Summary
The Outer Worldsmakes a couple of things quite clear from the get-go. One, living in a corporation-controlled universe would be awful, as in horribly, soul-crushingly, awful. And two, the Companions in this game are the best they’veever been in an Obsidian game, both in writing and overall contribution to combat. But, their true strengths and weaknesses only become clear after finishing their side-quests and having them tag alongside the player character for an extended period of time.
So, to help out the new players or those returning to the gamewhile waiting for its sequel, let’s run down all 6 obtainable followers inThe Outer Worldsand rank them. Keep in mind that each Companion has different things they excel at and struggle with, so the ‘best’ Companion may be the worst one when combined with certain player character builds.
Updated April 19th, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter:While The Outer Worlds isn’t exactly the most popular game around nowadays, overall the title was received pretty positively from the gaming community as a whole. The majority still prefer Fallout: New Vegas overall, but the Outer Worlds made it clear that the quality of New Vegas wasn’t just a ‘fluke’ on Obsidian’s part. One part of The Outer Worlds that the community seemed to enjoy as a whole was the companions. And, while it was a shame that no new companions were added to the game in either of its two big DLCs, they did make it a lot easier to switch between companions in these DLCs so that players could rotate their squad as they pleased. Let’s take another look at all the followers in this game as a whole and how they stack up against each other so thatanyone playing the game for the first time(or even coming back to the game) knows who to look for.
Persuade, Sneak, & Lockpick
Felix is a kid who grew up in the back bays of the Groundbreaker, constantly watching the ships and stars pass by. And, because of this ‘wonder’ he has, Felix stowed away on the Unreliable, eventually joining the Stranger’s party. So, running around in the dirt, grime, and blood killing all sorts of people and creatures is actually a dream come true for Felix. And, this is exactly why he’ll charge his mostly empty brain through anything if it can help out his friends, feet first. Felix is a delight to have around, and his conversations with the other Companions are some of the funniest.
Now, this all sounds great, but why is he at the bottom of the rankings? Well, Felix sort of stinks as a Companion in terms of gameplay. The flat bonus to Persuade is his biggest benefit, but his Perks are hyper-specific and really only beneficial in a purely ‘good’ playthrough. And, while his Dropkick ability is hilarious to watch almost every single time, it’s almost entirely worthless, making him one of the worst Companions to bring to a fight, especially without a powerful melee weapon in his hands.
Lie, Medical, & Engineering
Ellie is a bit of a polarizing character for the fans. A lot of people aren’t into her whole ‘uncaring sociopath’ persona, but it matches the tone ofThe Outer Worldsquite well. Ellie is Nyoka without the sugar, and Nyoka can’t really even be described as sugary. That said, her questline has some of the funniest dialog options in the game, bar none.
In terms of gameplay, Ellie fluctuates between ‘alright’ and ‘pretty good’. Her Medical flat bonus Perk is good, the First Responder Perk is amazing, and CPR is a literal lifesaver. But, her ability, Quick Draw, is just a bit better than Felix’s useless dropkick. It looks great visually, but the Disarm and Bleed status effects are two that a good amount of enemy types are completely immune to, which reduces the utility of the ability by quite a bit. And, in general, the damage output Ellie seems to provide in combat is ‘passable’ but nowhere near someone like SAM or Nyoka. Because of their similar stat spread, Ellie is the best choice for players who would normally pick Nyoka but aren’t specialized in sneaking around. She’s great for Tinkerers but is only ‘okay’ as a combatant.
Intimidate, Hack, & Science
In terms of raw power and utility in combat, SAM is the best. It’s literally a heavily armored robot after all, and robots tend to be more suited for combat than squishy humans. But, in terms of writing and overall ‘character’, SAM is the worst. Its gimmick is that it’s a non-sentient cleaning robot and that juxtaposition of cheery cleaning-based dialogue while it goes on a killing spree is hilarious at first, but that only lasts for so long.
But, the tradeoff for this funny contrast is that SAM has no personality of its own.It has no backstory, no goals, and no real ‘drive’, it’s a robot. So, the only reason SAM is ranked this high is that it has pretty decent Perks and an amazing ability with Decontaminate, but has almost nothing going on as a ‘character’. And, let’s not forget that because it’s a literal robot, players can’t swap out SAM’s equipment like they can for the other Companions, which means its utility slowly declines as players face more and more difficult enemies.
