The Outer Worlds: Should You Free Or Kill Cassandra O’Malley?

As you play through The Outer Worlds and reach the Doom That Came To Roseway quest, you will meet Cassandra O’Malley. She has gotten herself trapped in a cell and needs your help to get out. But should you kill her or set her free?

It’s a critical question that you need to answer, and your choices do matter. Here’s what you need to know about if you should free or kill Cassandra O’Malley in The Outer Worlds.

The Outer Worlds – Should You Free Or Kill Cassandra O’Malley?

When you find Cassandra, you can talk to her and discover she is the person who led the raid on the secret lab. She is not very apologetic about killing people there, but she also doesn’t pose a direct threat to you, so there is no need to kill her straight away. You need to decide what to do because she has Anton’s Research, which you need to either return to Anton or sell to Gladys on the Groundbreaker.

You can also be sure that Cassandra being free will lead to more violence and death. There is a good solution, however. If your Persuade skill is high enough, you can convince Cassandra to cease hostilities with the guards. When you’re successful, return to the entrance to the covert lab, and you can convince the guards to stop fighting with the raiders. You can tell the guards’ leader that you think he has more to offer than dying in some nameless lab.

The security guards will agree to leave and will give you the key to open all the doors in the lab, and this will allow you to free Cassandra.

Helping Cassandra O’Malley in The Outer Worlds

If you release Cassandra, you can get some Bits and tell her she has to give you Anton’s research anyway. By letting Cassandra live, you will also have access to the Journey Into Smoke mission from Lillian, who you will meet outside the exit of the secret lab when you leave.

However, if you’re not too concerned about that and would rather roleplay your way through the game and your character would eliminate Cassandra, this is also a choice, but you will miss out on the Journey Into Smoke quest. If you lack the dialogue skills to talk both sides down but need to get the security key, you will need to follow this guide to find a terminal and print one out.

If you’re hoping for Cassandra to join your crew in The Outer Worlds, don’t get your hopes up. She is not one of the characters you can recruit in The Outer Worlds. Even if she were, her behavior might not make her the best fit for your team. You’ll meet many characters who could be more valuable allies than Cassandra would ever be.

Killing Cassandra O’Malley in The Outer Worlds

Eliminating Cassandra will prevent you from having access to the Journey Into Smoke mission. However, you will gain experience from it and also get your hands on Anton’s research. If you return the research to Anton, you will be awarded with 3750 Bits and the Dentastic achievement. This is the route that many players choose, and it’s a valid one. Cassandra is not the most likable character.

That said, if you intend to gain as much experience as possible, or participate in as many missions as possible, it’s better to let Cassandra live. Also, the experience you get from killing Cassandra is no different than the experience you’d get from eliminating enemies. So in terms of optimizing your rewards, this is not the best choice.