If The Outer Worlds 2 is a story about anything, it’s about people arguing over who should run the galaxy — the scientists, the soldiers, or the salesmen. The Outer Worlds 2’s Arcadia has a total of six factions vying for control of the colony and the secret Rifts tearing through space. To climb the corporate ladder, decode the secrets of the universe, or sell contraband to both sides, knowing who’s who (and how to butter them up) is key to surviving and thriving in this RPG. Here’s every major and minor faction in The Outer Worlds 2, what they stand for, and how to join each of these organizations.
Auntie’s Choice
Auntie’s Choice is what happens when capitalism stops pretending to be anything else. Born from a merger between Spacer’s Choice and Auntie Cleo’s, this megacorporation has turned Arcadia into a pastel-colored profit machine. Every street corner blares jingles, every citizen is an unpaid brand ambassador, and every food serves under a trademark.
Auntie’s Choice doesn’t want to destroy the Rifts, but they want to monetize them. If they can take over Rift travel, they’ll control trade, travel, and the very concept of scarcity. Consider them a cheerful dystopia: employees smile through existential despair while their vending machines upsell toothpaste subscriptions.
How to Join Auntie’s Choice
Your first encounter with Auntie’s Choice happens right after you enter Paradise Island, the first planet after the introductory part. Head to Fairfield, the city in the center of the southern Paradise island, where the faction’s billboards blot out the sun. Walk under the holographic Auntie Cleo head and talk to either Kaur or Milverstreet, two middle managers who both think themselves the head operator of the place.
Choose a side in their petty turf war, finish the NPC’s related quest to start earning reputation with Auntie’s Choice. From there, you can finish company contracts, promote the “brand image,” or exploit their system until you’re the richest rebel on Arcadia. Join Auntie’s Choice if you want powerful weapons, corporate armor, and the ability to drown in branded joy, or if you enjoy the satire of selling out on purpose.
The Order of the Ascendant
The Order of the Ascendant is what you’d get if a few scientists thought religion wasn’t logical enough and began to worship equations instead. They broke away from the Protectorate years ago and now dedicate themselves to solving the Universal Equation formula that, in their concept, can statistically improve humanity.
They’re calm, disciplined, and very serious about their calculation work. But they are also the ones who’d justify blowing up a city as a “statistical anomaly.” The Order believes the Rifts distort their sacred math, and they want to seal them even if that means sacrificing anyone who throws off their calculations.
How to Join the Order of the Ascendant
You’ll first hear about the Order of the Ascendant during the main quest on Paradise. Once you complete the Vox Relay objective, an envoy from the Order contacts you on your ship immediately. Travel to Golden Ridge to meet the Order in person. You can also encounter an early introduction by helping an Archivist at Free Market Station catalog the colony’s trade history. The task doubles as your initiation test if you find Sub Rosa first.
Trusting the Order of the Ascendant means you prefer logic over emotion. It’s the faction for thinkers, skeptics, and players who want to see what happens when philosophy and precision go too far.
Sub Rosa
Every system needs a shadow economy, and the black market faction Sub Rosa is the one in The Outer Worlds 2. Born from smugglers, hackers, and opportunists, Sub Rosa operates out of a crashed ship, Free Market Station. They sell the stuff Auntie’s Choice bans and the Protectorate pretends doesn’t exist.
Sub Rosa is not an evil association; they’re just honest about being dishonest. The organization doesn’t care about order or enlightenment, they only care about deals, trust, and credits. If there is profit to be made in chaos, Sub Rosa will be three steps ahead.
How to Join Sub Rosa
You can find your first lead by snooping around the Paradise Landing Pad tower terminal, which mentions new smuggling activity. Follow the breadcrumb trail to the Fairfield Constable’s office, hack into the database on the terminal, and you’ll be pointed to Emeline Galloway, the local greenhouse manager.
Help Emeline erase some evidence of her faction’s operations in Farfield, and she’ll then reward you with a reputation increase and tell you the location of Free Market Station. The station is Sub Rosa’s full vendor network with black market weapons, rare mods, and the best illegal snacks in the system. You can join Sub Rosa if you like to play both sides, sneaking through security zones, or roleplaying as Arcadia’s smooth-talk fixer.
The Protectorate
The Protectorate runs Arcadia with a firm hand and a blinding spotlight. This authoritarian regime was founded by the inventor of the skip drive (the technology that made colonization possible) and currently rules the system by propaganda, military order, and mandatory optimism. They want to close the Rifts too, but for a different reason: control. Every Rift is a threat to their monopoly on interstellar travel. To them, chaos is bad for business, and freedom counts as chaos.
Can You Join the Protectorate?
No, you can’t because the Protectorate is a non-rep faction, which means you can not join their ranks or increase status with them. But you can still cooperate with their officers or take organization-related contracts. If you befriend Tristan, the Protectorate’s armored arbiter companion, you’ll get insight into their inner workings and might even get a chance to challenge how their “justice” system operates.
The Earth Directorate
Before spacefaring troublemaker, you were a Commander for the Earth Directorate — the bureaucratic watchdogs who oversee the colonies. They sent you to Arcadia to investigate the mysterious Rifts and stabilize the situation. The Directorate claims neutrality, but like any good government, it plays favorites when the situation calls. Your choices impact if it stays impartial or becomes another power-hungry empire meddling in colony politics.
How to Work With the Earth Directorate
You start the game under their command, so technically, you’re already a part of this association. But as the story progresses, your loyalty to the Directorate can waver. Supporting them means to follow the “official” route, which asks you to enforce regulations, report back, and preserve stability. If you stray too far into corporate or cult territory, the Directorate will question your commitment. Two companions, Niles (an agent) and Val, his automech, represent the Directorate’s more human side.
The Rift Cult
The Rift Cult is less a faction and more a warning label. These zealots believe the Rifts are divine. They worship the glowing tears in space-time as gateways to transcendence that often involve screaming and spontaneous combustion. They splintered from the Order of the Ascendant, rejected equations for chaos. You’ll meet this faction first on Golden Ridge, where you find them performing rituals.
Can You Join the Rift Cult?
No. You can, though, interact with members and complete storylines that reveal their connection to the Rifts. One of your possible companions, Aza, is a former Rift Cultist, and through her, you can find out what drives their fanaticism.
Which Faction Should You Side With?
There’s no clean choice in The Outer Worlds 2. Auntie’s Choice sells salvation in bulk, the Order calculates morality, Sub Rosa sells it on discount, and the Protectorate enforces it at gunpoint. The Earth Directorate wants order, and the Rift Cult wants oblivion. Whichever faction you trust and choose in The Outer Worlds 2, just remember that on Arcadia, reputation is power, morality is negotiable, and even the good guys are running ads.