Lie, Sneak, & Medical
Nyoka is such a gem and is the stereotypical ‘skilled yet constantly drunk’ mercenary these types of games tend to have. She’s heartfelt, boisterous, and cheeky 100 percent of the time. Honestly, if Ellie was a bit more ‘open’ in terms of her feelings, they’d be much better friends, but as things stand, they rely on each other while constantly bickering. Honestly, she’s pretty amazing. The Medical skill bonus is a bit of an odd inclusion when her other two are Sneak and Lie, but almost everything Nyoka provides is overall beneficial. Her Exterminator Perk is incredible since about 50 percent of the game is made up of Creatures, the flat bonus to Lie is great when used on a sneaky rogue-type player character, and the Hunter Perk is a huge buff to sneaking overall.
Her ability is Barrage which is a pure damage ability as Nyoka downs her flask of booze and unloads with her LMG (which can feel a bitHelldivers-esque), reducing their Armor Rating for a short time and setting them on fire. It’s a very simple ability, and because of that, it doesn’t have many odd interactions with different enemy types, such as how Ellie’s Quick Draw ability can’t really Disarm or cause mechanical enemies to Bleed. The only area Nyoka falls short is in her writing. While she does have some great lines and is one of the only companions to do the ‘job’ they were hired for on the Unreliable, she’s a bit one-dimensional as a character. Still, a very useful Companion and one that adds a lot toOuter Worldsin general.
Originally Vicar Max is most players' least-beloved Companion. Players can nab him almost immediately after Parvati, and his nihilistic sarcasm gets old kinda quickly, as it seems more apt for a zombie dystopia game rather than a corporate one. But,as more planets unlockand Max’s ‘tragic’ past comes to light, most tend to turn around on the guy. Sure, Max is obscenely stubborn and irritable, but that changes after his Companion quest and he’s inarguably different from the rest of the Companion options.
In terms of gameplay, Max is pretty great. The Hack bonus is incredible on most builds, Sermon is pretty worthless, and Mad Max is amazing for Science Weapon users. But, the ‘real’ reason Max is so high up on the rankings is almost purely because of his Trickshot ability. This shotgun blast knocks down opponents and Weakens them, which are two of the best debuffs. Knockdown, of course, leaves the target helpless for a few seconds while they get back up, and this usually takes enough time that players can unload almost a full clip into them. And Weaken just means they take more non-physical damage, which is very helpful for most Science Weapons. It’s probably the best Companion ability in the game so when it’s combined with the pretty good advantages Maximillian De Soto has in every other category, it’s no wonder he’s second on the rankings.
Persuade, Lockpick, & Engineering
Every RPG fanwho has playedThe Outer Worlds, even only a little bit, probably knew who was going to be in first place. How could anyone not pick Parvati as number one? Parvati is such a delight, from the moment the Stranger meets her in Edgewater. Let’s be real, she’s just Kaylee fromFirefly(this game has a lot of similarities to the show), but with a bit of an ‘asexual flair’. Parvati is an example of fantastic LGBTQ+ character representation in the gaming space, but she’s also very useful in combat. Not only does she give a flat bonus to Engineering, but also buffs the player’s ability to find Mods while looting overall, and (most importantly) reduces the Tactical Time Dilation meter whenever she uses her ability. This last Perk is, quite frankly, almost too good. Tactical Time Dilation is this game’s version of VATS fromFallout, so anything that reduces its cooldown is a huge boon.
Not only that, but Parvati’s ability, Overload is pretty much the best. There’s an argument to be had whether hers or Vicar Max’s is better, but they’re both great for the same reasons. Overload knocks enemies down, Shocks them, and even Stuns auto-mechanical enemies. Knockdown is, of course, a fantastic ailment, Shock is good, and the extra Stun on robots really comes in handy. Plus, it’s fantastic for the harder mechanical fights early in the game thanks to Shock damage. At the end of the day, the Companion that players use tends to be more impacted by their personality and the player’s personal preferences, and it seems like Parvati was very rarely left waiting on the ship for most people’s playthroughs.
