The Outer Worlds: How To Unlock Every Ending | Good, Bad & Worst Endings Guide

There are three major endings you can unlock in The Outer Worlds — the good ending, the bad ending, and the worst ending. Yes, even if you work for the villainous bad guys, there is an even worse option you can stumble into; but only if you properly prepare with stats at the very start of the game.

Here, we’re going to try to explain how to get all three ending with minimum spoilers. The basic conflict involves two factions — the dissidents, and the Board. Depending on who you side with, you’ll get a very different ending. Everything else you do in the game also factors into the endings in small ways, changing how the Halcyon colony copes, but the two major factions will be the primary deciding factor.

Then there’s the idiotic third option. We’ll explain that one last. See how to get all the main endings in the guide below.

More The Outer Worlds guides:

How To Unlock Every Ending | Good, Bad & Worst Endings Guide

There are three primary endings in The Outer Worlds — I’ll be referring to them as the Good Ending, the Bad Ending, and the Worst Ending. There are many, many factors that determine the details of the ending, how your characters feel after the story is complete, and how the Halcyon colony grows.

Ending Factors:
- Which faction you side with.
- Which faction quest chains you complete.
- Which companion quest chains you complete.

The more quest chains you complete, the better your ending for those characters will be. There are also a few other small changes that can alter how an ending will play out, but you’ll have to discover those yourself. Here, we’re going to share the three major endings and how to get them.

The Good Ending

The Good Ending is the most straightforward — simply side with Dr. Phineas Welles for the entire story. Don’t turn him in, and choose to save him at the end of the story.

To get an even better ending, you’ll need to make a few specific choices. Collect 100% of the chemical from the secret lab, and send a corrupted tracer from Phineas’ communicator terminal. Other than that, a high science skill will help solve the problems of the colony.

The Bad Ending

The Bad Ending is all about the Board. You can begin this alternate storyline as early as the Groundbreaker. Go to the Halcyon Holdings embassy and choose to turn in Phineas to the Board. They’ll send you on alternate evil missions once you reach Byzantium much, much earlier in the story.

For this ending, you’ll work with the board to hide the Hope colonists and ensure the success of their freezing program to solve the food crisis. It’s diabolical, but you’ll be able to live in luxury with the rest of the fat cats in their crumbling city.

The Worst Ending

The most ridiculous ending is this final secret one. For this ending, you must start a new game and set your Intelligence to ‘Below Average’. Later in the story, you’ll need to steer the Hope ship to a new location. Don’t let ADA drive. Instead, choose to steer the ship yourself.

After that, select the dumbest option possible — still driving it, even though you aren’t intelligent enough to actually succeed. Instead of saving the Hope, you’ll very, very slowly drive the colony ship into the sun.

It’s the darkest, most hilarious ending. It’s also the best ending for speed runs! You’ll get to skip the whole final section of the game!

More The Outer Worlds guides: