Should have called it Inward, though
There is no denying that plenty of RPGs, purposefully designed so or not, are some kind of power fantasy. You're the destined hero, the chosen one, you've heard it all before. Outward 2, like its predecessor, doesn't position you as such a figure. You are simply just a regular adventurer, surviving as best they can. And now, the sequel has a release date!
As shared in a very potato-themed trailer (we'll get back to that), Outward 2 will be releasing on July 7th, a little under two months away. Before that, though, a closed beta is being held next week on May 26th, which will run until June 8th. To register, you can either head to developer Nine Dots Studio's website, or just request access on the game's Steam page; worth noting that those who do so on the devs' website will get invites first. The beta will feature a forest whose inhabitants were once massacred, with many ghosts now haunting the lands.
Back to the potato thing. The whole trailer is framed through the tongue in cheek guise of a gamer potato showing off how pretty the game looks at max settings, only to use its spud-filled rig to show off the game's potato graphics setting. It is, admittedly, a lot less "pretty" looking, though certainly still quite functional too. The whole trailer is essentially there to say that even your dusty, old setup can run this thing.
A full list of required PC specs were shared too. On the potato end of the spectrum, to run the game at 1280 x 720 at 30 FPS, all you'll need is a Geforce GTX 750 Ti for your GPU, an FX 3600 X6 for your CPU, and 8 GB of RAM. Certainly seems quite reasonable! And feels fitting with the ethos of the game being that you're playing as an average member of the world. No having to get a mortgage for a graphics card for this game!
You can wishlist Outward 2 on Steam ahead of its July 7th release date.