Screw up too hard in The Outer Worlds 2 and your companions may fight you "to the death" because Obsidian wanted the RPG's cast to feel "like they're their own people"

The loyalty of your companions in The Outer Worlds 2 isn't guaranteed, as Obsidian has revealed they'll absolutely turn on you - and even try to kill you - if they disapprove of your actions enough.

Talking to Xbox Expansion Pass, Obsidian's Matt Singh and Brandon Adler share new insights into companion behavior and how companions are designed to feel like three dimensional, independent, freethinking people instead of yes men for the player.

"One of the things that was really important is we wanted these characters to feel like they're their own people," said Singh. "They have their own goals, their own motivations, and if the player's aligning with them, that's great. They're going to be there for you. They'll fight alongside you. But if you go against their interests, they're going to have something to say about it. That might break out into a conflict, that might mean they leave you or you have to fight them to the death. But if you do build that relationship with them, they'll be there for you in the end."

Managing a cast of companion characters is one of the mainstays of traditional RPGs, often requiring the player to decide between appeasing one companion over another and leading to deaths and/or departures depending on player choice. The Outer Worlds 2 isn't the first to escalate the stakes to potential full-blown violent conflict between player and companion, but it is a first for the series. It's also in stark contrast to Obsidian's 2025 RPG Avowed, in which companions stick by your side pretty much no matter what.

Adler explained that, in The Outer Worlds 2, companions will actually give you the heads up when they're about to turn on you.

"There's some pretty serious points in the story where things can happen and go south where they may say something even as simple as, 'You're going to take me along on this thing,' and depending on how you've treated them or how you continue to treat them, that could have big implications," said Adler.

"There's things you can do to the companions that other companions really don't like. And they'll let you know beforehand, like, 'Hey, if you do this, this is a point of no return with me,' kind of thing."

All of this is in service of making companions feel "more realistic with how they dealt with the player and just reacted to the things that were going on around them," added Adler. "And that was something that we didn't really have in the first game all the time, but we really wanted to make sure the players felt that in the second one."

The Outer Worlds 2 launches October 29 for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.