In The Outer Worlds, you take on the role of captain, zipping around the Halcyon space colony in your ship and completing quests for characters along the way. Every ship needs a crew, and there are six companions scattered across the solar system for you to recruit into your cause. Each one brings their signature personality into the mix, creating a rag-tag group of cosmic misfits. You can only take two companions with you when you go exploring, so you’ll quickly find yourself picking favorites. So who is the best companion in The Outer Worlds? We’ve spent some time thinking, and have whipped up a list of every companion in The Outer Worlds ranked from worst to best.
When it comes down to choosing the best companion in Outer Worlds, the outcome will be heavily subjective. Each character brings something unique to the party, and your play-style might align with some companions more than others. While some companions are stronger than others, there’s no clear winner for the most powerful, so there’s plenty of wiggle room to experiment. We’ve done our best to create a list of the best companions in The Outer Worlds, but there’s a good chance it might not match up with yours. Honestly, the majority of the companions are pretty cool, so even the lower-ranked ones are worth checking out. With that said, here’s our ranked list for every companion in The Outer Worlds.
The Best Companions in The Outer Worlds
Note: This list contains minor spoilers for The Outer Worlds.
6. SAM
SAM is a cleaning robot that you’ll find out-of-order, resting on the second floor of your ship. After a quick quest, you’ll revive SAM and can bring him out for expeditions. While SAM isn’t exactly a “bad” companion, he lacks the personality that most other companions possess. Beyond his often funny responses that play up the “cleaning robot stuck in the middle of a gunfight” angle, there’s not much that made me gravitate towards SAM.
SAM is also the only companion that you cannot equip armor and weapons on, which limits his versatility in combat. That said, he’s still pretty powerful, so you can at least count on SAM to deal a bit of damage when things get dangerous. Although calling SAM “the worst” might be a bit unfair, he’s the furthest from the best companion in The Outer Worlds.
5. Felix
Felix can be found roaming on the Groundbreaker, eager to come aboard your crew after suffering years of neglect and abandonment. Growing up was hard for Felix, and this young adventurer has bright hopes for the future. Despite his sympathetic past, Felix isn’t as endearing as most of the companions and often comes off as whiny and annoying.
That said, Felix is a decent member to have around, especially if you’re not as experienced in the persuasion skill. Dialog checks are important in The Outer Worlds, and Felix adds a passive bonus to your persuasion that can be pretty useful. Felix also earns some cool points due to his companion ability, which is just a straight-up dropkick.
4. Vicar Max
Calm, cool, and mostly collected, Vicar Max is a companion you’ll come across in the earlier hours of the game. Acting as the religious figurehead of the Edgewater colony, Max joins up with your crew as he seeks answers to his lifelong contemplation on the universe.
While I don’t consider him the best companion in The Outer Worlds, Max is pretty useful as a party member and personable enough to keep him around a bit beyond that use. He also has an interesting companion mission that sees you collecting ancient texts and going through a pretty trippy sequence to uncover the truth.
3. Ellie
Ellie is both a doctor and a pirate, with a cold but approachable demeanor. After helping her out with a personal situation on the Groundbreaker ship, Ellie joins your party in search of more adventure. Ellie is great to have for conversation, lending her pessimistic yet humorous attitude to situations.
Her expertise in the medical field also gives you a solid boost in stats, and can increase your healing while she’s around. Although she’s not the most outspoken of the crew, it’s easy to empathize with Ellie as she opens up about her personal life.
2. Nyoka
Nyoka is one of the last companions you can recruit, and it takes quite a bit of work to get her on your team. You’ll find Nyoka hanging out at a bar on Monarch, knocking back drinks and telling stories of mayhem and action. She has a “live hard and fast” attitude, and her effectiveness in combat exemplifies that. She’s also never afraid to speak her mind, making her a prime candidate for entertaining conversational quips.
Her active companion ability sees her finishing off a bottle of booze and then laying down fire with her mini-gun, which proves time and time again just how much she likes to drink and kill. Nyoka has plenty of heart to her character as well, with a personal side quest filled with surprising emotion.
1. Parvati
In my opinion, Parvati easily wins the gold as best companion in The Outer Worlds. This soft-spoken but hopeful engineer is the first companion to join your ranks, leaving her hometown of Edgewater behind in pursuit of greater things. As you travel throughout the colony, she’ll often revel in amazement at the beauty of it all, encouraging you to stop and smell the roses as well.
While Parvati can hold her own in combat, she earns the top spot purely based off of personality and character alone. Over the course of the adventure, you’ll watch her grow from a naive small-town mechanic into a certifiable adventurer, and she’ll often look to you for guidance. Even when she was resting on the ship while I roamed with other companions, Parvati always felt like my second-in-command. Watching her character grow and experience the expanses of space was one of the most fulfilling parts of The Outer Worlds, and without her, my crew would’ve been far less memorable.
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