The Outer Worlds 2 'has more perks than Fallout: New Vegas,' says Obsidian—including one that turns you into a heart-collecting serial killer

I sometimes feel bad for the developers at Obsidian Entertainment because anytime they're mentioned, the topic inevitably turns to Fallout: New Vegas. That was 15 years ago and they've made a bunch more games since then, people! Can't we just move on?

However, if Obsidian is gonna bring up Fallout: New Vegas themselves? Fair game. And that's exactly what they did today at the Xbox Games Showcase today while giving us a good long look at The Outer Worlds 2.

"If anyone's played Fallout: New Vegas, they'll be very familiar with the perk system," said Brandon Adler, game director at Obsidian. "We've basically borrowed that, went even grander. We actually have more perks than Fallout: New Vegas did."

There are indeed a ton of perks on display: one clip shows in the neighborhood of 100 perks to choose from: that's quite a haul. Some of them sound like a lot of fun, too.

"There's another perk called Heavy Handed," Adler said. "Say you're a melee person. What this does, is now your power attacks that you use actually knock people down." The video shows an attack from behind with a hammer, which not only hurts the enemy but completely floors him.

Another perk is called "Assassin," which gives you a movement bonus each time you stealth kill someone. That slows down time so you can chain together your stealth attacks, wiping out a whole group of enemies before they can even react.

The perks can go also pretty dark. One perk is called "Serial Killer" which means when you kill someone, they drop a heart. Collecting the hearts of your victims gives you a permanent health bonus. There's even a 100% chance for someone to drop a heart if they're not hostile to you when you kill them—and I assume if you take this perk you won't have any compunctions about killing innocent NPCs, right?

That's not all we learned about The Outer Worlds 2 today: there are also negative traits that give your character extra challenges—like bad knees that pop so loudly when you stand up that it can actually alert enemies. For real!

Obsidian also revealed a release date: The Outer Worlds 2 is coming on October 29. Check out the story trailer below.

The Outer Worlds 2 - Official Story Trailer | Xbox Games Showcase 2025 - YouTube

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