlds 2, we wanted to improve gunplay in every way. We focused on improving the feel of each weapon, the way a weapon snaps into ADS, the way recoil feels when firing, and how impactful our sound effects really sell the weapons fantasy.
The emphasis on “weapons fantasy” reveals everything about Obsidian’s approach. They’re not building weapons that fit neatly into damage-per-second spreadsheets or competitive meta discussions. They’re creating tools that make players feel like unstoppable forces of nature.
Take the enhanced Shrink Ray, which now permanently shrinks enemies instead of applying temporary effects. The addition of stomp mechanics wasn’t driven by balance considerations but by pure player wish fulfillment:
So, instead of shrinking your enemies for a short period of time and having them re-expand, this time they stay shrunk. And we actually added in the ability to step on them and kind of squish them and kick them, because we knew that that was the player fantasy.
This design philosophy extends beyond individual weapons into entire categories of equipment that exist purely to break conventional gameplay rules.
Science weapons that laugh at conventional game design
The sequel’s science weapon lineup reads like a fever dream of someone who got tired of realistic military shooters. These aren’t tools designed for balanced encounters. They’re instruments of beautiful chaos that prioritize spectacle over sensible game design.
The “Boarst Blaster” fires tumors that explode like grenades or can be “eaten” for health. The “Pop-Up” gun shoots advertisement drones that distract enemies with corporate jingles while you either focus fire or explode the drones for damage.
These weapons exist because they’re fun, not because they serve any traditional gameplay purpose.
And we have another one that’s just super cool called the Spectrum Dance Saber. This is a melee weapon that actually lets you attack to a musical beat. And if you continue to do that, you’ll actually get additional bonuses each hit you do.
The “Big Bang” exemplifies this philosophy perfectly. It’s a literal weapon of mass destruction that shoots giant energy balls that vaporize everything in their path. The ammunition is extremely rare, but when you use it, entire encounters simply cease to exist:
One of my personal favorite weapons is called the Big Bang. It’s just a big freaking gun that uses material harvested from rifts to shoot out a giant ball of energy, vaporizing everything in its path.
This approach mirrors what made Control so compelling. Remedy understood that players don’t want fair fights against supernatural entities. They want to become the supernatural entity that other things should fear. Obsidian has clearly absorbed this lesson and applied it to their corporate dystopia setting.
Traditional RPG design would worry about making combat too easy or reducing player agency. These guys just want to give players more ways to feel ridiculously overpowered while tackling their satirical universe.
What’s your take on Obsidian’s approach to weapon design? Do you prefer games that embrace player power fantasies, or do you think balance should always come first? Share your thoughts below!
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
