The Outer Worlds 2: Which Side to Choose—Kaur or Milverstreet?

In The Outer Worlds 2, the decision to align with Acquisitions Officer Kaur or Minister Milverstreet represents one of the earliest and most impactful faction choices you’ll face in the new Arcadia system. This high-stakes dilemma, central to the main story quest “The Saboteur of Paradise,” is more than a simple moral test—it’s a critical junction that determines your playstyle, available companions, future questlines, and the tactical approach to a major objective: the Vox Relay Station. This exclusive choice forces players to weigh raw combat power against subtle diplomacy, a hallmark of Obsidian’s compelling RPG design.

The conflict unfolds on Paradise Island, a freshly contested territory between the militaristic Protectorate and the recently merged megacorporation, Auntie’s Choice. Both Kaur and Milverstreet are high-ranking representatives of Auntie’s Choice within the town of Fairfield, but they champion drastically different methods for achieving corporate—and ultimately, the colony’s—goals.

Acquisitions Officer Kaur: The Path of Direct Action and High Damage

Acquisitions Officer Kaur embodies the brute force and expedient efficiency often associated with a corporate military mindset. Her approach is direct, utilizing military-style action and favoring objectives that involve immediate, impactful destruction.

Core Philosophy and Questline

• Methodology: Favors a combat-heavy playstyle and direct engagement. She cuts through bureaucratic red tape, prioritizing the fastest route to an objective, which in this case is the main quest target, the Vox Relay Station.
• Primary Task: Kaur tasks the player with sabotaging the nearby Robot Repair Facility along the coast. This is a quest designed to utilize high-damage weapons and tactical combat skills.
• Reward Structure (High CPC Keyword): Choosing Kaur immediately rewards the player with gear tailored for a skirmisher or frontline build. This includes a set of heavy armor and a powerful shotgun. For builds focusing on tanking or close-quarters combat, this gear provides an immediate, substantial DPS (Damage Per Second) and survivability boost, making it highly valuable in the early game. This immediate reward is a significant draw for players interested in a direct, action-oriented playthrough.
• Consequences: While fast, Kaur’s path is less subtle. This choice often leads to higher casualty rates during the subsequent Vox Relay Station mission. Crucially, siding with Kaur locks you out of recruiting the highly sought-after companion Inez, an agent with a compelling backstory tied to Auntie’s Choice’s experimental grafts.

Kaur’s path is the superior choice for players who have heavily invested in Melee or Long Guns skills, prioritize a simplified, action-focused route, and are not concerned with maximizing their crew size or future dialogue options.

Minister Milverstreet: The Path of Diplomacy and Critical Utility

Minister Milverstreet represents the bureaucratic, diplomacy-focused, and more calculating side of the corporate machine. His method is one of subterfuge and slow, methodical intelligence gathering.

Core Philosophy and Questline

• Methodology: Prefers dialogue-based skill checks, subterfuge, and secret intelligence gathering. His questline is slower and more intricate, requiring patience and high investment in skills like Persuade, Lie, or Intimidate.
• Primary Task: Milverstreet sends the player to the Ministry of Accuracy to retrieve sensitive “Mental Refreshment” data and subsequently to evacuate the Protectorate settlement of Westport. This mission is a multi-stage affair, often requiring players to utilize non-combat skills for either sabotage or convincing residents to defect.
• Reward Structure (High CPC Keyword): While slower to acquire, Milverstreet’s rewards are often build-defining for specific playstyles. The most notable reward is a piece of light armor and a distinctive hat that grants a massive passive bonus, often reported as an up to +5% Critical Chance and a +40% Critical Damage increase. For players prioritizing a sniper or crit build, this unique gear is an undeniable high-value asset with significant long-term ROI (Return on Investment) in combat efficiency.
• Consequences: Siding with Milverstreet not only aligns with a more diplomatic approach that may reduce casualties down the line—especially during the Vox Relay Station infiltration—but it is also the only route to recruit the popular and tactically versatile companion, Inez. Keeping Inez means more content, unique companion quests, and a fuller story experience.

Milverstreet’s route is recommended for role-playing purists, players who invest in Speech Skills and Evasion, and those who value the long-term utility of a critical-focused build over immediate heavy weaponry.

📰 Current Gaming News Analysis: The Impact on Your Playthrough

The latest reviews and developer commentary on The Outer Worlds 2 have underscored the game’s commitment to player agency and consequence. Unlike many modern RPGs, your choices here have tangible, immediate, and lasting effects on the in-game world. The Kaur vs. Milverstreet dilemma specifically highlights the following key aspects:

1. Companion Loyalty & Content: The ability to recruit Inez is a major factor. Inez is a former Auntie’s Choice experiment whose questline deepens the lore of the new Arcadia system and the morality of the mega-corporations. Recent player consensus suggests that Milverstreet’s route offers more substantial, character-driven side content due to the inclusion of Inez. This is a critical consideration for players aiming for 100% completion or an emotionally rich narrative.
2. Build Synergy and Optimization: The reported +40% Critical Damage hat from Milverstreet has been widely discussed by ARPG (Action Role-Playing Game) enthusiasts as a potential “game-breaker” item. While Kaur offers immediate tactical advantage with heavy armor and a shotgun, the persistent utility of a high-tier critical item allows for greater character optimization in the mid-to-late game, especially for builds using high-rate-of-fire weapons or sniper rifles. ****
3. Moral Ambiguity and Corporate Satire: Consistent with the series’ tone, neither choice is morally pure. Milverstreet’s methods of “Mental Refreshment” and soft-power manipulation are insidious forms of corporate control, while Kaur’s violence is simply a more overt form of the same control. Your choice reflects how you wish to challenge (or serve) the new regime in Arcadia, not necessarily whether you are “good” or “evil.” The developers have ensured that the game’s darker, less silly tone is immediately present in this early choice, forcing the player to confront the nuances of corporate fascism.

The Final Verdict: Who Should You Side With?

The optimal choice depends entirely on your preferred Role-Playing Game experience and your planned character build.

Choose Acquisitions Officer Kaur If:

• You prefer an immediate combat advantage and value heavy armor/weapons in the early game.
• Your character build heavily favors combat skills (e.g., Guns, Melee) over dialogue skills.
• You want a faster, more direct path to the next main story objective.

Choose Minister Milverstreet If:

• You prioritize long-term build optimization, particularly a high-damage critical build, courtesy of the unique hat.
• Your character build focuses on non-combat skills like Persuade, Lie, or Intimidate.
• You wish to recruit the companion Inez and experience her full, rich questline, which adds significant narrative depth.
• You prefer a path of diplomacy and subterfuge with the potential for lower in-game casualties.