Rage 2

Rage 2 is a first-person shooter. Players assume control of a ranger named Walker, who is free to explore the game's apocalyptic open world. Players are given control over some of Walker's attributes, such as their gender, skills, or attire. Walker is able to wield various firearms and tools to fight against enemies, including returning weapons such as the wingstick.

Players can develop Walker's skills with Nanotrite-based powers. Through a mode called Overdrive, Walker's guns do more damage, enemies drop more energy and they get healed constantly — providing players with an aggressive way to mow down enemies. Nanotrites from the first game, which act as special powers and ability boosts, can be used to increase combat efficiency. The game features vehicular combat, including trucks, buggies and gyrocopters, with the player being able to drive any vehicle in the game's world.

Players assume control of Walker, the last Ranger of Vineland, who must survive in a world inhabited by dangerous mutants and crazed bandits after it was hit by the asteroid 99942 Apophis. The majority of mankind died during this apocalyptic event. While new settlements and factions emerged, a group called the Authority declared themselves the new military power. The game's prologue begins in Walker's home, Vineland, a city founded by former Ark residents and their descendants.

Vineland gets stormed by the Authority's rebuilt Abadon mutant armies, and Walker's adoptive Aunt Prowley is killed by General Cross. Prowley leaves a pre-recorded holotape asking Walker to carry out Project Dagger, a mission conceived to stop General Cross. Walker is inducted as the last Ranger, a group of Ark survivors whose nanotrite-powered suits give them enhanced combat abilities. They are asked by Prowley's recording to find the three other members of Project Dagger; Loosum Hagar, Marshall, and Dr.

Rage 2 is a joint development between id Software and Avalanche Studios. Avalanche was selected as the collaboration partner for the project as id Software was impressed by Avalanche's work on Just Cause 3, especially its physics-based emergent gameplay. According to Tim Willits, the team hoped that the sequel could deliver on the promise made by the first game, which was limited by technology during its time of release. Willits added that Rage 2 was designed to be the player's "power fantasy", thus they ensured that they will not feel underpowered at the beginning of the game.

The game features a colorful color palette so as to distinguish itself from other id Software games. Rage 2 utilizes Avalanche Studios' proprietary Apex game engine instead of id Tech, which had been used for the predecessor. The Apex engine allowed the team to create detailed indoor environments as well as broad outdoor locations, also allowing players to transition between these worlds without any loading screens. The game engine uses the Vulkan API exclusively with HLSL shaders.

On release, Rage 2 received "mixed or average reviews" according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.

Daniel Tack from Game Informer rated the game a 7/10, praising the game's shooting mechanics and music but criticized the visuals, open-world and characters. Dan Stapleton from IGN gave a rating of 8/10, comparing the game to 2016's Doom, praising the game for its gunplay and the open-world gameplay as well as the abilities and the visual style, but felt bemused about the use of microtransactions as it featured no co-op or multiplayer. Michael Higham from GameSpot gave the game a 6/10, praising the game's combat and abilities, but criticized the humor, short length, narrative, characters, gameplay and side activities.