The Outer Worlds is filled with complex choices, sometimes without compromise. Players will struggle with morality as the future of an entire solar system rests in their hands. The open-world RPG gives the player freedom of choice, but those choices have a big impact.
Not only will they impact the game, but also the player. You will contemplate the choices you made far after you’re done playing. Running the gamut from lovably mischievous to outright evil, the impact you have on the colonies is entirely up to you. To get a scope of how important your role is in deciding how the stories taking place there unfold, check out the ten most important decisions you’ll make in the game – as well as their consequences.
10 Kill or Spare Eva Chartrand
Lilya Hagen, CEO of Sublight, has a crazy conspiracy theory that aliens are planning to take over Halycon. The paranoid old lady sends you to kill Eva Chartrand, who she believes is an alien in disguise. But upon meeting Chartrand, you find she’s the key to saving Halycon instead of its harbinger of death. The scientist is working on a way to sustain humanity on Halycon. The player can choose to kill her, completing Hagen’s quest, or spare her.
The player can convince Chartrand to work with Phineas Welles or The Board. Both choices will give a negative Sublight reputation and a negative reputation for whichever option you don’t choose. As for the characters themselves, Chartrand doesn’t fit into the narrative later on and Hagen will continue investigating aliens until she dies of an accident.
9 Tell Hortense The Truth About Retirement Or Lie
Hortense is a rich snob, like everyone else in Byzantium, and she asks you to investigate the retirement program. People are promised a luxurious, relaxing life under Byzantium until they die peacefully. Little do they know it’s a scheme to kill off retirees. These hopeful snobs will walk into retirement and be murdered by robots. The player can tell Hortense the truth, or lie about it.
It’s definitely a moral quandary, considering Hortense’s demeanor. He lives if you tell the truth, or dies if you lie. That said, you’ll also lose some Board reputation if you tell the truth.
8 Kill or Save Cassandra
The short version goes that the researchers in Roseway were attacked by Cassandra and her group of outlaws. You find Cassandra trapped inside a research facility, and she has the required documents to complete a quest. The player can help her escape or can simply kill her. This is a difficult decision because there are so many different avenues to this questline. It’s more of a “best option” scenario than a morally rooted one.
After killing Cassandra, you can loot her body and receive the documents. If you save Cassandra, then you have to help her escape. This risks an altercation with the guards if your persuade isn’t high enough. After this, you can simply ask her to give you the documents. It will also open up another quest called “Journey into Smoke.”
7 Convince Caleb To Go Back To Work Or Let Him Continue Striking
You can see this in a couple of different ways: Caleb needs to suck it up and stop his shenanigans, or he’s justified since his corrupt boss, Velma, takes company money. Of course, the latter discovery requires some investigation.
If you confront the boss, and have proof of her corruption, she will agree to give Caleb a raise. This is only possible by hacking her terminal and a 20 plus intimidation level. Another possibility is stealing Caleb’s Bit stash, forcing him back to work without a raise. This option requires a 50 plus lockpick level. Lastly, if you completed the quest “The Secret People” you’ll have a chance to persuade Velma to give Caleb a raise.
6 Give The Module to Sanjar Or Graham
This is the climax of all your choices on Monarch. Sanjar is the leader of Monarch Stellar Industries, MSI, and he wants back into The Board. He believes he can stop the Board’s corruption from the inside. Graham is the leader of the Iconoclasts, a group of revolutionaries that what to overthrow the ruling corporations. Each group will use the module to defend themselves from an attack by the other. This is a difficult decision because while both factions are flawed, neither is inherently evil.
Giving the module to Sanjar will lead to the Iconoclasts’ destruction and the death of Graham. Giving the module to Graham will lead to the MSI’s destruction and the death of Sanjar. There is a third option that allows the two factions to work together, but it takes a lot of legwork.
5 Skip To Terra 2 Or Tartarus
This is one of the biggest decisions in The Outer Worlds. Skipping the ship to Terra 2 means siding with Phineas Welles and going against the Board. Skipping to Tartarus means siding with The Board. The decision cements your choice to align with one of the two biggest sides in the main quest.
Skipping to Terra 2 will result in a mission where you have to save Phineas Welles. Skipping to Tartarus will result in a mission where you have to save the leader of The Board, Sophia. You can skip to the sun, effectively blowing up your ship and getting the “dumb” ending. This is only possible if your character is literally dumb, with a low intelligence score. It’s not a joke.
4 Heal A “Dying” Man Or Help A Town
The town of Edgewater is suffering from a plague and one man reaches out for help. Abernathy tells you that he is dying and he knows where to find some medicine. The problem is that Esther claims Abernathy is a hypochondriac and she wants to give the medicine to the town instead.
Giving the medicine to Esther gives you 1,000 bits while giving the medicine to Abernathy gives you 800 bits. If you visit Abernathy after giving the medicine to Esther, he will make you feel guilty, but never reveals if he’s actually a hypochondriac. Lastly, you can turn the medicine into the constable, but she’ll keep it and say it’s illegal contraband.
3 Keep Test Subjects Alive Or Revive Everyone On The Hope
Dimethyl Sulfoxide is needed to revive the colonists on The Hope, which is the central objective of Welles’ main quest. However, there’s a catch. The Board is using it to keep some test subjects alive. You have to choose between taking all the Dimethyl Sulfoxide, killing the test subjects (but having enough to revive the colonists), or taking a quarter of it – keeping the subjects alive, but making it unlikely to save all the colonists.
Taking all the Dimethyl Sulfoxide results in all of the colonists being revived. Taking a quarter of the Dimethyl Sulfoxide results in half of the colonists being revived. That’s a lot of human lives.
2 Turn Welles In?
When you reach The Groundbreaker, there is an opportunity to turn Welles into The Board. This is tempting because he is a suspicious man and his motives are unclear. Then again, The Board has unquestionably proven to be quite corrupt. The choice will have drastic ramifications on the story.
Turning Welles in will take you straight to Byzantium where you start working for the corporations. Deciding not to turn Welles in will take you on the more typical path of helping him fight the corporations.
1 Divert Power to Edgewater or Botanical Lab
The Outer Worlds confronts you with this one early on, and even so, it’s a solid contender for the most mind-bending moral puzzle the game will ever throw at you. You can support the understandably indignant deserters of the Edgewater plant, or do what’s best for the township itself.
There are numerous outcomes for both choices depending on a series of dialogue options. The possible outcomes include diverting power to Edgewater and killing the deserters, diverting to Edgewater and convincing the deserters to return, diverting to Edgewater and replacing the leader of the town, or diverting to the Botanical Lab – causing a protest in Edgewater. The nuances and complexities of this one nicely frame the game’s narrative tone.
NEXT: The Outer Worlds: 10 Things We Want To See In A Sequel
