Designing POIs (Points of Interest) for 'The Outer Worlds 2' Clip #1

GDC Festival of Gaming is highlighting a session on how Obsidian Entertainment is designing points of interest for The Outer Worlds 2, with staff area designer Dan Qiao walking through the studio’s approach. The focus is on POIs as more than map markers: they shape where players look, how they move through spaces, and how the game keeps exploration feeling purposeful.

That makes the session especially relevant for level and systems designers working on open or semi-open worlds. POI placement affects sightlines, navigation readability, encounter pacing, and the rhythm of discovery, so even small decisions can change how a region plays. For a sequel like The Outer Worlds 2, the challenge is balancing strong direction with enough freedom to let players feel like they found something on their own.

The session is being made available through GDC Vault, giving developers a chance to dig into the practical side of area design rather than just the high-level pitch. Exact implementation details and any tooling specifics aren’t being broadly shared here, but the topic itself points to the kind of iteration-heavy work that sits behind memorable exploration spaces.

For teams building worlds with dense content, the takeaway is straightforward: POIs are a design language. They can teach players where to go, what matters, and how a space should feel before a single quest objective is read.