There's a lot to do in The Outer Worlds, but one of the most important elements has to be the companion system. As with RPGs that have come before, like Fallout and Mass Effect, companions provide you extra quests and bonuses, but they also fill out the game with story and flavor. There are six potential companions in the game, and because the game is so big, it's easy to miss a couple. Here's how to get them all and how to use them.
What you need to know first
The Outer Worlds follows a lot of the same patterns set up by RPGs past in regards to its companions. You can have up to two in your party simultaneously and can send a companion back to the ship at any point. If you feel like the fit isn't right you can dismiss a companion from your crew.
There are two trickier elements to the companion system. One is the perks. Just like with your character, as you level up your companions can unlock another perk. Most of them are the same across the board — such as increasing base health or upping their armor rating — but each one has unique perks that grant the party bonuses. The ones listed for each companion below are only active if you unlock the perk and then have the person in your party, but they're incredibly helpful. It also makes you think harder about which companions you want to take with you.
The second thing to note is their abilities, which only unlock if your Determination skill is over 20. It's easy to miss this category when you're modifying your skill tree since it's at the bottom and isn't as outwardly useful as Lockpick or Persuade, for instance, but it's worth putting points into. The more you level up your Leadership skills, the more abilities you unlock and the stronger your companions get.
More: The Outer Worlds beginner's guide: 5 must-know tips before take-off
Pavarti
Pavarti can be described with one word: sweetheart. She's naive and willing to see the best in people, which includes some of the worst that the game has to offer, but she can potentially be the player's moral compass if you let her. Since she's new to the world outside her home in Edgewater, she might need some help in more mature areas, like love. Don't let her sweet demeanor fool you: she's also a smart and capable engineer that can be mean with a two-handed hammer.
Where you find her
In Edgewater. Pavarti is the easiest companion to recruit since she doesn't require an extra quest to get her on your team. You just need to go to the Cannery to complete the main quest and she'll be there with the boss.
Companion quest
Drinking Sapphire Wine. You can introduce her to Junlei Tennyson, who's the captain of the Groundbreaker. Pavarti originally wants to just pick Junlei's brain about fixing ships, but she develops a huge crush. Is love requited or is Pavarti reading too into a vague situation?
Perk bonuses
- Bonus Support Engineering: +10 to Engineering.
- Mod Finder: +10% chance to extract mods in the field.
- Synchronicity: +25% tactical time dilation meter (when she performs her ability it recharges some of your meter).
Vicar Max
The priest that sent you on a quest for a book in Edgewater was the last person I expected to recruit to my crew, but he's become one of my favorite members. Max is a priest with a spiritual quest, but he's also an experienced hacker and fighter thanks to some shady parts of his past that get revealed over time. He also has some of the best quips in the game. Activate his ability during combat any chance you get to hear great one-liners.
Where you find him
If you complete the sidequest The Illustrated Manual in Edgewater and return the book to the Vicar, he asks to join your crew so that he can track down how to translate the book.
Companion quest
The Empty Man. Max tells you he knows of a man who can help him translate the text, which takes you on a journey to multiple parts of Halcyon, from the Groundbreaker to Scylla. Take this quest on and you'll learn a thing or two about the mysterious priest.
Perk bonuses
- Bonus Support Hack: +10 hack.
- Sermon: +20% dialog combat effect duration.
- Mad Max: +20% Science Weapon damage.
Ellie
Ellie is an enigma. She's a tough pirate that joins your crew after you help her on the Groundbreaker. It wasn't a huge favor, but she doesn't like to leave debts hanging, apparently. Every time you try and speak with her about your past she brushes you off. What's she hiding? Is she a criminal on the run from the Board? Did she anger the wrong people during her pirate days? Her companion quest is the toughest to find, but until then you can use her to increase the medical skills of your party. She's, surprisingly, a great medic.
Where you find her
You'll recruit her after you complete the quest Worst Contact on Groundbreaker. Here you have to find a way to talk to Jessie, an acquaintance of Ellie's who's been oddly locked up in the sick bay for a while.
Companion quest
The Low Crusade. Make sure you have Ellie on your crew when you finally visit Byzantium. She'll ask you to visit her parents, you know, if you're in the area.
Perk bonuses
- Bonus Support Medical: +10 to Medical.
- First Responder: +20% Heal Amount granted by the Medical Inhaler.
- CPR: When she's in the party, any damage that would kill you instead heals 25% of health. This ability has a five-minute cooldown.
Felix
Sweet, young, innocent Felix. He doesn't seem to know anything, on account of him being trapped on the Groundbreaker as an orphan his entire life. He joins your crew because he's desperate to experience more, which can become a boon if you know how to utilize him. He's a rebel with a mean streak if you bring him into battle, but he also provides some laughs as other team members like Nyoka tease him for being so naive and uninformed.
Where you find him
On Groundbreaker. He shows up at your ship as you're about to leave the first time and tells you that he's been creepily stalking you for a while, hoping you'll take him with you. He desperately wants to get off the ship and live a new life.
Companion quest
Friendship's Due. Felix tells you that he received a mysterious message from an old friend of his wondering if he wants to be a part of a "revolutionary project." Felix wonders if he's in trouble. It's almost definitely a trap, right?
Perk bonuses
- Bonus Support Persuade: +10 Persuade.
- Bootlickers!: +20 damage to cowering enemies.
- Rebellion: +20% damage to corporate military.
Nyoka
This hunter has a drinking problem, but that won't stop her from pulling out a giant gun in battle and mowing down enemies. Always have her in your party when you go down to Monarch because she seems to know everybody and has insight into certain areas and groups of people. Don't let her snarky and tough exterior fool you though; she has a tragic past that unravels over the course of the game. She's lost a lot of people and has been screwed over by the corporations more than most.
Where you find her
In Stellar Bay. You need her to track down Hiram Blythe for the main story, but first you have to help her get sober.
Companion quest
Star-Crossed Troopers. She's trying to both track down the lost members of her crew and to collect mementos from those already dead. It's a surprisingly gigantic quest that can take you across Halcyon.
Perk bonuses
- Bonus Support Lie: +10 to lie when she's in the party.
- Hunter: -20% radius of footstep sounds.
- Exterminator: +20% damage to creatures.
SAM
SAM is the closest the game gets to a joke companion, sort of like equipping Clap-Trap into your party. However, because you wake him up by equipping him with an Acid Sleeper, he can be a deadly part of your crew. He also strikes up a relationship with ADA, your ship's AI, that borders on uncomfortable, but that just shows how vital he is to the crew. Equip him into your party for unforgettable insights into cleaning and ship maintenance.
Where you find him
He's in a closet near the crew quarters on the Unreliable. However, he won't turn on.
Companion quest
The Cleaning Machine. After you find SAM, you have to get him running again. Old records from Hawthorne say you can replace the S.U.D.S. Sleeper with an Acid Sleeper, but he never picked it up from Roseway. You can find it in the storage facility and install it.
This is more of a recruitment quest rather than a companion quest like with the other members of your crew, but it's still absolutely worth doing.
Perk bonuses
- Bonus Support Intimidate: +10 Intimidate.
- Cleaner: -20% negative reputation per kill.
- Bad Samaritan: +20% damage to Automechanicals.
It's the Spacer's Choice!
The Outer Worlds is a new science-fiction role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division. You are woken up from a 70-year sleep and have to complete a number of quests that take you across the solar system. Find out who you are and have fun while you're at it.
