The Outer Worlds 2 May Have One Technical Advantage Over…

Summary

Both Starfield and The Outer Worlds 2 are space-faring RPGs that can be compared due to their many similarities.
Starfield has received criticism for its abundance of loading screens, which disrupt the game's flow and lead to moments of tedium.
The Outer Worlds 2 has the potential to offer a smoother gaming experience with fewer loading screens, leveraging the technical foundation of the first game and modern gaming hardware.

As massive space-faring RPGs, Starfield and the upcoming The Outer Worlds 2 are bound to have a bit of design overlap. While there are elements of Starfield's lore, gameplay fundamentals, art design, and more that differ from The Outer Worlds series, the two games occupy a similar space in the games industry and are thus good candidates for comparison, especially when speculating about The Outer Worlds 2 and its technical considerations.

Obsidian Entertainment, a studio that previously worked with Bethesda for the critically acclaimed Fallout: New Vegas, released The Outer Worlds in 2019, offering gamers a more lighthearted, Fallout-esque adventure in space. More recently, RPG fans got yet another dose of space bound adventure in the wildly popular Starfield, the latest from Bethesda Game Studios. While countless gamers have been singing the game's praises, others have criticized Starfield's lack of traversal options, easy combat, illusions of choice, and more. However, there is one area of the Starfield's design that has been consistently mentioned in its critiques, and based on what players experienced in The Outer Worlds, there's reason to believe that The Outer Worlds 2 won't suffer from the same issue.

The Outer Worlds 2 Likely Won't Have as Many Loading Screens as Starfield

Certain aspect of Starfield's marketing, such as the focus on widespread planetary exploration and the fact that the game would be next-gen only with an SSD requirement, suggested a seamless system of discovery and movement similar to something like No Man's Sky. When the game eventually released, many players were disappointed to find that exploration in Starfield is built around fast-travel, switching between various menus, and sitting through many loading screens. This system applies to both interplanetary and intraplanetary exploration, with few buildings and other interior locations being accessible without encountering loading screens. While this hasn't bothered every player, it has been a point of contention for many, as it breaks up the flow of the game and leads to several small moments of tedium that can add up over the course of a playthrough.

This abundance of loading screens is something that Starfield shares with older Bethesda Game Studios titles like Skyrim, but the same can't be said for 2019's The Outer Worlds. The first game in the series had far fewer loading screens compared to Starfield, despite launching on last-gen consoles and PCs without SSDs. The Outer Worlds 2 could beat Starfield in this area, as it could build upon the technical foundation laid by the first game while leveraging modern gaming hardware to offer a cosmic adventure relatively free from interruptions.

While it's unclear just how much The Outer Worlds 2 will rely on loading screens, it seems unlikely that it would fall behind its predecessor. Plenty of games have been leveraging the near-ubiquity of SSDs in consoles and PCs for smoother gaming experiences, and The Outer Worlds 2 will likely attempt to reduce its loading times to compete with other modern open-world games - something that Starfield has arguably not done.

Loading screens aren't the only subject of criticism when it comes to Starfield's optimization and performance, but it is certainly a well-trafficked area of discussion. Next-gen gaming is predicated upon a leap in technical performance, and many other games have capitalized on improved modern hardware to deliver relatively seamless gaming experiences. By comparison, Starfield doesn't seem to be shown in the best light, as its loading screens are more common than even some games from the previous console generation. If The Outer Worlds 2 can take better advantage of the technical improvements made in the current console generation, then it has a chance of surpassing Starfield in the loading screens department.