Building a town from the ground up is no small feat — and in video games, it’s a task that usually requires vast screen real estate and a pair of readers to see all that tiny text. But with Outlanders 2 — the city builder/life sim developed by Pomelo Games available exclusively on Apple Arcade — I can build a thriving town while I ride the subway to work or wait for my laundry at the laundromat.
A sequel to the popular PC game, Outlanders 2 maintains the original’s aesthetic and vibe: the muted color palette, the low-poly characters, the thematic focus on nature, the pleasant acoustic guitar music. That means some players are probably disappointed that they can’t play Outlanders 2 on their PCs, but this game successfully translates the typically vast view of a city builder and all its intricate metrics for mobile — and in portrait mode, no less.
Outlanders 2 is also available in landscape mode for Mac and in portrait for iPad, but no matter what Apple device you use, you’ll need an Apple Arcade subscription. As a frequent mobile game player, though (and as someone with small hands), I like that I don’t have to hold my iPhone awkwardly in landscape mode or sit at my desk while playing a game like this. What’s more, the other mobile city builders I’ve played are fraught with other mobile game ads and prohibitive in-app purchases.
Regardless of my personal infatuation with the existence of a big game I can play while I’m in transit, though, Outlanders 2 is just plain fun. Just like the original, the campaigns (called stories in game) are where this game really stands out from others like it. First, you’ll progress through Pablo’s Quest, where experienced outlander Pablo teaches a group of new settlers (and the player) how to survive in the Outlands. The second story, Miranda’s Chance, focuses on an outlander with perhaps too much ambition who finds herself trying to survive in a harsh winter.
Each successive story and its three parts gets increasingly difficult, so every part of the campaign teaches you new gameplay mechanics, like how to use a bonfire or how to keep your settlers’ sense of community up. Outlanders 2 is not punishing, but it is occasionally challenging — and reaching the stretch achievements in each level gets harder as you move along.
The interface for metrics is simplistic, relying on bold symbols and numbers to make it easier to see on a small screen, while still including everything you need to see: how many resources you have, how happy the outlanders are, and how far you are in accomplishing the goals of that level. The eye icon lets you toggle a mode that shows how many settlers you have assigned to each structure, which is helpful for looking at a glance. Placing buildings is easy with a touchscreen-friendly grid mode (though it’s a bit grabby when placing roads), and the locked camera angle lets you zoom in and out without getting lost in space.
Pomelo Games has also released three new challenges — which are mini sandboxes with specific circumstances and goals — every two weeks since the game was released on July 3, and all of the archived challenges are available to play indefinitely.
These intentionally designed, story-focused campaigns and challenges are the best part of the game and possibly the only part worth playing. The sandbox mode — available from the jump as of a few updates ago — just doesn’t measure up. For one, the maps are criminally small, with even less playable space for placing structures, and they don’t expand as you play. There’s no terraforming, which is fine, but it means that if there’s a valley on your map, you’ll never be able to put 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 suffers from a lack of variability. The seasons don’t change (though there is some intermittent weather), 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 make a sandbox mode for this game; it’s something players have come to expect from city builders, and it’s a great way for players to get creative in ways the developers didn’t think of. But I’ve found myself wishing Outlanders 2 had committed to a smaller game with more stories instead. I also wish the game forced me to unlock buildings and features via the campaign; the sandbox mode comes with everything unlocked, which takes the fun out of working toward the next level.
Outlanders 2 alone probably isn’t enough to justify the $6.99 per month for an Apple Arcade sub, but if you already have one, it’s a must-play title. Moreover, if you initially refused to play Outlanders 2 because it’s on mobile, here’s my plea to give it another shot, if only to play through those silly, heartwarming stories in campaign mode.
Outlanders 2 was released July 3 on iOS and Mac. The game was reviewed on an iPhone 15 using a download code provided by Apple. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
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