Building a city from scratch is no small feat – and in video games, it’s a task that usually requires a lot of screen space and a pair of readers to read the tiny text. But with Outlander 2 – the city-building/life sim developed by Pomelo Games and available exclusively on Apple Arcade – I can build a thriving city while riding the subway to work or waiting for my laundry at the laundromat.
A sequel to the popular PC game, Outlander 2 retains the aesthetic and atmosphere of the original: the muted color palette, the low-poly characters, the thematic focus on nature, the pleasant acoustic guitar music. This means that some players will probably be disappointed that they cannot play Outlander 2 on their PCs, but this game successfully brings the typically expansive view of a city-building game and all its complicated dimensions to mobile devices – and in portrait mode too.
Outlander 2 is also available in landscape mode for Mac and portrait mode for iPad, but no matter what Apple device you’re using, you’ll need an Apple Arcade subscription. However, as a frequent mobile gamer (and as someone with small hands), I like that I don’t have to awkwardly hold my iPhone in landscape mode or sit at my desk while playing a game like this. Additionally, the other mobile city-building games I’ve played are riddled with ads for other mobile games and prohibitive in-app purchases.
Regardless of my personal infatuation with the existence of a great game that I can play while I’m on the go, Outlander 2 is just plain fun. Just like the original, it’s the campaigns (called stories in the game) that really set this game apart from other games of its type. First, you play Pablo’s Quest, in which experienced Outlander Pablo teaches a group of new settlers (and the player) how to survive in the Outlands. The second story, Miranda’s Chance, centers on an Outlander with perhaps too much ambition trying to survive in a harsh winter.
Each subsequent story and its three parts become increasingly difficult, so that in each part of the campaign you learn new game mechanics, such as how to handle a campfire or how to maintain the sense of community among your settlers. Outlander 2 isn’t punishing, but it is occasionally challenging – and achieving the challenging achievements in each level becomes more difficult the further you progress.
The metrics interface is simplistic, using bold icons and numbers to make it easy to view on a small screen, but it contains everything you need to see: how many resources you have, how happy the strangers are, and how far you are in completing that level’s objectives. The eye icon lets you toggle a mode that shows how many settlers you’ve assigned to each building, which is helpful for seeing everything at a glance. Placing buildings is easy with a touchscreen-friendly grid mode (though it’s a bit jerky when placing roads), and the fixed camera angle lets you zoom in and out without getting lost in space.
Pomelo Games has also released three new challenges—mini sandboxes with specific circumstances and objectives—every two weeks since the game’s launch on July 3, and all archived challenges are playable indefinitely.
These deliberately designed, story-driven campaigns and challenges are the best part of the game, and possibly the only one worth playing. Sandbox mode – available from the start as of a few updates – just can’t compete. For one thing, the maps are criminally small, with even less playable space to place buildings, and they don’t expand as you play. There’s no terraforming, which is fine, but that means if there’s a valley on your map, you’ll never be able to place your farm there. In fact, in my Sandbox playthrough, there was only one usable area for a farm, which is one of the largest structures you can place.
The sandbox also lacks variety. The seasons don’t change (though there are occasional weather changes) and there’s no way to upgrade buildings – instead you recycle them and add better buildings, but there aren’t too many to choose from.
It’s obvious why Pomelo Games decided to create a sandbox mode for this game. It’s something players have come to expect from city-building games, and it’s a great way for players to get creative in ways the developers didn’t think of. But I wished Outlander 2 I had instead opted for a smaller game with more story. I also wish the game would force me to unlock buildings and features through the campaign; everything is unlocked in sandbox mode, which takes the fun out of working towards the next level.
Outlander 2 alone probably isn’t enough to justify the $6.99 per month for an Apple Arcade subscription, but if you already have one, it’s a must-have. In addition, if you initially refused to play Outlander 2 Now that it’s available on mobile, here’s my plea to please give it another chance, if only to play through the silly, heartwarming stories in campaign mode.
Outlander 2 was released on July 3 for iOS and Mac. The game was tested on an iPhone 15 with a download code provided by Apple. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These have no influence on editorial content, but Vox Media can earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Further information on Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.
