Outer Worlds 2 Pet System Guide: How to Unlock All Companions & Change Pets

One of the most delightful additions to The Outer Worlds 2 is the pet system—a feature that was completely absent from the original game. These adorable creatures don’t just follow you around looking cute; they actually occupy a dedicated area aboard The Incognito and provide companionship during your adventures through Arcadia.

If you’re an achievement hunter, you’ll want to collect at least five pets to unlock a special achievement. But honestly, even without the achievement incentive, these little guys are worth seeking out. There’s something satisfying about building your own menagerie of exotic alien creatures while navigating corporate conspiracies and faction warfare.

Let me walk you through everything you need to know about finding, unlocking, and managing pets in The Outer Worlds 2.

How the Pet System Works

Unlike human companions who fight alongside you and have complex storylines, pets serve a different purpose. They’re primarily cosmetic companions that add personality to your ship and follow you during exploration.

Key Features:

• Pets live in a special area aboard The Incognito
• Only one pet can be active at a time
• You can swap between unlocked pets at any time (once you’ve found your first one)
• Different pets have unique appearances and behaviors
• Collecting five pets unlocks an achievement

Think of pets as your personal crew mascots—they won’t help in combat, but they make the journey feel less lonely.

Three Ways to Acquire Pets

1. Complete Pet-Related Missions

Several side quests throughout Arcadia reward you with pets. These missions typically involve helping creatures in distress or solving problems for animal handlers. The rewards are always worth the effort, and the quests themselves tend to be more lighthearted than the main storyline.

2. Purchase from Vendors

Various vendors across Arcadia sell pets—though they don’t come cheap. As you progress through the game, vendors offer increasingly exotic (and expensive) creatures. Budget accordingly if you want to collect them all, and check our junk selling guide to maximize your Bits income.

3. Premium Edition Exclusive

If you purchased the Premium Edition of The Outer Worlds 2, you’ll get access to the unique Premium Sprat pet. However, there’s a catch—you need to unlock at least one other pet first before you can summon it.

Early Pet Locations: Get Started Quickly

Lucy the Crabble – Your First Pet (Recommended)

Location: Crabble Ranch, south of the landing pad on Paradise Island
Cost: Free (quest reward)
Difficulty: Easy

This should be your first pet acquisition, and it’s one of the most charming questlines in the early game.

How to Get Lucy:

1. Travel south from the Paradise Island landing pad to the Crabble Ranch
2. Speak with the rancher about Lucy, a sick crabble
3. Discover that Lucy consumed too much Purpleberry Krunch (Auntie’s Choice’s flagship product)
4. Use your skills to diagnose and treat Lucy’s condition
5. After nursing her back to health, Lucy will offer to join you as a pet

Why start here: Lucy is free, accessible early, and the quest is straightforward. Plus, if you own the Premium Edition, getting Lucy unlocks access to your Premium Sprat immediately. It’s a two-for-one deal.

Skill Tip: Having points in Medical or Science helps with diagnosis options, though the quest is completable regardless of your build. If you’re struggling with skill checks, consider reading our backgrounds guide to optimize future character creation.

Hover Drone – Your First Purchased Pet

Location: Euphoria Coast Automech Repair Center
Cost: 1,000 Bits
Availability: After fixing the vendor

The Hover Drone is a mechanical companion that offers a nice contrast to biological pets like Lucy.

How to Get the Hover Drone:

1. Travel to the Euphoria Coast Automech Repair Center (far southeast Paradise Island)
2. Locate the malfunctioning Quartermaster Automech vendor
3. Interact with the vendor and complete the dialogue to fix it
4. Access the newly functional trading inventory
5. Purchase the Hover Drone for 1,000 Bits

Note: If you’re following Kaur’s questline, you’ll visit this location anyway during the “Above and Beyond Repair” mission. Perfect opportunity to grab the Hover Drone while you’re there.

Is 1,000 Bits Worth It?
Early in the game, 1,000 Bits feels expensive. But pets are permanent additions to your collection, and the Hover Drone is one of the cooler-looking mechanical companions. If you’re short on cash, complete a few side quests or sell excess equipment first.

Premium Edition Sprat – Exclusive Content

Availability: Premium Edition owners only
Unlock Requirement: Acquire at least one other pet first
Cost: Free (included with Premium Edition)

The Premium Sprat is a unique creature exclusive to players who purchased the Premium Edition of The Outer Worlds 2. It features distinctive visual design that sets it apart from standard pets.

How to Access:

1. Purchase The Outer Worlds 2 Premium Edition
2. Unlock any other pet (Lucy the Crabble is the fastest option)
3. Visit the Pet Feeder aboard The Incognito
4. The Premium Sprat will appear in your available pets list
5. Select it to summon

Important: You cannot access the Premium Sprat until you’ve acquired at least one pet through normal gameplay. This prevents Premium Edition owners from immediately having a pet without engaging with the system properly—a clever design choice that maintains progression pacing.

How to Change Your Active Pet

Once you’ve unlocked multiple pets, you’ll want to swap between them occasionally. The process is simple, but the Pet Feeder location might not be immediately obvious.

Step-by-Step Pet Changing:

1. Board The Incognito (your ship)
2. From the departure/exit door, enter the hallway on your left
3. Take the first right turn
4. Locate the crafting table area
5. Interact with the Pet Feeder next to the crafting bench
6. Browse your unlocked pets list
7. Select your desired pet and confirm
8. Exit the menu

Your previously active pet will disappear, and your newly selected companion will spawn immediately. There’s no cooldown or cost to swapping pets, so feel free to change them as often as you like.

