The Outer Worlds 2 has a delightful strike breaking side story

The Outer Worlds 2 is a sprawling game full of quests set across multiple planets: deliver this package, kill this dangerous monster, explore this run down factory. I’m still taking my time picking through the game, meeting every character and finding every secret I can, but I’m pretty sure I stumbled across what will be my favorite side quest in the game. 

The corporation of Auntie’s Choice outsources many of their most urgent tasks to outside contractors, and I’ve reluctantly signed up to be one of those contractors. My new bosses asked me to take care of a strike, and I definitely took care of it in the most satisfying way possible. For this quest, I travelled to a factory on the planet of Praetor where I found the Auntie’s Choice manager on site had locked herself in her office while workers protested outside. I talked to both the manager and the union leader — although it was a little tricky, considering the far future of the Outer Worlds is so dominated by corporate interests that they don’t even have words for “union” or “strike”.

So, after talking to both sides, I carefully weigh the workers’ demands. They are asking for:

1. A mere twelve-hour work day
2. Free access to mandated stimulants
3. The ability to pee in a bathroom, instead of bottles

It seems that the more things change, the more things stay the same. I take these reasonable demands to the Auntie’s Choice supervisor, and earn some concessions. She agrees to free stimulants — after all, that’s more labor, and it’ll make her metrics look good — and a free lunch break. No free bathrooms and no free time allowed.