Where to find the Commander's safe key in Outer Worlds 2

outer worlds 2 commander's safe key
(Image credit: Obsidian)

To find the Commander's safe key in Outer Worlds 2 takes second when you know where it is, and someone will tell you. Just not until you return to the Incognito after completing the opening mission. You'll find some clues, like a crumpled list that tells you VALERIE has, you just won't actually get any help beyond that the first time you discover it. That means either searching fruitlessly for hours, or waiting and coming back to it once you can actually find what you need a little later. So, if you're looking helplessly now, read on and see what you need to do to open the Commander's safe in The Outer Worlds 2.

outer worlds 2 commander's safe key location

(Image credit: Obsidian)

Where to find the Commanders safe key in Outer Worlds 2

The Commander's Safe key is hidden directly behind the engine, in a gap between the railings. You'll have to go around the back of the large central column in the room and duck under some pipes to see it, as you can see in the image above.

The tricky part of actually finding the safe key is that you have no information to help you when you first find out it's a thing. After you first reawaken on the Incognito after the opening mission, you'll have free run of the ship and soon find the locked Commander's safe. The crumbled list next to it mentioned Nile's 'hid the safe key with Val' but at this point you won't have any more info. VALERIE will either talk about decryption keys and lockboxes, or just cycle through some stock answers. Depending on your Outer Worlds 2 skills you might be able to open without the key but, unlike getting the Commanders credentials in Outer Worlds 2, there's no secret other option and, without any of the right abilities, it's the key or nothing.

However, once you've landed and explored Paradise for a bit you can go back to the ship, and discover that VALERIE now has some dialogue options about the key and tell you it's in the engine room. Thanks, Val.

outer worlds 2 VALERIE with commander's safe key dialogue

(Image credit: Obsidian)

Once you have the Commander's key in Outer Worlds 2 you can open the safe and get the following rewards:

Tossball Card: Eva Wierzbicki (+1 Toxicity Crash Threshold)
320 Bit Cartridge
Bypass Shunt x 2
Mag-Pick x 2
Numb Rum x 2
Ascendant Bourbon
Spectrum Vodka

It's not a bad reward to get, but it is probably best earlier in the game as once you've been out and about for a while you'll probably have plenty of booze, picks and shunts from collecting loot. That Tossball Card is useful though as you'll soon discover Toxicity Crash can be a real problem when using your inhaler to heal. So anything that helps with that is a plus.

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Leon Hurley
Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.

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