Pro Tip: The Pet Feeder is conveniently located near a crafting station, so you can swap pets while managing your gear. Efficient ship layout design by Obsidian.

Advanced Pet Hunting Tips

Check Every Vendor

As you explore Arcadia, make it a habit to check every vendor’s inventory. Pet availability varies by location and sometimes by story progression. Vendors in major settlements typically have more exotic options than frontier outposts.

Recommended Vendor Locations:

• Paradise Island settlements (early-game options)
• Golden Ridge traders (mid-game creatures)
• Free Market Station (rare and expensive pets)
• Faction headquarters (faction-specific companions)

Some pets are locked behind faction reputation requirements, so maintaining positive relationships opens up additional purchasing options.

Complete Side Quests Thoroughly

Many side quests reward pets, but they’re not always obvious from the quest description. If a mission involves animals, creatures, or wildlife in any capacity, there’s a decent chance it leads to a pet reward.

Quest Types That Often Reward Pets:

• Animal rescue missions
• Ranch or farm assistance quests
• Scientific research involving creatures
• Tracking down escaped specimens
• Helping creature traders or handlers

Don’t skip side content if you’re trying to collect all pets. The achievement for five pets is definitely achievable, but it requires exploration beyond just the main storyline.

Save Your Bits for Late-Game Pets

Early pets like Lucy are free or relatively affordable (1,000 Bits for the Hover Drone). However, late-game exotic pets can cost several thousand Bits. Budget accordingly.

Money Management Tips:

• Sell unnecessary equipment regularly
• Complete bounties and contracts for extra income
• Don’t waste Bits on weapons you won’t use long-term
• Check our high-security lockbox guide for valuable loot to sell

By the time you reach late-game areas, you should have enough Bits accumulated through natural gameplay to afford the pricier pets without grinding.

Pet Achievement: Collecting Five Companions

Unlocking five different pets awards a special achievement—a satisfying goal for completionists.

Fastest Route to Five Pets:

1. Lucy the Crabble (free, early game)
2. Premium Sprat (Premium Edition owners, immediately after Lucy)
3. Hover Drone (1,000 Bits, Euphoria Coast)
4. Vendor Pet #1 (varies, check Paradise Island vendors)
5. Quest Reward Pet (complete animal-related side quests)

If you don’t own the Premium Edition, simply replace the Premium Sprat with another vendor purchase or quest reward. There are more than five total pets available, so missing the Premium Edition doesn’t lock you out of the achievement.

Do Pets Provide Gameplay Benefits?

This is the question everyone asks: Are pets purely cosmetic, or do they offer mechanical advantages?

The honest answer: Pets are primarily cosmetic companions. They don’t:

• Deal damage in combat
• Provide stat bonuses
• Unlock unique dialogue options
• Affect faction relationships

However, they do:

• Follow you during exploration
• Add personality to your ship
• React to certain environmental triggers
• Make solo exploration feel less lonely

If you’re looking for combat assistance, you want human companions like Niles or VAL instead. Pets are for players who enjoy collecting and customization rather than min-maxing.

Pet System Limitations and Quirks

Only One Active Pet at a Time

Unlike human companions where you can bring two simultaneously, only one pet can be active. This makes sense from a design perspective—multiple pets running around could clutter the screen and cause pathfinding issues.

Pets Don’t Enter Combat Zones

During intense firefights, your pet will typically stay back or disappear temporarily. They return once combat ends. This prevents pets from blocking shots or getting in the way during tactical situations.

No Pet Customization

You can’t rename pets, change their appearance, or customize their behavior. What you see is what you get. This might disappoint players who wanted deeper pet mechanics, but it keeps the system simple and focused.

Pets Are Ship-Bound When Not Active

When you swap pets, the inactive ones return to their designated area aboard The Incognito. You can’t have all your pets visible at once—only the currently selected companion follows you.

Frequently Asked Questions

External Resources

For more information about The Outer Worlds universe and to check out The Outer Worlds 2 on Xbox, visit the official sources.

Final Thoughts: Why Pets Matter

At first glance, pets might seem like a frivolous addition to an RPG about corporate dystopia and moral ambiguity. But they serve an important purpose: they make the world feel lived-in and personable.

After hours of navigating faction politics, making difficult ethical choices, and surviving combat encounters, returning to your ship and seeing your pet companion waiting creates a genuine moment of warmth. They’re a reminder that not everything in Arcadia is cynical or dangerous.

For completionists, the five-pet achievement provides a tangible collection goal that doesn’t require mastering difficult combat or finding obscure secrets. For roleplayers, pets add another layer of character expression—are you the type of captain who adopts a sick crabble, or do you prefer sleek mechanical drones?

My recommendation: Get Lucy the Crabble as soon as possible. It’s free, accessible early, unlocks the Premium Sprat if applicable, and introduces you to the pet system organically. From there, collect pets as you encounter them naturally rather than grinding specifically for them.

The pet system isn’t going to revolutionize your Outer Worlds 2 experience, but it’s a delightful quality-of-life feature that adds personality to your playthrough. And honestly? Sometimes that’s exactly what you need between all the moral dilemmas and gunfights.

Related Guides:

• All Companions Recruitment Guide
• Kaur vs Milverstreet Choice Guide
• What to Do First Guide
• Beginner’s Tips & Tricks
• Best Starting Builds
• Inhaler Charges Guide