RAGE 2

Introduction

RAGE 2 is id Software and Avalanche Studios' post-apocalyptic open-world shooter, published by Bethesda Softworks and released on 13 May 2019 at NZ$69.95, currently 80% off at NZ$13.99. The game combines id's signature fast, aggressive gunplay with Avalanche's open-world design in a colourful wasteland setting. It sits at 65% positive ("Mixed") across 7,987 English-language Steam reviews. This review read the 100 most-helpful negative reviews of 2,796 total, plus a sample of the 100 most recent English reviews.

Nobody disputes the gunplay

Combat draws close to universal praise even from reviewers marking RAGE 2 down, appearing favourably in 34 of the 100 negative reviews read before those same reviewers pivot to an unrelated complaint. "At first, I was going to write a positive review for this game. Within the first 4 hours I was in love. The combat was great," reads a launch-week review. A recent reviewer sums up the appeal directly: "This game is a Far Cry with DOOM level gunplay. That's as good as it sounds. For 10 bucks its the best shooter for the money."

A launch complaint that faded, and one that didn't

At launch, a specific and widely repeated frustration concerned DLC: rather than buying story expansions directly through Steam, players had to purchase a Rage Coin virtual currency sold in bundles that didn't cleanly match the DLC's actual cost. "These goons want you to use a currency to buy a DLC. But do they sell the amount needed to buy the DLC? Nope," reads one representative 2019 review. This review checked how much that complaint persists today and found it had largely faded — just 1 of the 100 most recent reviews sampled mentions it, against 16 of the 100 negative reviews overall. What hasn't faded is a complaint about the game's actual content: a short story campaign and an open world reviewers across every year sampled, including 2026, describe as colourful but hollow. "10 story missions... that's it," reads a launch-week review with 19 hours logged. A 2026 review reaches a similarly blunt conclusion: "2% neat, 98% junk. Some cool abilities and weapons, but outside of that Rage 2 does not have any redeeming qualities."

Verdict

RAGE 2 pairs genuinely excellent, close-to-universally-praised gunplay with a game that reviewers across seven years consistently describe as thin around it — a short story and an open world with less to actually do in it than its colourful presentation suggests. The launch-era DLC currency complaint that dominated early reviews has largely faded from recent sentiment, but the deeper content complaint hasn't. Worth it at the current steep discount for the shooting alone — just don't expect the world or story built around it to hold up their end.