The Outer Worlds 2’s radio stations are great, but I’m not listening to them

After playing 2019’s The Outer Worlds, many players — myself included — expressed a desire for in-game radio stations, especially given the fact that Obsidian’s sci-fi RPG featured a fairly in-depth radio station plotline in the “Radio Free Monarch” main story quest. Fallout: New Vegas had radio stations, why shouldn’t The Outer Worlds?

Now, my dreams have been realized. The Outer Worlds 2 takes a page out of Bethesda’s book, implementing a handful of Fallout-style radio stations that pump out amusing corporate jingles and alarming Protectorate propaganda 24/7. The only problem? I have almost zero desire to actually listen to the game’s radio stations, despite multiple friends telling me how great they are.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve given each station a few listens, and any time the game prompts me to check the airwaves, I do, as tuning in can sometimes lead to information that initiates a side quest. But for the most part, I prefer silence while exploring the game’s various planets and settlements. Not because the radio stations are bad, but because the game’s sound design is even better.

The issue started in Paradise, the first major settlement the player encounters after the game’s prologue. I landed the Incognito, disembarked, and immediately turned on the radio, enjoying the tunes as I wandered around the island.

Then I heard a creak, similar to the sound you might hear when hugging someone who’s wearing a leather jacket. It was dark on the island, so I stopped, turned my flashlight on, and turned the radio off, listening.

Nothing. Huh, weird.

I picked up a few quests, turned the radio back on, and carried on exploring. I was following a path through some dense foliage when I heard it again, this time much louder and much closer. I whipped around, but there was nothing behind me except the strange magenta trees growing all over the island.

It would take me a few more hours before I realized the unsettling sound I kept hearing was coming from the trees themselves, which creak loudly anytime there’s a light breeze. Happy to have solved the mystery and feeling a bit more confident, I turned the radio back on, nodding my head to the beat of the unreasonably catchy “Crabwich Song,” and started making my way to the next objective.

That’s when I noticed the screaming.

Someone — or something — was absolutely howling. Once again I flicked the radio off, and out of the corner of my eye, spotted something small scurrying across the dirt road I was following. I pursued the creature, aiming my weapon at it only to discover that it was an Arboreal Screamer: a harmless, howler monkey-esque creature that, unlike many of the game’s alien fauna, didn’t pose any harm to me or my well-armed companions.

I’ve tried a few more times to get into The Outer Worlds 2‘s radio stations, but as much as I enjoy the music, I enjoy the game’s superb sound design far more, and constantly listening to the radio kind of kills the atmosphere for me. It’s also incredibly distracting. Blasting the radio during stealth encounters makes it hard to hear enemies, leaving it on while exploring settlements makes it difficult to focus on quest-giving NPCs who are trying to get my attention, and while it’s certainly fun to go into a combat encounter with guns blazing and tunes blaring, I usually just forget to turn the darn thing on. When it is on, it only serves to distract me from parts of the game I’d rather be focusing on.

I think part of the reason for this is that The Outer Worlds 2 features far less aimless wandering than say, Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas. I’ll probably flick on the radio when I’m hunting down collectibles in areas I’ve already explored, but for now, I’m just enjoying the game’s impeccable sound design and arguing with my surprisingly complex companions.

The Crabwich Song still slaps, though.