“We had a really hard time at the studio during Covid.”
That’s from a new, hour-long interview withLimit Break Network, in which Urquhart talks aboutthis year’s Xbox studio closures and layoffs, the trick to retaining talent, the influence ofBaldur’s Gate 3, and (as is mandatory for an Obsidian interview nowadays) the pipedream of making sequels forAlpha ProtocolandFallout: New Vegas.
“It’s going really well,” Urquhart said of Outer Worlds 2. “And it’s always easy for us to say that, because that’s what we should say, when asked the question, but it actually is. I’m really impressed with the team.” While Avowed remains the priority, of course, Obsidian have apparently built “a pretty good wall - not a wall, it’s a semi-porous membrane” between that project and Outer Worlds 2 in terms of managing creative input and resources. I am inevitably picturing a web of mucus dividing the office, with Spacer’s Choice branding on one side andmushroom bearson the other.
“Luckily, the lead programmer is the same lead programmer, Leonard Boyarsky is the same creative director, Brandon Adler’s game director, Matt Singh was a tester on Fallout: New Vegas, and he’s the head of gameplay and content,” Urquhart added. “So we were very lucky that we have a lot of people on that game that get it, that worked on the first one and worked with us for a very long time.”
“There’s just all this stuff happening, and to be honest, we were kind of a crappy developer for about a year and a half,” he went on. “There was talk of ‘do we stop Outer Worlds 2 and just throw the whole team on Avowed’. There was talk of ‘well, should you do that?’, because Grounded wasn’t in Early Access yet during some of these conversations.” (The implication here, I think, is that Obsidian also thought about reassigning Outer Worlds 2 personnel to Grounded.)
“Grounded turned out awesome. Pentiment turned out awesome. Avowed is going to be great. Outer Worlds 2 is looking incredible. And then we have a base now, of everything we’ve now done with Avowed and Outer Worlds 2, with how we use Unreal Engine and all the tools that we’ve been developing for years and years, to go off and make the whole next generation of games.”
It’s worth considering these thoughts alongside Urquhart’s comments earlier in the interview about the dark art of juggling several projects. Amongst other things, he highlights the importance of “working with” third-party tools such as Unreal Engine rather than trying to create too much bespoke technology.
I wasn’t that keen on the first Outer Worlds: I found its chortling satirical elements self-indulgent, and its RPG design too familiar. But I share Alice Bee’s (RPS in peace) view that"it could have been great, if it had taken a few more risks". Hopefully, Outer Worlds 2 will bring it home. As for Avowed, I’mmixed on what I’ve seen of that too, but I’ve been thinking lately that it’s been a while since I last fireballed a mushroom bear. Fingers crossed it sticks the landing as well.
