Outer Worlds 2 Reveals 12 Skills Players Can Choose in the Game

New details have emerged about Obsidian Entertainment’s Outer Worlds 2, specifically about a dozen of the different skills available to player characters. Outer Worlds 2 is set to release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on October 29, 2025, almost six years after the release of the original game.

With the potential for Outer Worlds 2 improving on the flaws of its predecessor, the upcoming RPG is looking to make a major impact when it releases later in 2025. However, the fact that it is the first confirmed Xbox-published game to launch at a higher $80 USD price point could also hamper its reception. It’ll be up to Microsoft and Obsidian to promote the game effectively in the run-up to release, making sure that players know that Outer Worlds 2 will truly warrant the increased cost (or at least the price of a subscription to Game Pass).

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the outer worlds 2 combat system weapons

The Outer Worlds 2 Shows Off Combat and Weapons

Obsidian shows how it evolved the combat systems of its sci-fi RPG with a first look at The Outer Worlds 2 combat and weapons.

One part of that promotional strategy was a dedicated showcase presentation released on June 9, which gave players more to get excited about ahead of the game’s launch. One detail that emerged from the showcase was confirmation of at least 12 playable character skills, based on a screenshot posted by Reddit user MissKatmandu. Like Attributes in the original Outer Worlds, skills help determine the outcome of certain actions taken by the player in various situations. For example, stealth skills might increase the chance of success when sneaking past enemies, while conversation-related skills improve a player’s success rate when trying to lie or bluff their way out of danger or interact successfully with NPCs.

List of Confirmed Outer Worlds 2 Skills

Guns
Melee
Sneak
Lockpick
Engineering
Explosives
Hack
Medical
Science!
Observation
Speech
Leadership

Drawn from the Outer Worlds 2 showcase stream, the screenshot shows a list of different skills and their levels. The skills appear to have been changed somewhat from their Outer Worlds counterparts, condensed from 18 skills previously to 12 in Outer Worlds 2. Subcategories like 1-handed and 2-handed melee weapons have been collapsed into a single Melee category. Dialog skills like Persuade, Lie, and Intimidate have also been condensed into a single Speech skill, much like its powerful Fallout New Vegas iteration. New skills were also added, like Observation, which plays a role in detecting hidden objects and secret areas.

Players debated the utility of the skill system changes. A few worried that the condensation of the dialog skills into Speech would make it too “monolithic.” Others wondered how the Sneak skill would figure into the reworking of stealth gameplay in Outer Worlds 2. One player was particularly amused by the fact that the Science skill, a staple of such games, was made more entertaining by the addition of an exclamation point, making it “Science!”

While it’ll take some actual gameplay to see how the overhaul of skills in Outer Worlds 2 will affect the experience, it’s interesting to see the way the game has changed ahead of release. With luck, it won’t negatively impact the game’s buildcrafting potential.